Listening to David Blaine was stressful to me. I can’t imagine putting myself in the situations that he has been in. I kept asking myself how he could continue to do things like he did when most of his attempts were nearly fatal.
However, on a less perilous note, I can understand where he is coming from. The overarching themes of his presentation were sustainability and practice. To get to the point of holding his breath for 17 minutes, Blaine had to teach his mind and body to sustain his life for an extended period of time. Not only that, but to do so, he had to practice keeping his heart rate steady in a stressful environment.
Sustainability can go for pretty much anything. In my drawing class we have discussed how to sustain a drawing and an idea, and the same can be applied to projects in Visual Studies as well. Practicing sustainability is of course the easiest way to get there, to keep trying to reach that point where you know something has succeeded, or is finished.