score:8
Normally you must let air of the surrounding pressure back into your inner ear. While most of the time chewing relieves the symptom, divers have more techniques for this which is called equalizing:
Should neither of this work, you are probably congested. Meaning there is some accumulation trapping higher-pressure air between the ear canal and the ear drum. This risk is exactly why divers should not dive congested or after using decongestants, since they may wear-off during the dive.
This means that a decongestionnant will probably help you. Since you will not use medication, you can try natural ways for reducing congestion. Eating very spicy food works me better than other things but you can try saline solution too.