OUR PHILOSOPHY

Freediving is much more than a sport. It is a life discipline that strengthens your mind, body and spirit. It is a personal journey of self-awareness and connection to the ocean.

“Scuba divers dive to look around. Freedivers dive to look within.” – Umberto Pelizzari 


WHAT WE ARE ABOUT

At Zen Freediving we share our passion for freediving through courses, training, events and trips and seek to build a community of freediving enthusiasts in Singapore and around the world.

Our approach to teaching freediving is based on relaxation and internal awareness in a safe and fun environment, dispelling the perception of freediving as an "extreme" sport. We teach beginners to advanced students, and cater to each student's individual ability and personal objectives, whether recreational or competitive. In each course, you will delve into the physics, psychology and physiology of freediving.

We were the first freediving school in Singapore to offer freediving courses in local waters. The visibility may be limited, but there is local marine life to be discovered in our fair city state by those with the patience to explore!

As freedivers, we believe in taking care of the ocean that brings us so much enjoyment and do our part by promoting sustainability and supporting marine conservation efforts. These are some of our current and past projects: 

  • Regular organisation of underwater trash clean ups 
  • We re-use packaging materials for shipping orders where possible
  • Collection of old wetsuits to be sent to Suga Yoga to be up-cycled into yoga mats 
  • Sponsorship of the music video "Birthplace" by Novo Amor to raise awareness on the issue of marine debris. 


MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS

MICHELLE

Molchanovs Wave 4 Instructor (the only one in Singapore!)
Molchanovs Instructor Trainer
Singapore Women’s Multiple National Record Holder
Founding member of the Apnea Association of Singapore

 

 

Having spent countless hours in the water as a kid, Michelle felt right at home when she started freediving in 2011. An ex-competitive swimmer, triathlete, underwater rugby player, rock climber and a certified PADI rescue scuba diver, she feels that freediving is the only sport to have had such a profound effect on her personality and lifestyle.

Although she enjoys the challenge of training and competition, Michelle's favourite part of freediving is spending time in the water connecting with other ocean inhabitants. She enjoys teaching and helping other people discover the joys of freediving, in the hopes that they get to experience the wonders of the ocean too. Besides freediving, she loves surfing and skateboarding and has a special interest in marine conservation.


CHRISTOPHER


Winner of the SG Pool Freediving Open 2015, Second place in the Australian National Depth Championship 2015.
Founding member of the Apnea Association of Singapore.

Chris was inspired to pursue freediving over 10 years ago after hearing the humpbacks singing off the Big Island of Hawaii. Since then, freediving has become his lifestyle. Two years ago he left his legal career to pursue freediving and since then has been teaching, diving and exploring the ocean full time.

Chris loves the mind/body aspects of freediving, the endless challenge and the new experiences that freediving offers.


KOHEI

Molchanovs Instructor & Award-Winning Photographer
                     

Kohei has been freediving with us since 2016, first as a zen student, and now as a zen coach and instructor. He quit his job in 2014 to travel the world, capturing images along the way that won him 1st place at the 2016 Sony Alpha Art House Competition. That same year, apart from discovering his talent in photography, he also discovered his passion for freediving after taking the course with Zen. Since then he's been taking his camera underwater, honing his skills both as a freediver and underwater photographer, winning multiple awards both locally and abroad. Most notably in 2019, he was crowned IPA Sports Photographer of the Year, and won 2nd place at the Sony World Photography Awards with his work on freediving in the professional category of sports. Today he continues to spread the beauty of the ocean and the intricacy of this sport as a freedive instructor, freedive photographer and athlete, inspiring more people to get in and start exploring, not only deep into the ocean, but deep within themselves.


COLEMAN

 

Molchanovs Instructor
Initial Safety Officer of the Apnea Association of Singapore
AIDA and CMAS Judge

While Coleman enjoys numerous activities including scuba diving, swimming, rock climbing, and basketball, only freediving is so profound that he wants to share and teach it. Nothing else has opened up a range of indescribably amazing sensations like being deep underwater on a long breathhold.

As a Molchanovs-certified instructor with a background in instructional design and education, Coleman enjoys explaining the many intricacies of freediving, and why there’s nothing else quite like it.

Coleman is also passionate about freediving safety. He was the initial Safety Officer appointed by the Apnea Association of Singapore, and set up the standards and training manual for pool competition safety divers. He’s also active as a competition safety diver.

Coleman is also a qualified freediving competition judge, for both AIDA and CMAS.

 


SAM

AIDA 4 Freediver

Sam started his underwater adventure with scuba diving in early 2012. A few months later, he took his very first freediving course in the Philippines. Freediving soon became his passion and the rest is history. He believes that freediving is an endless journey of fine-tuning our breath control and awareness of the senses

Since then, Sam has dived and trained with freedivers from all over the world. He joined the Zen Team in 2016 to assist with courses and coaching, and feels privileged to be able to share his knowledge and passion with other freedivers.


Testimonials

"We are both scuba divers and discovered freediving some years ago. Now we relocated to Singapore and found Zen Freediving as we wanted to learn freediving properly.

We signed up for the AIDA2* course with Zen and we can definetly recommend this course if you are already comfortable in and under water. Michelle spent half a day explaining the theory of freediving in a very professional and experienced manner. The groups are small and during the pool session Michelle had her eyes on everyone giving feedback and advice. On the second day we went with their own boat to the open water session where we met Chris.

It was also a great experience to have him help us training our skills. Even if it needed more than a few trials, he always found different ways to explain the techniques to us so that we finally succeed.

Now we join the pool trainings frequently and no matter who out of the Zen team is guiding the trainings, it is always fun, challenging and never the same.
What we really would like to point out is that Zen especially takes care that the students understand what they are doing and that they feel confident and comfortable with what they are doing! If you want to learn this sport deeply instead of just getting a certificate then Zen is right for you!"

— Matthias and Christine Bouwman

"Always wanted to learn more about free diving to be able to continue surfing big waves. The team of Zen Freediving was VERY accommodating and able to arrange a last minute course during a busy weekend for them with a big diving event in town. Michelle our coach was awesome and created a 3 hour special program to once again accommodate our needs. It was very good and incredible how we progressed so much in just one session. A lot more to learn and we will sure continue our learning journey. Thanks to Michelle and the whole team !!! STRONGLY RECOMMEND!!!"

— Eduardo Gebrera

“Had the best time learning about free diving and it’s practices with Chris and Michelle, they are wonderful and dedicated instructors, very knowledgable and comfortable to learn from! Exactly what I’ve been looking for in a free diving instructor, if you have any reservations or fear, don’t fret, they understand and are very accommodating! What a pleasure to learn from such wonderful people!”

— Yeong Yao Yi


Tripadvisor



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