Equalization: The Complete Guide — NAGI Freediving 凪

If your ears hurt at three to five meters — congratulations, you’ve met the number-one obstacle for every freediving beginner on earth: equalization. The good news: it’s a pure technique problem, and everyone can learn it.

Why ears hurt

Every meter of depth adds pressure that pushes your eardrums inward. Equalization simply sends air through the Eustachian tubes into the middle ear, pushing the eardrums back out. Pain is your body saying “you should have equalized already.”

The right rhythm: start at the surface, equalize every meter, always before you feel pressure.

Valsalva vs Frenzel

	Valsalva	Frenzel
Action	Pinch nose, “push” with chest/belly	Pinch nose, compress air with the tongue
Power source	Lungs and abdomen	Tongue and soft palate only
Works to	~10 m	Tens of meters
Problem	Fails with depth, burns oxygen, strains the chest	None — but must be learned

Most people naturally use Valsalva, which is exactly why so many divers “get stuck around ten-something meters” — that’s Valsalva’s physiological limit. Depth belongs to Frenzel, and we teach it as a dedicated module in the AIDA3 course.

Training Frenzel on land

A few minutes daily; most people find it within two weeks:

Pinch your nose, close your mouth
Tongue tip on the palate, as if about to say “T” or “K”
Push air up and back with the base of the tongue — a small “pop” in the ears means success
Tunnels and airplane descents are free practice time

When it won’t work, there is only one answer

Stop descending, come up a meter, try again. Never push through ear pain — a barotrauma means weeks out of the water, or permanent damage. A slightly tucked chin makes equalizing easier than craning to look at the bottom — one of the details we correct constantly in courses.

Stuck on equalization? That’s exactly what coaching is for — tell us where you’re stuck.