How breathing and cold water changed my life

Since i was 6 years old i have been into different kind of sports. I was a gymnast for almost 13 years, i have done different kinds of martial arts and worked out 3-4 days in the gym since i was 18…so i think i can say i was in a pretty good shape.

Then two years ago just from one day to another i was sick…i was dizzy all day long couldn’t even get out of bed because i felt uncomfortable standing on my own feet for more than 5 minutes. Of course i visited my doctor some days later but with no real outcome. After that i have been to 7 more specialists which have checked me from head to toe but nobody could tell me what’s going on an so they started to tell me it’s my psyche.

I couldn’t easily accept the fact that i must be mentally wrecked a bit so i started some research on my own.

One day as i looked through amazon a book with the title „What doesn’t kill us“ caught my eye. I was curious and after a quick look in the description i’ve ordered it and it was one of the best decisions so far.

Basically the book is about a guy called Wim Hof, also known as the iceman, his breathing method and his love for freezing cold water.Wim Hof keeps several world records and some of them are more then crazy. For example standing fully immersed in ice for nearly 2 hours.
Oh and incidentally ascended Mount Everest - in nothing more than just shorts !!!!
Google him this guy is a bad ass !!

The method is simply based on some controlled hyperventilation and cold showers every day.You have to take 30 quick deep breaths in and out and after the last one you breath out completely and then just try to relax for 1-2 minutes or even longer without air in the lunges. At the beginning you may last a minute but with some training you can go for 2-3 minutes.
When you can’t hold it any longer take a deep breath in and hold that for another 15 seconds then breath out again and continue with your normal breathing. Repeat that two or three times and you will feel how your body is charged with oxygen after this exercise.
It’s recommended to take a cold shower afterwards which is quite hard at the beginning because you will be shocked how cold water can be but you will get used to it pretty fast. Go slow and just gradually decrease the temperature as far as you feel comfortable…or take a ice bath like Wim Hof if you a freak of nature like he is.

For some more precise information, especially on the medical background, go to Youtube and search for Wim Hof Method and you will find some good videos on that topic where people show you exactly how to do the breathing.

So after i’ve read the book and learned about the method i thought it was worth a try and it really changed my life an I feel better now then ever before. I do the exercise first thing in the morning after i wake up and there are so much benefits from this it’s just amazing. I am energized all the long and the dizziness is almost gone.

Even if you don’t have medical issues you may want to give this method a try because i can change a lot if you practice it consistently on a daily basis.

Sometimes we have to go the unconventional way to find ourselves again and I guess it’s true that nature give us the ability to heal ourselves you just have to challenge the body the right way and reach for that inner power that lies in all of us.