Ok, this is not a drill.
Procede towards the shower. Let run the water. Cold.
Start to undress and while you’re doing that start to picture yourself taking a cold shower.
Start breathing deeply. You can do it.
Now go into the shower.
Slowly start to go into the cold. Focus on relaxing your muscles, no tension. It’s just water.
Give me thirty seconds.
How do you feel?
You didn’t do it, did you?
I get it, it was the same for me when I started. It’s been almost two years since i’ve started the Wim Hof Method and I can’t tell you how much it has improved my life.
So what is it? Basically it’s a method that lets you control your autonomic nervous system. You become a hacker to your physiology. With a breathing technique you trick your body into thinking that you are going through a high stress situation (like beeing robbed or doing bungee jumping for the first time) wich forces your body to release stress hormones like dopamine and adrenaline.
Up until this weird dutch man (Wim Hof) came along, science was convinced that the autonomic nervous system was something that couldn’t be controlled. They were wrong.
The method pairs the breathing exercises to a gradual cold exposure; you start with cold showers and you gradually move towards ice baths. Sounds crazy but, believe me, it makes wonders.
Here are some of the benefits that I have experienced first hand:
- improved mood (hard not feel happy once the torture of a cold shower is over : )
- you feel much less the cold
- almost instant relieve of inflammation
- your immune system becomes much stronger
Here’s a slide that details some other benefits that you may experience by practicing the WHM:
Now, I am aware of the placebo effect and I will admit that there might be some of that involved to some extent. But I can tell you that since I’ve started doing this practice I haven’t been sick anymore.
Before I was feeling sick all the time; I have two little kids and since they started going to school our house has become a hospital. Either my wife was feeling sick or I was. But since I started following Wim’s online classes I haven’t been sick.
That is just an amazing result. And only through cold exposure and breathing. So, as Wim Hof likes to say, ‘’Breathe, motherfucker!’’
Do you have questions?
Would you like me to go deeper on the subject?
Let me know in the comments.
See you guys around : )