Techniques for conditioning and intentionally influencing your nervous/immune systems

[nikki]

Greetings, im new here,

A friend of mine who walked the hoop with Finisia for a few years recently pointed me towards techniques- one involving breathing and another cold water- known as the Wim Hof Method.

Real comfort is the power to regulate all the impacts of nature: disease, heat, cold, deprivation of oxygen, stress in general. he has a method for conditioning the nervous system and metabolism, and its very simple.

As a queer, I am not looking for a European male cult figure, but as he says, “feeling is understanding” - I have experienced remarkable things since starting with the techniques.

His story is authentic, his wife committed suicide and he was in anguish facing the world responsible for raising three kids, he went into nature and found truth in the cold as a “merciless and righteous force”.

The foundational tool of his practice is universally accessible to someone with internet/computer, and since doing alot of stunts (climbing Everest in shorts, sitting in a tank of ice for 2 hours, successfully fighting off an endotoxin in a controlled experiment with pure will) he seems to be genuinely trying to spread his gift and not exploit anyone.

At the moment he is involved doing research with Stanford Univ. “the University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen…After running several tests they admitted that Wim and others are able to voluntarily influence the Autonomic Nervous System. Something which up until then was thought impossible.”

There are many interviews and videos featuring him, so i wont type too much here…

I think this is incredibly relevant for us rewilders. He is basically addressing our detachment from our wildness, he says that our deeper mechanisms throughout our brain stem are neglected because of the comfort style of modern lifeway. He intentionally puts his body into ‘survival mode’, and offers a slow healthy controlled approach…

through the cold, and his breathing excercises he is making nerual connections with the pineal gland and from there directly activating hormones, chemistry- internal conditions in order to face the extrenal force of the cold or lack of oxygen.

I have been starting my day with his breathing exercises and I experience mild euphoria and sustained energy. I have seen very fast results in my abilitty to hold my breath without any oxygen in the lungs. I have been taking 10 minute cold soaks in a nearby pond ~35degrees, and I feel very strong and stable and energized for it, and have been very satisfed by how i have quickly seen myself grow with my ability with it.

Here is an interview, from 18:30-25:50 is worth listening too

[Willem]

Nikki I’m thrilled to hear you’re diving into the Wim Hof stuff. As you’ll find elsewhere on this forum, I’m a big booster for “rewilding superpowers” - ancient capacities that are (relatively) easy to wake up through diet, lifestyle, and movement.

My path through this is through my teacher Tom Brown and his tracker school. Wim Hof’s story reinspired me to start working with the body control practices Tom encourages.

I do a morning 15 minute immersion in a 50 degree swimming pool - jealous of your 35 degree pond! It and a reconnection with the breathing have done wonders for deepening my connection to the wild and ancient world in my body.

[heyzach]

Nikki, thanks for opening this dicussion. Wim Hof is a fascinating person and the things he does are very real. What I’ve always liked about him is that he speaks from the heart. I’ve been following him for a few years and it is gratifying that his technique is now becoming more refined and teachable. When I first learned of him several years ago, he couldn’t explain his technique very well. There was the conditioning stuff of course, but when it came to the attitudinal changes and meditative states, Wim would only say things like “Lose your fear of the cold. Don’t hide from it, feel it, breathe deeply, and let your body react and adapt.” He said his teacher was Nature and that She was merciless but righteous. I appreciated these messages, and took them to heart. And I did notice some results! I’m not sure if all of them were directly attributable to the “method,” but in brief, I experienced a really bad accident on my bicycle. Several fractured bones (6 ribs and scapula), collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, loss of blood, etc. I was back to work at the farm in 5 days, with full range of motion back in my shoulders, and no pain. I ran a half marathon two weeks after the accident. The doctors looked at me like I was a cyborg. The orthopedist said only 2 year olds heal that fast. I had been doing Wim Hof conditioning and attitudinal adjustments for several months leading up to the accident, and have always credited his teachings with the rapid healing and recovery I experienced. Also, I was drinking homebrewed kombucha daily and eating a (generally) good diet.

Today, he’s got his technique down to a breathing exercise that is easier and more tangible than ever. Good stuff! I hope it catches on the way his evangelization is striving. Increasing our capacity for oxygen intake is something everyone from all walks and ages of life should learn for health improvement. The cold stunts, while cool, are not what this is all about. It’s about reconditioning the body to it’s natural, happy and healthful state.