Material life is suffering, like being dunked in water to suffocate and then drawn back up for relief

Expressions researched:
"drowned in the water, again taken for some time to take breathing. He was suffocating." |"dunk him in the water to suffocate" |"put into the water and suffocated" |"put within the water. When he is almost on the point of suffocation" |"when he's almost suffocating, then they again draw from the water"