Why Skydiving is the Perfect Escape

What wild notion inspires people to pursue flight? Humans have been fascinated with taking to the sky for hundreds of years. Really, it’s a near archetypal fascination. Why is it that some are driven to look upward? Is it purely adrenaline seeking behaviors? Or maybe an insatiable appetite for boundary pushing? It seems more likely that those who want to chase flight have an uncanny ability to see beyond what is right in front of them and a desire to explore the open spaces that are left to expand out into. Skydiving is a way to take a vacation from the tribulations of the day to day and a perfect way to escape the confines of the mundane. For those who have been in the sport a while, we know it is not just an adrenaline high that drives us (literally) to make the trip to the dropzone when we see blue skies or to dedicate our lives to skydiving. It is so much more:

Skydiving is a mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness involves bringing one’s attention to the present moment. This psychological process is a therapeutic technique that can result in improved concentration and mental clarity as well as equanimity. And guess what? Skydiving is a place where this skill is practiced. When you skydive, your mind is not preoccupied with bills or frustrations from work. Instead, it is wholly trained on the task at hand.

Stress from the world below won’t follow you to altitude. Really, it can’t, and you can thank your limbic system for that. The limbic system is a network of nerves in your brain that control your emotions and moods. And it simply doesn’t have the capacity to process the experience of skydiving and your troubles too. So, it makes a choice.  When you are falling at terminal velocity, all you focus on is you, your friends in freefall, and that moment.

Skydiving takes skill.

Sure, it seems like all you need to do is get out, fall, and pull a parachute on time. However, skydiving isn’t a slapdash, slipshod leap out of a plane into the atmosphere. Skydiving is a sport. There are several disciplines to become involved in, and each one can challenge the mind and body in a different way. It takes training to meet these challenges. This is why we take time to prep skydives on the ground. Like a game-plan or blueprint, we take to the sky with an idea of what we would like to achieve, and we try to succeed in bringing our intents to fruition. Furthermore, when things don’t quite go as predicted, we are able to deal competently and confidently with the situation at hand because of our training.

Skydiving opens up a whole new world.

Who would think that beginning with one jump, you could open yourself up to have friends all over the globe? Well, if you are a skydiver, it is a pretty common occurrence to know people in nearly every country and several continents! Skydiving is a world-wide sport. Though, “in the real world”, we may be potentially separated by vastly different lives, political leanings, many miles, social class, or stretches of sea, skydivers have something in common: we are actively pursuing an experience to better our lives. An activity that expands past ourselves, opens up space, gives us freedom, and a way to escape.

Why don’t you join us and find out for yourself?