Wim Hof – Breathing and Cold Water

Have you got into the Wim Hof techniques? A lot of people have and with good reason.

Breathing
The links below outline the breathing method that I find is the quickest way I know how to calm an overactivated nervous system and get your parasympathetic circuits back on line – it’s a great tool to use anytime you’re feeling super anxious:

An initial tutorial

Guided Wim Hof breathing

Once you complete the breathing cycles, you begin processing things differently once as your brain chemistry changes. I experience it as a disconnection from the loud, terrified, chattering mind, almost as if that anxious voice cannot function under these conditions. The in-breath that is held at the end seems to trigger deeper brain functions that allow a bigger picture sensation that is also very calming and can be just what is needed in moments of anxiety.

Give it a go and see what it does for you!

Cold Water
The cold water submersions, which is one of the other parts of his method, either in the form of a shower, bath or cold water swimming also serve to reset our system. It’s as if all the extraneous worries that we fuss over in our anxious state simply cannot co-exist with the body’s primary need to survive in very cold water, so it gives it up and goes into its deeper, truer state. This provides a lot of relief from an overly anxious mind.

The secondary effect is that we learn we can do hard things. We can breathe out and hold our breath for longer than we thought, despite our body initially protesting that we must need to take a breath. We can go into cold water and despite our mind’s shouting that it’s unbearable, we do bare it and end up being fine. We begin to be hardier in the face of initial protests from our body and mind, and a bigger, deeper part of us emerges, that is fine throughout.

This has important implications for stress or anxiety, which we can then begin to view in a similar way. You don’t have to react to a mind that is screaming at you for attention, let it be and it will calm down. Its messages of doom don’t have to be believed or taken seriously. Just like the cold water teaches us, if we override our initial instinct to get out, we can remain and find ourselves to be absolutely fine, as a truer and more robust part of ourselves takes over.

This is healing and empowering. Wim Hof’s methods have gained great acclaim for a good reason – they work! Why not give them a go and see how you find they affect you. I’ve found them to be great tools in times of need, and they have become a routine part of my daily practice for that reason.