Count On It: Breath, Focus, Grit
The picture book Sarah and the Big Wave tells the story of Sarah Gerhardt—the first woman to surf Mavericks. When Sarah is held under the water by a wave, she does something deceptively simple: she counts. What reads as a small detail turns out to be deeply instructive, and what appears instinctive is, in fact, very strategic. Neuroscience suggests we cannot meaningfully count and catastrophize at the same time.
Counting is a structured, goal-directed act that recruits executive control and working memory—the systems that allow us to aim attention deliberately and stay oriented under demand. When these systems are engaged, the brain’s default patterns associated with rumination and worry quiet—not because fear disappears, but because attention has been given a job.
The point isn’t that worry becomes impossible—it’s that counting makes worry harder to hijack attention, by intentionally occupying the same limited mental bandwidth with a deliberate, repeatable focus.This is not avoidance. It is intentional cognitive redirection—and it is a trainable skill.
Counting organizes the mind and breath stabilizes the body. When the two are paired, their effects are not merely additive—they are reinforcing. Counting alone is cognitively grounding. But counting with slow, intentional breathing becomes physiologically stabilizing. Research on paced breathing shows consistent effects on autonomic regulation, including increases in vagally mediated heart-rate variability (HRV), a marker of nervous system flexibility and stress resilience.
So when we pair breath with counting, we are training two systems at once:
Cognitive anchoring — attention has a clear, repeatable job
Physiological support — arousal lowers and internal rhythm steadies
This is not incidental. It is intentional design—and it sits at the core of peak performance.
From classroom to competition, we embed the same skills, tools, and strategies because the nervous system does not change with the environment—only the demands do. Whether a child is navigating frustration in a kindergarten classroom or an athlete is managing physiological stress in the pool, the underlying requirement is the same: access to attention, regulation, and choice under pressure.
Young children may not yet carry “adult worry,” but they absolutely experience overwhelm, frustration, fear of making mistakes, and the panic of “I can’t do it.” Counting gives a child something concrete and doable in the moment: I know what to do. I can stay with this.
Breathing adds a felt sense of internal safety: My body can settle. I can get back in control. Together, counting and breath build agency—and agency is the cornerstone of resilience.This is the difference between being told to “calm down” and being taught how to create calm.
The apnea work adults engage in is not simply breath-hold training—it is attention training under physiological demand. As CO₂ rises, the mind naturally begins to forecast danger: I can’t. I need air. Something’s wrong. Counting becomes a way to prevent attention from collapsing into that narrative, keeping the mind organized while the body is under demand. So in the pool, just as in the classroom, we are practicing the same essential capacity: Stay present. Stay oriented. Keep access.
What makes Sarah and the Big Wave such a powerful bridge is that it connects story, science, and performance—revealing how focus shapes what we can access under pressure. Sarah’s moment under the wave isn’t bravado—it is attentional control: choosing focus over fear in real time.
That is what we are teaching when we say, “Count with your breath.” Determination is not just personality. Resilience is not just toughness. Grit is trainable.