On Saturday morning I had the privilege to go Freediving with Haukur, who is the local chairman of the Iceland Diving Association. He picked me up in Reykjavik at 7:30 and we drove out to Pingvellir and Silfra and arrived half and hour prior to sunrise at 9am.
Pingvellir is a particular place. One may call it the center or Icelandic culture because this is where the first general assembly was held in Iceland in 930 BCE. The local chieftains would meet for two weeks every summer and discuss, debate and agree upon the laws and regulations for the country. It was therefore Iceland’s legislature and high court up to 1262 BCE. Later the Norwegians took over, then the Danes from 1662, and Iceland finally got their independence in 1944, and by that time the Danes had built a parliament in Reykjavik.
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One of the many fascinating things about Pingvellir is that it lies within a belt of volcanic activity and fissures, which runs across Iceland as part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, and is the junction of the American and Eurasion tectonic plates. The dramatic scenery of Pingvellir is located at the western end of a rift valley, which extends from the mountains in the northeast down to Pingvellir Lake. Over the last 10,000 years the earth’s crust has been subsiding and diverging here. Prior to the lake is a long rift in the land of about 200 meters where the waters from a glacier in the North keep sifting through. This place called Silfra, is according to Dive Magazine, one of the ten greatest dive spots in the word. Here Haukur slips into his dry-suit and submerges with his Nitrox mix. He wants to stay under for 30 min and take some pictures while I duck in and out of the water in my 5mm wetsuit.
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There is much to say about freediving, why it is a spiritual experience, the unique pranayma experience it gives and why it is ultimately a practice of letting go, but let me do that another time. Now let us focus on Silfra.
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To dive in Silfra is like diving in an Evian bottle. The visibility is amazing and as you descend between the tectonic plates on either side of the crack you feel as you are sinking into a secret crack in the crust of the earth. The colors are spectacular together with the stones, which are crystallized lava on both sides of the crevice. The width of the crack is between 2-4 meters, the depth is mostly between 20-30 meters, apart from the secret cave which measure 58 meters, but whose entrance is a little trickier to pass through after the earthquake of 17th of November 2000.
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As I swim down to meet Haukur he points out all the significant spots to me. Naturally it’s limited how long I can stay down, so I swim up and down from the surface according to what my lounges can tolerate. Every time I submerge Haukur points out a new sight and I stare and investigate with complete awe and fascination. It is as time and place is standing still for a moment, until the contractions of my lounges reminds me it’s time to surface. And thus I continue up and down into this remarkable fissure of the earth. Towards the end Haukur leads me through the Cathedral, a place in the middle with walls looking like candelabrums and the rays of the morning sun is just shining through. I try my best to remain submerged, but after a few minutes the contractions come rising and whatever I’ve understood of Kevalakumbhaka is nothing but a word. I gasp for air at the surface, but in my mind I’m still absorbed in the experience below, take a few deep breaths and down we go again. Towards the end Haukur leads me into the blue lagoon, a pool of about 120 meters in diameters, but only three meter deep. I cruise happy as a dolphin and exit the water a little after eleven, just in time to meet Vidir who is the driver who as come to take me back to Reykjavik.
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After all I was there to do a little work on yoga as well and the workshop begins at noon in the fabulous Yoga Shala of Rejkjavik. As far as the participants go they were a dozen amazingly gracious Viking Goddesses and one man. We shared our common interest in Yoga for three days and if anybody learnt something from this particular experience it was certainly I.
Gratefully yours, oh beautiful Iceland,
RAM