Entertainment: How a Magician Held His Breath for 17 Minutes

The video is long and interesting, especially the second half.

David Blaine likes to challenge himself to do things that doctors say are not possible. He was buried alive in a coffin for a week in April 1999, living on nothing but water. This magician has frozen himself in a block of ice for three days, and stood on top of a 100-foot pillar for 36 hours.

Determined to break the world record for holding one's breath, Blaine embarked on "the most amazing journey of my life." In the video [below], from TEDMED, he details all of the ideas he had for how to go about this, as well as how he actually made it past 17 minutes without breathing.

From How a Magician Held His Breath for 17 Minutes by David Blaine, August 12, 2010, at CNN. Thank you, Martha L.