I was doing some online research for a project today, and got a little sidetracked once I stumbled across some fascinating articles regarding the ability to survive for long periods on just one breath of air.

I was under the impression that anything over 4 or 5 minutes usually eventuated in a lack of oxygen to the brain and some serious long term problems unless there were extenuating circumstances. But over 17 minutes? What about over 20 minutes?
When I found this series of clips I was amazed.

It all started with the soty of the little boy that fell through some ice and was resuscitated after being under the freezing water for around 45 minutes. He recovered with no apparent issues, except perhaps a fear of ice skating.

Then there are those that do it for 'sport' and break records. There is a trick to it using pure oxygen beforehand but still, this has to be seen to be believed.

The history of Extreme Breath Holding.

This feat has been studied for thousands of years, and the yoga gurus of India have been showing off this trick for a long time. They trained hard, maintained exacting lifestyles and had a devotion to mediatation that, as David Blaine explains in his clip, is essential to being successful in this feat.

They didnt have however the use of the modern tools like pure oxygen at their disposal. The yogi lifestyle is one that sets up the human body to excell in endurance situations like holding your breath for a really long time, however I imagine one would be hard pressed to find a yogi either of such a calibre to have a crack at these records, or even be bothered with the spectacle of such an action.

Speaking of which I wonder what the outcome was for the 83 year Indian yogi by the name of Prahlad Jani who recently laid claim to not eating or drinking for the last 70 years. Click here to see the story. I must follow up on this, which I will post at the end of that article at some stage soon.

To begin this series of super interesting clips I will start with the first video I came across which just blew me away. It is the magician / illusionist David Blaine discussing his preparation for attempting to go 17 minutes on just one lungfull. At first I thought it was a trick, but then the deeper into the story the more intriguing it became. Then comes the clips about what I presume to be the current record holder, free diver Tom Sietas who went even longer than that.

Astounding.

This is an amazing clip on a US TV Show that is not quite long enough to get the full story, but at least it is in english. The following clip is what I presume to be the current record held by Tom Sietas, but it is in a lanauge that I cannot understand. Still well worth a watch to see the technique.

And finally, if you haven't had enough yet, here is another amazing clip by a guy that claims to have done 20 minutes 10 seconds. He also holds a Guinness Record for under ice free diving so maybe it is legtimate. In just a few short years the record went from 8 minutes to either 17 or 20.

The human body really is amazing.