The Wim Hof Method

Well it is what it is. I finally have come to the stage of my life where I have pretty much tried everything I can think of (bar becoming a Tibetan monk) to beat my anxiety (and occasional depression) and nothing really works. Improvements are fleeting. One just keeps plodding on.

There is only one thing that I haven't tried so far and that's the much talked about Wim Hof Method (WHM). The reason I haven't tried it is because I do not like the freaking cold. Not at all! The Method relies on some cold exposure and you can't opt out of that part of it.

Feeling cold is like a physical pain for me so I avoid it almost at all costs. I haven't been to a cold place for 10 years I think! However, a recent trip to Denmark (and an upcoming one to the UK) changed that and also made me realise that running away from the thing I don't like (the cold) may be the very thing that is causing an issue. Living in an artificially heated house or in hot weather conditions has spoilt by body. Now, when confronted by cold weather (or any cold feeling) panic, pain, anxiety and lower back pain set in rapidly. This has got to change. I need to embrace winter and embrace the cold and love it as much (well nearly) as spring, summer and autumn. That means exposing myself to cold conditions and this ties in beautifully with the WHM. Maybe it could be a clue to beating my anxiety and depression as well?

I can't hibernate all winter, so it's time to come at this full throttle and give it all I've got.

The three components of the WHM are as follows:

(1) Conscious breathing exercises.

(2) Exposure to the cold.

(3) Mindset strengthening.

The details of the method will be set out later on, but for now let's make a few observations based on some scientific studies.

Breathing:

By practicing the WHM breathing technique, you will influence the ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. By removing carbon dioxide from the blood through deep breathing, the impulse to breathe from the brain stem is lowered. You experience a short-term period of hypoxia (low blood oxygen levels) which is a positive stressor. This "hormetic" stress will signal the body to react and strengthen. Acute short-term stress can lead to powerful changes in our cells.

The body’s sympathetic response is activated and the pathways necessary to deliver that oxygen to cells are strengthened. These pathways could include a number of different systems, such as increasing red blood cells, increasing lung capacity, improved circulation and improved metabolic efficiency over the long term.

In simple terms, the breathing exercises help to get your body into the state required to gain access to your autonomic nervous system and to resist the cold. So you should do the breathing exercises before the cold exposure. Within the timespan of twenty minutes, you can experience timelessness and understand eternity. Just being with the light consciously, any stress is gone.

Mindset:

It is generally known that a strong mindset can be an important weapon when it comes to thinking, doing and achieving. You need to have a strong mindset so you feel the cold differently to normal and achieve the required concentration and focus.

The immune system can be improved even after a relatively short training session.

It is important to realise that the WHM is not primarily aimed at putting the body into a relaxed state. but rather into an active state. Those who practice it are able to actively increase the concentration of stress hormones in their bodies.

Cold Exposure:

In the WHM the cold is an essential force involved in accessing the autonomic nervous system (and the associated immune system). After exposure to ice, no inflammatory proteins were found in Wim Hof's body at all. "Undercooling" - a state where your body temperature drops so low that you lose consciousness and die normally takes place after 3 minutes in ice water.

Wim Hof, however, has managed to influence his body to such an extent that he doesn't even get undercooled after 80 minutes. His body temperature remained at a constant 37C, and his heart rate remained low and his blood pressure normal.

Furthermore, his metabolic rate increased by 300% during exposure to ice. This increase is what led to the resulting increase in heat production in his body.

People who take daily cold showers have significantly more white blood cells in comparison to people who do not. White blood cells combat diseases.

By taking a cold shower, the metabolic rate during and after such a shower is increased to keep the body warm. At the same time the immune system is activated, resulting in the release of more white blood cells.

Exposure to cold also has a major effect on the heart and vascular system. The WHM can be used to strengthen the cardiovascular system, so that the heart needs to pump less frequently, as all muscles in the blood vessels support the blood flow. An increase in energy is then also felt.

Brown Fat and Body Temperature:

Brown fat is present in new-borns because they are not active enough to generate their own body heat and need to be protected. It is also present in younger children generally, and helps one understand why they can wear shorts in winter!

Adults are supposed to have none or hardly any. However a recent study showed that brown fat is sporadically present and active in adults. And Wim Hof has a lot of it. As much as a teenager.

As we grow older, the amount of brown fat in our bodies decreases sharply. This is partially due to our wearing clothes all the time and dwelling within our "climate-controlled bubbles."

Leaner, fitter people have more brown fat than obese or overweight people who have little or none.

Finally, it has been shown that the physiological reaction achieved by the WHM only occurs when this is required by circumstances.

6 Amazing Health Benefits Of Cold Water Swimming

Cold water swimming is the act of swimming in a pool, lake, or pond when it’s at its coldest. It often takes place in winter, but it doesn’t always have to. The International Ice Swimming Association, for example, demands that water be colder than 5 degrees Celsius for international competition.

These are six major health benefits to cold water swimming. We know they exist because of studies into the health benefits of water in general. Many regular cold water swimmers have managed to increase both their life expectancy and overall quality of life.

On top of that, you can expect better fitness in general, along with all the benefits that come with being a fit and healthy human being. Just make sure you pair cold water swimming with a balanced diet.

If you want to improve your life on all fronts, think about taking a dip in your local cold water swimming pool. It will be one of the best decisions that you make. Here are six amazing health benefits of cold water swimming.

1. It boosts your immune system

The effects of cold water on the immune system have been studied widely. Cold water helps to boost the white blood cell count because the body is forced to react to changing conditions. Over time, your body becomes better at mobilizing its defences.

There’s a reason why so many people who participate in cold water swimming are rarely sick.

2. It gives you an endorphin high

Endorphins are what the brain produces to make us feel good about certain activities. Cold water swimming is a form of exercise, and exercise has been proven to treat depression. Cold water swimming brings us close to the pain barrier. Endorphins are released when we’re in pain to help us cope.

Cold water swimming is particularly helpful for endorphin release for this reason. Who can say no to a few extra endorphins?

3. It enhances your circulation

Cold water swimming flushes your veins, arteries, and capillaries. It forces blood to the surface and pushes the cold downwards. In other words, it helps to warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the the cold.

In older and vulnerable people, this is essential. It helps them better cope during harsh winters. The seasons become less of a health risk and more enjoyable.

4. It increases your libido

Cold water was traditionally seen as a way to repress sexual urges. The fact is that it actually increases libido. A dip in some cold water boosts oestrogen and testosterone production, adding an edge to fertility and libido.

The benefits of increased libido include more confidence, higher self-esteem, and enhanced mood.

5. It burns more calories

The heart must pump faster and the body must work harder to keep everything warm while swimming in cold water. Overall, you will burn far more calories than swimming in hotter conditions. The idea that drinking cold water increases the number of calories you burn may be a myth, but it’s a fact that cold water decreases your body temperature so much that the body has to act. It’s no coincidence that cold water swimmers are generally thin.

6. It reduces stress

Stress is a demon in the modern world. When stressful times come, we are woefully unprepared for them. Reducing stress means you will feel better, you will feel more optimistic, and you will be more resilient when stressful times come along.

Cold water swimming places stress on the body physically and mentally. Many studies have told us about the link between cold water and stress reduction. Cold water swimmers are naturally calmer and more relaxed. They are stronger in the face of adversity.

THE BOOK OF THE WIM HOF METHOD:

Being outdoors heightens all your senses. Nowadays children miss out on that. They're so involved with their computers and games and virtual realities that they lose sight of the true reality : nature, which stimulates, develops and sharpens their senses. This disconnection from nature contributes to depression and many other issues. Our children need to climb trees now more than ever!

The schools are teaching our children history, maths, and language, but it's time for children to also learn about cultivating happiness, strength, and health. Too many of them will grow up and have unsatisfactory lives. They will burn out in their stressful jobs. Many will develop autoimmune diseases. It doesn't have to be this way. Nature is within us and our children. Play is a key.

Wim Hof can do one kilometre on a stationary bike in one minute and two seconds. Try it!

Sitting in car is like watching TV; you just see what is happening outside your window. But when you travel by bicycle, you charge up your feelings, you look around, and everything is amplified because you forge a direct connection with it all.

If you immerse yourself in nature, in the elements, so much that your body is working in its depth and all the senses of your being are truly activated, and you eat only when your body requires it as opposed to at fixed meal times, you will find that your appetite shifts in such a profound way that even dry oats become a feast!

I do believe that everyone should have a time, a space in his or her life, in which he or she is able to live totally free. Try a meditation retreat or another course or just go off on your bike without your phone for a few days. You retreat from society because you want to free your own mind, but first you have to learn to let it go.

We rarely, if ever, venture out into the elements anymore. We stay snugged up in our cosy, heated homes, safe from the environmental stressors that enable power to rise within us. Thus, or minds are not able to transcend the impact of extreme forces on our bodies to to accept the truth of mind over matter.

Our vascular system (veins, arteries and capillaries) has evolved over millions of years with many thousands of tiny muscles that contract and open the vascular channels in reaction to the weather. Whether it is hot or cold, our core body temperature remains at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wearing clothes, being dressed up all the time, is de-stimulating. Then these tiny muscles in our vascular system do not work properly. And our heart pays for it. Your body must be allowed to regulate itself! Not with clothes or heating or air-conditioning.

A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away. This is the easiest way to overcome the problem above.

After 10 days or so, our vascular system is awakened and a whole sequence of magic occurs in our bodies.

Anybody who has ever stepped into a cold swimming pool or endured an "Ice Bucket Challenge" knows that the immediate impact of cold water on our bodies can be uncomfortable, if not downright painful. It is therefore understandable why some might be reluctant to willingly submit to that discomfort. It's unpleasant. But just as your body adjusts, in time, to the water in the sea or the pool, so dies it adjust, with repeated exposure, to the water in the cold shower. Initially, the cold water will precipitate a cold shock response, or a gasp reflex, which is a completely normal reaction. This may lead to some hyperventilation, yet this involuntary physiological response subsides over time as the body relaxes and begins to adjust to its new environment. The more often you take the cold showers and the more you get used to that initial shock, the more you begin to crave the sensation!

Within 10 days of taking these showers, you will notice that your heart rate has decreased, and that it remains low during the day. This translates to a LOT less stress. Cold is a stressor, so if you are able to get into the cold and control your body's response to it, you will be able to control stress.

Cold showers are the gateway to flow and energy and peace. If you do just ten days of cold showers after warm showers, meaning that you end your regular showers with a minute or two of cold water (or even just 30 seconds) then you will be able to command your vascular system to close up when you go into the cold. Anyone can endure 30 seconds of cold water! The warm or hot initial shower helps to open up your veins, aiding your blood flow, so it's also important.

Once you are able to go longer than 30 seconds, you begin to develop an ability to consciously resist the shock of the cold water. You suppress the shiver response, the gasp. Suddenly the water's not cold anymore. Instead, it's a force, and you, standing there, are a counterforce. You're in control. You're awakening to the physiological power and the neural activity of your own body.

Here is the plan:

WEEK 1 : Thirty seconds of cold water at the end of your regular warm shower.

WEEK 2 : One minute of cold water at the end of your regular warm shower.

WEEK 3 : Ninety seconds of cold water at the end of your regular warm shower.

WEEK 4 : Two minutes of cold water at the end of your regular warm shower.

By the end of the fourth week, your vascular tone will be optimized to the point that it will be mind over matter. You turn the knob to cold and will your body not to react to the shock - you have control. You will become addicted to it because it feels so good afterward.

The results of this small sacrifice of your comfort in the shower are extraordinary. Yes, it's going to give you a lot more energy. Yes, your heart rate will go down. Yes, it's going to bring all the oxygen and necessary chemistry to your cells.

WHAT IF YOU ARE PERSON WHO IS VERY SENSITIVE TO THE COLD?

The intercostal muscles run between the ribs and help move the chest wall during respiration. Activating them generates heat. Do as follows:

(1) Sit down and take 7 or 8 full and deep relaxing breaths.

(2) After the last inhale hold your breath for 5 seconds.

(3) Tense your upper-back muscles and chest while you hold this breath - but don't tense the head. Keep your jaw relaxed.

(4) Let go.

With practice, you will feel the heat flowing down from your neck to your whole body. Everybody is different, but eventually you will feel your body generating heat.

When you focus your mind you can withstand the cold. If you don't your temperature will drop.

You will be able to activate parts of your brain that hitherto have been thought to be inaccessible to humans. This offers a new perspective on how we might be able to deal with fear, anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder - independent of any medications.

Our brains are cycling through the same thought patterns incessantly. This causes stress and deprives the brain of the proper flow of blood. It's quite impossible to find anything meaningful when you are caught up in the stress of daily life, which can be all-consuming.

Just take the damn cold showers! You will regain ones innate capacity to control the vascular system.

Commit to it, dedicate yourself to it. Especially if you have a severe condition. I have met many people who have avoided costly hospital stays because they have turned themselves around with this. We don't have to bankrupt ourselves to pay for a medicine we don't need.

We wear clothes and live in climate-controlled environments and lead largely sedentary lives, but inside, biologically, we are still like any other mammal.

WHAT IF YOU SUFFER FROM COLD HANDS OR FEET?

Try this exercise :

(1) Fill a bucket with water and ice.

(2) Turn your mental focus to your hands (or feet.)

(3) Place your hands or feet into the bucket.

(4) Hold them there for 2 minutes. At some point the cold feeling will disappear.

(5) Remove your hands or feet from the bucket, maintaining your mental focus.

(6) Shake them out several times to encourage blood to flow into these awakened extremities.

The muscles around the veins in the hands or feet do not function well in some people and need to be retrained. If you suffer from this "condition", do this exercise daily.

BREATHE MOTHERFUCKER

Crohn's disease, cancer, depression, arthritis (more than 54 million people have been diagnosed with arthritis and is not believed to be curable), asthma, and bipolar disorder are all caused by deregulation of our immune, endocrine, and hormonal systems through uncontrolled inflammation.

All the stressful activities we do in our work and emotional life leave behind a biochemical residue that causes and compounds inflammation in our cells.

These diseases are modern diseases, Western diseases, that are linked to stress caused by environmental factor, but we don't have to accept them.

When you breathe deeply, your diaphragm moves, and that massages your intestines.

The breathing protocol, which is composed of three to four rounds, takes about twenty minutes to complete. The best time to do these exercises is before breakfast because when your stomach is full, all the metabolic activity and all the oxygen are directed to the stomach and block the way.

Begin with thirty to forty deep breaths. When you are new to this technique, I advise you to breathe through your nose, as it will give you more control over your body and mind. Go with the flow.

The breath must be as big as the ocean! Let in in fully, then let go.

Do this thirty times or until you feel lightheaded with a tingling sensation in your arms and hands and a looseness in your body. Breathe into the sensation. Take it up ten more times to forty breaths now, deeply in - feel the breath expanding your belly, then chest, then head - and then let go. Then fully in again and letting go. Forty times motherfucker. You can keep count on your fingers or in your mind. By now you should definitely be feeling the light-headedness, tingling, and looseness. Intensify those sensation by breathing into them. Don't worry about anything. You are 100% safe. Carbon dioxide is exiting your body and oxygen is replacing it, making your body more alkaline in the process. it may feel a bit strange or disorientating at first, but it's great for your biochemistry.

Now we are going to bring the consciousness in. Yes, the breath is a door. It leads to corridors that take us deep within ourselves. We begin doing this by stopping the breath while the body is alkalized.

After you let the fortieth breath go, stop after the exhalation. Holding your breath here will be fairly easy because your newfound alkalinity lessens the body's need for oxygen. You may be surprised to learn that you can easily hold your breath and go without any air in your lungs for around a minute. You're in control.

When you feel a real urge to breathe again, go ahead. breathe in once, inhaling fully, and then, when your lungs are full, stop again. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds.

Advancing in this technique you may encounter lights, visions. The experience can trigger lights or familiar faces, shapes and images. A ringing in your ears is possible.

Don't hold your breath so long that you almost pass out! Just breathe in as soon as you need to. Don't force anything.

It's a true natural high, and it is at this moment that anxiety and the pain of trauma fall away from your consciousness because you have freed yourself from it by consciously manipulating the biochemistry and electricity in your brain.

In this state, you can do somersaults, splits, push-ups, anything! Your body has untold power and the more you do the cold showers, the stronger this power will become.

NOW YOU HAVE COMPLETED ONE ROUND.

Now we go and do the breathing sequence once again. Round two. Forty breaths followed by a hold after the last exhalation, and you will notice that you are able to go longer without breathing this time because your body has become even more alkaline.

When you feel the urge to breathe again, take it all the way in and hold it for 10 to 15 seconds.

You may at this time begin to see even more of what's happening within you, and the sensation you feel is pure bliss. The Hindus call this feeling satchitananda, with sat meaning "energy" or "truth," chit meaning "intelligence," and ananda meaning "bliss."

After this second held inhale of 15 seconds or so, it's time for round three.

Everyone's experience with the breathing is a little bit different, but the universal characteristics are that with each successive round you feel stronger, lighter, and more at peace. Every round sends more blood and electricity into the brain. And if you do four rounds as I recmommend , you'll be ready for the day beccuase you will have seen the light already.

Before engaging in the above breathing technique, remember to be mindful. Listen to your body and get feedback from the signals your body and mind are sending you about the effect of the exercise.

STEP 1

Sit in a meditation posture, lying down, or whichever way is most comfortable for you, in a quiet and safe environment. Make sure you can expand your lungs freely without feeling any constriction.

STEP 2

Close your eyes and try to clear your mind. Be conscious about your breath and try to fully connect with it. Take thirty to forty deep breaths in through the nose or mouth. Fill up your belly, your chest, all the way up to your head. Don't force the exhale. Just relax and let the air out. Fully in, letting go.

STEP 3

At the end of the last breath, draw the breath in once more and full the lungs to maximum capacity without using any force. Then relax to let the air out. Hold the breath until you feel the urge to breath again. This is called the retention phase.

STEP 4

When you feel the urge to breathe, take one deep breath in and hold it for 10 to 15 seconds.

This is called the recovery breath.

STEP 5

Let your breath go and start with a new round. Fully in, letting go. Do three or four rounds in total.

After having completed the breathing exercise, take our time to enjoy the feeling. With repeated practice, this protocol becomes more and more like a meditation. Once you have a little experience with the basic breathing exercise, try this additional technique:

In round 2, Step 4, try "squeezing" the breath to your head when you take your recovery breath. You do this by tensing your pelvic floor and directing that sense of tension to the core of your body and up to your head, while keeping the rest of your body relaxed. you should feel a sense of pressure in your head. Then relax everything when you exhale.

Among the many health-beneficial applications of the breathing method is its ability to regulate that which causes disease, namely inflammation.

We may be able to survive and function more or less normally for a while when our biochemistry isn't right, but eventually ailments will manifest. They arrive in the form of autoimmune diseases, cancer, depression. And they come because our biochemical nature is out of balance.

We have to quite with this comfort-zone behaviourism and get back to our innermost needs.

So get out of your mind and get into your breath because the breath is the life-force.

EXTENDING YOUR RETENTION TIME

You can control your biochemistry with your breath. Don't believe me? Try this:

STEP 1

Breathe normally, then exhale fully, hold your breath out, and time how long you can hold it for.

STEP 2

Do the same thing after taking thirty breath, relaxing the air out on the exhale. See the difference?

When we consciously change our biochemistry through breathing, we make our bodies happier, strong and healthier. How simple! Isn't that what you want for yourself , your family and friends?

So many in the world today are consumed with artificial desires. So we can make lots of money to buy a big house or a fancy car but that can't buy us happiness or health.

I developed these exercises after going into the cold because the first thing you do when you encounter the cold is gasp. It's like being reborn. Breath is the life-force.

That's why we do the breathing first, before going into the cold. The breathing generates heat through the intercostal muscles, and it also increases pain tolerance. You do keep on following the breath with your attention once you enter the water, maintaining the connection with the brain. This is conscious breathing, which is different from the three or four rounds with retention that we do while lying or sitting down in a safe place. But you'd better learn to silence your ongoing thoughts when you enter the water because they're not going to help you there! Just clear your mind, be determined, and trust your breath because the breath goes everywhere -inside and out.

We have always covered our bodies in clothes which de-stimulates your skin, but cold is able to reinvigorate it. The best thing you can do for your skin is to go into cold water - not shockingly, but gradually - by increasing incrementally the length of your cold shower every day.

Within 10 days a cascade of things starts to happen. First your heart rate goes down, which means less stress. Then your vascular system wakes up and optimizes to its natural condition. You feel well.

This book is about showing you how to tap into your long-dormant physiology and to return your body and mind to the state nature originally intended them to be in.

It's time to embrace our inner mammals before it's too late, before we lose the connection forever.

You will find that if you do the basic breathing exercises while HUNGOVER, your blood will alkalize and eliminate the acidity caused by the toxic substance of alcohol. Easy peasy.

MINDSET (To be done straight after the Breathing Practice)

The third pillar of the method is mindset. A high level of optimism will give a stronger immune response.

When you go into the cold, you're not thinking anymore, you're just being. This is a great state to be in.

It's no picnic when you go into the cold. You don't think about your mortgage or your divorces or where your next meal is coming from! It's freezing and you just survive. You reactivate the deepest part of your brain. You're not caught up in your thoughts.

We can not only be happy and strong and healthy, but imbued with a purpose and a sense of adventure.

Turn off the TV and leave your phone in another room when you begin the breathing exercises each morning. Give yourself enough time that time doesn't factor into your thoughts at all. Do not rush. These twenty minutes a day require your complete attention.

You can only drive one car and occupy one room of your mansion at a time. But if you seek happiness within your own being, in control over your life-force, mind, and purpose, nothing else matters. You can be happy unconditionally! The happiness is in fact already there.

BASIC MINDSET EXCERCISE : (1) Steal away and find a comfortable place to sit down. Begin to follow your breath.

(2) Deeply in, letting go. Deeply in, letting go. Peacefully following the breath.

(3) A sense of calm will begin to settle over you, and it is in this moment that you can set your mind.

(4) Begin to scan your body while visualizing what you want to achieve. For example, the cold shower ("Today I want to stay in the cold shower 15 seconds more than yesterday".) It could also be something else that you want to achieve in your life like a journey. Or just a mantra "I feel happy, healthy and strong."

(5) Tell your body what you expect from it. Notice how your body feels. If you feel any inner resistance to your intention, just keep breathing steadily. You will be able to detect any misalignment of your intention and your body's feeling. Just remain calm and wait for the sense of trust and centred energy. Alignment.

If we could somehow influence the vagus never we could potentially suppress inflammation and by extension, treat and perhaps even reverse disease.

In experiments I have showed a direction suppression of IL-6 (the inflammation gene) without any help.

In the winter, I host a series of week-long retreats in Poland. It's dark, gloomy and bloody cold. But for many, it is one of the best experiences of their lives. Come on an expedition with us!

You don't need to venture inside the Polar Circle or to the middle of the Sahara Desert to experience this kind of thing though. But you do need to venture beyond your comfort zone.

This is the only life you have got, so it's time to move beyond your conditioning. It's time to move beyond your fear or whatever else is holding you back from living fully because that's the way nature meant you to be. Your fears are a consequence of a conditioned mind, domesticated mind and nothing but a burden.

Once you become more comfortable with this new-found authority of yourself, you are able to gain momentum, and suddenly you want to eat better, you want to run a marathon, your dreams are revived. Become like a child again - curious, wild.

The method will work for you even if you never take an ice bath, even if your breath retention never gets to two minutes, even if your cold shower never gets below 60 degrees. You can do the basic breathing method without even getting out of bed. Just use the free app. Lie in bed and let Wim guide you. At the and of seventeen minutes, there is a recalibration in your mind, a chemical change in your brain.

After the third round of breathing you will feel freaking great and have your brain set up for the day.

How much energy do you want? If you learn to use your mind together with the breathing, you will be able to increase it exponentially.

Beyond the performance and restorative benefits, the breathing also helps to cleanse the body of harmful substances. It's a trinity.

DOES THE WHM IMPROVE YOUR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE? Try this: To demonstrate the power of the technique, let's do some push-ups. First, so as many push-ups as you can to set a baseline. Most of us can only do ten or twenty before becoming fatigued. Now do ONE ROUND of the Basic Breathing Exercise, exhale fully, and try the push-ups again during the retention phase, with your breath held out on the exhale. If you feel you can, keep doing the push-ups after you breathe in for the recovery breath. You may be surprised to learn that suddenly you can do twice, three times, or four times as many as you did before.

Wim Hof does stretches with a resistance band. Put the band over a door, and then pull down. You initially may grow tired after a dozen reps. Wim Hof can do 160 without ever really fatiguing his muscles. Despite these gains, his muscles aren't really growing. That's not the point of the exercise.

Look at the bodies of endurance athletes like cyclists and long-distance runners. Their muscles are lean, but they are able to generate tremendous power.

Beer : Those who want to deprive themselves of simple pleasures like an occasional beer may benefit from it in terms of their short-term performance, but they aren't nourishing the soul.

THE HORSE STANCE

The horse stance is rather a difficult position to hold. Just trying to hold it for a couple of minutes is a challenge. Lactic acid builds up in the muscles, primarily the quadriceps, very quickly, and then fatigue and soreness set in.

To get into the horse stance, stand up straight, then spread your feet apart, about one and a half times the width of your shoulders. Make sure that your feet are facing forward, your spine is straight, and your posture is upright and aligned. Now bend your knees into a squat, lowering your upper body as if you were on horseback. Keep your knees in line with your toes. Place your hands on your hips and hold.

Doing deep breathing will help, as it lessens the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles, which leads to fatigue and failure. First breathe regularly and see how long you can hold the stance. Then, the second time around, breathe deeply and evenly and see the difference it makes.

Wim also likes to add arm movements and sounds - pushing the right hand away from the body to the left side, then switching to push our the left hand to the right side, making "Hoo-Hah" sounds.

This is a good exercise for warming up after being in cold water.

You should eventually be able to hold the stance for thirty minutes.

BREATHING FOR PAIN REGULATION

When practicing the WHM for pain regulation, you're consciously manipulating your body and the pain you feel by the use of the breathing techniques.

(1) Begin by sitting or lying down in a comfortable position. Once you are relaxed, direct your attention to the spot where you feel the pain. Then take five calm, deep breaths.

(2) Now take twenty more breaths. Fully in, and letting go. Do not force your breath.

(3) Exhale the last breath fully out, then inhale fully once more, and hold it for 10 seconds.

(4) While holding the breath, focus your attention on the point of pain, and press your held breath towards it. Tense the muscles around the pain area as well.

(5) Release your breath and all tension.

Think of the painful sensation as a signal. Motivate yourself to listen to this signal and become attuned to it. This signal tells you that the chemistry in this area needs to change, or is changing. A positive train of thought or mindset influences the perception of pain. The purpose is not to suppress the pain signal, but to change the internal chemistry that causes the pain in the first place.

The WHM is effective in treating endometriosis. Endometriosis is an often-painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of a woman's uterus grows outside her uterus.

ICE-BATHS AND COLD PLUNGES IN NATURE

Getting into the cold in nature - there's nothing like it! To befriend an ice-bath or a lake or the sea try this:

(1) First, find someone to share this experience with you. Ice baths and cold plunges are safer and more fun with friends.

(2) Prepare yourself by doing one or two rounds of the Basic Breathing Exercise as you visualize the cold water. How will it make you feel? Imagine how you will enter the water, be it a bathtub or a lake, and how you will feel when you do it. Assume a can-do mindset.

(3) Confidently enter the water while taking deep, calm breaths. Focus on your breath. Embrace the cold, let it take you to the depths of yourself. Do NOT perform the Basic Breathing Technique now. Instead, do long, conscious, exhalations to bring your breath into a controlled, steady rhythm. Take deep breaths through the nose and try to relax. Try letting out a long "Hummmmmmm" on the exhale.

(4) Keep your focus on your breath and your being as you exit the water. Warm up by doing the horse stance exercise while maintaining your inner attention.

Make sure you are safe and smart at all times. The cold can be dangerous.

In America, there's the Seventh Generation Principle, which is based on a Native American philosophy that states that the decisions we make in the present result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future.

On Wim's courses he has people coming up to him crying. They're repressed emotionally. The breathing opens them up. They go deep within themselves and surrender to the emotions, crying like babies. The feelings overwhelm them. I just hug them and say, "Be strong and pass it on because there are more spirits confined within you and you can free them. Now you know how."

We know that the method does wonders for those suffering from depression and other mental health issues because we see it every day, but having science validate what we see strengthens our case.

We can also influence our "health spans" (the number of years we remain disease-free and active).

Here is what someone with bipolar disorder said about the WHM : "Through breathing exercises and cold exposure, I've been able to create space between my depression and my mania....Step by step, in collaboration with doctors, I've removed almost all of the medication I had been taking for so long for my mental disorder, and now I'm learning more and more to become my own healer by being more open and conscious in life."

Trauma such as cold water is beyond our immediate control. We feel its impact, our survival mechanisms are activated, and we lock it away. Later we del with its consequences. Or we don't, and they stay locked away.

BREATHING FOR MOOD REGULATION

This exercises helps alleviate moodiness or depression. Supplying oxygen to the brain improves a persons wellbeing. You can do this exercise anytime but it can be an especially powerful exercise to try if you are feeling melancholy, moody, or depressed. Do not force it - feel it!

(1) Sit or lie down in a safe, comfortable place.

(2) Feel and try to relax every part of your body. Observe and be aware of what you are feeling, seeing and hearing, without judgment. Just be present.

(3) Take twenty deep breaths. Fully in and letting go.

(4) On the last breath, breathe in deeply, hold it, press your chin toward your chest, tense your pelvic floor, and direct that tension up your core toward your head.

(5) If you are experiencing any physical discomfort, focus your attention there and observe. Tense the muscles in that area. Hold the breath for a maximum of 10 seconds.

(6) Release the breath and all the tension.

(7) Repeat two or three times or until you feel better.

We sit in 72-degree rooms (or more) and watch TV while eating processed "comfort" foods to escape from the self-imposed stresses of our daily lives.

Our immune systems have become compromised, leading to disease and disorder.

We are literally worrying ourselves sick.

Another sense I want to talk about is interoception, which can broadly be defined as an awareness or sense of what's going on within our bodies. Interoception is what tells us when we are hungry or full, hot or cold, or when we need to use the bathroom. There is even evidence that is might just be that infamous "sixth sense," the "gut feeling" we know we should follow.

INTEROCEPTION OF THE HEARTBEAT

In this exercise we are going to forge a conscious connection with the heart and the circulatory system. Because the heartbeat is involuntary, few of us pay much attention to it or to the circulatory system it serves. But if we cannel our interceptive focus to it, we can decrease our heart rate during times of stress, which not only serves to relieve that stress but also to improve the absorption of oxygen and nutrients within our cells. Here's how:

(1) Sit or lie down in a safe, comfortable space.

(2) Relax.

(3) Feel and visualize your heartbeat.

(4) Connect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it so that you can feel it everywhere.

(5) Now visualize your circulatory system. Visualize that with every inhalation, oxygen-rich blood is flowing from your lungs to your heart, to every part in your body, through a network of blood vessels that could wrap around the world two and a half times. imagine hoe your blood provides oxygen and nutrients to organs and muscles, and transports waste products (like carbon dioxide) to your liver, kidneys and lungs.

(6) Reconnect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it again.

(7) Make a journey through your body and try to feel the heartbeat in different parts of it. If you focus on your hand, feel the heartbeat there, and if you focus on your feet, feel the blood flow from your ankles to your toes.

This is connecting your mind and body. This is interoceptive focus. A couple of minutes per day is enough to help you deepen this connection and reap the benefits of it.

Each of us is guided by an inner voice deep within us. Sometimes, amid all the noise and stress and daily worries - bills and mortgages, children and relationships, work and schedules, politics and religion - it can be difficult to connect with this voice, but it's there, hardwired into our neurology. It's always been there, and it will show us the way if we let it. Yet we have been indoctrinated (domesticated) into believing that we have to solve our problems through our thoughts, through the induction and scrutiny of question and answers, of ideas, when all we really have to do is listen to what our true nature is telling us.

BREATHING FOR STRESS CONTROL

Stress is the killer in our Western society - all that thinking, going into overdrive, making deadlines. They really are dead lines! Stress deregulates our system. You can tell if you are stressed by counting how many times you breathe in a minute. Try it now with a timer. If you are breathing between fifteen and twenty times a minute, you are stressed.

What Wim does for stress is one minute of humming and breathing. This always works for him. It taps into your parasympathetic nervous system - where the peace is inside - and calms down your hectic sympathetic nervous system. And it's like a massage for your spine from within - all they way up to your brain stem and to the centre of your head. It brings you directly inside your body.

(1) Set a timer for one minute.

(2) Settle yourself somewhere comfortable.

(3) Breathe in deeply.

(4) Breathe out with a sound like "Hum," "Ah," or "Om." Make whatever sounds make you happy.

(5) When you run out of air, breathe in deeply and let it out with another "Hum."

(6) Continue until the timer stops.

How many times did you breathe in a minute of humming? Five, or six? Nice!

The human body is well-equipped to endure gradual expose to ice water. The water offers us a way to handles stress, mental or physical, of any kind. It can be painful at first, but you learn to adjust to it and then, eventually, you actually start to love it. You start to love that stress and what it does for you. Hormetic stress in this form is exhilarating and beneficial. You build up to a minute in the cold, then two, et cetera. Once you get past the initial shock and calm down, the stress falls away.

And it helps to protect the body, on a cellular level, from other stressors, whatever they might be. Bacteria, viruses, emotional stress, work stress. Anxiety heightened by congestion, sitting there every day, unable to deal with that stress, becoming annoyed.

Do you want peace in your mind? Breathe it alive and take away the stress. Do you want to enter into the most mystical of traditions and gather their fruits? forget studying difficult languages and going to a cave for twenty years. Just breathe on the sofa in the morning before breakfast.

UNITE WITH THE LIGHT: THE "STROBOSCOPE" EXERCISE

Beautiful being, beautiful soul, would you like to illuminate your consciousness? Come, just lie here on the sofa. Are you comfortable?

Do you feel good? Hey, what did you do this morning? You say you woke up? I did the same thing! Wow, parallel universe. You say you have stress, tension, all that mental shit? Whatever you are thinking, I don't care. Let it go. Let it go. Now all there is for you to do is relax and breathe. Just drop everything and get into this breathing. We are all lightworkers. Work with the light and get free.

(1) Sit in a relaxed, comfortable position.

(2) Close your eyes, follow your breath, witness yourself calming down.

(3) Just look at what you see with your eyes closed. Don't try to see anything in particular. Be patient. In this way, your energy is able to disconnect from the external perception of the visual cortex and go into the deeper realms of the brain.

(4) Keep following your breath, and turn your inner focus to the centre of your forehead, the "third eye." You may see a luminous halo that pulses with your breath - in, out, in, out, like the flashing light from a stroboscope. you might feel you want to look more directly at it, but then you will take away the intensity. Learn to let it be. This is a phenomenal way to subtly observe the neural activity of your brain.

Once you have some experience with this meditation, try adding the focus on the centre of your forehead to the Basic Breathing Exercise. you many start to have spontaneous experiences of your inner light.

More on Cold Water Swimming/Cold Water Bathing

Cold water swimming can be very beneficial to long term optimum health.

Routine swimming in cold water can :

(1) boost metabolism. Cold water baths or swimming in cold water boosts Metabolism through increased blood circulation and increasing metabolic activity focused on generating internal heat to keep our body warm.

(2) improve blood circulation. Evidence also demonstrates that your body adapts to the cold with repeated exposure and this may improve your circulation to your core and to your extremities. Cold water swims or baths helps flush your circulation by pushing blood through all your capillaries, veins and arteries. The rapid initial cooling of the skin triggers various heart and breathing responses. Breathing rates will increase suddenly. The heart rate can increase by 50% and blood pressure increase can increase to 175/93. Although a substantial strain on the heart, these changes are not likely to be a problem for a healthy, fit person but may be dangerous for those with underlying heart disease or hypertension.

(3) help build and maintain a strong immune system. Scientists from the Czech Republic immersed witting subjects in cold water for one hour, three times a week and monitored their physiology. They found significant increases in white blood cell counts and several other factors relating to the immune system. This was attributed to the cold water being a mild stressor which activates the immune system and gives it some practice through stress. It also seems likely the increased blood circulation the vital organs also improve the immune system. Swimmers in general and cold water swimmers in particular seem to come down with fewer colds.

(4) improve skin tone and skin health. Cold water swimming or baths will exfoliate and cleanse your skin by flushing impurities from it, thereby helping your complexion and skin tone. I've noticed my skin feels clean and vibrant after taking a swim in cold water and looks more healthy.

(5) improve libido and fertility. Researchers have also found that cold water swimming and bathing can increase production of testosterone and oestrogen in men and women respectively. In addition to enhancing libido in both sexes, these hormones also play an important role in fertility.

(6) release endorphins to improve feeling of wellness and vigour. Cold water also stimulates our parasympathetic system, which is responsible for rest and repair. This stimulation can trigger the release of dopamine and serotonin. These neurotransmitters are a vital part of keeping us happy and low levels of them are linked with depression. There is a natural high that comes from the rush of endorphins on entering the water. The endorphin rush happens quickly and makes you feel alive and happy!

(7) encourages good sleep.

Cold water swimming is enjoyable year round from Melbourne to Scandinavia, Washington State to England and Ireland, and San Francisco to Germany. For most, cold water swimming is swimming in water under 15C without a wetsuit. For others, it is swimming under 10C. For the most hardy, swimming under 4C is an invigorating challenge.

Tips and Precautions:

• Slowly build tolerance by starting in less cool water building your tolerance before swimming in cooler water. As your tolerance increases and acclimates to cooler water you can increase your time in the water. Taking cool and then cold water showers or baths are a good way to begin to build tolerance to cold water.

• Hyperventilation can occur upon sudden immersion in ice cold water. Hyperventilation result in a spontaneous gasp followed by 1 - 3 minutes of involuntary hyperventilation. This hyperventilation results in a profound lowering of blood carbon dioxide levels and a raising of blood pH levels.

• Hypothermia can occur when our core body temperature falls more than 4 degrees.

• Severe cold water swimming or dipping can be a significant shock to our system and is not recommended unless and until you have built a solid tolerance to cold water.

• Be fully hydrated prior to your swim and have good electrolytes balance.

• Avoid alcohol and caffeine prior to your swim as alcohol is dehydrating, impairs judgment, dulls senses and lowers resistance to cool water and cold temperatures. Two days prior to cold water swimming it is recommended to avoid caffeine, alcohol and sugars as much as possible as they are natural diuretics (cause dehydration).

• High blood pressure, Hypertension or underlying Heart Disease. The strain placed on the heart are not likely to be a problem for a healthy, fit person but may be dangerous for those with underlying heart disease, high blood pressure or hypertension. Professor William R. Keating from the University of London indicates that there is little health risk in cold-water swimming unless a person starts suddenly at an old age or has underlying heart disease.