I'd be the first to doubt if someone said that there is a way i can control my immune system, which in another words protects our body from diseases, and my nervous autonomic system that control vitals functions, like the heartbeat, blood circulation and body temperature. Fortunately, the scientists doubt before me when the dutch athlete, Wim Hof said that, not only, he could do both but could also easily teach anyone to do the same. Seems too good to be true but looking for what the studies're showing both I and the scientits were wrong.
Wim Hof 's known as 'The ice man', thanks to his ability to handle extremely low temperature for long period of time, and with an amazing facility, he holds twenty six records from Guinness book. From those stand out: biggest time submerged in ice cubes, that himself broke three times being the last times in 2011, when he stayed submerged for one hour fifty two minutes and forty three seconds, climb 6,7km (approx: 219,816. 27 feet) of altitude of Mount Everest, shirtless, only wearing shorts and sneakers, climb until the top of the mount KIlimanjaro in two days, also just with shorts and sneakers; finish a marathon at the Arctic Circle in temperatures near - 4 °F, again only wearing short and sneakers.
And, just to proove that heat also ins't a problem, he ran a complete marathon without drinking water at Namib desert, where the temperatures reach 140 °F. What looked impossible to any human being to the vision of Science, clearly isn't to Wim Hof, and no he ins't a mutant or a super-man, on the contrary, like himself says: he can teach anyone to do the same. And that's how rised the Wim Hof method, a method which changes completely the way ocidental medicine sees the human body, and that brings all sort of benefit, such as prevention of diseases, reduction of pain, anxiety, inflammation and stress; burning of fat and sleep improvement.
up until extreme cases, like complete remission testimonials of autoimmune deases, inflammatory diseases and mental disorder. The Wim Hof method has three pillars: breathing, exposure to cold and some exercises and scretching. The breathing on Wim Hof method is different than our daily breathing, the aim is to expel the maximum of CO2 out of your body and bombard your body with O2 that way your cells will have a lot of oxygen to work, and won't need to use other methods of breathing, that makes your blood pH go from it pattern level, 7,4 until levels between 7,75 and 8, becoming more alkaline.
These other methods of cell respiration that don't utilize oxygen create more acidity and are much less efficient whats the the most incredible about this blood change to alkaline level is that the sensors that detect acidity stop working properly and can't activate our Nociceptors, that are our sensory receptors which send signals of pain perception, summing up, you become practically immune to pain. The breathing's divided in four steps: 1. Position: sit down or lay down in a comfortable way, get in a position where you can expand your lungs completely it's recommeded that you do this right after you wake up, while fasting.
2. Power breaths inhale deeply and exhale lighly, repeat this 30 times, during this step you can feel soft dizziness, stings on the body, dormancy and several others sensation which may vary from person to person. All of which is normal.
3. Air Retenction by the end of the 30 power breaths fill your lung without forcing and then empty and hold your breath, hold as much as you can, at this moment you'll feel a great sensation and will be amazed that you won't feel such distressing urge to breath, there's just peace and lull, your body's totally oxygenated, but always respect you limits. 4.
Recovery breathing when you feel the need to breathe, inhale deeply until you fill your lungs completely and hold it for 15 seconds then, afther this, you can release the air and start the power breaths again, do three rounds. Your air retention capacity should increase at each round. By the end of the three rounds you 'll feel your body totally relaxed, both physically and mentally, a deep sensation of meditation.
The power of the method becomes clear right at the first time. I, for example, was never able to hold my breath for more than 1 minute and at the first time that I practiced the method, my air retention was 2'40'' in the 1st round, 2'59'' in the 2nd and 3'24'' in the 3rd. Some important precautions: Always practice the breathing exercises at a safe place: never do them in situations that could be dangerous to faint, as standing, in the water or driving.
Following the respirations comes the 2nd part The exercises and stretching practice some power breathing followed by the air retention and then do as much as you can of arm push-ups you'll notice that without breathing you are able to do much more push-ups than normally, because your muscles are properly oxigenated. For the stretchings do the same preparation, and then choose places that you feel have the least stretch, and then again, you'll notice your ability to maximize. A note: Feel free to skip the exercise steps in the first few weeks of practice, if you wish so.
Than we go to the 3rd stage Exposure to cold (Icy baths) during the exposure to cold your body releases high levels of Noroadrenaline on entering in the called fight-or-flight reaction and is forced to produced heat to stabilize it's temperature, this happens by the activation of brown fat, that exists in your body. The brown fat isn't what we think when we speak of body fat, that's the white fat that accumulates in the abdomen, waist, hips and thighs when we ingest more calories than we burn. The brown fat is responsible to burn calories to make heat.
Yeah, icy baths make you lose weight. Besides that, your cardiovascular system redirects the blood to warm your vital organs, increasing your blood circulation, thereby strengthening your veins and arteries, your immune system is activated through the release of white blood cells, your inflammatory process are slowed down But, how to start ? in the first sections, take your normal bath and then finish it with only 30 seconds of cold shower, if you feel a great physical discomfort and start to shaking, feel pain or dormancy, warm up as fast as you can.
Exposure to cold is like bodybuilding you get stronger with practice, gradually increase the cold shower time until there's no need for you to start with by the warm bath, you'll notice that when gets to this point you'll prefer the cold shower instead the hot one. Advanced practitioners even immerse themselves in ice tubs, it's not necessary that you exposure to cold right after the first two steps, but it's the moment you'll be with body and mind more prepared and ready to face the challenge. Any doubts, just leave it in the comments that I answer or take a look at the Wim Hof's channel, and like himself says The cold's your warm friend.
Don't forget to subscribe and give it a thumbs up. There's still a lot to come.
