Breathing is for buoyancy, it keeps you alive as an added benefit. 

I just had this conversation with our dive shop when asked if we thought our PADI open water class last year gave us the proper training for buoyancy. I said "what training? Everything was done on our knees." If it wasn't for scubaboard I would have not known the importance of breath control for buoyancy. We now have a small Intex pool that we practice in regularly since we can't get out diving due to Covid-19. We even picked up a 25 foot hose so our tanks can be outside the pool for some training sessions. That idea came from seeing some of UTD's pool training videos.

This is great. I started breathing underwater with a hookah rig. Practicing my trim and buoyancy leak checking pools. I believe it’s a vital skill to know

I like to refer to the process as "regulating" your breathing ; done to achieve a result or cause an effect.

Just wanted to say I love this video. When I started diving, they didn't teach us about buoyancy so of course, like all noobs I was crap. It wasn't till I hit 40 dives that I instinctively learnt to control my breathing. I played around and just noticed i could sink from breathing. Once I did it, it seemed automatic. I'm relatively ok (just a rec diver) but what I do notice is if I'm extremely tired, my buoyancy goes out the door. And I know it's because when I'm tired, my breath is harder to control and I'm more likely to breathe in longer but not exhale hard. Unless you pay someone to teach you these exercises like you did with those ladies, most of the time it's hard to learn until you practise via trial and error. If you do a lot of recreational diving with guides or at resorts or liveabords, they usually just stick an extra weight on someone who struggles. I was diving in Sipadan late last year and we had a guy who was supremely overweighted. The guide/divemaster was trying to help him by suggesting he drop 1 or 2 weights and practise on his breathing. He was going through the air too fast. But he just couldn't control it and because it was a rec dive and he wanted to maximise his 60 minute dive, in the end they just swap his tank to a 15L one and left him overweighted.

New to your channel and diving, but find your information invaluable. A friend of mine is extremely advanced and he was telling me the more advanced you get the more it seems like you're just working on basics. This is one of those basics that he said I must master and it'll become muscle memory with practice. He said I MUST be able to stop at any depth at any time and just stay there without moving my hands or fins. I just dove a few days ago and for the first time wasn't overweighed; was forced to use my lungs to control buoyancy. It was eye opening and great practice. Thanks for your tips about pool training, I'll get a long hose and do that kind of training with my son, before we go into the ocean.

Extremely interesting, thanks. A question, at what point would you say these small pauses are actually starting to border on skip breathing and therefore potentially leading to CO2 retention?

I like the idea of the wetsuit and weight to see how much you need to be neutral buoyant

Thank you for saying this! I learned that I HAD to take pauses, deeper breaths, and sharp inhales and exhales at times to control my buoyancy. I literally hold my breath for a few seconds, while maintaining the same depth to control my buoyancy. I learned that you have to. No instructor ever mentioned this specific asterisk to maintaining buoyancy. They just said, "don't ever hold your breath, and use your breath to control buoyancy." Clarifying those statements would've allowed me to catch on a few dives earlier. Kind of a waste of a few dives to not explain this to new divers.