[Andrea J.]

michelle you will be fine

stand in shallow water and bend over.....put your face in the water just wearing the mask

come up to breathe every so often.....do not hold your breath either, exhale thru your moouth like a whistle

when you feel pretty good with that
take the mask off put the snorkel in your mouth, pinch your nose and stand around and breath thru the snorkel tube (with face OUT of the water)

then pinch your nose again, stick your face in the water and breathe thru your mouth and the snorkel tube make sure the top of the tube is OUT of the water

stay with your face in nose blocked mouth/snorkel slow deep breathing for 3 minutes and by slow i mean less than 12 breaths a minute even slower 8 breaths would be good relax

if you can do that comfortably put the mask ON slip the snorkel UP on the left side of your face and secure under the strap of mask put the snorkel so it is comfortable DO NOT CLAMP down with the jaws of death crunch

dip your face in and breath SLOWLY thru your mouth
repeat and repeat

once you are comfy let your legs float up and grasp the edge of the pool and do a prone float and continue to breathe slowly thru your MOUTH

when you have mastered this LET me know.
:-)