The legendary yeti, a bearded Neanderthal of Netherlands, jovial, often bare foot & chested shouting deeply from the heart, “just breath mutherfucker!”. With many cultures and religions ubiquitously mentioning breath in practice, prayer, & meditation, it’s hard to ignore this repeated and chiseled theme. We have long since forgotten the breath; replacing intentional and measured with rapid and frenetic shallow respiration patterns of commute, overpopulation & conference calls. In the modern mode of burying instincts, we tacitly practice a full departure from the elementals of nature. Seasons now met with clothing and climate control keeping the modern man seated and comfortable and perhaps “medicated” from our true nature and harmonious sync with the environment.
Below are notes from The Wim Hoff Method book with links to purchase and a YouTube video that can be used to start your breath practice. Below also includes a couple of modalities I am currently experimenting with in efforts to optimize and tone the mind / body; a realignment with nature & the human ability to attenuate.
-Wim Hoff method is a tool to be used for managing health rather than a cure. The comfort zone modern life affords us weakens us.
-The Wim Hoff breath and cold modality are meditations that still the mind by freezing thought, saturating biochemistry and engendering increased neural activity. If you can control the avoidance response to cold & will to breathe, you can manually increase your resistance to bacteria, viruses, daily stress, emotional trauma, and neutralize biochemical consequences. Meet the moment, do not avoid it.
Cold
-Cold immersion & breath work stimulates a condition of hormesis: defined as a substance or environmental agent known to be harmful in larger doses, but has stimulating and beneficial effects on living organisms where the quantity of the harmful substance is small. Cells adapt…and you are the summation of cells.
-Our vascular system opens and closes to adapt the body to varied climate conditions; attenuating to remain within the range of normal body temperatures independent of external temperatures. Clothes de-stimulates the vascular system weakening this delicate program. Lack of function puts increased stress upon the heart as it now pumps harder to adjust to environment (as opposed to the vascular system adjusting). Cold is activation.
-Vascular fitness: optimize your vascular conditioning. This system delivers nutrients and exports wastes. If this system is exercised and optimized, heart rate will decrease.
-Taking cold showers lowers heart rate. Decreased heart rate affects mood & lessens anxiety. In turn, the vascular system remembers it’s function of dilation & constriction; similar to the toning of muscles, enabling better control and function. Blood flows deeper into the brain, the limbic system (memory & emotion centers) similar to well practiced meditators. Possible that the pineal gland can also be affected by the increased blood flow (other article as this one is interesting). Possible activation of the periaqueductal gray hemisphere which governs pain signals; enabling better pain tolerance and release of natural endogenous pain killers.
-DNA: inflammation influences transcription factors. Cold not only down regulates inflammation, but activates chaperone proteins protecting and ensuring gene maladaptive expressions do not occur.
-The mind re-conditions via this ancient stressor. The adrenal complex stimulates the body to become warmer in presence of cold and cooler in the presence of hot. Oxygen uptake is increased.
Wim Hoff Cold Protocol:
Week 1: 30 seconds of cold water at end of shower
Week 2: 1 minute of cold water at the end of shower
Week 3: 1.5 minute of cold water at the end of shower
Week 4: 2 minute of cold water at the end of shower. My assessment is that anyone has the capacity to handle 2 min of mild discomfort. Likely best practice to immerse in the protocol and start getting full effects starting WK 1.
Progression to ice bath_repeat time progression
Breath
-Breath work: Increased oxygen & purging of carbon dioxide spikes alkalinity and stimulates adrenal axis; possible to reset past conditioning and set better tolerances to stress. The higher PH also reduces the time it takes for the body to become acidic again allowing for greater breath holds. bringing air deeper into the lungs better saturates the tissues. A controlled hypoxic state is beneficial for the body by producing HIF (hypoxia inducing factor) in cells, stimulating formation of new blood vessels and up-regulation of EPO producing genes (increasing red blood cells) Nobel awarded work in how cells adapt to changes in low levels of oxygen & the positive effects on cell function. Breath ignites our inner electricity. Connect consciousness with nature of the eternal background. Be more than your thoughts. transcend them. Return the harmony of the triad, nature, consciousness and the cosmic background. Follow the breath….where does it lead you?
-Physically, we are more or less the same as our hominid ancestors, but our brains are saturated with stimuli at unprecedented levels changing our biochemistry. Breath work returns us to a deeper connection with the self and the environment of the past.
-During Wim breathing, oxygen enters the body and carbon dioxide is forced out. New found alkalinity lessens the body’s need for oxygen. this taps into the endocrine system releasing hormones and unblocking energy; possibly influencing of the pineal gland and could be reason for altered state of consciousness. Alkalizing the body is believed to lower systemic inflammation. Most interestingly, these protocols can enable control over previously thought autonomic systems. Wim Hoff exemplified this by his immunity to in vitro E.Coli injection. The mechanism affected by breath work floods the body with adrenaline & interleukin 10 (anti-inflammatory cytokine); ultimately inhibiting the activation of the innate immune system and the marked illness related side effects. The Adrenaline appears to also increase leukocytosis = more white blood cells. In concert, the immune system is working but with decreased inflammation effects. The Immune system can also be trained to down regulate in instances of autoimmune disfunction and is noted by reduced blood serum levels of C reactive protein & Cal Protection (pro inflammatory bio markers).
-It all begins with 40 breaths. Rebalancing the parasympathetic / sympathetic nervous system. 4 rounds ensures blood is in the optimal PH range. Increases energy & decreases stress. The mind is a neurological muscle and must be worked out. Allow the mind to remember it’s ability to regulate against environmental stresses that are now blunted by temperature control and clothing (progress & convenience).
Basic Breathing Practice: “Just Breath Mutherfucker”
- Lie down, close eyes, clear mind. Take forty breaths. deep belly breaths, don’t force the exhale. Following last breath, fill the lungs to capacity then relax and let the air out. Hold the breath until you feel the urge to breath again (retention phase).
- Take one breath and then hold for 15 seconds (recovery breath)
- Let the breath go and start a new round. 3-4 cycles. As you get more practiced add a squeezing of the core / pelvis (bracing) to the second round during recovery breath.
-Breath practice leads to Improvement of metabolic efficiency, regulated hormones, reduced inflammation, and enjoyment of the endocannabinoids, and endorphins.
-Bioenergetics: Creating more ATP (energy) involves aerobic respiration; oxygen influences the physical mitochondrial process by breaking down the lactic acid that builds up In muscles during exercise. Aerobic metabolism creates 30X the ATP of Anaerobic conditions. The breath combined with the power of the mind can significantly increase the amount of ATP & adrenaline in the cells.
Athletic protocol: delay the deprivation of oxygen in the muscle tissue postponing lactic acidification (fatigue impetus)
- Breath in deeply for 60 times.
- On last breath inhale full and hold the breath for 15 seconds (or as long as comfortable). During, squeeze the entire body toward the head by tensing the pelvic floor allowing the pressure feeling to move up from the spine to the head (also believed to move CSF fluid to the pineal and activating).
- Relax and let your breath go for other round. Start each round and increase the speed and intensity of breath as the round proceeds. This is the “POWER” of power breathing.
- Wait a couple of minutes, and do begin your exercise.
This method helps with a faster recovery. Athletes report better sleep, reduced inflammation and faster recovery. Recent study published posits this breathing method activates the cori cycle that recycles lactic acid into new glucose.
“The Breath is a door”
“What is the soul? It is the “you” beyond thinking; its nature itself.”
“I do go into these things prepared, I meet the moment” -Wim
The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential
By Wim Hof, Elissa Epel PhD
