Wim Hof Method Fundamentals – Best (and WORST!) Parts – Week 2 Review

So thrilled the 10-week Wim Hof Method Fundamentals course finally fits in my life!

Week 2 review below.   You can also check out my  week 1 thoughts.   Or read about the struggles I had trying the Wim Hof Method without the help of a course.

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Week 2 included the three main parts of the Wim Hof Method: breathing, cold water training, and stretching.   Additionally, we had two homework exercises – appendage-only cold exposure, and stress-breathing training.

Here’s what I thought about week two:

Wim Hof Breathing

Best:

• No More Counting!
  • “Do as you feel” is Wim’s repeated encouragement this week.   I love that I don’t have to keep track of how many breaths I’ve done, instead being able to focus my attention on sensations.
• Surreal
  • One of the days this week, I had the ringing that some people describe and Wim says is the body’s electrical system being supercharged.   I liked it.
• Hold Heaven
  • Still LOVING the holds.   So incredible.
• Science, Please!
  • When I choose to do the breathing along with the class video, listening to Wim explain the physiological benefits during the holds is awesome.
• Game Changer
  • Using the stopwatch on my phone this week and hitting “lap” at each transitions (beginning the breaths, beginning the hold, beginning the breath-in hold) has really helped me understand how much time this is taking and where and why.   I feel empowered and informed.

Worst:

• Time is Real
  • Yes, “do as you feel” was one of my favorite parts.   But my breathing (vs. holding) parts took up to 5.5 minutes each when I “did as I felt.”   Do I have time to do 20-30 minutes of breathing everyday on top of yoga and the other homework and exercises?
  • Halfway through the week, one of my accountability partners demonstrated his faster breathing style –   filling the belly and chest super fast, then the “head” more slowly.   I liked it but missed the meditative feeling of my “as you feel” breathing.
  • Hoping to strike a balance between “doing as I feel” and doing the breathing at a speed I can fit into my daily life.
• Rigor Mortis?!
  • My arms and fingers only felt locked up once this week… toward the end of the last two breathing cycles that day.   Not as weird as  last week.   And not as intense.
• A+ Student
  • One of my accountability partners is reporting more than 3 minute holds!   I’m only getting above 2 minutes about half the time. I know Wim says it’s not a competition, but I wonder if I’m missing out on the next level of intense… serenity?   And if I will get there?   How?
• What Happened to “My Charge?!”
  • On the 6th and 7th day this week, the tingling in the body sensations appeared later and later in the breathing rounds and then at far lower intensity that I’d experienced previously.   I worried that I was losing my ability to get “my charge,” but now that I’m on day 1 of week 3 and have listened to this week’s lecture… I know better.   Will reveal what’s really going on next week!
• Sexual Tension?
  • I didn’t have the same sexual tension I experienced once  last week  (but one of my accountability partners did!   He said he had really incredible sex with his partner after doing his breathing).   I did have this really weird thing happen to my nipples one day – they got super hard during two holds in a row and it felt like someone was gently pinching them.   Wonderfully weird.

Wim Hof Cold Water Training

Best:

• Zen. Zen. Zen.
  • I wrote almost every day about cold shower serenity!   Not from moment one, but always by the 20 second mark!
• Breath Focus
  • Last week the moment of truth (stepping into the cold water) involved so much gasping and sharp breathing I felt compelled to warn my work exchange hosts about what I would be doing in the bathroom.   Or, rather, what it might sound like I was doing in their bathroom.   Wim taught this week that we should maintain a zen breath throughout the cold shower.   Hard at first, but rewarding!
• Goodbye Pain!
  • The breath focus + maybe the results of ongoing cold exposure meant less (mental?) pain this week.

Worst:

• Laziness Begets Pain!
  • Yes, the showers were less painful.   Especially when I didn’t put them off until past midnight… and I had no choice but to fail or face my suffering  (INTJs do not like failure).   I faced it.   Unhappily.   I vow to take my showers at better times – ideally after breathing first thing in the morning – in week 3.

Wim Hof Stretching

Same as last week – I am doing  my regular yoga instead.   All the prescribed stretches are yoga positions.   And less than I am accustomed to doing.   Again, I suspect this is because people might find the program overwhelming if they had to do 20-30 mins of yoga + 20-30 mins of breathing + a cold shower + some other homework.

Homework: Appendage Training

Best:

• Um… I’m still alive?
  • Not gonna lie.   This hurt.   I only did the activity (sticking your appendage in a bowl of ice water for 2 mins straight) twice.   Maybe I’d have reached a revelation if I’d done it more.   I think I’m keeping this on my to-do list for week 3 to continue watching for changes.   My feet are often so cold they keep me awake a night.   I’d love to retrain my vascular system to the point this no longer happens!

Worst:

• OWWWW!
  • Intense pain.   Yes, as promised, toward the end of the two minutes the pain lessened (a bit!) and my appendages began to warm just slightly.   My hands were more intense than my feet (opposite for one of my accountability partners).   And it was only at around one minute and fifty five seconds that I finally stopped desperately wanting to yank each hand out of the cold.

Homework: Stress Breathing Training

I decided, after trying this once, that I already had the intended benefits thanks to all my yoga (which teaches breath awareness). But on day one of week 3, I’m realizing I wish I’d taken the 1 minute each day to count my breaths while focusing on a long, extended exhale.

Oh well — new habits and routines are hard. I’m happy with the change I’ve seen so far from the rest of this process.

Wim Hof Fundamentals Course – Week 2 Review

I learned so much this week.   I tinkered with my breathing methodology.   I loved the cold showers.   I under-utilized the activities.   I gave way to the awful habit of putting things off for “later,” forcing myself into midnight rounds of breathing and cold-showering.   I guiltily skipped a day after a perfect storm of life drama, bad moods, and an an opportunity to bond with people I really care about.

I really missed Wim explaining the science behind all the methodologies while doing them.   I hope to utilize the videos a bit more next week, vs. watching once and flying solo most of the rest of the time.

I hope week 3 will involve Wim-Hoffing first thing in the morning.   I’m not being as intentional right now in my life as I like to be.   Maybe this Fundamantals Course will help me make it through a period of needing to do more (delegating takes so much work!) on my way to doing less.

Still so grateful to be doing this!  ♣

Read about  week 3 here.

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Want to do the Wim Hof Course?!

If you’re grateful that I didn’t just take my Wim Hof benefits and keep them to myself, and you think you’re going to give the Wim Hof Fundamentals Course a try, I’d really appreciate you using any of the course links  on this page.  

It doesn’t cost you anything more.   Instead of keeping your whole purchase to themselves, the Wim Hof people will give me a little “thanks for spending hours of your time writing about your experience” funding.

At the end of the day, I have spent hours writing about my Wim Hof experience, because I love helping people.   If I can unlock a self-improvement opportunity for someone else by  spending hours in front of a screen, I will. (Wait… now that I’m “saying” this, it sounds kind of crazy.   But… I guess I am crazy!)    

Here’s more about my blogging ethos.