Oli Christen is a Freedive Instructor Trainer and author of education materials for AIDA, Molchanovs and PADI Freediver. He is the owner of Freedive Flow Indonesia, a renowned freediving school on Gili Air.

Oli is known in the world of freediving as the original author of the current AIDA Education manuals and is a versatile speaker and freedive evangelist. He was awarded in 2015 by PADI for his outstanding contribution as a member of the PADI Freediver Advisory Group. Since 2018 he is a contributing author in the Molchanovs Education System.

Born and raised in Switzerland, Oli Christen moved to Indonesia in 2011 to start Freedive Flow. Oli sees freediving as the most direct way to interact with underwater nature and in a much broader perspective, for him freediving is a powerful tool to open new doors and gain insights into ourselves.

Oli holds master degrees in Psychology and BA and looks back on a career as a consultant and associate professor of strategic HR-management and Training Systems Developer, and has a professional sports background in handball. He is also an avid photographer and when time allows he follows his passion of playing guitar.

In this episode we discuss:

A brief discussion about how the rebuilding is coming along on Gili Air after the devastating earthquakes.
Oli’s origins in Switzerland.
What the hell is handball?
How did Oli discover freediving for the first time?
Overcoming all the many initial challenges.
Richard Wonka and We Freedive originally on the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia
Pranayama as a means to fix a chronic sinus congestion problem.
The importance of finding the right yoga teacher and a shout out to Simon Borg-Olivier.
Oli’s contribution to the education systems of freediving.
What is essential in a beginner’s freediving course?
Idea’s we’ve let go of or should let go of in freediving education.
Problems with defining hyperventilation and avoiding getting too technical with explanations.
The fundamentals of freediving safety.
The importance of taking a freediving course.
The important qualities of the freediving instructor.
What is industrial psychology and how can physchology skills be applied to freediving teaching?
Managing over-expectation and wrong expectations.
Questions from Mika Koyama about crossing over from scuba instructor to freediving instructor, and how to stay in good shape all the time.
What Freedive Flow offers….
Advice for a younger self.
Who has influenced Oli the most?
Oli recommends the books of Haruki Murakami.
His plans for the future.

Matt’s Links:

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