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(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. 
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
between two breaths,

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the last one before diving into the water,

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and the first one
coming back to the surface.

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That dive was a journey
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,
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, 
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,
called the carp,

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which allows me to store
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 
10 litres of air in my lungs.

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I've just left the surface
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
is make your heart rate drop.

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My heart beat will drop
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;
almost immediately.

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Second, the diving reflex causes 
peripheral vasoconstriction,

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which means that the blood flow
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,
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
with marine mammals.

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All marine mammals:
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 
much better for them.

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It's absolutely fascinating.

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

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allowing me to head on down
with confidence.

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So I go deeper into the blue,

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the pressure will slowly start
to squeeze my lungs,

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

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

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

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And at one point,
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
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 
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
without making a single movement.

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

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It's a truly unbelievable feeling,
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, 
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 
are not supposed to be compressed.

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

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The proper term
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 
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
from being crushed.

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It prevents the two walls
of the lungs from collapsing,

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sticking together or caving in.

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Thanks to this phenomenon,
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,
more and more.

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Below 80 metres,

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the pressure becomes a lot stronger,

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and I start to actually feel it.

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I really start to feel the oppression.

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You can see how it looks --
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,
there is something going on, as well.

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You're thinking:
"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
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,
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.
For a while, at least.

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So what you need to do, mentally, 
is to tell yourself

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that nature is stronger,
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 
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,
and it doesn't feel horrible at all.

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I even feel like I'm in a cocoon,

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I even feel protected.

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And the dive continues.

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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.

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In every sport, it's a magic number.

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For swimmers and athletes,
and for us too,

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

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

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

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in the 1970s,

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did their math and predicted

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that the human body
would not be able to go below 100 metres.

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Below that, they said,
the human body would implode.

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

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the main character in "The Big Blue" --

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went for it, and dived down to 100 metres.

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He even went down to 105.

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At that time, he was doing no-limits.
He would use weights to go down quicker

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

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

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

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And all this is in a way thanks to him,
because he challenged known facts,

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because with a sweep of his hand
he got rid of the theoretical beliefs

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and mental limits
that we like to impose on ourselves.

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He showed that the human body
has an infinite ability to adapt.

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So I carry on on my dive.

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105, 110, 115,

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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
and to put yourself in my place.

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Close your eyes.

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Imagine you are 123 metres
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,
13 times stronger than on the surface.

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And I know what you're thinking,

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"This is horrible!"

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"What the hell am I doing?"

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"He must be crazy!"

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Well, I'm not!

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That's not what I think
when I'm down there.

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When I'm at the bottom, I feel good.

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I get this extraordinary feeling
of well-being.

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Maybe it's because
I've totally let go of all the tensions

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and I've let myself be taken over.

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

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Now, that's a bit worrying, I know.

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I feel like I'm a tiny dot,
a little drop of water,

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floating in the middle of the ocean.

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And, each time,
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.
It's literally a pale blue dot.

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It's that little dot
the arrow is pointing to.

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Do you know what it is?

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It's planet Earth.

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Planet Earth, 
photographed by the Voyager probe,

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4 billion kilometres away.

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It shows that our home is that dot over here.

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That little dot floating
in the middle of nothing.

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

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I feel like a little dot,

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a speck of dust, stardust,

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floating in the middle of the cosmos,

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in the middle of nothing,
in the immensity of space.

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It's an amazing sensation,

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because I look up, down,
left, right, in front, behind,

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and I see the same thing:
the infinite deep blue.

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Nowhere else on Earth 
you can experience the same thing,

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looking all around you 
and seeing the same thing.

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It's extraordinary.

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And at that moment,
I still get the same feeling, each time,

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building up inside of me,

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a feeling of humility.

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I feel very humbled

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when I look at the photo
that was just on the screen,

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(Laughter)

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and when I'm at the bottom,
because I'm nothing.

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

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And it's absolutely fascinating.

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I decide to go back up,
because I don't belong there.

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I belong up there, on the surface.

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So I start heading back up.

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I get something of a shock,

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at the very moment
when I decide to go up again.

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First of all, it takes a huge effort
to tear yourself away from the bottom,

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since it pulled you in on the way down
it's going to do the same on the way up.

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You need to swim twice as hard.

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Then, I get hit by another phenomenon:

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The bends. I don't know
if you've heard of that

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-- it's also called
decompression sickness.

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It's something that usually happens
to scuba divers,

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and it can also happen to free-divers.

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It happens because the nitrogen
dissolved in the blood,

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which is partly responsible 
for the struggle

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between the conscious
and unconscious mind.

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So many thoughts rush through your head,

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left, right, and centre, 
spinning through your head,

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You cannot control anything,

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you experience something similar
when you're on acid.

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I've never taken acid, 
but if I ever...

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-- no, you seem like a sensible lot!

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Anyway, it's supposed to have
the same effect as acid has on you.

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Above all, you shouldn't try to control it.
You have to let it happen.

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Don't try to control it. The more you do,
the harder it is to manage.

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Then a third thing comes along:
The desire to breathe.

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Well, I'm not a fish-man,

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I'm a human being, and the desire
to breathe reminds me of that fact.

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At 60 or 70 metres,

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You start to feel the need to breathe.

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And with everything else that's going on

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you could very easily lose your mind

252
00:13:29,739 --> 00:13:31,462
and start to panic.

253
00:13:32,482 --> 00:13:34,143
When that happens, you're thinking,

254
00:13:34,143 --> 00:13:37,062
"Where's the surface? I want to go up. 
I want to breathe. Now."

255
00:13:37,062 --> 00:13:38,408
You should not do that.

256
00:13:38,408 --> 00:13:40,680
Never look up to the surface,

257
00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:41,963
not with your eyes,

258
00:13:41,963 --> 00:13:43,473
or your mind.

259
00:13:43,473 --> 00:13:46,150
You can never imagine yourself up there.

260
00:13:46,150 --> 00:13:48,108
You have to stay in the present.

261
00:13:48,108 --> 00:13:50,173
I look straight ahead of me

262
00:13:50,173 --> 00:13:53,266
at the rope that leads me
back to the surface.

263
00:13:53,266 --> 00:13:56,573
And I focus on that, 
on the present moment.

264
00:13:56,573 --> 00:13:59,226
Because if I think about the surface,
I start to panic,

265
00:13:59,226 --> 00:14:00,878
and if I panic, it's over.

266
00:14:01,512 --> 00:14:03,710
Time passes much faster this way.

267
00:14:03,710 --> 00:14:06,260
And at 30 metres,
there we are, I'm finally saved.

268
00:14:06,260 --> 00:14:07,482
I'm not alone any more.

269
00:14:07,482 --> 00:14:09,676
My safety divers, my guardian angels,

270
00:14:09,690 --> 00:14:10,851
are there.

271
00:14:10,851 --> 00:14:13,290
They leave the surface,
we meet up at 30 metres,

272
00:14:13,290 --> 00:14:15,372
and they escort me, 
for the last few metres,

273
00:14:15,372 --> 00:14:18,048
which is where problems could arise.

274
00:14:18,498 --> 00:14:20,843
And each time I see them I think,

275
00:14:21,673 --> 00:14:23,101
"It's thanks to you."

276
00:14:23,101 --> 00:14:25,514
It's thanks to them that I'm here
-- my team.

277
00:14:25,514 --> 00:14:27,695
It brings back the sense of humility.

278
00:14:28,475 --> 00:14:31,900
Without them, my team,
without all these people around me,

279
00:14:31,900 --> 00:14:34,278
the adventure into the deep 
would be impossible.

280
00:14:34,278 --> 00:14:38,177
A journey into the deep is a group action,
above anything else.

281
00:14:38,177 --> 00:14:40,458
So I'm happy to finish
my journey with them

282
00:14:40,458 --> 00:14:42,499
because it's thanks to them
that I'm there.

283
00:14:42,929 --> 00:14:44,542
20 metres, 10 metres.

284
00:14:44,542 --> 00:14:46,690
My lungs slowly return
to their normal volume,

285
00:14:46,690 --> 00:14:49,266
the Archimedes' principle
helps me back to the surface.

286
00:14:49,266 --> 00:14:51,700
5 metres below the surface, 
I start to breathe out,

287
00:14:51,700 --> 00:14:55,646
so that as soon as I arrive at the surface
all I have to do is breathe in.

288
00:14:57,206 --> 00:14:59,171
Then I get to the surface.

289
00:14:59,741 --> 00:15:02,666
(Breathing in)

290
00:15:05,896 --> 00:15:07,731
Air floods into my lungs,

291
00:15:07,731 --> 00:15:09,093
it's like being born again

292
00:15:09,093 --> 00:15:10,556
-- a relief.

293
00:15:10,976 --> 00:15:12,446
Because it feels good.

294
00:15:12,446 --> 00:15:13,962
The journey was extraordinary

295
00:15:13,962 --> 00:15:16,253
but I did need
those little oxygen molecules

296
00:15:16,253 --> 00:15:18,132
that I've just breathed in.

297
00:15:18,452 --> 00:15:22,180
It's an extraordinary sensation,
but at the same time it's traumatising

298
00:15:22,180 --> 00:15:23,612
It's a shock to the system.

299
00:15:23,612 --> 00:15:27,506
Can you imagine going from
complete darkness to the light of day?

300
00:15:27,512 --> 00:15:31,862
I go from the near-silence of the depths
to the hustle and bustle up top.

301
00:15:32,352 --> 00:15:36,909
In terms of touch, I go from the soft, 
velvety feeling of the water,

302
00:15:36,909 --> 00:15:39,471
to the air which rubs across my face.

303
00:15:39,481 --> 00:15:42,673
In terms of taste, in terms of smell,

304
00:15:42,673 --> 00:15:45,043
there's the air which rushes into my lungs.

305
00:15:45,053 --> 00:15:47,488
And in turn my lungs open up.

306
00:15:47,488 --> 00:15:50,021
They were completely squashed
just 90 seconds ago,

307
00:15:50,021 --> 00:15:51,860
and now, they're opened up again.

308
00:15:51,860 --> 00:15:55,640
So all of this affects
quite a lot of things.

309
00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,021
I need a few seconds to come back,

310
00:15:58,021 --> 00:15:59,719
to feel "all there" again.

311
00:15:59,719 --> 00:16:02,981
But that has to happen quickly,
because the judges are in front of me

312
00:16:02,981 --> 00:16:04,487
to approve my attempt,

313
00:16:04,487 --> 00:16:07,136
and I have to show them that 
I'm in perfectly healthy.

314
00:16:07,136 --> 00:16:10,039
You saw it in the video,
I was doing a so-called exit protocol.

315
00:16:10,039 --> 00:16:13,948
Once I'm at the surface, 
I have 15 seconds to take off my nose clip

316
00:16:14,648 --> 00:16:16,098
to make this sign,

317
00:16:16,098 --> 00:16:17,953
and say (English) "I'm OK."


318
00:16:17,953 --> 00:16:19,475
And you need to be bilingual.

319
00:16:19,475 --> 00:16:20,997
(Laughter)

320
00:16:20,997 --> 00:16:22,260
After all that,

321
00:16:22,260 --> 00:16:23,611
it's not easy.

322
00:16:25,136 --> 00:16:28,635
Once the protocol is finished,
the judges show me a white card,

323
00:16:28,635 --> 00:16:30,676
and that's when the joy starts.

324
00:16:30,676 --> 00:16:33,574
I can finally celebrate
what has just happened.

325
00:16:34,255 --> 00:16:39,673
So, the journey I've just told you about,
is a more extreme version of freediving.

326
00:16:40,121 --> 00:16:42,270
Luckily, it's not just about that.

327
00:16:42,270 --> 00:16:44,747
Far from it.

328
00:16:44,847 --> 00:16:48,542
For the last 2 or 3 years, I've been trying 
to show another side of freediving,

329
00:16:48,542 --> 00:16:51,886
because the media often talks
about competitions and records.

330
00:16:51,886 --> 00:16:53,636
But freediving is more than just that.

331
00:16:53,636 --> 00:16:56,036
It's about being at ease in the water.

332
00:16:56,036 --> 00:16:59,005
It's extremely beautiful,
very poetic, and artistic.

333
00:16:59,005 --> 00:17:03,254
My partner and I decided to shoot films,
and try to show another side of it.

334
00:17:04,036 --> 00:17:06,669
To make you want to go into the water.

335
00:17:06,679 --> 00:17:11,174
So, let me show you some images
to finish my story.

336
00:17:12,444 --> 00:17:15,853
It's a patchwork of beautiful
underwater photos. (Music)

337
00:17:15,853 --> 00:17:21,312
To let you know that if one day
you try to stop breathing,

338
00:17:21,312 --> 00:17:23,599
you'll realise
that when you stop breathing

339
00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:25,572
you stop thinking too.

340
00:17:26,192 --> 00:17:27,984
It calms you down.

341
00:17:28,704 --> 00:17:31,834
Today, in the 21st century,
we're under so much pressure.

342
00:17:31,834 --> 00:17:35,011
Our minds are overworked, 
we think at a million miles an hour,

343
00:17:35,011 --> 00:17:37,105
we're always stressed,

344
00:17:37,105 --> 00:17:40,182
and being able to freedive,
helps you to, just for a moment,

345
00:17:40,182 --> 00:17:41,927
let your mind relax.

346
00:17:42,497 --> 00:17:44,236
Holding your breath underwater

347
00:17:44,236 --> 00:17:47,964
means giving yourself the chance
to experience weightlessness.

348
00:17:48,374 --> 00:17:51,350
Being underwater, floating,

349
00:17:51,350 --> 00:17:55,052
with your body completely relaxed,
letting go of all your tensions.

350
00:17:55,052 --> 00:17:58,277
That's issue with the 21st century:
our backs and necks hurt, everything,

351
00:17:58,277 --> 00:18:00,035
because we're stressed all the time.

352
00:18:00,035 --> 00:18:01,401
We're always tense.

353
00:18:01,401 --> 00:18:05,309
But when you're in the water,
you let yourself float, like in space.

354
00:18:05,852 --> 00:18:07,970
You let yourself go completely.

355
00:18:07,971 --> 00:18:11,191
It's extraordinary,
you can finally get in touch

356
00:18:11,191 --> 00:18:14,875
with your body, your mind, with yourself.

357
00:18:15,305 --> 00:18:17,343
Everything feels better, all at once.

358
00:18:18,723 --> 00:18:23,790
Learning how to hold your breath,
is also about learning to breathe well.

359
00:18:23,790 --> 00:18:28,070
We breathe from our first breath,
at birth, to our last.

360
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,527
Breathing is the rhythm of our lives.

361
00:18:31,687 --> 00:18:35,253
Learning how to breath better 
helps you learn to live better.

362
00:18:35,553 --> 00:18:39,645
Holding your breath, in the sea,
not necessarily at 100 metres, but 2 or 3,

363
00:18:39,645 --> 00:18:41,944
putting on your goggles,
a pair of flippers,

364
00:18:41,944 --> 00:18:43,685
means you can go see another world,

365
00:18:43,685 --> 00:18:45,686
another universe, completely magical.

366
00:18:45,686 --> 00:18:47,604
Seeing little fish, seeing seaweed,

367
00:18:47,604 --> 00:18:49,400
all the flora and fauna,

368
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,796
and being able to watch that discreetly,

369
00:18:51,796 --> 00:18:54,915
sliding under the water, looking around,
and coming back to the surface,

370
00:18:54,915 --> 00:18:56,855
leaving no trace.

371
00:18:56,855 --> 00:18:58,405
It's a wonderful feeling,

372
00:18:58,405 --> 00:19:01,247
being able to become a part
of the sea like that.

373
00:19:01,857 --> 00:19:04,840
And let me tell you on more thing,

374
00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:10,044
holding your breath, being in the water,
finding this underwater world,

375
00:19:10,044 --> 00:19:12,386
is all about connecting
with yourself again.

376
00:19:12,386 --> 00:19:13,965
You've just heard about it,

377
00:19:13,965 --> 00:19:17,325
I've talked a lot about the body's memory

378
00:19:17,325 --> 00:19:20,175
which dates back millions of years,
to our marine origins.

379
00:19:20,175 --> 00:19:22,958
The day you get back into the water,

380
00:19:22,958 --> 00:19:25,341
when you hold your breath
for a few seconds,

381
00:19:25,341 --> 00:19:29,020
you will be in touch
with those origins again.

382
00:19:29,020 --> 00:19:30,508
And I can guarantee you

383
00:19:30,508 --> 00:19:32,165
that it's absolutely magic.

384
00:19:32,165 --> 00:19:34,560
I encourage you to try it out. Thank you.

385
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,972
(Applause)