FRIDAY NIGHT
It was Friday night. Khan entered the dining room of his training mansion and surveyed with a degree of pride the elite female athletes in the room that he had assembled on his team. From all over the world, he had selected the most promising. His instructors put them through a punishing and relentless schedule or training, enabling them to push their limits and extend their abilities. Khan considered himself to be a very lucky man. In fact, Khan was feeling doubly lucky tonight as he ushered his special guest into the room, an oriental lady in her early forties. She was small in build and would easily go unnoticed on a crowded street, but Khan knew that she possessed extraordinary skills and abilities that would leave even the elite athletes in the room utterly amazed. He motioned for silence and a hush descended on the room. “Ladies, may I introduce you to Miss Keiko. She is our special guest this weekend and I can assure you that we are in for a very special treat, and a few challenges along the way. Miss Keiko has studied yoga for over thirty years and is today the most advanced yogini in the world. After dinner, she will be amazing you with one of her advanced abilities. Unfortunately she will have to eat later as she needs to begin her preparations.”
Siu and Melissa, the latest arrivals to the team, were sitting together at one of the tables. They watched as Miss Keiko moved silently to the stage area which was at one end of the dining hall. She removed her brightly-coloured dressing gown to reveal a tight fitting navy two-piece exercise outfit. They were too far away to see clearly, but her small frame and slight appearance were clearly deceptive; she was quite the most toned woman that either of the girls had ever seen – and that was quite something given their present company of elite female athletes. She was not muscular, and yet every muscle seemed well defined, and there was not the smallest amount of spare fat anywhere to be seen on her body.
Dinner was always a leisurely affair at the mansion, a way for the girls to wind down after the ardours and rigours of the day. Siu and Melissa chatted with the other girls on their table, occasionally glancing over to the far end of the dining hall where Miss Keiko could be seen running through a series of extreme yoga asanas, Her flexibility was quite incredible and she was able to fold and twist her body into shapes that neither of the girls had witnessed before. And her tight muscles were able to hold her in extreme poses and move her apparently smoothly and effortlessly between them. Dessert arrived and Miss Keiko was now beginning a series of breathing exercises, sitting in the lotus position. Siu and Melissa were curious as to what tonight’s demonstration would be about. Just watching the preparation had been amazing enough in its own right. Finally, dinner was over and coffee was served. It was about two hours since Miss Keiko had arrived and half an hour since she had begun her yogic breathing exercises. Mr. Khan motioned for the girls to bring chairs over to the stage area.
Khan began to explain what would be happening next. “Ladies, tonight you will witness perhaps the most incredible breath control that is possible for a human.” An assistant in swimsuit appeared from behind a curtain with a small transparent Perspex box about 35 centimetres square. The sides of the box had many small holes in them. Khan continued. “Miss Keiko will firstly squeeze her body into this tiny Perspex box. She will then be locked into the box. Then we will place the box into the ‘fish tank’. The locks will not be removed for five minutes. And then we will see what unfolds.” Siu looked over to the tank that Mr. Khan amusingly referred to as the ‘fish tank’. On one side of the stage, this was a tank about 3 metres in each dimension. She had not seen it used before tonight.
Miss Keiko had removed her sports two piece to reveal a tiny black bikini which hid none of her beautifully toned body. She was in incredibly shape, particularly for someone in her early forties. She began the slow process of entering into the tiny box, because she had slowed her whole body down through the yogic exercises and breathing. First one leg went in, then one arm and her torso, tucking her head down to slide it under the roof. Then the other leg was manoeuvred into position and finally the remaining arm was somehow tucked in. The assistant stepped forward, closed the Perspex door and then locked it from the outside. He and Khan then lifted the sealed box up onto the platform. Khan asked one of the girls to start the digital timer when Miss Keiko entered the water. And then the box was lowered over the edge of the tank and dropped in. It sank slowly to the bottom and settled. The timer edged towards the five minute mark. Siu could see that several of the girls were holding their breath along with the occupant of the tank. The assistant dropped into the tank and on the five minute mark, unlocked the door and opened it. He brushed Miss Keiko’s arm to make sure she knew the door was open.
Slowly, very slowly, she began to emerge from the box, like a TV slow motion replay. Five and half minutes and she was clear of the box, but she didn’t rush upwards. Instead she slowly rose up in the tank. Just before she reached the surface, she stopped and could be seen exhaling all of her air so that her lungs were completely empty, again all being done very slowly and very deliberately. At six minutes she finally raised her head above the surface of the water. To the amazement of the onlookers, she didn’t gasp in lungfuls of air. Instead, Miss Keiko took in a single very deep breath, over the space of thirty seconds and then headed back under the water. By now all the girls that were holding their breath had given up. The girls were puzzled, but it soon became clear that she was returning to her underwater box. Again she squeezed into it one limb at a time and the assistant locked her in again. Mr. Khan announced that this time the door would remain locked for four minutes. And she had already taken the best part of a minute to get back into the box, and if her last exit was anything to go by, that would take another half a minute. So that would be five and half minutes in total on her second breath! Siu realised that there was no way for Miss Keiko to escape if she got into difficulty. She was locked in for a further four minutes whatever happened. At the end of the four minutes, the assistant again unlocked the door. Again Miss Keiko eased herself out of the box, exhaled fully just below the surface and then rose out of the water for another long inhalation. Siu realised that she hadn’t finished her display yet and watched on in amazement as Miss Keiko returned to the Perspex prison once more. Khan announced a three minute lock-in this time, which meant that she was spending another four and half minutes underwater on only her third breath!
Again the process was repeated and Miss Keiko returned under for a two minute lock-in and after a further breath, a one minute lock-in. As the assistant released the lock for the last time, Siu was concerned that she did not see any movement in the box. Had Miss Keiko pushed herself too far with this amazing feat of breath control and courage? Thirty seconds passed and then slowly but surely the yogini began to emerge from the box for the final time. Siu expected her to make straight for the surface, but instead, once she was out of the box, she assumed a lotus position sitting on top of the box, still completely submerged. Once again, she exhaled all her air. But this time, rather than rising above the surface, Siu could see Miss Keiko performing yogic nauli, sometimes known as stomach churning. A tight line of muscle formed down the middle of her abdomen and this was then rolled from side to side. She also alternated a vertical ripple as well as the normal horizontal ripple. This must have gone on for over a minute before she finally stopped and then pushed herself gently to the surface.
Siu glanced over at the digital timer. Miss Keiko had been under the water for an incredible twenty three minutes on just six breaths of air. Mr. Khan had been right; she was simply amazing. The girls looked at each other in stunned silence and awesome disbelief. And then, slowly at first, applause broke out, gaining in momentum as they all realised what they had just witnessed. Miss Keiko raised herself out of the water and graciously bowed to acknowledge the generous applause.
Khan began to speak again. “Ladies, you have witnessed an amazing feat of endurance and control this evening which I hope will inspire you in your training. However, tomorrow morning at nine Miss Keiko has challenged you to a breath holding competition. You are some of the best breath holders in the world, and yet Miss Keiko has agreed to be tied under water for a further two minutes after the last one of you has surfaced! And to return the compliment of the element of challenge, I have agreed with her that you will all be tied under the water for five and a half minutes. This will be a challenge to some of you but having discussed this with your trainers we are confident that you are all up to the challenge. Ladies, I wish you a good night’s rest.”
(Bis hierher)
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Siu spent a restless night, worried about the minimum breath hold time that she would have to perform in the morning. She was unaware that her instructors had been extending her breath hold times in training beyond what they were telling her. And when she did sleep, she dreamt of being locked in the Perspex box and running out of air whilst it was still locked. She woke up sweating a couple of times, but comforted herself that Miss Keiko had practiced yoga for a long time.
The sky turned from black to dark blue and Siu could hear the birds begin to sing. As the first rays of sunlight began to shine into her room, she glanced at her clock and noted that it was 7am. She drew the curtains and peered down to the outdoor pool which her room overlooked. She saw a solitary figure beside the pool and quickly realised that Miss Keiko was up early, no doubt going through another one of her intense yoga workouts to prepare herself for the morning’s challenge. A shudder ran through Siu at the prospect, knowing that she would have to push her limits yet again. She had dreamed for many years of joining Mr. Khan’s elite squad, but never really thought she would make it. But the reality of the toughness of the training and the need to continually stretch her boundaries and capabilities brought a constant challenge. But then, she always thrived on challenge and today would be no different. She decided to skip breakfast for now and make her own preparations with a good swim.
At nine, all ten girls on the team were assembled by the pool. Miss Keiko had finished her breathing routines and looked calm and relaxed – especially considering she was going to have to hold her breath for two minutes longer than some of the best breath holders in the world! Khan arrived with his team of trainers, excited by the anticipation of the exquisite challenge that was about to take place.
“Good morning ladies. Good morning honoured guest. As I explained last night, there will be a breath hold challenge this morning but with the added twist that no-one will be allowed up before five and a half minutes. Miss Keiko has accepted the challenge to stay down for two minutes longer than the best of your times. As a little added incentive, the best time – apart from Miss Keiko – will receive $10,000. Good luck.”
Kathy and her trainers passed out the ropes with the ankle clasps. Each of the ladies including Miss Keiko attached the ankle clasp and then dove down into the pool passing the free end of the rope under the bar at the bottom of the pool before returning with it to one of the trainers.
Siu felt her heart begin to beat a little faster. As far as she knew, this test would take her thirty seconds beyond her best timed hold. She breathed deeply and focussed to bring her heart rate down again. She couldn’t possibly manage to hold out with her heart racing.
Kathy began a countdown from fifteen seconds. Khan settled into his chair in the observation room in the side of the pool. The video camera to his right was rolling.
Three, two, one… Kathy and the trainers pulled on the ropes and all eleven heads disappeared below the water. She was concerned for Siu and made sure that the safety divers (who were hiding behind a hidden two way mirror) kept a close eye on her. Kathy liked to keep the girls down a bit longer than she let on during training to give them an incentive to push themselves. She had already managed to get Siu in training to five and a half minutes, although Siu only knew she could make five. But the pressure of the challenge could cause her to struggle.
Khan checked his stopwatch – just coming up to five minutes. Siu was looking a bit uncomfortable but was still holding on. All the rest looked fine. He hoped that his team would manage to give Miss Keiko a good workout! Five minutes fifteen and Siu’s abdomen was convulsing but she was just managing to resist the temptation to breathe. Five minutes thirty and the ropes all went slack, apart from Miss Keiko’s. Siu shot immediately for the surface and the instructors quickly hauled her onto the side.
Khan was proud that she had made it, but kept his attention fixed on the remaining girls. The other new girl, Mel, held out to six minutes and was followed up by two others. The next three left the bottom at six fifteen, six twenty and six twenty five. Three remained down there with Miss Keiko, who looked as serene and calm as ever. Six fourty five and another girl came up. Just Tasha, the Russian girl and Caroline, Khan’s team captain from Australia. At seven minutes, Tasha had had enough and launched herself for the surface. Caroline was clearly having to fight the urge to breathe, but controlling it well. Another twenty seconds and Khan could tell she had nearly done. She began to swim upwards but then suddenly went limp. She had overdone it and blacked out. The trainers were in the pool almost immediately and had her on the side in no time performing mouth to mouth. A few seconds later she was choking and beginning to recover. She had just set a new record for the squad of seven minutes twenty five.
Khan spoke briefly to Kathy on the headset to check that Caroline was okay and to congratulate her on the excellent performance of all the girls. He then settled down to watch Miss Keiko, knowing that Caroline had made the challenge very difficult for her. He studied the lean frame sitting in the lotus position on the bottom of his pool with a rope attached to her ankle preventing her from going anywhere. This was a woman that he admired hugely for her dedication, strength, flexibility and sheer courage.
The stopwatch was showing nine minutes fifteen now; not long to go. He counted down from ten to one in his mind; the rope went slack. But Miss Keiko did not move. He was concerned. Had she too blacked out? She sat so still throughout that it was impossible to tell. Another twenty seconds passed and then Khan was relieved to see signs of motion. This awesome lady began to unfold her legs and then casually allowed herself to drift upwards to the surface. Ten minutes and five seconds! For the second time that weekend, the team burst into spontaneous applause.
Khan rejoined them on the poolside and added his congratulations to Miss Keiko. He joked that if she ever wanted to join his team that there was an open invitation. Everyone laughed.
Khan then announced that the next challenge for Miss Keiko would be in the gym at 3pm when she had agreed to let the team test her flexibility to the limit. They could contort and twist her into any position they liked, so long as they didn’t break anything! Then there would be a strength challenge…
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Siu arrived in the gym about a quarter to three and found Miss Keiko running through her now familiar yoga poses. Siu had learnt much about stretching and flexibility in her circus background and was reasonably competent herself at the more advanced yoga poses. So she was particularly keen to see exactly what the oriental was capable of, and to help out with some of the stretch testing. She thought she would be able to find a few stretches that were just too tough.
The other girls arrived shortly chattering excitedly about their special visitor. Khan entered the gym on the dot of 3 pm, punctual as ever. He re-iterated to the girls that Miss Keiko had agreed to be stretched and pulled as much as they liked and that she would try to withstand the worst they could do to her. They could continue with whatever stretches they liked unless Miss Keiko shouted “stop”. He told them that he didn’t think that this would be very likely. All the girls took this as a great challenge to see if they could push her beyond the limits of her flexibility.
They began with some simple splits and found they could easily rotate Miss Keiko from a right leg in front split through a perfect straddle split into a left leg in front split. They made her lie on top of her front leg and then sat on her to ensure her chest was pressed all the way down onto her front leg. They bent her over backwards still in the split and pushed her head all the way down to the floor beside her leg. They sat her in a straddle split and then made her lie forwards, resting her chest on the floor. Again, one of the girls sat on her to make sure the stretch was at its maximum.
Returning her to a normal split, one of the girls pressed down on Miss Keiko’s shoulders whilst another began lifting her front leg up into an oversplit. The leg moved easily until it was at 60 degrees to the floor. Siu decided that she would push the oriental further. From behind she reached forward and grabbed the raised leg. Placing her knees in the middle of Keiko’s back, she pulled on the leg with all her weight. The leg kept moving until it was nearly vertical, resting flat up against her body in a 270 degree oversplit. This was amazing. For good measure, Siu kept her full weight applied to the leg for a further minute. It didn’t move any further and Siu knew that it must have been extremely painful for their guest but she had challenged them and was not about to give up.
Siu took the lead again and had Keiko sit on the floor and place one leg behind her head. She made it look easy and was able to keep her head and spine perfectly straight. Siu decided to see if she could slide the leg down the back. Again to her amazement as she pushed the leg just kept sliding downwards until the foot was resting on the floor behind the subject. Siu raised the other leg off the floor and placed it behind Miss Keiko’s head. Again she pushed it down hard until the foot joined its partner on the floor. Siu noted that such a position would require both hips to be partially dislocated and again knew the pain that this stretch must cause. Miss Keiko did not flinch.
After untangling the visitor, the girls decided to check out her shoulder flexibility. Again sitting on the floor, they had Miss Keiko place her arms behind her and link her fingers together. They then worked her clasped hands away from her body, lowering her back towards the floor. The natural range of movement ended with about 10 centimetres from Miss Keiko’s now seriously stretched shoulders to the floor. One of the girls leant forward, placed her palms on opposite shoulders and gradually lent her entire body weight onto the unfortunate joints. Siu could see the shoulders dislocate before her eyes, pushing outward to accommodate the extra movement. Their subject was now lying completely flat on the floor with her arms stretched out above her head and both shoulders dislocated. They kept her like this for a minute to see if she would submit, which of course she didn’t, and then pulled the arms all the way over her head to complete the circuit and allow the joints to pop back in.
Testing the oriental’s back flexibility came next. They had her kneel and then bend over backwards. They worked her hands and arms forwards and through between her legs so that she was effectively bent in three. Siu sat down in front of her, placed the souls of her feet on Miss Keiko’s thighs, took hold of her hands and then pulled with all her strength. Miss Keiko’s head appeared through between her thighs staring back at Siu. Whilst still in traction, one of the other girls stood on Miss Keiko’s back, intensifying the stretch but still no submission.
Siu decided the final test should be a box or Chinese oversplit. They pulled a gymnastics horse into the middle of the gym and placed Miss Keiko on the top lying on her back. They lowered her legs out to opposite sides of the box with feet dangling in mid-air. The weight of her legs pulled her into a perfect straddle split unassisted. A girl now stood on each side of the box and began to push down simultaneously on each leg. The angles widened and the oversplit deepened. Eventually, each girl was resting almost her entire body weight on the outstretched legs which were now at 45 degrees to the horizontal. The dislocation of Miss Keiko’s hips was clear to see and must have been excruciating. But she did not submit.
Finally the girls released her and congratulated her for enduring such a punishment. Again, their admiration for their visitor had increased.
Khan stepped forward and explained that there would be an opportunity to test Miss Keiko in feats of strength. There would be a series of challenges in which each girl on the squad would perform as many reps of a particular exercise as possible. Miss Keiko would then try to beat the girl who had done the most reps. To add a little extra impetus to the challenge, the winner of each exercise would be rewarded with $5000, doubled if Miss Keiko could not better them.
The competition began with regular pushups. The winning girl managed to do 100 before collapsing. Miss Keiko decided to stop at 110! Next there were chin-ups and the best girl achieved 45 reps. Miss Keiko managed 50 and looked like she had more in her! Siu could hardly believe what she was witnessing,
Next were vertical situps. The girls took it in turns to be strapped by their ankles to the wallbars. Hanging head down they would lift up their heads and torsos through 180 degrees so that their faces were touching their legs and then back down again. This exercise required massive abdominal strength and control – not to mention flexibility. The best that the group could achieve were 15. Miss Keiko was still looking comfortable at 20!
The final test was vertical push-ups. Each girl in turn assumed a handstand position facing the wall and then performed push-ups supporting their full body weight. Mel, a gymnast by training, managed to win with 20. Miss Keiko had saved her most awesome display to last. She rose into a perfect handstand but did not rest her feet against a wall. She then proceeded to do pushups whilst maintain her unsupported balanced handstand. Every muscle in her body could be seen straining to maintain control and perform each excruciating push-up. She seemed to be faltering at 19 but managed to push out two more, just beating Mel.
Again, there was huge applause for Miss Keiko.
Mr. Khan announced that the final challenge of the day would take place in the ice chamber at 8pm.
After an early tea and some time to rest, everyone assembled in the ice chamber room. The chamber in question was a person-sized tube filled with ice and water and a lid that could be closed to leave the occupant in total, freezing darkness. Khan had devised this exercise for his girls to test not only their breathold abilities (which was considerably more difficult in freezing water) but also their courage and success at restraining fear. In the icy, dark coffin time could seem to stretch out forever.
The challenge was for Miss Keiko to be locked in for two minutes more than whatever the best girl in the squad could manage. Each girl was asked to write their ‘bids’ on a piece of paper. Khan sorted these into order from shortest to longest. Each girl in turn was then placed in the chamber and locked in for her bid time. Caroline was the highest bidder and went last with a bid of 5 minutes 30 seconds. This was fifteen seconds longer than her personal best. The lid was sealed and the countdown began. At the end of the prescribed time the lid was removed and strong arms reached in to pull Caroline clear. At first she did not move, and as she was placed on a nearby table a medic went to work checking her vital signs. A blanket was rapidly placed over her and mercifully Siu noticed that she was breathing and slowly returning to consciousness.
So Miss Keiko’s challenge was seven and a half minutes. Would she really be able to survive this? She had been running through her usual yogic preparations for the last hour but now stepped forward. She announced that she would firstly be entering the chamber completely naked to ensure maximum impact of the cold and secondly that she would be going in head first i.e. upside down. An admiring silence descended on the room as the oriental removed her two piece costume revealing her toned, athletic frame. She was raised up to the chamber by several willing pairs of hands and on her signal was lowered into the icy tomb. The lid was sealed and the counter set.
Siu had occasional nightmares about the ice chamber. As one of the new girls she had only managed three minutes. She knew how much harder it was to hold one’s breath in the freezing cold and Miss Keiko had the added difficulty of being upside down. Was this a challenge too far?
The seconds ticked down; no one said anything. Each girl was deep in thought, running through their own experiences in the chamber. At last the time reached 7.30 and the lid was released. Hands reached in and pulled out Miss Keiko, placing her gently on the table. Immediately her eyes opened and a gracious smile of triumph spread across her blue lips.
Everyone crowded round her to congratulate her; they could hardly believe what they had just witnessed.
It was 10 o’clock in the morning and the whole team had gathered at the outdoor dive pool to witness Miss Keiko’s final challenge. The dive pool was a full fifty metres deep. Mr. Khan had told them all the night before that their visitor had to leave at noon the following day. Siu had been at the poolside for two hours already watching this incredible yogini make her customary preparations. She marvelled every time she watched the oriental at the flexibility, strength and sheer mastery of control that she had achieved over her body. Her displays over the weekend had been fantastic and had renewed many of the team’s enthusiasm to push themselves much further and harder in their training.
Khan suggested that the team descend the stairs to the observation room at the bottom of the pool. He assured them that they would be able to monitor Miss Keiko’s progress on the video monitors. Once they were all settled, he gave the word through his headset for the challenge to begin.
On the monitors they could see the oriental taking some deep breaths at the surface of the pool. Gracefully she then duck-dived under the water and began pulling herself slowly down a rope into the depths of the pool. Mr. Khan had started up a digital timer. Slowly but surely Miss Keiko reached the bottom of the pool, fifty metres below the surface. It was about a minute since she had left the surface. The team had witnessed some incredible feats over the course of the weekend, but what happened next left them all open-mouthed.
The visitor twisted up her legs into a lotus position, without using her hands, and sat on the bottom of the pool. At one minute thirty, a cloud of bubbles suddenly burst from her mouth as she exhaled. Her stomach was sucked in tight so that everyone could see that she had no air left in her body. She began to perform yogic nauli, churning her abdominal muscles from side to side. Occasionally she would stop and roll her stomach muscles vertically for good measure. At about four minutes thirty, she unfolded her legs and set off for the surface. Using the rope to pull herself up, she made slow progress and the team were very concerned that she would be too weak to make the surface. Five and half minutes and there were still fifteen metres to go. At six minutes, her head finally broke the surface and everyone watching breathed a huge sigh of relief.
They all raced up the stairs to congratulate Miss Keiko on another mind-boggling display of breath control and total mastery over her body. Siu felt like their visitor had become almost an old friend in such a short space of time.
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Mr. Khan and his team waved Miss Keiko off at the gates of the mansion after having made her promise to return to see them the following year. Mr. Khan had again joked with her about joining his team, but had been met with a very polite refusal all the same.
Siu determined that she would push herself all the harder during training, inspired by the amazing feats of the past few days. Perhaps next year she would be able to give her a better run for her money!