Getting Started with Freediving: Between Calm and Darkness in Lake Zurich
Sometimes new chapters don’t begin with a grand plan. They begin with individual people asking the same question again and again.
Over the past few months, I started receiving more and more requests for freediving courses in Zurich. One came from a husband who wanted to give his wife a course as a gift. Someone at my gym said, “Make sure you let me know when you offer a course.” And over the years, friends and acquaintances had repeatedly shown an interest in the activity I’m so passionate about.
And suddenly, there were three people who were actually ready to start.
So I announced my first Molchanovs Wave 1 course of my own.
What happened next surprised even me: someone brought a friend. Participants told others about the courses. People from the diving community recommended me.
From that small first group, a wonderful dynamic developed in a very short time.
And suddenly, I was no longer teaching just one course. A small freediving community began to take shape – and with the support of my partner, who is a freediver himself as well as a long-time swimming and mental coach, I had the privilege of teaching a total of four fully booked courses this summer.
Beginner Course “Wave 1”: Everyone Has Their Own Path
I teach according to the Molchanovs system, an internationally recognized freediving education system. I completed my instructor training in 2020. The beginner level is called Wave 1.
There are also other well-known training organizations, such as AIDA, SSI, and PADI, each with slightly different structures and areas of focus.
In the end, however, what matters less is which logo appears on your certification. What matters far more is finding a good instructor who makes you feel safe and comfortable and who adapts to your individual needs.
The Wave 1 course is about developing the fundamental skills of freediving: learning to hold your breath in a relaxed way, move safely underwater, understand equalization, and make your first deeper dives. For the Open Water certification, we dive to depths of approximately 12 to 20 meters.
What fascinated me most about my first group was how different everyone was.
Some people seem to understand equalization almost immediately. Their body simply knows what to do. Others need more time, more practice, and sometimes several different explanations before they can truly feel and control the individual muscles and movements involved.
And that, for me, is one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching:
Everyone has their own path underwater.
Freediving makes these differences very visible. That’s why, from the very beginning, I try to give my students something that goes far beyond diving: stop comparing your progress to the person next to you.
Just because you started the same course on the same day doesn’t mean that your bodies have to learn the same things at the same pace. The paths that have brought my students to me are all very different.
Of course, it’s incredibly rewarding to make progress together. You spend many intense hours with one another, witness each other’s small and big achievements, learn from one another – and at some point, a special sense of connection begins to grow.
Afterwards, some of my Wave 1 students immediately wanted to know:
What Comes Next?
The answer is Wave 2.
Wave 2 in Lake Zurich: 30 Meters Are Different Here
Wave 2 is already a fairly demanding level in Lake Zurich. For the depth disciplines, we work our way towards 25 to 30 meters. And anyone who knows Lake Zurich knows: 30 meters here feel very different from 30 meters in a warm, crystal-clear sea.
From around 20 meters, the light begins to disappear. It gets dark. And cold.
When I first started freediving in Lake Zurich in 2018, depths that are now part of Wave 2 training were by no means something I took for granted. That makes it all the more rewarding for me today to guide people along exactly this path.
And what I love even more is that after their first experiences in Lake Zurich, my students don’t say:
“Okay, that’s enough for me.” Instead, they say:
“There’s more.”
That is exactly the kind of curiosity I love. Discovering together what potential lies within a person. Watching someone achieve something they were previously convinced they couldn’t do.
Many people believe that deep freediving is only for a very particular kind of person. Someone especially brave, especially athletic, or somehow extraordinary.
And then, suddenly, they discover:
I have these abilities within me too.
That moment – the realization, the smile after surfacing, that mixture of surprise and excitement – is difficult for me to describe. It is one of the reasons why I love guiding people in the water. This is about so much more than a certification.
Why My Freediving Courses in Zurich Are Structured a Little Differently
I realized relatively quickly that the classic course model used in many freediving destinations cannot simply be transferred to Switzerland.
On holiday, a course spread over three or four consecutive days works wonderfully. You have time off, you’re already mentally removed from everyday life, and you may even be diving in warm water.
In Zurich, the reality is different.
People work. Their weekends are often planned weeks in advance. One person might be able to take Friday off, while another cannot. Saturday might not work for one person, and Sunday might not work for someone else.
And somewhere in between, the pool, theory, and open-water sessions all have to fit together.
That’s why I deliberately designed my courses to be more flexible.
My students get two longer water sessions of around three hours each for depth diving. There are always alternative dates and backup options, and the groups are kept small.
In addition, there is an intensive pool day where we focus in detail on the pool disciplines, techniques, and requirements. The theory sessions take place online and can be attended flexibly; if someone cannot make it, a recording is available.
And there is something else that is important to me:
For me, the course doesn’t automatically end just because the planned six hours in the lake are over.
If someone needs more time in the water to truly understand a skill or safely meet the requirements, I try to create additional opportunities for them to practice.
This approach worked incredibly well this summer. It takes away some of the pressure. The goal is not to tick off certain numbers within two sessions. I don’t want someone to go home with a certification while not really understanding what they have just learned.
I want my students to understand what they are doing – and why.
Freediving Has No Perfect Age
Another wonderful experience from my first courses was the wide range of ages. People from very different stages of life took part. And freediving quickly shows that being younger certainly does not automatically mean being better.
Sometimes, quite the opposite.
With life experience often comes greater calm. People know their bodies better, approach tasks with less urgency, and find it easier to accept that not everything needs to be forced.
In freediving, that can be an enormous strength.
Because depth does not come from strength alone.
Very often, it comes from the opposite:
from letting go.
When Scuba Divers Suddenly Become Beginners Again
I also particularly enjoy having experienced scuba divers in my courses. They know the water. They know depth. They know equalization. They move confidently underwater.
And then comes freediving.
Suddenly, there is no regulator. No air supply. No BCD. Your own body becomes the central instrument.
And sometimes there is this wonderful moment when someone realizes:
Oh. There’s actually still quite a lot for me to learn here.
I think that’s fantastic. Not because I want to “bring anyone back down to earth,” but because there is something special about being allowed to become a beginner again as an adult.
Learning something completely new. Feeling uncertain. Making progress. And having a real challenge again.
The Pressure Underwater – and the Pressure in Your Mind
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things about teaching is watching what happens to people as soon as they feel they “have to” achieve something.
And I don’t mean water pressure. I mean internal pressure.
I have to reach this depth today.
The other person can do it too.
I could do this last week.
Why isn’t it working today?
Freediving is remarkably honest. Stress, fatigue, and the things occupying our minds in everyday life don’t automatically disappear just because we put on a wetsuit and jump into the water.
Sometimes a dive works beautifully for an entire week – and then, at the next training session, suddenly not at all. I know this very well from my own sporting career.
And that is exactly why I also talk to my students about the nervous system, mental load, and available capacity.
If you’ve had an extremely demanding week at work, haven’t slept enough, or are dealing with things in your life that require a lot of energy, we cannot expect our bodies to completely let go on command within a second. Sometimes today simply isn’t the day for 30 meters.
And that’s okay.
The more interesting question is:
What do I need today?
Learning to Feel
This is perhaps the part of my courses that has become especially important to me. Before every water session, we do a warm-up. This includes physical movement and mobility, but also taking a moment to arrive mentally and through the breath.
How does my body feel right now?
How am I breathing?
Am I tense?
Am I calm?
Where am I holding tension?
This year, I also completed a training course with Martin McPhilimey, where I explored breathing and nervous system regulation in depth. Much of what I learned now naturally flows into my work in freediving.
Because sometimes it is surprisingly simple tools that can help us move from a highly activated state towards greater regulation and calm.
Especially immediately before diving, this can be incredibly valuable.
And for me, these things go far beyond the requirements of Wave 1 or Wave 2.
Because ultimately, I don’t just want to teach the people who come into the water with me how to dive to 20 or 30 meters.
I want to give them something they might also be able to use outside the water: a little more body awareness. A little more trust. And perhaps a little more calm.
And This Was Just the Beginning
When I look back at my first independently organized Wave 1 and Wave 2 courses in Lake Zurich near Herrliberg, what I feel most of all is gratitude for the people who chose to take part.
For those who brought someone along.
For those who recommended me to others.
For the scuba divers who suddenly became beginners again.
For the people who celebrated their first successful equalization. And for those who eventually found themselves hanging at the buoy, looking down into the darkness of Lake Zurich and still wanting to know:
How deep can I actually go?
That is exactly the question I want to explore together with you.
Not as quickly as possible.
Not in comparison with anyone else.
But step by step, with safety, curiosity, and respect for your own body.
Vielleicht ist jetzt dein Moment,
abzutauchen.
Mein nächster Molchanovs Wave 1 Kurs
in Zürich startet im Oktober.
Wenn du neugierig geworden bist und selbst erleben möchtest,
was Freediving mit dir macht,
findest du mit dem Buttom: alle Informationen
zu Terminen, Ablauf und Anmeldung.
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