To the door of Abyss : freediving competition season of the deepest zen monk Kosho Loïc Vuillemin

The freediving season starts and my first appointment with competition is coming at the beginning of May. Like many, i had to observe the world situation, find solutions to survive our society's madness and pray to make the right decisions. Despite thousands of emails to various companies, i could not achieve to get a proper sponsoring contract that would wash away the financial obstacles brought by competitions and training.

You've been many to support my involvement into elite sport, many to help me deepen my meditation, pranayama and freediving teaching activities. My gratefulness for you all goes beyond what i can decently express. Without you, none of this would have ever been possible. Sucess was achieved and i'm ready to renew the challenge.

I'm standing here again to ask for support to transcend difficulties and dive even deeper, to show an example of dedication that participates to a better version of humanity and to make accessible to all that deeper dimension of ourselves.

Palmarès – my previous achievements

Some may know that i've passed years and years amongst my buddhist community to open a temple to all (Yujo Nyusanji – France 34). By now this wonderful place offers more than 60k m2 of land in which the wildlife is safe, the trees taken care of and where the rivers and springs are kept healthy. It can lodge more than 100 persons and features everything you wish for spiritual retreats : dojo, big bells, gardens, romantic bridges... and yes, there's a swimming pool. That was a major achievement for sure...

But let's look here at my freediving competition palmares since this is what will keep me busy in 2022 again.

14 Swiss National Records

CWT: 84m - 85m - 86m - 88m - 90m

CWTB: 62m - 76m - 80m - 83m - 85m - 86m

FIM: 84m - 85m - 86m

World Championships

9th - CNF - Villefrance s/Mer - 9.2019

International Competitions

1rst - OVERALL - Freediving World Cup (Final) - 11.2021

3rd - OVERALL - Freediving World Cup 4/4 - 11.2021

1rst - OVERALL - Freediving World Cup 3/4 - 9.2021

1rst - OVERALL - Freediving World Cup 2/4 - 7.2021

1rst - OVERALL - Freediving World Cup 1/4 - 5.2021

2nd - OVERALL - Dahab Championships - 10.2020

1rst - OVERALL - Freediving World Competition - 9.2020

Swiss National Competitions

2nd - CWTB - Swiss Depth Championships - 8.2019

DEPTH OVERALL AIDA WORLD RANKING

13th - 2021 (307pts)

1rst - 2020 (314pts)

8th - 2019 (301pts)

All results here: https://www.deepzen.net/loic-kosho-vuillemin-palmares

Deep Zen Team

I am very proud and happy to have the support of some brands for my equipment. Fortunately, i then have no worries which equipment to choose or trust.

Go N Sea : The jewel of Gisèle Senegas from France. Her fins are really great. The top technology carbon that she makes her blades with is nicely wide and fits my finning style really well. Powerful yet flexible, i'm convinced these fins can bring me way deeper than i already did in CWT or CWTB. With the Blue Darck model i scored many national records and participated successfully to World Championships back in 2019. Recently, she designed a model even more adapted to depth, the « Vertical » ones. She offered me two pairs, each of them with different footpockets and blade stiffness.

Website : http://www.palme-plongee.com/ 

Meister : a very very high quality of equipment for freediving. I ordered 2 tailormade wetsuits in different thickness last year and keep them preciously only for depth trainings and competitions. They fit perfectly and let my moves nicely free while keeping me at warmth. Supernice of them, they made me a good discount on the total price and printed the logos i needed on them. I was also really impressed by the speed at the one they had my suits ready after order. Meister is certainly one of the very best brand of equipment considering freediving and spearfishing.

Website : https://www.meister.gr/ 

FreeXperience : Safety first. FreeXperience produces lanyards that keep the freediver attached to the line during the dive. Undodgeable pieces of the freediver's equipment, the freeXperience lanyards are really high quality, solid and safe. While diving with these, yes indeed i feel safer … and that's incredibly important. Kimmo Lahtinen, founder of FreeXperience, offered me a set of lanyards for both CWT/FIM and CNF. I also use the FreeXperience Titanium noseclip that, beyond fitting my nose nicely and tightly, is really gorgeous.

Website : https://www.freexperience.com/

I have also on my side the Association Taiji la Côte which has helped me a lot. They have regularly invited me to lead workshops and give public talks in Switzerland which definitly helps me gather funds.

Website : http://taijiquan-lacote.blogspot.com/

Zafu-shop has been one of the very first to support me with a money donation. The artisan Fabrice Genevois is craftworking zafus, zafutons and more. Daily, i use the zafu he gave me for meditation but also for stretching and breathing exercices. A must have...

Website : https://www.zafu-shop.com/

Hira Hosen – Ascension Catalyst is also one of my great supporter. She has been providing the necessary funds for me to train with the assistance of safety divers many times. Since she's my wife, she also watches my back on a daily basis. You may need her help to live with an open heart...

Website : https://www.tantraoftheheart.com/

Lately, i committed to a very interesting partnership with Padma. They produce Tibetan medicine of really high standards and quality. I will be testing one of their formula while training this season. I have the strong belief that the formula can help me feel the greatest vitality. More energy for training, faster recovery, more focus. I love the idea of traditional plant based medicine, do you ?

Website : https://padma.ch/en/

But also:

• Prana Santé that invites me regularly to lead workshops in their beautiful place
• 2beFree that has been and still is super supportive and provide excellent freediving equipment
• Estelle Mei Aubert that wished to support the monk i am. She is expert of sacro cranial therapy.
• Les Apneistes Anonymes, a club from Switzerland that puts the accent on discovering the wild underwater beauties of our country. No competition there :)
• Aurèlia, Heidi, Timo, Vitaly and Helen, Marshal... friends that believe in me and students that tipped me nicely to express their satisfaction for my teachings.

While you read, be sure no effort have been left aside to gather all the necessary funds to participate to the coming competition events. But the money goal is by far not reached...

Competition schedule and costs

The first competition i'm training for will happen during may, in Sharm el Sheikh. This is where and when i will certainly do my first attemps of reaching 100m in a single breath. To spare you from the entire schedule and the associated costs, i may just reveal that an entire season of training and competition costs not less than 8000 euros. Most athletes generally run with the double of that amount.

It will be very difficult to make it cheaper. Obstacles are many and it is pretty difficult to foresee everything that could happen on the way. There are obviously additional and unexpected costs that can appear such as medical visits, insurances, equipment renewal, taxi rides and so on. So the amount of 8000 may be a minimum needed to go through all these events safely. You understand why serious partnerships and sponsoring offers are so precious.

To make that possible on my own, i need to work a lot and hard. Freediving courses don't sell like icecreams and i always keep very decent prices. I do my best, but for sure it won't be enough to stand on the first raw alone. When i teach, i can't train... the opposite is obviously true too. 

The good question : why would you give ?

My objectives are not only a defined moment in time, whenever i'm making myself ready for given performances in the very near future. Obviously and like most of us, i proceed step by step in life and the numerous achievements i realised, not only in freediving, have all or almost all been crowned by success. I give my heart fully in life and there is not a second of it that i would like to waste. Challenges and great projects are a constant amazement and the positive impact of success on those that surround us is mind-blowing.

You may want to give because you feel like supporting a dedicated person more than a precise objective. Supporting an authentic monk is very good for karma, just to say, mostly if you bring offerings before midday time. The impact of what i do is for the better good of all those who wish for a better world, i have no doubt about that. It's a daily discipline to act as a man of good and my faith is deep and strong.

You may want to support someone that believes in ethics at all levels, that we speak about elite sport, spirituality or even religion, family life and health of all sentient beings. You may want to support me because you believe, thank to my previous achievements and my constant dedication to a better world, that all these objectives i plan to realise will be so for a righteous cause.

Of course, i'm not against ethical businesses and i'm ready to study any form of sponsoring partnership. I look forward to read your propositions or needs. With me, you can be certain that your help will be received open arms, kept eternally in my heart and that the benefits you'll be rewarded with will last in time.

There are so many reasons to give, to support, to help... please write to me if you don't find any for the present project and give me a chance to convince you. I wish and need your trust and support. Even if it's the adventure of one person, i won't let myself go alone in it. I want to do all this with your help, so we can share the success of it together.

Join me on that incredible journey and consent to help me with a donation or by any other ways that you'll find appropriate.

Links you may want to check

Palmarès: https://www.deepzen.net/loic-kosho-vuillemin-palmares

Media: https://www.deepzen.net/press-releases

Donation page: https://www.deepzen.net/donations-support-deepzen

Sponsoring document in French: https://1d5a9f4e-7152-40d8-af3f-542012e62627.filesusr.com/ugd/94f099_47991221ca94425e8d6326f3ec9487e8.pdf

Sponsoring document in English: https://1d5a9f4e-7152-40d8-af3f-542012e62627.filesusr.com/ugd/94f099_a32c1b8cfeda4766a903db644c89fd5d.pdf

2022 Objectives

To reach 100m in competition. It's a simple target... "the Door of Abyss", I do have other objectives, such as reaching even deeper in the "no limit" category and to participate again to Swiss and World Championships, but i'm afraid it will all be depending on the money.

What will you get in exchange of your financial support ?

In the great and efficient partnerships, we communicate, you get rewards for donations, we are both happy and we support eachother. I hope these will obtain your interest and in case not, don't hesitate to contact me to ask for what exactly you would like in exchange of your support. It's quite a brainstorming to know what to give in exchange when your heart and soul is actually ready to give it all. I dream of a nice harmonious partnership and pray for you reader to be the enthusiastic communication manager of an organisation that truely wants to change the world for a better one.

Newsfeed

Receive a multimedia follow-up of this performance adventure in the form of a newsfeed at your disposal. Content written by myself containing images and videos specially produced and personalized for you and your followers. You willbenefit from exclusive content to grow your communication platforms while retaining your audience through an extraordinary story that reflects your values and ambitions.

Branding

The spaces that can be used as advertising support on a diving suit are not numerous and who says printing on neoprene means higher cost and longer manufacturing time. The forearms and shoulders are locations that offer a very good visual advantage.

Workshops and Retreats

During my travels in Switzerland and elsewhere, I often offer workshops around the themes of apnea and meditation. These moments of meetings are intended to be public but can perfectly fit into a special event within a club or a private organization.

Conferences

I master the art of audiovisual conferencing, both face-to-face and in dedicated digital spaces and am very comfortable in public. I have several great successes to my credit and many positive echoes afterwards. I am often asked to focus my speech on a theme dear to my sponsors. I can offer tailor-made.

SEO support and Social Networks

I benefit from a growing audience that is interested in the authenticity of my approach. The people who follow me recognize my value and know that I support associations, people, products and organizations whose choice is to offer quality while following strict ethics.

The quality of my communication wants to be as close as possible to that expected by my supporters, so it is a subtle and precise work that I propose.

My blog posts direct readers to websites of interest, thereby maximizing the popularity of your own websites in search engines. I also offer hard back links.

If these do not really resonate fully with you, feel free ton contact me and propose the reward you would really like. Creativity has no limits when we share ideas.

Contact page: https://www.deepzen.net/contact-deepzen-kosho

For those who wish to become official sponsors and envisage a partnership, please have a look at the following document and contact me directly to discuss our mutual interests. I'm always keen to study and talk about what is expected to insure common growth and development.

Sponsoring document in French: 

Sponsoring document in English: 

Conclusion

You've understood that i'm not directly the usual type of monk. Intensive practice, dedication, discipline, training, family life and years of various experiences made of me that eclectic person that carries a lot of energy, happiness, faith and a wide range of challenges. No one should be drawn to live in a labelled drawer for the sake of political correctness. Together, with your help and with my total investment, let's show again to our world that there aren't visions great enough nor unachievable dreams for those who have faith and who keep it deep.

How to make a donation ?

• Stripe : register to the "donation online" on Deep Zen Meditation and Freediving website and choose as many units as you wish to give. This is where you are now. It accepts Credit Cards, no specific account needed.
• Paypal : https://paypal.me/zemonk
• Bank transfer : please contact me since i don't really like to leave my bank data just like that... even on my own website https://www.deepzen.net/contact-deepzen-kosho

You may want to visit this page also in case you don't want to help financially but in another way: https://www.deepzen.net/donations-support-deepzen