I am here at ESEN, I came to talk about...
the power of breathing, specifically about...
the mental attitude to become competitive...
using breathing exercises, managing stress,
and applying what I teach in freediving to daily life,
to school and to the field of business here at ESEN.
The experience was excellent, I would do it again,
I love to share my knowledge with young people,
with students who will be leaders in the future.
Today I talked about apnea, about how freediving...
is not a sport for extraterrestrials...
or superheroes, not at all,
any human being can do it with a good breathing technique,
with good oxygenation every day,
with a duly certified instructor...
and in a responsible manner. Never do it alone.
It was very gratifying to meet so many students,
more than 150 young men and women who attended...
the lecture and were very motivated,
I saw them very interested in being in contact with the water,
in sports and good breathing.
I came to talk to these economics students...
a little bit about the inspiration I have...
as a free diver.
How I realized the problem of sustainability and contamination
by diving and being in contact with the water.
I finished my lecture with the art projects...
we're doing to raise awareness.
It was a genuinely nice experience to talk...
to the students because after all,
they're preparing to go out into the world...
and make decisions that can really make important changes.
I want to leave you with 4 words that I think summarize...
very well what we've seen today.
The first word is calm,
the second word is inspiration,
the third word is values...
and the fourth word is action.
¿You want some coffee?
This guy...
is the first human on the planet to have reached...
a depth of 100 meters...
with his own muscle power.
He possesses 12 world records...
of breath holding and depth,
and breath holding in motion without going deep.
He has a school in the Caribbean...
where he has trained more than 400 free divers.
And he has a very vast experience around the world.
We are joined by John Muñoz from Colombia.
He possesses the record for static breath holding.
In other words, taking a breath
and holding it without exhaling.
He is Colombian...
and he was a little amazed...
because we told him that without any training,
this guy held his breath for 5 minutes 6 seconds.
The Colombian record is 5 minutes 47 seconds,
so I sincerely hope you didn't cheat and that you do it again.
And we also have Alex St.-Jean...
who is an underwater photographer...
and videographer, so he's going to be filming us.
And, Gio González, who is Alex's partner,
an underwater video specialist as well.
They have filmed almost all the competitions...
around the world.
We are going to start training and promoting you...
in order to obtain donations for the education...
of your families, to federate you so you...
have a different form of income than just the oysters.
Not to stop extracting oysters but to have for example,
during the winter, another source of income, OK?
Also, we will be professionalizing...
and improving your techniques and perhaps you guys can...
also teach us a few things.
So, this is the beginning of this project called "Oysters".
Notice that I do it slowly. I'm...
I'm not forcing myself like this either.
Forcing yourself doesn't work, guys,
it sacrifices your relaxation, the priority is to be relaxed.
We are going to learn to breathe from the belly.
-How do you descend? -We just breathe...
-and descend really fast. -No, but before that...
what do you do?
If you learn to breathe from here, your heart rate...
decreases, and you mentally prepare to descend.
We are going to breathe...
moving just the hand that's on the navel.
It'll look like this, watch...
I feel I made a good decision by coming here...
today and attend this lecture, I feel that it could...
mean a better future, something better for our jobs,
for our children, for our lives ...
it could mean a better future for us all,
there's no harm in trying.
You already know that it must be an abdominal breath,
you put one hand here, the other one here...
and the only thing that moves is the abdomen, OK?
Be very aware to breathe only with your abdomen.
Take your shirts off and come to this side,
lie down in a circle or next to each other,
whatever you want,
and we are going to work in our breathing, OK?
The rest of the group come to this side, please.
Or you guys want to be together? Is that it?
-Come on! -This side is for us...
with big bellies!
You guys wanna hold hands or something?
Now, let's pay attention to the movement of the hands.
And let's imagine that the air enters through the nose...
and pushes the hand that is above the belly.
There you go, much better!
Feel the air coming through.
The hand above the chest will not move,
try to move the one above the belly.
We're practicing abdominal breathing,
learning to use the diaphragm to breathe.
They are not used to use the snorkel?
They tell me they don't use it.
Is it possible they try the snorkel today in the practice?
Sure.
Because I think that would help them...
to improve everything.
That's going to make a difference,
-it'll be interesting. -You think?
-And it's simple. -Yes.
I have a bit of a flu, man, and breathing like this...
is not the same.
I don't think I can do it.
But you won't feel like that forever.
Sure, but right now I can't.
If they want, I can come back later.
Yeah, I don't feel comfortable breathing like this.
For me, it doesn't matter if I'm sick or not,
I do it anyways, in fact, I don't think my lungs...
perform differently with the flu.
Of course. Go ahead, man.
Do it.
The problem is that the other day was just...
a test and he was like...
When you do Frenzel, you don't push the air from here,
everything happens here.
Watch this.
Watch how I compensate.
See my nose?
I'm pushing the air with my tongue, the air goes...
straight to the nose and from there to the ears,
that's all.
The advantage is that when you push the air...
with your tongue, you use less energy.
Pronounce "T".
"T".
Say it: "T".
-"T". -"T".
"T".
Now with your mouth closed and your fingers here.
That's it!
-Show me. -How do you do it?
The air always escapes.
Yeah? Through where?
Here.
You're not taking advantage of the full breath...
and that is normal because you just learned it this morning.
It takes a little practice.
Also, it's different to do the full breath when you have...
the water up to here. In other words, the water...
pressure in the belly makes it difficult for you...
to fill up from below, but those are muscles you can...
train like when you go to the gym, you can train...
the diaphragm and the intercostals to fill up...
with more air. OK?
That means more time underwater...
and that's good for you as oyster harvesters...
and in the future as competitive free divers...
or to work here with the surfers.
Let's not make a buoyancy test.
Let's have everyone practice Frenzel,
-equalization and freediving. -Lower one hand,
-lower the other, equalize... -Yeah.
Prepare the briefing, I will assist you...
-in the morning session... -Perfect.
... and then we do it together in the afternoon.
-Perfect. -OK?
Well, we had our first apnea session,
we did what we call confined waters...
and a breathing and relaxation session.
We started with what is most important...
in freediving which is the breathing technique,
how to control your breathing, your inhalation,
your exhalation,
how to use the diaphragm,
the abdominal breathing to relax,
we talked about the respiratory cycle.
And then, in the afternoon, we went into the water...
to practice static apnea in the pool.
These guys have potential and will improve step by step.
Tomorrow is an important day because we will go...
to the ocean to train.
We practiced a couple of things that we didn't know,
but now we do know for sure.
For us it's a great experience because we learned...
how to hold our breath a little longer and...
that will reflect on our work.
It was a nice experience to learn another way to...
hold my breath longer underwater because that...
will make my job a little easier.
We talked about how to hold our breath longer underwater...
and how to prevent an accident.
Everything was OK, we'll see how it goes,
hopefully we all do great.
For example, I didn't know the masks they wear...
were so primitive. I knew they were fishermen...
-without any technique... -Yeah.
... but I was impressed with the masks.
And I still haven't seen the rest of the equipment.
I haven't seen the fins and rest of the stuff.
And they don't use a snorkel.
Yes, that's something I recommended to Marco because...
Yes, they can't equalize with those masks,
-they're not suitable for ... -And the rubber is rigid.
It is, it's very rigid.
So, I wonder how they equalize with something like this.
I think everyone is just doing a hands-free.
-Hands-free. -We must observe them...
in the water and give them basic information that is...
-easy for them to... -Useful.
Useful and easy to implement in their technique.
We were entering but there were many waves,
the boat turned over and a it was a chaos...
but we're all fine, nothing was lost,
we're all OK.
Hey, I've been there before!
Flipping over with this guy is really something.
First of all, we're very grateful for the hospitality...
and good disposition all of you have shown,
you've worked hard, you've paid attention,
it's been good, we flipped over,
we laughed and we overcame the obstacles.
And so, we're doing great, huh? It's a start.
Everything started here at the Ramada Inn,
that reminds me... Don Félix!
I want to introduce Félix Menjívar to the entire...
community that watches us.
He's the owner of the Ramada Inn,
Vice President of the Majahual Oyster Cooperative,
my first contact here.
It is through him that I met each one of you,
he's welcomed us here in a very hospitable way...
and I want to make it super clear that the origin of
"Oysters - A Freediving Journey"
came with the help of Félix Menjívar.
So, thank you very much.
