Some simple answers to those questions, are
Unlike scuba diving you do not
have to exhale as you resurface...because you breathed the air at the surface, the volume of air in your lungs, even though it may have dropped while you were descending, will be exactly the same when you resurface...so you don't have to worry about your lungs exploding.
The best ways to learn to hold your breath longer are:
Meditation/relaxation
CO2 and O2 tables
Apnea training (many different types)
if you do some searches for these items you will find some good results.
And the bends is not an issue for nearly all beginner/intermediate freedivers. Those who do many repeated dives or take very short intervals between dives can have problems similar to the bends (although not identical) Also very deep divers can have decompression issues.
Read this thread
http://forums.deeperblue.net/beginne...reediving.html. There are endless things to learn and a lot of the terminology can get technical and confusing. Hope these basic answers will help you to find better ones when you search.
cheers and welcome
