Yesterday, I was out walking near sunset. The sky was pink and blue at the same time, and the water was the most extraordinary blue. It is hard to describe. I am in the northeast of England, and it is winter. I was looking out over a cold sea, and yet there was a warmth in the colour reflected on the surface of the water. Not the usual cold grey-blue, but a tropical icy blue.

Sensory immersion, above and below the surface

There was something about the sensory quality of it. The cold, the colour, the movement of the water, the sound of the sea. It was not a day for diving, and yet it felt familiar. That sense of being alert and tuned in, taking in texture, light, temperature, and movement. It reminded me of how it feels to be in the water when diving, when there is enough stimulation to keep you engaged and present, and not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

When clarity emerges

If you dive, you might recognise this. Being in water, or even near it, can bring a particular quality of attention. Whether it is swimming, diving, or walking alongside the sea, there is often a shift. We take more in. We notice more. There is space for things to settle and, at the same time, for clarity to emerge. Ideas, understanding, or a sense of direction often arrive in those moments, not because we are trying to make them happen, but because the conditions are right.

Creating from movement, not stillness

For me, this is a very common experience. It is actually quite intense. When I am outside, when I am swimming, when I am in water, or even just walking on the beach, ideas arrive quickly. The difficulty has always been what comes next. To do anything with them, I used to have to go back to my desk, sit down for hours, and get very entrenched in trying to get things exactly right. That might have been for a course, an article, or a series of information pieces, often all related to our experience of diving.

That way of working has not been good for me. My posture is not great. I am not moving enough. And I do not think it is particularly healthy. It is also not something I would recommend to other people. As humans, we need to move. We need to be outside and in nature. It is better for our physical and mental health, and it is a big part of how we stay fit to dive.

A shift in how I work

In the past, I experimented with dictation as a way of creating, and it did not work. The dictation was not accurate enough, and if my exact words were being captured, there was still just as much editing to do later. That made it feel inefficient.

That has completely changed. In fact, even in the last six months, the shift has been huge. I wrote this article by thinking out loud as I walk on the beach, between the sand dunes and the waves. The keyboard, the barrier of between my mind and the written word has been entirely removed.

I prompt AI to record my words, only remove filler words (ums ahs) and add punctuation. I can now create articles while I am outside.

Try it for your dive log! Just talk through the dive as if talking to a (completely non-judgmental and silent) buddy. It’s amazing how clear speech can become when no one is listening.

When it feels easy, and why that matters

In fact, it feels too easy. It raises questions like: is this really proper work, and is it legitimate? I am walking, moving, exercising, and creating at the same time. That can feel uncomfortable because surely this is not the way writing should be done?!

And yet, when I look at what I produce, the work is better. My energy is better. I am more focused. I am able to create things that are more useful, more supportive, and more relevant. I am in a better mind state and the energy feels different. I am regulated. This transfers into what I make.

Why regulation matters for diving

This feels especially important for the practices I am writing at the moment. These are about connecting to yourself, helping yourself regulate, and becoming more psychologically flexible. Those skills help us with whatever challenges we face in diving.

In diving, regulation is something we literally rely on. We depend on regulators to control the flow of gas so that we get what we need, when we need it. Not too much, not too little. That regulation allows us to breathe effectively under pressure and changing conditions. The same principle applies internally. When we are diving, we need to be alert enough to respond to what is happening around us, and settled enough to think clearly and act effectively. Too little activation and we can feel disconnected or sluggish. Too much and we can become tense, rushed, or overwhelmed. Regulation is about staying within a workable zone that is matched to the demands of the environment, allowing us to notice what is happening and respond rather than react.

The word for 2026: regulation

With that in mind, the word I want to orient towards in 2026 is regulation.

By regulation, I mean: a dynamic adjustment of the body-mind to respond effectively to the present environment.

As divers, this makes intuitive sense. We are constantly responding to changing conditions: temperature, visibility, current, task load, and internal states such as stress or fatigue. Regulation is what allows us to stay connected and effective in and out of the water.

When flow emerges

When we are regulated in contexts where we are stimulated just the right amount, something else often emerges. That is flow.

Flow is a state many divers recognise. You are challenged enough to be engaged and alert, and not so overloaded that you feel out of control. It is a calm, alert, almost meditative state.

What this means in practice

I want to orient towards regulation in the work I am doing, and I also want to create resources that help you develop it too.

At a practical level, that means a few things.

Individual therapy for people who have experienced distress or trauma will continue. Sometimes we are moving well, sometimes things go wrong, and we get stuck. When that happens, we need support to heal and move back towards regulation, and from there, flow can become possible again.

The main focus this year, though, is building a library of practices.

These practices are primarily about regulation. They focus on learning to deal with discomfort, grounding, breathing, self-compassion, and noticing and labelling emotions. They are about staying connected, responding rather than reacting, learning to work with triggers, and becoming more effective in what we do. They are about offering ourselves more safety.

For example, you might have struggled recently to call a dive and want support with regulating yourself enough to speak up when it feels uncomfortable. I am not aiming to remove that discomfort. It will still be uncomfortable, .. but there are things you can do to be more comfortable with the discomfort.

The inspiration for many of the practices comes from working with individuals, and those same practices can then be used in individual work when appropriate. If you are working with me and something fits, I will simply share a practice with you. If you want access to them independently, you can do that through a low-cost subscription to the library.

These are about helping us keep moving forward with our diving (and life in general), whatever that looks like for you. Everyone has different goals, different challenges, and different levels of experience. There is space for you to make requests and inspire new practices.

Low vis make you feel weird? Struggling with embarrassment in learning skills? Or just want a relaxing post-dive practice? Leave a request and I can make a prescriptive practice.

The library is still being built. By joining, you are supporting that process.