# David Blaine: How I held my breath for 17 min

In this highly personal talk from TEDMED, magician and stuntman David Blaine describes what it took to hold his breath underwater for 17 minutes -- a world record (only two minutes shorter than this entire talk!) -- and what his often death-defying work means to him. Warning: do NOT try this at home.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2010
- Runtime: 20 min
- By: TED.com
- Genres: Education, Science
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/DavidBlaine_2009P)
- Licence or status: [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) (as the archive states it)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/DavidBlaine_2009P?play=1)