The ancient Mayans tell us that hiking through the lush jungle to a cenote brings you closer to Chaac, the patron of agriculture and the god of thunder, lightning, and life-giving rain. Chaac blesses farmers with a predictable cycle: dry winters leading to fiery springs, followed by wet conditions in early May. This cycle is essential for growing maize.

Many ecosystems nurtured early humans. Across the Caribbean, cenotes played a vital role in meeting the fundamentals of human life. Both the Mayans in the Yucatan and the Taíno people in the Dominican Republic built around cenotes because they collect drinkable water from rain seeping through porous limestone. This water source allowed people to quench their thirst. They could water their harvest in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

It is perhaps a given that throughout the Caribbean, cenotes hold a profound spiritual role, serving as gateways to mystical realization and providing a means to connect with, and even enter, the heavens and eternity.

For thousands of years, humans have found meaning in underwater caves, with experiences and interpretations varying across cultures and throughout time. Interestingly, our interpretations on underwater caves often fall at the end of two poles. On the one end, these caves provide liberation, life, and shelter. On the other, these caves are our oppressors, stirring nightmares in which the walls collapse and trap its dwellers in flooded darkness. Sometimes underwater caves are imagined as both these things at once as we hear the cave beckon us to enter and warn us to stay-out.

I absolutely love restrictions in underwater caves. They offer a very different bodily experience from restrictions in dry caves, and play a multi-faceted emotional, mental, and physical role in a dive. The challenge of navigating a confined space without the pull of gravity is creatively liberating. The feeling of being pressed between the rock walls of Earth’s water-filled veins evokes a profound awareness: “I am beneath multiple atmospheres of pressure, I am navigating the depths of the Earth, and I am breathing.” Breath, in this state, is extra special.

These ideas—breath, restrictions, and breathing in a confined space underwater—are the topics of this post.