Freediving 101

Practice safe freediving: never dive alone; dive with a qualified buddy; follow rescue techniques and health guidelines to stay within your limits and protect the ocean.

Master the breath hold in freediving by examining apnea stages, relaxation techniques, and recovery breathing. Apply belly, chest, and upper chest breathing to manage oxygen and calm the mind.

Explore how depth changes drive pressure, air volume, and gas partial pressures in freediving, and learn safety concepts like squeezes, shallow water blackout, and breathing patterns.

Learn equalization for freediving: Frenzel and other techniques, manage ear and mask air spaces, guard against congestion and reverse block, and practice on land.

Master rescue skills for free diving by prioritizing buddy communication, recovery breaths, and safety checks, while following an emergency action plan to handle LMC or blackouts.

Understand the mammalian dive reflex and how it enables longer breath holds underwater via bradycardia, peripheral vasoconstriction, and the blood shift, with spleen release and immersion pee.

Develop relaxation techniques to stay calm underwater, using slow movements, present-moment focus, and visualization to conserve oxygen, ease equalization, and support safe, effortless descents and ascents.

Learn to select and maintain comfortable, functional freediving gear—from masks and fins to wetsuits and weights—by testing fit and defogging at a local freediving school.

Check your weight at depth to maintain neutral buoyancy, descend with full lungs, and hover at the target depth. Note buoyancy shifts with depth and saltwater versus freshwater, beware overweighting.

Master the duck dive to start a descent to 2–5 meters, using momentum, arm position, and body tilt for comfortable recreational or constant-weight free diving, not used for free immersion.

Maintain a straight-ahead gaze to stay hydrodynamic, choose one of two hand-position options, master mermaid kicking or no fins strokes, use snorkel appropriately, and conserve oxygen.

Turn at the turning point when you reach your limit; grab the line, perform a forward tumble with an arched back and tucked chin, then pull to begin your ascent.

Keep ascent positively buoyant to stay effortless as airspaces expand and excess air escapes. Recover at the surface with controlled breathing, grab support, and signal okay with a hand sign.

Advance your dives using CO2 and O2 tables to build apnea tolerance, with recovery breaths and buddy supervision, while gradually deepening; combine stretching and breathing practices to improve lung capacity.

Explore the major freediving disciplines—from static apnea, dynamic apnea to free immersion, constant weight, variable weight, and no limits—and learn technique, buoyancy, safety, and training strategies.

Meet Julie Schultz, a passionate free diver and scuba instructor, sharing a world-spanning journey from the Middle East to Bali and East Africa's reefs.