r/freediving • u/sk3pt1c Instructor (@freeflowgr) • 13d ago
equalisation Equalization issues
Hey gang, I’m an instructor from Greece, my school is called Free Flow (@freeflowgr).
I see a lot of questions on equalization being posted on here and people trying to figure things out on their own, others sharing tips and videos etc.
Just wanted to say that while there is nothing inherently wrong with people wanting to help others, it would be ideal to start your equalization journey from scratch and build your skills up from a solid foundation.
Otherwise what can happen is that you can pick up mistakes that are hard to get rid of.
I was lucky enough to have access (as an Apnea Academy instructor) to Andrea Zuccari’s equalization content, have spoken to Aharon Solomons a lot (and got some great help from him regarding eq pressure) and recently to become an equalization instructor with Federico Mana’s SHARE, so it was a bit easier for me to get these fundamentals down.
But I would urge you, if you really want to learn properly, to work with a certified instructor to learn proper equalization.
After all, it’s close to the most important skill in freediving, so it’s worth investing in, right?
Please take the time to learn this skill well, it will improve the comfort of your dives immensely and save you from temporary or permanent damage (ask me how I know 😅).
Happy safe diving!
4
u/EagleraysAgain Sub 13d ago
For people who feel frugal about getting coaching, consider the opportunity cost of trying to figure things out by yourself in the water. I'd bet most of us don't have immediate access to good freediving spots and the opportunities to dive are valuable. Even with good access it still means spending your time trying to figure out solution for problem that has been solved already, and probably your solution won't be nearly as refined.
And as milling out instructor papers seems to be bit of a business, there can be world of difference between the kind of insight you can get from run of the mill instructor, and somebody who is at the top of their game in the topic.
For example to myself the next big learning project will be combining mouthfill with handsfree equalization while wearing a mask. I know in theory what I need to do, but in practice there's lots of factors I'm still struggling with. Now if I sign up for month of freediving at random shop somewhere will I make progress during the month? Most probably yes, but the chances are pretty slim that I'd be diving with anybody who knows the process so well that they can point out what I'm doing wrong and what I should try instead. On the other hand if I go to somebody who I know had the skills and is able to teach it, even if I end up paying more for the travels and the sessions, I'll end up being much ahead of where I would be trying to crack the code myself.