When you swim toward the bottom of the ocean, there’s a certain point when you can just let go, when the force of gravity and the water above drags your body downward.
In the sport of free diving, this is known as freefall.
For Sayaka Herman, a world-renowned free diver who lives in Greenville with her husband and newborn son, this freefall is the most beautiful part of the sport — a moment when one lets the forces of the world carry them willingly.
“There is fear, yes. I have been scared,” she said, describing what it feels like to descend rapidly underwater. “But it is also a beautiful feeling.”
Now she and her husband are looking to channel that beauty here in the Upstate.
Combining mindful beauty and physical intensity is at the heart of Musou Movement, a new fitness and wellness center Sayaka and Sean Russel Herman have just opened in Greenville.
It’s a passion project that has roots in the free-diving world while also blending different philosophies of mindfulness, exercise and sports under one roof.
Located at 1431 Laurens Road, Musou Movement is part fitness center, part martial arts studio, part mindfulness retreat. It’s a place where you can learn Muay Thai (Thai boxing) and martial arts, practice circuit training, learn breath work, lift weights, have a sauna, do a cold plunge, play pickleball, have a cold-brew coffee, drink a kombucha, practice yoga, meditate and more.
Combining Sean’s background as a lifelong practitioner of martial arts and Sayaka’s focus on mindfulness, Musou reflects the blended philosophies of their family.
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Oceans apart
The two met in 2017, during the Vertical Blue contest, one of the largest free-diving competitions in the world, which is held annually in the Bahamas. Along with his background in martial arts, Sean is also a competitive surfer-turned-comedian, and he was hired by the event’s organizers as an on-air commentator for the broadcasts.
Sayaka was there as a member of the team overseeing safety precautions for the competitors.
Given the deadly serious nature of the contest, Sayaka, who was born and raised in Japan, wasn’t sure what to make of the goofy American who kept cracking jokes during the live broadcast.
“In the beginning, I didn’t like him at all,” she said, laughing.
To her credit, it’s not the type of event that engenders romance, despite the tropical setting.
“I want my son to learn how to do yoga and meditate and control his emotions and his mind, but I also want him to be confident and know how to defend himself,” Sean said. “That’s the world we want to raise him in.” – Sayaka Herman
Although it’s often called a sport, free diving is really part meditation, part feat of athletic endurance.
At its simplest, free diving consists of people trying to swim as deep as possible underwater and then swim back up, all while holding their breath. What sounds like a simple act is actually riddled with complexity and danger.
The freefall of the dive is a major part of that.
When a diver reaches a depth of about 15-20 meters, they no longer have to kick their legs or exert effort. Instead, negative buoyancy forces the body downward. The diver is, simply put, sinking, but the experience is more akin to flying — hurtling face-first down a black void, completely weightless in the deepening silence of the ocean depths.
“It’s very calm, very peaceful,” Sayaka said.
The only problem is, at a certain point the diver has to turn around and swim back up.
That’s where the danger truly begins. That deep underwater, the lungs are compressed, and the force of the water above means getting to the top is like swimming against a strong current. Countless divers have blacked out before they make it back. Most deaths in free diving occur within just meters of the surface. Oxygen runs out, and if a diver is alone, there is no hope of survival.
That’s why free diving is widely considered the most dangerous sport in the world.
It’s also why Sayaka spent years working to keep free divers safe. She has worked as a safety diver during some of the most notable free-diving competitions, prepared to rescue those who need help.
She and her team recently appeared in the hit Netflix documentary “The Deepest Breath,” which tells the tragic love story of two prominent free divers, including the late Stephen Keenan, a beloved safety diver with whom Sayaka was a close friend. Both Sean and Sayaka have cameos in the film.
Mind and body
After meeting at Vertical Blue, Sean and Sayaka developed a friendship that turned into a romantic partnership. She eventually traveled to America to visit him. Having landed stateside just before COVID-19 hit, she was forced to stay in the United States for an extra month due to travel restrictions.
“So I stayed with him longer, and after another month, we got married,” Sayaka said. They now have a newborn son.
Musou is the result of their desire to create a place that can nourish their young family both physically and spiritually.
“I want my son to learn how to do yoga and meditate and control his emotions and his mind, but I also want him to be confident and know how to defend himself,” Sean said. “That’s the world we want to raise him in.”
They have broader plans for Musou, including an online presence that will channel Sean’s background in filmmaking to create content and offer a community to those outside of Greenville. They also hope to open a sister location in Japan one day, where they can teach people how to free dive off the coastal waters of Sayaka’s homeland.
For now, both are trying to find a new flow with this next chapter in their lives together. They look forward to seeing where it carries them next — without having to hold their breath.
“Accepting what comes, that is a beautiful feeling,” Sayaka said.
What’s in a name?
Musou is a Japanese word which roughly translates into “beast mode.”
How deep?
The world’s deepest free dive, in which a diver swims down without equipment and makes it back up on a single breath without assistance, was recorded as 132 meters (433 feet), which is about one and a half Statues of Liberty.
Hold your breath
Think you can hold your breath for a long time? Not compared to world record holder Budimir Sobat, who held his breath underwater for 24 minutes and 37 seconds.
