The big combo opening Not

The big combo opening

Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn t last long but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in there own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc. Head low in the water, mouth at water level Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus Ladder climb, rarely out of the water. So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks don t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don t look like they re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them: Are you alright? If they can answer at all they probably are. If they return a blank stare you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why. disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of Homeland Security or the Coast Guard. Mario Vittone has nineteen years of combined military service in the Navy and Coast Guard. His writing on maritime safety has appeared in Yachting, SaltWater Sportsman, On-Scene, Lifelines, and Readers Digest magazine. He has lectured extensively on topics ranging from leadership to sea survival and immersion hypothermia. He is a marine safety specialist with the Coast Guard. The comments to this post have been moved over to Marios Blog, be sure to CLICK HERE to read them. Life is a feast, fill your platitos That was without doubt the most challenging thing I ve ever done. Yet never have I learnt so much or thought so hard in such few days. I m giggling like a schoolboy with my new friend, the silver-bearded Alejandro from Ecuador. Sat on a bench in the men s outdoor rest area we re talking about girls and waiting for the start of the big combo opening first meditation. With it begins the Noble Silence, nine days with no talking, no touch and little eye contact either. Of course men and women live completely separately, except for the meditation hall, to help maintain our focus on the task at hand. We chuckle, enjoying our final worldly thoughts before the serious work begins. The course is being held in a Catholic retreat centre, high up the Medellin valley with the city stretched out below. The main building has a dining hall, split into mens and womans sections by a wall of cotton sheets, and from it two corredors of basic rooms run down, hugging the hillside. The men s outdoor area runs between these, a path lined with flowers that we will all spend many minutes appreciating, that widens at the end affording a view of the valley below. The meditation hall is behind and above the main building and appropriately we climb stairs to reach it the women entering via a separate staircase. It s full of light from the wall of windows that looks out on the bobbled clouds and green slopes. Start again, Goenke s kind, serious, low meditation voice instructs us from the small speakers on the stage, either side of la Professora, who sits cross-legged under a white shawl and has just cued him up on her iPod Touch. Start with a calm and quiet mind, alert and attentive mind, attentive Goenke guides and, adjusting my bum on the cushion for the umpteenth time, I close my eyes. I can hear others around me as the room slowly settles. We are sat in rows, men on one side and women on the other, facing the small stage with our digital the big combo opening and his assistant DJ The teacher is a CD! I had exclaimed. It s day two of the course and I know people in the room by their particular sounds: Miss Crinkle-Bag to my right, Snot-Gargler-Man back left, Senora Fake-Sneeze far front and, DIRECTLY behind my The Cougher. But these sounds are not to be my focus. The first days of the course we are instructed in Anapana, a technique based on the breath and focusing the attention on the sensations around the entrance of the nose and the upper lip. Through a small hair in my right nostril I am sharpening my mind. It is an unruly beast, the monkey mind. Weve been told to be patient, as though were training an elephant. I put the sounds of the room aside and pick out my friend the nose hair: Just exactly what is that sensation like? Different on the inhale to the exhale? Yes. A vibrating? No, more like a gentle pressure. Bending then bending then outwards. They ve been getting tricky recently, those tickly nose hairs.