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The Surface Interval

Mindful Breath, the book: the breath you already have, made into a practice

24 September 2026 · Luis Miguel Gallardo

2 min read

Mindful Breath™ is now a book. The companion to Mindful Diving takes the evidence from our review of breathing and wellbeing and turns it into a practice any diver can carry — onto the boat, into the water, and home.

By the Mindful Diving Institute · Reviewed by the Safety & Dive Medicine Board

Why a second book

Mindful Diving is the source text of the Institute: the book the Standard, the curriculum and the Seal descend from. It describes the whole arc — Before, Below, Between, Beyond. One thread runs through every chapter and deserved its own volume: the breath.

On scuba, the breath is already slow, audible and continuous. Equipment made it so. Mindful Breath asks what happens when a diver stops treating that as an accident and starts treating it as attention.

Grounded in the evidence

The book draws directly on our open-access review, Mindful Breath: breath management, attention and wellbeing (DOI 10.68220/mdi.2026.004), now part of the Journal of Mindful Diving and Ocean Wellbeing. Where the review weighs sixty-eight sources, the book translates them into sessions, cues and a 21-day practice log. Measured, not assumed.

What stays non-negotiable

  • Slow, continuous breathing only. Never breath-holding, skip-breathing or hypoventilation on scuba.
  • No practice during task-critical phases — descents, ascents, gas management. Safety is the first mindfulness practice.
  • Every exercise fits inside your agency standards and your dive plan.
  • Education, never therapy or medical treatment.

Where to find it

The EPUB is available directly from the Institute for €9.99, delivered by email the moment payment clears. Paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions are on Amazon.

Get Mindful Breath →

For divers who want to go further, the book is the reading companion to the Mindful Breath™ Specialty — optional, at any level.

Presence runs deep. It starts with the next breath.

The Surface Interval

A short letter for the time between dives — practice notes, research and news from the Institute.