help for a new guy

[olympianchc]

I am more or less a beginner to freediving, it is something that I have become interested in over the last few months. I have a quick question. When equalizing the ears at depth, do I equalize them the same way I normally would, aboard a plane ect...? I have always been able to equalize my ears easily (able to control the muscle within the ear on command). Is this the same way I should do it under-water at depth? If not could you give me a quick explanation of how this is accomplished?

Thanks in advance

[Bill]

The two big differences are; you have to clear faster in the water and you have to do it upside down. If you clear early and often you probably won't notice any difference until your lungs are collapsed to residual at about 30 meters (100'). To go deeper, you'll have to learn to draw air from the lungs to the mouth or better yet to fill your mouth with air before your lungs empty. If you use this air to equalize your mask then you'll be able to clear the same way to about 60.
Aloha
Bill

[Merlin]

Here are the major equalization techniques.
http://home.earthlink.net/~tgcook/equalize.html

Frenzel is probably one of the most popular of those. Learn how to do it here. Some people learn it in a few minutes for others it takes many days and lots of practice.
http://prince.ton.tut.fi/~jome/vocal_frenzel.html

If you do a search you can find a lot of information on equalization.