We recently connected with Christopher Robin and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

The idea for Toes Freediving started many years before creating the LLC. I grew up in Michigan and like most michiganians I found myself in water pretty much everyday. At about 15 I was swimming in Lake Huron. It was a beautifully clear day and the water was unusually clear. Armed with my trusty goggles I swam out from shore into about 20 ft of water. And for some reason slank beneath the waves, holding my breath and without knowing what I was doing, I started to equalize. My body density at the time stopped me from sinking about 5 ft from the ground and left me staring off into the deep clear sky blue lake. Wrapped in silence a guttural peace, for the first time in my life I was actually flying. Something happened to me in this moment I’m stuck between land and sky that would change my life forever.

After this day my bond bond with water was forever changed. A went many years from this point seeking any deep water I could I attend in high, school college, started other businesses, worked in States all across the country as a teacher and communicator.

At 23 I found myself without a job having just finished running an earth education camp and micro School in San Francisco. At this new precipice in life I knew what I had to do. I had to start this business to allow people to feel what I experienced that one day. So my fiance and I talked about the next steps and I packed up my bags and moved to the Philippines where I studied at a freedive academy to become an instructor. I would come to find out that peace that struck me while in the lake was actually my mammalian dive reflex The same feeling my ancestors had felt for thousands of years. One that had built our relationship with water. Here I pushed my limits crawling deeper into the sea in all manners of water. No

At this point I had no business. No idea where I would land after the training seeing that my wife would get a job wherever she saw fit in the country. After 3 months I return home with certificates in hand to find that she had landed in Washington.

A place known for cold dark water. But where my heart went so I followed. I spent the next couple months building a website and instagram, creating a name for myself, hosting an international freediving competition. And getting as much word out there as possible that this service was available. I was not the first freediving instructor to Washington. Many wonderful freediving instructors have been here before me but I was happy to be a part of it all.

Since then I have certifying people as level 1 free divers, and performed personal Teaching the basic skills to survive and thrive in what essentially amounts to outer space. As summer approaches I and I look to continue to diversify toes free diving’s offerings to crabbing high Alpine Lake diving, meditation and flexibility. Throughout my journey I’ve learned freediving belongs to everyone. It is literally in everyone who lives and breathes. All you have to do is find it. Freediving is the greatest gift I’ve ever been given and it’s my pleasure to work to show new worlds inside yourself and on this planet.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Christopher Robin but people call me Toe. I have been many things in my life, and ultra marathon runner, an ultra swimmer circus performer unicycler scientist cycled across the country. In and overall, do gooder an agent of kindness.

Freediving at its core is diving below the waves of any body of water while only holding your breath. There is no hidden air tank or ascension device. It is you underwater. As humans, we have a reflex call to a malian dive reflex that is found in all mammals to some degree. Seals and whales aquatic mammals in general s mammalian dive reflex is quite strong and practiced. Our dive reflex is dormant for most people. Have you ever heard the saying when you’re feeling stressed splash water on your face, it’ll make you feel better? What you’re doing here is activating your mammalian dive reflex, slowing your breathing and reducing your heart rate. Your mammalian dive reflex slows your heart rate and calm your nerves It brings blood from your extremities to your vital organs and brain and many other incredible effects. Both short-term and long-term. Training your mammalian dive reflex, training to become a freediver is in many ways. Your origin story to becoming a superhero. It’s spectacular and in my experience makes life a little easier.

At Toe’s Freediving core of what I do is to get people closer with water, closer to themselves. To dive for crabs, for freedom, for fun. To explore not only kelp forests, caves, and creatures. But to look deeper into themselves and find parts of themselves they never knew existed, things they could do all along. To show that that no matter who you are or what you’ve done, you are still capable of incredible things.

Learn to freedive with me and do so safely responsibly. Take a level 1 freediving course and learn all the basics. How to hold your breath longer than you ever have before. How to equalize underwater. how to fin. What to wear and how to wear it. How to safely dive? How to be a freediving buddy
Or get training on one specific skill with one-on-one coaching. I see lots of student athletes who play soccer, basketball, football, or even swim in high school. Freediving is an amazing crossover sport that allows people to increase their lung capacity, their CO2 tolerance, and their ability to persevere. If you sit a while and think about all the things that are tied to your breath, your nervous system your ability to relax. You’ll find that just about everything is in some way connected.

We can start in a pool in a lake or in the ocean. Let’s explore a new worlds together reach out today.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I moved to Washington from the Philippines. We had no house, no family here, no friends here and I had no job. We were in many ways completely alone in a brand new place. We were living out of a car and I was working out of a library to start building the business. Everyday I would get up roll out of my 2011 Subaru and work out in a park, shower at a local gym and depending on the day wait before the library could open so I could begin my work day. I would sit outside the library and write notes as to what I was going to do today and how I was going to do it. Day after day I would chip away at creating a business from the ground up. The thing is about starting a business is that the business ends the day you give up. There is always a new avenue, a new way of reaching your clients, a new opportunity just over the hill. People always say man. I want to be a millionaire or I want a successful business. But it takes work. It takes time and it takes energy to create something that starts to move itself. It took me 2 months before I got my first client. A year before I started having regular clients, a new one reaching out everyday. But my journey is not over. In fact it’s just began.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Two things.

The first is showing up being there for people answering questions for people going to events showing face. Doing your best to be reliable member of the community. Trying to give back in any way you can.

The second is understanding that the best marketing tool, especially in this business, is word of mouth. It’s not Facebook ads or Instagram ads. It’s people talking about the experience that changed their life. Todd is your biggest tool in your business. One person tells two two tells three and before you know it, you have wildfire.

When I look at my list for things to do hosting more community events is up there at the very top.

The next big event I do will be during crab season with a big crab cook on the beach. There’s nothing like going to catch your own crabs. It brings community together people together and that’s everything. That’s why we do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://toesfreediving.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toesfreediving?igsh=ZWhsZXFwb2Rja3Vn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14wrP9Exea/

Image Credits

Claire Robin