0:00:11.210,0:00:12.704
(Video)

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(Man) 10 seconds

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5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

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Official top

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Plus 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

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6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

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Guillaume Nery, France

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Constant weight, 123 metres,

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3 minutes and 25 seconds

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National record attempt

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70 metres

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[123 metres]

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(Applause)

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(Woman) National record!

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Guillaume Nery: Thank you.

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(Applause)

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Thank you very much. [br]Thanks for your warm welcome.

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That dive you just watched was a journey.

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A journey between two breaths.

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A journey which starts[br]between two breaths,

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the last one before diving into the water,

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and the first one[br]coming back to the surface.

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That dive was a journey[br]to the very limits of human possibility.

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A journey into the unknown.

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But it's also, and above all,[br]a personal journey,

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where all sorts of things go on:

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Physiologically and mentally.

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And that's why I'm here today,

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to share my journey with you, [br]and to take you with me.

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So, we start with the last breath.

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(Breathing in)

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(Breathing out)

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As you've just seen, it's slow,

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deep and intense.

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And I end it with a special technique,[br]called the carp,

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which allows me to store[br]one or two extra litres of air in my lungs

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by compressing the air.

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Off I go; I leave the surface,

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and I've got about [br]10 litres of air in my lungs.

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I've just left the surface[br]and so the first mechanism kicks in --

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the diving reflex.

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The first thing the diving reflex does[br]is make your heart rate drop.

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My heart beat will drop[br]from about 60-70 per minute,

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to about 30-40 beats per minute,

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in a matter of seconds;[br]almost immediately.

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Second, the diving reflex causes [br]peripheral vasoconstriction,

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which means that the blood flow[br]will leave the extremities

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and prioritise the most important organs:

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the lungs, the heart, and the brain.

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Now, this mechanism is innate.

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I cannot control it.

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If you go underwater,[br]even if you've never done it before,

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you'll experience the exact same effects.

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All human beings have this instinct.

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And what's extraordinary

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is that we share this instinct[br]with marine mammals.

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All marine mammals:[br]dolphins, whales, sea lions, etc.

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When they dive, deep into the ocean,

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these mechanisms get activated

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but to a greater extent

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and, of course, it works [br]much better for them.

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It's absolutely fascinating.

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Leaving the surface, I'm right away given[br]a push in the right direction

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allowing me to head on down[br]with confidence.

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So I go deeper into the blue,

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the pressure will slowly start[br]to squeeze my lungs,

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and since it's the amount of air[br]in my lungs that makes me float,

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the further down I go,[br]the more pressure there is on my lungs,

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the less air I have to breathe,[br]the easier it becomes to go down.

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And at one point,[br]around 35 or 40 metres down,

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I don't even need to swim.

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My body is dense and heavy enough

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to fall into the depths by itself

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and I'm in what is called[br]the free fall phase.

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Free fall is the best part of the dive.

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It's why I still dive.

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Because it feels like [br]you're being pulled down

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and you don't have to do anything.

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I can go down from 35 metres to 123 metres[br]without making a single movement.

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I let myself be grabbed by the depths,[br]and it feels like I'm flying underwater.

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It's a truly unbelievable feeling,[br]a wonderful feeling of freedom.

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And so I slide, slowly, to the bottom.

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40 metres down,

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50 metres down,

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and between 50 and 60 metres down, [br]a second physiological response kicks in:

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my lungs reach residual volume.

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It's the theoretical volume

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below which our lungs [br]are not supposed to be compressed.

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And so this second response[br]is the (English) "blood shift".

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The proper term[br]in French is "pulmonary erection".

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I prefer "blood shift". (Laughter)

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Let's just use "blood shift".

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So how does it work?

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The capillaries in the lungs [br]become engorged with blood

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due to pressure

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so the lungs can harden

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and protect the whole chest cavity[br]from being crushed.

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It prevents the two walls[br]of the lungs from collapsing,

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sticking together or caving in.

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Thanks to this phenomenon,[br]which we also share with marine mammals,

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I can continue with my dive.

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60 metres down,

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70 metres down,

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I keep falling, faster and faster,

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because the pressure is crushing my body,[br]more and more.

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Below 80 metres,

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the pressure becomes a lot stronger,

0:07:02.559,0:07:04.849
and I start to actually feel it.

0:07:04.849,0:07:06.830
I really start to feel the oppression.

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You can see how it looks --[br]not pretty at all.

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The diaphragm is completely collapsed,

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the ribcage has been squeezed in,

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and mentally,[br]there is something going on, as well.

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You're thinking:[br]"OK, this doesn't feel too good..."

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"What should I do?"

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If I relied on my earthly reflexes,

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what do we do on the surface[br]when there's a problem?

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We want to resist, we go against it.

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We fight.

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Underwater, that doesn't work.

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If you try that underwater,[br]you might tear your lungs,

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spit up blood, develop an edema,

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and then you have to stop.[br]For a while, at least.

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So what you need to do, mentally, [br]is to tell yourself

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that nature is stronger,[br]the elements are stronger than you.

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And so I let the water crush me.

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I accept the pressure,

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and go with it.

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At this point, I'm giving [br]my body this information,

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my lungs start relaxing.

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I relinquish all control,

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and relax completely.

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The pressure starts crushing me,[br]and it doesn't feel horrible at all.

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I even feel like I'm in a cocoon,

0:08:04.537,0:08:06.035
I even feel protected.

0:08:06.035,0:08:08.567
And the dive continues.

0:08:08.567,0:08:10.250
80 metres, 85 metres down,

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90,

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100,

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100 metres -- that's a magic number.

0:08:15.959,0:08:17.735
In every sport, it's a magic number.

0:08:17.735,0:08:20.056
For swimmers and athletes,[br]and for us too,

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for free divers,[br]it's a number everyone dreams of.

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Everyone wishes to be able[br]to go down 100 metres one day.

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And it's a quite symbolic number for us,[br]because doctors and physiologists,

0:08:29.424,0:08:30.643
in the 1970s,

0:08:30.643,0:08:32.262
did their math and predicted

0:08:32.262,0:08:36.883
that the human body[br]would not be able to go below 100 metres.

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Below that, they said,[br]the human body would implode.

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And then the little Frenchman,[br]Jacques Mayol, who you all know --

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the main character in "The Big Blue" --

0:08:44.485,0:08:47.556
went for it, and dived down to 100 metres.

0:08:47.556,0:08:49.357
He even went down to 105.

0:08:49.357,0:08:53.159
At that time, he was doing no-limits.[br]He would use weights to go down quicker

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and come back up with a balloon,[br]like in "The Big Blue".

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Today, we can go up to 200 metres[br]with no-limits.

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I can do 123 metres,[br]by just using my own muscles.

0:09:00.885,0:09:04.855
And all this is in a way thanks to him,[br]because he challenged known facts,

0:09:04.855,0:09:09.340
because with a sweep of his hand[br]he got rid of the theoretical beliefs

0:09:09.340,0:09:12.759
and mental limits[br]that we like to impose on ourselves.

0:09:12.759,0:09:16.308
He showed that the human body[br]has an infinite ability to adapt.

0:09:16.308,0:09:17.665
So I carry on on my dive.

0:09:17.665,0:09:20.211
105, 110, 115,

0:09:20.211,0:09:21.771
The bottom is getting closer,

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120 metres,

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123 metres. I'm at the bottom.

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And now, I'd like to ask you to join in[br]and to put yourself in my place.

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Close your eyes.

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Imagine you are 123 metres[br]under the surface.

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The surface is very very far away.

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You're alone.

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There's hardly any light.

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It's cold.

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Bitterly cold.

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The pressure is crushing you completely,[br]13 times stronger than on the surface.

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And I know what you're thinking,

0:09:54.973,0:09:56.912
"This is horrible!"

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"What the hell am I doing?"

0:09:58.930,0:10:00.813
"He must be crazy!"

0:10:01.453,0:10:02.906
Well, I'm not!

0:10:02.906,0:10:05.141
That's not what I think[br]when I'm down there.

0:10:05.141,0:10:07.067
When I'm at the bottom, I feel good.

0:10:07.067,0:10:09.519
I get this extraordinary feeling[br]of well-being.

0:10:09.519,0:10:12.291
Maybe it's because[br]I've totally let go of all the tensions

0:10:12.291,0:10:13.955
and I've let myself be taken over.

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I feel good,[br]and I don't even want to breathe.

0:10:19.930,0:10:24.457
Now, that's a bit worrying, I know.

0:10:24.777,0:10:27.477
I feel like I'm a tiny dot,[br]a little drop of water,

0:10:27.477,0:10:29.288
floating in the middle of the ocean.

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And, each time,[br]the same image comes into my head:

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(English) The pale blue dot.

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(French) You may recognise this picture.[br]It's literally a pale blue dot.

0:10:38.572,0:10:41.055
It's that little dot[br]the arrow is pointing to.

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Do you know what it is?

0:10:43.645,0:10:45.359
It's planet Earth.

0:10:45.559,0:10:48.171
Planet Earth, [br]photographed by the Voyager probe,

0:10:48.171,0:10:51.412
4 billion kilometres away.

0:10:52.402,0:10:55.759
It shows that our home is that dot over here.

0:10:55.759,0:10:58.179
That little dot floating[br]in the middle of nothing.

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That's how I feel[br]when I'm at the bottom, at 123 metres.

0:11:02.291,0:11:04.275
I feel like a little dot,

0:11:04.275,0:11:07.121
a speck of dust, stardust,

0:11:07.121,0:11:09.359
floating in the middle of the cosmos,

0:11:09.359,0:11:11.972
in the middle of nothing,[br]in the immensity of space.

0:11:11.972,0:11:13.359
It's an amazing sensation,

0:11:13.359,0:11:17.318
because I look up, down,[br]left, right, in front, behind,

0:11:17.318,0:11:20.351
and I see the same thing:[br]the infinite deep blue.

0:11:20.351,0:11:23.026
Nowhere else on Earth [br]you can experience the same thing,

0:11:23.026,0:11:26.992
looking all around you [br]and seeing the same thing.

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It's extraordinary.

0:11:29.144,0:11:32.624
And at that moment,[br]I still get the same feeling, each time,

0:11:32.642,0:11:34.827
building up inside of me,

0:11:34.827,0:11:37.786
a feeling of humility.

0:11:38.966,0:11:40.323
I feel very humbled

0:11:40.323,0:11:43.167
when I look at the photo[br]that was just on the screen,

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(Laughter)

0:11:44.331,0:11:48.077
and when I'm at the bottom,[br]because I'm nothing.

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I'm a little speck of nothingness[br]lost in all of time and space.

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And it's absolutely fascinating.

0:11:54.746,0:11:59.014
I decide to go back up,[br]because I don't belong there.

0:11:59.014,0:12:00.990
I belong up there, on the surface.

0:12:00.990,0:12:03.167
So I start heading back up.

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I get something of a shock,

0:12:08.819,0:12:11.602
at the very moment[br]when I decide to go up again.

0:12:11.602,0:12:15.360
First of all, it takes a huge effort[br]to tear yourself away from the bottom,

0:12:15.360,0:12:19.213
since it pulled you in on the way down[br]it's going to do the same on the way up.

0:12:19.213,0:12:21.291
You need to swim twice as hard.

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Then, I get hit by another phenomenon:

0:12:24.814,0:12:27.775
The bends. I don't know[br]if you've heard of that

0:12:27.775,0:12:29.834
-- it's also called[br]decompression sickness.

0:12:29.834,0:12:32.322
It's something that usually happens[br]to scuba divers,

0:12:32.322,0:12:34.680
and it can also happen to free-divers.

0:12:34.680,0:12:37.840
It happens because the nitrogen[br]dissolved in the blood,

0:12:37.850,0:12:39.974
which is partly responsible [br]for the struggle

0:12:39.974,0:12:42.981
between the conscious[br]and unconscious mind.

0:12:43.211,0:12:45.045
So many thoughts rush through your head,

0:12:45.045,0:12:47.745
left, right, and centre, [br]spinning through your head,

0:12:47.745,0:12:49.570
You cannot control anything,

0:12:49.570,0:12:52.648
you experience something similar[br]when you're on acid.

0:12:52.648,0:12:54.612
I've never taken acid, [br]but if I ever...

0:12:54.612,0:12:56.452
-- no, you seem like a sensible lot!

0:12:56.452,0:12:59.816
Anyway, it's supposed to have[br]the same effect as acid has on you.

0:13:00.536,0:13:03.873
Above all, you shouldn't try to control it.[br]You have to let it happen.

0:13:03.873,0:13:07.929
Don't try to control it. The more you do,[br]the harder it is to manage.

0:13:07.929,0:13:10.522
Then a third thing comes along:[br]The desire to breathe.

0:13:10.522,0:13:12.148
Well, I'm not a fish-man,

0:13:12.148,0:13:16.349
I'm a human being, and the desire[br]to breathe reminds me of that fact.

0:13:16.349,0:13:18.493
At 60 or 70 metres,

0:13:20.073,0:13:22.933
You start to feel the need to breathe.

0:13:22.933,0:13:25.552
And with everything else that's going on

0:13:25.552,0:13:29.739
you could very easily lose your mind

0:13:29.739,0:13:31.462
and start to panic.

0:13:32.482,0:13:34.143
When that happens, you're thinking,

0:13:34.143,0:13:37.062
"Where's the surface? I want to go up. [br]I want to breathe. Now."

0:13:37.062,0:13:38.408
You should not do that.

0:13:38.408,0:13:40.680
Never look up to the surface,

0:13:40.680,0:13:41.963
not with your eyes,

0:13:41.963,0:13:43.473
or your mind.

0:13:43.473,0:13:46.150
You can never imagine yourself up there.

0:13:46.150,0:13:48.108
You have to stay in the present.

0:13:48.108,0:13:50.173
I look straight ahead of me

0:13:50.173,0:13:53.266
at the rope that leads me[br]back to the surface.

0:13:53.266,0:13:56.573
And I focus on that, [br]on the present moment.

0:13:56.573,0:13:59.226
Because if I think about the surface,[br]I start to panic,

0:13:59.226,0:14:00.878
and if I panic, it's over.

0:14:01.512,0:14:03.710
Time passes much faster this way.

0:14:03.710,0:14:06.260
And at 30 metres,[br]there we are, I'm finally saved.

0:14:06.260,0:14:07.482
I'm not alone any more.

0:14:07.482,0:14:09.676
My safety divers, my guardian angels,

0:14:09.690,0:14:10.851
are there.

0:14:10.851,0:14:13.290
They leave the surface,[br]we meet up at 30 metres,

0:14:13.290,0:14:15.372
and they escort me, [br]for the last few metres,

0:14:15.372,0:14:18.048
which is where problems could arise.

0:14:18.498,0:14:20.843
And each time I see them I think,

0:14:21.673,0:14:23.101
"It's thanks to you."

0:14:23.101,0:14:25.514
It's thanks to them that I'm here[br]-- my team.

0:14:25.514,0:14:27.695
It brings back the sense of humility.

0:14:28.475,0:14:31.900
Without them, my team,[br]without all these people around me,

0:14:31.900,0:14:34.278
the adventure into the deep [br]would be impossible.

0:14:34.278,0:14:38.177
A journey into the deep is a group action,[br]above anything else.

0:14:38.177,0:14:40.458
So I'm happy to finish[br]my journey with them

0:14:40.458,0:14:42.499
because it's thanks to them[br]that I'm there.

0:14:42.929,0:14:44.542
20 metres, 10 metres.

0:14:44.542,0:14:46.690
My lungs slowly return[br]to their normal volume,

0:14:46.690,0:14:49.266
the Archimedes' principle[br]helps me back to the surface.

0:14:49.266,0:14:51.700
5 metres below the surface, [br]I start to breathe out,

0:14:51.700,0:14:55.646
so that as soon as I arrive at the surface[br]all I have to do is breathe in.

0:14:57.206,0:14:59.171
Then I get to the surface.

0:14:59.741,0:15:02.666
(Breathing in)

0:15:05.896,0:15:07.731
Air floods into my lungs,

0:15:07.731,0:15:09.093
it's like being born again

0:15:09.093,0:15:10.556
-- a relief.

0:15:10.976,0:15:12.446
Because it feels good.

0:15:12.446,0:15:13.962
The journey was extraordinary

0:15:13.962,0:15:16.253
but I did need[br]those little oxygen molecules

0:15:16.253,0:15:18.132
that I've just breathed in.

0:15:18.452,0:15:22.180
It's an extraordinary sensation,[br]but at the same time it's traumatising

0:15:22.180,0:15:23.612
It's a shock to the system.

0:15:23.612,0:15:27.506
Can you imagine going from[br]complete darkness to the light of day?

0:15:27.512,0:15:31.862
I go from the near-silence of the depths[br]to the hustle and bustle up top.

0:15:32.352,0:15:36.909
In terms of touch, I go from the soft, [br]velvety feeling of the water,

0:15:36.909,0:15:39.471
to the air which rubs across my face.

0:15:39.481,0:15:42.673
In terms of taste, in terms of smell,

0:15:42.673,0:15:45.043
there's the air which rushes into my lungs.

0:15:45.053,0:15:47.488
And in turn my lungs open up.

0:15:47.488,0:15:50.021
They were completely squashed[br]just 90 seconds ago,

0:15:50.021,0:15:51.860
and now, they're opened up again.

0:15:51.860,0:15:55.640
So all of this affects[br]quite a lot of things.

0:15:55.640,0:15:58.021
I need a few seconds to come back,

0:15:58.021,0:15:59.719
to feel "all there" again.

0:15:59.719,0:16:02.981
But that has to happen quickly,[br]because the judges are in front of me

0:16:02.981,0:16:04.487
to approve my attempt,

0:16:04.487,0:16:07.136
and I have to show them that [br]I'm in perfectly healthy.

0:16:07.136,0:16:10.039
You saw it in the video,[br]I was doing a so-called exit protocol.

0:16:10.039,0:16:13.948
Once I'm at the surface, [br]I have 15 seconds to take off my nose clip

0:16:14.648,0:16:16.098
to make this sign,

0:16:16.098,0:16:17.953
and say (English) "I'm OK."[br]

0:16:17.953,0:16:19.475
And you need to be bilingual.

0:16:19.475,0:16:20.997
(Laughter)

0:16:20.997,0:16:22.260
After all that,

0:16:22.260,0:16:23.611
it's not easy.

0:16:25.136,0:16:28.635
Once the protocol is finished,[br]the judges show me a white card,

0:16:28.635,0:16:30.676
and that's when the joy starts.

0:16:30.676,0:16:33.574
I can finally celebrate[br]what has just happened.

0:16:34.255,0:16:39.673
So, the journey I've just told you about,[br]is a more extreme version of freediving.

0:16:40.121,0:16:42.270
Luckily, it's not just about that.

0:16:42.270,0:16:44.747
Far from it.

0:16:44.847,0:16:48.542
For the last 2 or 3 years, I've been trying [br]to show another side of freediving,

0:16:48.542,0:16:51.886
because the media often talks[br]about competitions and records.

0:16:51.886,0:16:53.636
But freediving is more than just that.

0:16:53.636,0:16:56.036
It's about being at ease in the water.

0:16:56.036,0:16:59.005
It's extremely beautiful,[br]very poetic, and artistic.

0:16:59.005,0:17:03.254
My partner and I decided to shoot films,[br]and try to show another side of it.

0:17:04.036,0:17:06.669
To make you want to go into the water.

0:17:06.679,0:17:11.174
So, let me show you some images[br]to finish my story.

0:17:12.444,0:17:15.853
It's a patchwork of beautiful[br]underwater photos. (Music)

0:17:15.853,0:17:21.312
To let you know that if one day[br]you try to stop breathing,

0:17:21.312,0:17:23.599
you'll realise[br]that when you stop breathing

0:17:23.599,0:17:25.572
you stop thinking too.

0:17:26.192,0:17:27.984
It calms you down.

0:17:28.704,0:17:31.834
Today, in the 21st century,[br]we're under so much pressure.

0:17:31.834,0:17:35.011
Our minds are overworked, [br]we think at a million miles an hour,

0:17:35.011,0:17:37.105
we're always stressed,

0:17:37.105,0:17:40.182
and being able to freedive,[br]helps you to, just for a moment,

0:17:40.182,0:17:41.927
let your mind relax.

0:17:42.497,0:17:44.236
Holding your breath underwater

0:17:44.236,0:17:47.964
means giving yourself the chance[br]to experience weightlessness.

0:17:48.374,0:17:51.350
Being underwater, floating,

0:17:51.350,0:17:55.052
with your body completely relaxed,[br]letting go of all your tensions.

0:17:55.052,0:17:58.277
That's issue with the 21st century:[br]our backs and necks hurt, everything,

0:17:58.277,0:18:00.035
because we're stressed all the time.

0:18:00.035,0:18:01.401
We're always tense.

0:18:01.401,0:18:05.309
But when you're in the water,[br]you let yourself float, like in space.

0:18:05.852,0:18:07.970
You let yourself go completely.

0:18:07.971,0:18:11.191
It's extraordinary,[br]you can finally get in touch

0:18:11.191,0:18:14.875
with your body, your mind, with yourself.

0:18:15.305,0:18:17.343
Everything feels better, all at once.

0:18:18.723,0:18:23.790
Learning how to hold your breath,[br]is also about learning to breathe well.

0:18:23.790,0:18:28.070
We breathe from our first breath,[br]at birth, to our last.

0:18:28.080,0:18:31.527
Breathing is the rhythm of our lives.

0:18:31.687,0:18:35.253
Learning how to breath better [br]helps you learn to live better.

0:18:35.553,0:18:39.645
Holding your breath, in the sea,[br]not necessarily at 100 metres, but 2 or 3,

0:18:39.645,0:18:41.944
putting on your goggles,[br]a pair of flippers,

0:18:41.944,0:18:43.685
means you can go see another world,

0:18:43.685,0:18:45.686
another universe, completely magical.

0:18:45.686,0:18:47.604
Seeing little fish, seeing seaweed,

0:18:47.604,0:18:49.400
all the flora and fauna,

0:18:49.400,0:18:51.796
and being able to watch that discreetly,

0:18:51.796,0:18:54.915
sliding under the water, looking around,[br]and coming back to the surface,

0:18:54.915,0:18:56.855
leaving no trace.

0:18:56.855,0:18:58.405
It's a wonderful feeling,

0:18:58.405,0:19:01.247
being able to become a part[br]of the sea like that.

0:19:01.857,0:19:04.840
And let me tell you on more thing,

0:19:05.220,0:19:10.044
holding your breath, being in the water,[br]finding this underwater world,

0:19:10.044,0:19:12.386
is all about connecting[br]with yourself again.

0:19:12.386,0:19:13.965
You've just heard about it,

0:19:13.965,0:19:17.325
I've talked a lot about the body's memory

0:19:17.325,0:19:20.175
which dates back millions of years,[br]to our marine origins.

0:19:20.175,0:19:22.958
The day you get back into the water,

0:19:22.958,0:19:25.341
when you hold your breath[br]for a few seconds,

0:19:25.341,0:19:29.020
you will be in touch[br]with those origins again.

0:19:29.020,0:19:30.508
And I can guarantee you

0:19:30.508,0:19:32.165
that it's absolutely magic.

0:19:32.165,0:19:34.560
I encourage you to try it out. Thank you.

0:19:34.560,0:19:37.972
(Applause)