So I was watching a german youtuber I like and he out of the blue shared some of his health issues he has behind the scenes and how the Wim Hof methods surprisingly helped him. I had see others in the past bring this up but sounded like some random trend. This guy however, has worked as a scientist and so he had done some due diligence with research before trying and documenting his progress. I was intrigued so I looked into it.
From what I see this is actually a really good breaking the mold type of practice that is easy to do and provides pretty fast feedback on progress so I decided for fun and curiosity to try it out. I am not a fan of the cold so to say i am dreading the cold showers is an understatement. I also don’t like the feeling of “getting high” and some have said the breathing techniques can feel like that. Still, despite the hype that follows this method there does seem to be some interesting science backing it. I got a great end-of-year deal so why not try the formal course? You can also do much of this on your own using Wim’s youtube page for guidance. It’s pretty straight forward but I wanted to see what he shares in the course itself.
Today is day 1. The course material itself was pretty basic stuff which is already free online. He adds sine yoga as a warm up. The breathing was not too bad but I can see why some equate it with getting high. Fortunately that fuzzy feeling subsides after the exercise, and the practice is pretty much about 5 mins or less until you have good breath retention.
The cold shower.. well that was rough. Only 15 seconds this week but it felt longer. Wow. But as I did it I realized so much of the hesitation was just the dread of being uncomfortable. My water does get pretty cold too since it is well water. But I did it, and I felt really accomplished and empowered. Also feeling pretty mellow and focused at the moment which is nice.
I basically do the breathing and shower after my morning exercise.