He submerged more than 120 meters without oxygen and tells the details of the sport that allows him to be part of the wonderful underwater world

“12 people have walked on the moon in all of human history, only 8 of us have descended 120 meters.”

With this phrase he introduces Miguel Lozano, a 43-year-old Spaniard who has two lives: one on land and the other in the water. On the surface, he is a Spaniard who has two daughters, works, spends afternoons with friends, enjoys his family and worries about the typical problems of everyday life. But, when he dives into the sea, he changes and becomes an introspective being, who connects with his mind and avoids negative thoughts, who can be free to move in any direction -like the astronauts in the space- and who can do without it, at least for a while, while breathing.

Miguel is one of the best freedivers in the world. In other words, he is able to travel through the underwater world without the need for an oxygen tank or any other aid. Underwater, he can stay 8.5 minutes without breathing in a motionless state, and descended 122 meters deep into the ocean. To achieve such numbers, he had to take an extraordinary turn by turning what was once a hobby into a part of his life.

It’s just that as a child he enjoyed swimming pools and the beach like everyone else, until as a teenager he got bored looking for coins at the bottom of the pool and took up scuba diving. and spearfishing. His passion for the underwater world led him in 2008 to take up freediving and become an athlete. Today he not only manages three schools in this discipline (in the Canary Islands, Tenerife and Egypt), but he has also become one of the best in this activity.

in dialogue with GlobeLiveMediaMiguel Lozano told what the life of a freediver is like and the secrets of a unique sport.

-Your page says “12 people have walked on the moon in all of human history, only 8 of us have descended 120 meters”. Do you think there is a similarity between what an astronaut feels when he is on the moon and what you feel so deep under the sea?

– This sentence is a bit grandiloquent. Some seek to relativize the difficulty of going this far, not by technological means, but by the self-propulsion of our body. But to feel like in space it is not necessary to go very deep, in water we are weightless, man has dedicated himself to going into space to feel this weightlessness, which is one of our dreams, but nevertheless this same feeling is perceived through At 10 meters deep, where you don’t feel your weight, you can move in three directions… it’s a bit like that. And obviously at depth there are extreme conditions such as lack of oxygen, darkness, pressure. Our body falls into what we call free fall, into a state of negative buoyancy.

-Your beginnings were spearfishing then you learned apnea. What led you to get into this sport?

-Since I was little, not only was I fishing, but I was also curious about sea animals, playing with my body, holding my breath, or in a swimming pool taking a coin and searching for it at the bottom, like us played, I think, almost all the children. Almost unconsciously, I held my breath through the games. At one time it was spearfishing that attracted me and over the years I wanted to improve and I discovered this sport which was dedicated to training and the technicality of everything that I had done unconsciously and what attracted me the most were two things: firstly, the sporting part, which seeks to go as deep as possible, and secondly, the therapeutic part, because for me apnea is is therapy. There, I discharge tension, stress and the noise of society. And the breathing, the relaxation, the introspection, both at sea and in the pool, you enter a state of lethargy of mental wandering in which there is a kind of chain of undirected thoughts and my mind completely escapes and relaxes your body. This body-mind-nature combination is what attracted me and why I have dedicated my life to it.

-Is apnea training more focused on the breath and the mind than the physical?

-It is true that it is a very technical and mental sport, and therefore if you do not know how to breathe correctly or find relaxation or use the ear compensation technique, obviously no matter how much you train indoors, you you will lack any technique that suits you physiologically and mentally. But there comes a time when the physical part cannot be neglected in competition. But, in this progression from the beginning, maybe the technical and mental part has more weight.

Miguel Lozano descended 122 meters without a scuba tank. According to the rules of apnea, for a mark to be counted, the athlete must not only descend to a certain point, but must also manage to get out on their own, without receiving help, and once his head has risen to the surface. must be able to look at the judge, give an ok signal and then say “I’m doing well” (I’m doing well). Once these steps have been completed, your file is saved.

The best places to perform this activity should be very deep places near the coast (for safety), where the temperature is warm or hot (27-28 degrees to avoid thick thermal protection suits), without strong currents or thermoclines and have good visibility (for more peace of mind for the freediver and for the safety team). Some areas that have these characteristics are found in the Canary Islands, the Red Sea, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, although in reality this discipline can be practiced in all conditions and also in swimming pools.

-There are very few apnea accidents, but you have had one.

– Accidents in apnea are almost nil, if we mean by accidents those that cause death. Syncope is relatively normal in competitive apnea, but the outcome is never fatal because there are safety systems. It’s like sport climbing, the climbers fall, but they don’t kill each other, because they have harnesses, ropes, etc. who do not kill each other and allow them to make mistakes. Our weak point could be syncope, which is a little more spectacular than a fall, but it is not normal. I’ve passed out three times in my career, but nothing has happened to me because we have a buddy system, someone who goes up the last few meters to help you if you pass out. This is a big difference with spearfishing, because if a fisherman loses consciousness, he drowns because nobody assists him.

– Going back to the comparison you make with the moon, astronauts and space scientists are hungry for curiosity about what is in space. Does something similar happen to you with the sea and with what lives in the depths?

-Yeah. I have a deep attraction. When I enter the water in the middle of the sea and I see the rays going down to the bottom, it attracts me. The greatest depth should not be associated with discovery, I am curious about anything in the sea at any depth, especially if there is marine life. I find the depth in me, think that in deep apnea we go without a mask, we go there with our eyes closed as if we were blind and there we concentrate on the technical part, consumption, relaxation and concentration. It makes you investigate the most mental and emotional side of yourself.

-How would you convince someone to take up freediving?

– Mainly out of curiosity, to break with this negative connotation of holding one’s breath which obviously seems like an unnatural act and suffering, but it is quite the opposite. It is an act of learning breathing, relaxation, postural rehabilitation to release muscle tension. It will give you advantages in aspects of daily life, also on the therapeutic side and that they give it a chance because it is an experience that does not leave anyone indifferent. This combination of body and mind in a natural state like the sea, in an environment like water, induces a relaxation like few land activities can achieve. On earth there is gravity, we are very connected to the sense of sight which distorts the rest of the senses… It is an introspective sport in which there is a very mental work which allows us to know ourselves a lot. It also gives confidence to do something you never thought you could do. Holding 2-3-4 minutes comforts all levels. Bringing up this sport can surely surprise you since a priori it may not seem like a pleasant activity. People give it a chance, because it connects you with your most animal self. The sea is part of the mammal that we have because it brings us back to our origins, to this amniotic fluid, to this state of peace and tranquility, and it is more natural than we think.

-Concerning your future, are you still aiming to break the 125m world record?

Since the pandemic the competitions have stopped, I have two little girls at the moment and for my work I travel a lot, and at the moment it is not worth being absent for so long. The advantage of discomfort is that it is a fairly lively sport, the best freedivers are between 35 and 45 years old and there is a lot of room for improvement. I feel that call on the one hand, more for training than for competition, to be with friends in spectacular places where you can relax and rest, maybe less attracted to competition now. But I don’t rule it out.

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