Wim Hof Method workshop, ice bath and breathing exercise tested
Cold therapy, breathing and commitment, tried in an Amsterdam ice bath.
- Answers
- What does the Wim Hof Method actually involve?
- Topics
- Amsterdam · experiment · health · heart · howto · lifestyle · people · review · swimming
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2018-12-06_do-amazing-things-with-a-focused-mind/
Summary
The Wim Hof Method rests on three pillars: cold therapy, a breathing exercise and commitment. At a workshop I attended in Amsterdam in 2018, the breathing gave me an unprecedented calm and I sat comfortably in an ice bath, outdoors at around 2 degrees Celsius.
Full text
Cold therapy means regular exposure to cold, through cold showers or swimming in cold water. The method holds that this lowers your heart rate, increases circulation, minimises inflammation, speeds up recovery from exercise, and raises your tolerance to stress and disease. The breathing exercise is a few minutes of repetitive deep breaths, then letting go and pausing your breathing. Once your body clearly wants air again, you take one deep breath and hold it for 20 to 30 seconds, which triggers an intense full body sensation. Neither part is a quick fix; both take committed training. I took the workshop with Bart Biermans, a doctor and certified trainer, on his houseboat in the Amstel river: theory first, then the ice bath. By focusing on my inner temperature I felt warm in the ice, and afterwards the cold winter air outside felt warm. We finished with a swim in the Amstel.