Wim Hof Breathing and Cold Therapy: A Physical Therapist's Journey
By Dr. Geno Mayes, PT, DPT
WHAT DOESN’T KILL US
I’m typically not a big new year’s resolution guy, but since last year was such a goal crusher, I decided to mix things up and set a mission for 2021. Instead of a physical goal, I would embark on a year of “mental” training by significantly increasing my reading. Since the most successful people in the world are big readers, I wanted to see what I might be missing.
The Mission: To Read 21 books in 2021
Accountability
Once a goal is established, I’ve always believed the most successful approach to staying on track is to create accountability. You’ve got to stick your neck out and tell others what you’re planning to do!
In 2018, when I wanted to do Ironman 70.3 in Lake Placid, I immediately told a few fellow crazies that I knew would “encourage” me to officially register and never quit. Once the $ was spent, the goal was locked in and the rest was history.
2021 - The Squad
Since I knew getting through 21 books in a year would be no easy task for someone like me who doesn’t like to sit still and falls asleep less than 5 minutes after hitting the hay. Fortunately, my accountability crew came about in a rather unconventional way.
In December 2020, I was treating two patients who happened to talk to me about being able to hold their breath over 3 minutes due to some interesting breathing philosophy by this guy named Wim Hof.
Neither of these patients knew each other, and their appointments were at different times, so my interest peaked. What was all the hype about Hof? The more we got talking, the more I knew we needed to coordinate the schedule so we could all get our fix talking about breathing and cold therapy techniques. Long-story short, our motley crew of three formed an unofficial book club. Thanks to these guys - Brian and Carlos - for keeping the journey interesting.
1st Book
What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength by Scott Carney; Forward by Wim Hof.
Scott Carney is an investigative journalist who wrote this book to “show how it is possible to….manipulate deep parts of your physiology by intentionally tweaking identifiable programmed responses, you can begin to cede aspects of that automation to your consciousness”.
The Wim Hof Method consists of 3 different components
Breathing ➤ Meditation ➤ Gradual Cold Exposure
Wim Hof, “The Iceman,”and the scientific community identifies many benefits to consistent exposure to the cold. By practicing various breathing techniques, he and others were able to hack the “fight-or-flight” system to withstand extremely cold temperatures for long periods of time (including taking many groups up Mt. Kilimanjaro) shirtless! One of the most interesting benefits from the method is being able to have some control in boosting your own immune system (you’ll have to read the book for details)!
Getting Ready for the Deep Dive
So our “book club” decided to take it a step further…we signed up for a 1 day Wim Hof workshop that would culminate in an icy cold submersion in a NJ canal...in FEBRUARY!
In preparation for the canal plunge, our instructor had us increase our daily exposure to cold with a few “fun” exercises.
Put our hands in an ice cold bucket of water for 2 minutes every day
Put our feet in an ice cold bucket of water for 2 minutes every day
End every shower with 2 minutes of cold water.
The most challenging part in the beginning was getting my mind to turn the shower knob to a cold setting….talk about a mental challenge!! However, the cold crew kept each other “inspired” with daily texts, pics/vids and a good dose of one upping. I was amazed at how quickly all 3 of us adapted to the frequent bouts of cold exposure.
Wim Hof Workshop- The Big Day
Morning Prep
Our instructor started the day with a presentation on the science and philosophy behind cold training and breathing. After that, we hopped in our sleeping bags and practiced our breathing on a fresh blanket of snow.
With calm minds, we began our hike to the canal. Halfway into the hike she stopped abruptly saying, “I need to run back to get the axe!” What?? Here we are, three highly educated professionals (these guys are both attorneys), waiting for our instructor to come back with an axe just in case we need to chop through the ice to enter the water! Oh man, what have we just gotten ourselves into?? LOL!
The Plunge
We arrived at the canal, stripped down to our bathing suits, and this southern boy from SC entered the frigid water up to my neck. Our instructor then began the 2 minute countdown. She coached us through the various breathing and mental strategies for a successful plunge. I was amazed at how we were able to tolerate such a shocking stimulus to the body with relaxed shoulders in the absence of shivering...truly incredible!
As the sun set on the day, we warmed up around the fire, feeling mostly badass and maybe a little dumbass! In this pic, we’re demonstrating the horse stance (and maybe some chanting- oh boy) that we learned that day.
My Takeaways
This new exploration into various breathing techniques and cold exposure has really been an eye-opening experience into the power of the mind. To experience first-hand the ability to override a lifetime’s worth of preprogrammed responses to cold (avoidance, shivering, goosebumps, hyperventilating, etc) is nothing short of magicaI. I felt like David Blaine for a couple minutes - haha!
I’ve continued with daily cold showers and still can’t believe that I can turn the dial to “cold” without flinching.
Stay Tuned
Our “book club” has read about a few additional techniques since beginning with Wim Hof and cold training. The ability to “hack” the mind and body has been an interesting journey, and I look forward to sharing more soon.
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