A year ago I went through a bit of an existential crisis.
During that eye-opening experience, I came across Wim Hof’s book titled: The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential. Without reading this book my life would still be on a steady decline. At the time I was feeling extremely anxious and overwhelmed. This book helped reduce the majority of my suffering.
The Wim Hof method focuses on three pillars: breathing, cold exposure, and mindset. Hof outlines daily practices that everyone can use in each of the three categories to help improve one’s life. The breathing technique consists of three rounds and thirty deep breaths. Once you’ve let the last breath out you must not breathe until you feel the urge to do so again. As soon as you get that urge you breathe in as deeply as you can and then hold for fifteen seconds. While you’re holding that breath the goal is to move all of the blood in your body into your head. As for cold exposure, that requires a cold shower daily (that means as far as the handle goes toward the cold setting). At first, you start with 10-15 seconds. The next day you add another few seconds. Gradually, your tolerance for the cold will increase. Mindset is all about goal building and breaking the barriers in your mind. This requires daily focus on what specifically you want to achieve. That could be today or thirty years from now (Hof recommends focusing on what you want to accomplish today).
The benefits of the Wim Hof method are astronomical.
Unfortunately, I won’t get into much of that detail here. It would take much too long to write. I suggest going to his YouTube page or reading the book, all of the data and science can be found in both of those resources. However, I will discuss where I’ve seen improvements in my life based on using this method daily for over a year.
First and foremost, my anxiety has significantly reduced. That can be attributed to both the breathing technique and the cold exposure. Typically, I’ll go through a ten-minute breathing session early in the morning. Each day during that ten-minute period is when I feel the greatest sense of clarity. With each consecutive breath, you are bringing more blood to your head. You will definitely feel all of that blood rushing to your head but I promise it’s a good thing. As that is happening your body temperature is slowly rising. You will feel tingling and warmth throughout your entire body. By the end of the third round of breathing, you feel an overwhelming sensation of relaxation and peace. The addition of cold exposure into my routine has been a meditative experience for me. It’s an extremely empowering achievement to complete each day. Even if you have the most unproductive day in the world at least you can say that you faced the cold. When you’re in that cold misery all you can think about is surviving. All of the stress and worry go out the door. The cold puts a strange hold on your mind. Thus, taking away anxiety even if it’s for a brief moment.
All in all, there isn’t one bad thing that I can say about the Wim Hof method. It’s a game-changer. Please, do yourself a favor and check out his book. You will see the benefits of implementing this technique in your life firsthand.
Go check out the book!
The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential.
Subscribe to my newsletter!