Mental Masterclass for Freedivers

Meet Challenge with Presence

With Joska Šálek & Michaela “Miska” Werner

Saturday, 30 May
Sydney - Wylie's Baths, Coogee
8:30am–11:30am
3-hour in-person Workshop

We all know freediving is not just physical.

And yet, many of us don’t give mental training the attention it deserves — not because we don’t care, but because we lack time, understanding, or simply don’t know where to start.

Then competition arrives.

Pressure rises.
The body feels different.
The mind gets louder.
And suddenly, we find ourselves just trying to “do our best to relax.”

But relaxation is not a strategy.

And when dives don’t go to plan, it can lead to disappointment, confusion, self-judgement, and loss of trust. Many freedivers beat themselves up, hoping the next dive will feel different.

But what if it doesn’t?

What if the missing piece isn’t more force, more CO2 tolerance or more pool time — but a different / better way to meet challenge?

This workshop is for freedivers who want to train the mind as well as the body — so their future dives become not only longer, but more connected, controlled, honest, and rewarding.

Especially for those who often experience:

- Performance anxiety
- Fear of discomfort
- Negative self-talk
- Surfacing earlier than you wanted to
- Losing trust in yourself during performance
- Trying to push through or force a dive instead of staying connected and honest with yourself
- Going past the point of healthy control, experiencing blackouts

If this feels familiar, join us as we explore how to meet these moments with more awareness, clarity, and self-trust.

You’ll learn practical tools to help you understand your mental patterns, work with discomfort, calm the inner voice, and create a simple mental plan for training and competition.

Why Joska? 

Joska Šálek is one of the most inspiring humans I’ve ever met.

Joska is not fearless.
He wasn’t born an athlete.
But he chose to meet challenge differently — with presence, awareness, and trust. And not only the challenges HE CHOSE but also the challenges that CHOSE HIM.

His presence alone changes something in people.

He is in Australia from the Czech Republic for only three weeks, so I wanted to create this rare opportunity for our freediving community to learn from him while he is here.

Joska brings a unique perspective as someone who has mastered calmness, conscious awareness, and the ability to direct his mind and emotions under extreme physical and mental pressure. Not just once. But countless of times.

He lives what he teaches every single day.

As the current Guinness World Record holder for the longest abdominal plank — 9 hours, 38 minutes and 47 seconds — he understands what it means to stay present when the body wants to stop, the mind becomes loud, and the challenge feels enormous...

Joska said: “I felt mentally ready, not physically, because my longest uninterrupted training took three and a half hours and I had major complications when I tried to stretch the time staying in a plank position. I knew that in my case it’s not about demanding physical training, but rather about mastering the process… about my mindset."

His world may be different from freediving, but the inner experience is deeply relevant:

Discomfort.
Uncertainty.
Pressure. Fear.
The urge to quit.
The need to stay calm.
The ability to remain honest and present with yourself.

During the workshop, I’ll be assisting Joska and translating his lessons into the freediving world — helping you apply his experience of extreme endurance, presence, and staying calm under pressure directly to your training and performance in the water.

Meet Challenge with Presence

Freediving is a mirror. It reflects how we perceive ourselves — our fears, our trust, our inner voice, our history, and the stories we carry about who we are and what we believe we can or cannot do.

The question is not whether challenge will arrive.

The question is:

How will you meet it?

Investment

$98 per freediver
Sydney Seals members receive 15% discount

Are you a Sydney Seals member but don't have a code? Get in touch:) [email protected]