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Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

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181–190 of 199 posts

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#181
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>not cessation of desire but detachment from that desire. Yes, and Krishna says basically the same to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: Abhyaasa and vairaagya - practice and dispassion (same as detachment): https://www.google.com/search?q=abhyasa+vairagya+bhagavad+gi... https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/6/verse/35

1. The Bhagavad Gita is a completely unreadable rant that provides ZERO tangible information without a 1000 interpretations, like many other religious texts. Except it's the worst offender. Though, Oppenheimer did make it sound way cooler than it is. The 4 noble truths / the 8-fold path are a breath of fresh air in comparison. 2. Lacking desire and detachment from desire is pure semantics, as the goal is not to desir…

> as the goal is not to desire the object of your desire

The goal is to stop believing the desiring is done by a you. The goal is to stop believing you have a personal responsibilit to achieve the desired state or object as an independent actor.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#182
post #43
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Because it doesn't make anyone money" is my best guess. I kinda hate how conspiracy-theory-ish it sounds, but I can't much deny it any more? I'm one anecdotal data point: Never heard of this guy, but the cold shower thing just sounded plausible enough that I figured I'd try it. Not even the whole thing cold -- I start off with a hot shower and then just drop it for the last minute or so, as long as I can stand. And…

It's also hard. I used to do the same morning cold plunge as you. I have stopped, sometime in the last couple of months, because like any good habit, it needs to be maintained. I am going to commit to doing this again tomorrow, though, because I remember that it makes me feel good.

Did it this morning, and can report that I feel great :)

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind sharing, what do you eat?

Every morning: - 1 pint milk - coffee - 1/4 cup oatmeal During the day, a big salad consisting of the following: - kale - romaine lettuce - baby spinach - butter lettuce - arugula - carrots - mushrooms - sweet potato ribbons (uncooked) - shaved parmesan cheese - sunflower seeds - pumpkin seeds - peanuts - salt - pepper - unbelievable amounts of olive oil - avocado Snacks: - apples (1 or 2) - blueberries Once a week I…

>> unbelievable amounts of olive oil

Out of curiosity, how come?

I have a close relative who has kidney disease and was forced to cut all salt from their diet. I cook for them (I don't mind unsalted food myself). I think I understand a thing or two about such a drastic change to one's lifestyle. It's not an easy thing. My relative was mad for everything salty - cheese, cured meats, chips, everything. But they have found the discipline to cut it all off. Unfortunately, cutting salt from one's diet doesn't bring kidney disease into remission. I don't believe anything does :/ Anyway, more power to you and all that.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#184

I wonder, would walking outside in the cold with only a t-shirt work as well as cold showers?

Funny you should say that. For a couple of years in my life, when I was about 20, I went through this phase where I went around all year long in just a t-shirt (and shoes and trousers, of course). I also took hot-and-cold showers: I showered with cold water then alternated cold and hot a few times.

I did this because I got sick and tired of catching a cold every year and having a very high fever (39 to 41 C all the time). I blamed having being overperscribed antibiotics as a child, which at the time I believed had weakened my immune system. That was probably nonsense, although it's true that when I was a kid it was common to give kids antibiotics for viral infections, so I got a lot of antibiotics for no good reason at all. I figured that exposing myself to cold would help me build up my immune system again. Also probably nonsense.

I can't tell if anything changed by what I was doing. I never felt any different from doing it, not "more alive" etc as others report. I got over my colds with high fever but that was most probably because I grew up (I think adults don't get such high temperatures from a cold as kids do). I sure got lots of strange looks and people kept asking me whether I'm a) cold and b) mad.

I didn't use any breathing techniques or meditation or anything like that. I didn't particularly exercise much, though I was a strong lad at the time (now, not so much). I think I just sort of willed myself to do it and did it and then realised it wasn't that hard after all. I think the true secret, the real lesson, is that we are made to withstand a lot more cold than we think and we're just used to being warm a lot more than we were meant to be if we lived without all our technology. Except of course we don't have to be cold because we have all that technology. So there's no reason for breathing exercises and so on to learn how to withstand the cold. That's what our brains are for.

Also, don't follow gurus.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#185

When a friend first told me about taking cold showers everyday, I thought he was incredibly motivated and a little crazy. Then when I finally decided to look into it and did the breathing technique, I realized I might be able to take a cold shower. Now I've been taking 1-2min cold showers (after my regular hot shower), every day for the last 4 months. It gives me a huge boost of energy, way better than coffee. Also,…

If you're interested in reading a fantastic book on what the Buddha was really trying to get at, check out Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea.

He has a deep intellectual and experiential understanding of the Suttas.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#186
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand his methods are revolutionary for people with his same physiology. He and his brother were the subject of a study which seems to cast doubt on the potential of his claims for people without a similar physiology: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

How does experiment on his and his brother can possibly cast doubt on potential for different people? I mean, the study did not measured anything on different people.

The study showed that he and his brother, who has a similar brown fat physical makeup but doesn't follow the 'Wim Hoff method' performed pretty much the same.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it does actually cause your leg bones to adapt, however not by getting longer. Just how often are powerlifter's skeletons examined for adaptations? See the research into the arm bones of British archers who pulled a +100lb bow. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/30/br...

Agreed, your bone tissue effectively has mini piezoelectric sensors, the more mechanical pressure you apply on them the more you signal for tissue 'reinforcement', this leads to an increased _density_ (not growth) of the bone tissue in that region. Bone _growth_ during childhood and early adulthood is mostly hormone regulated AFAIK. There is nothing that I know that supports that earlier claim that chewing hard thing…

Dunno whether it does, but if it does, I bet South Africa Biltong chewers must have strong masculine square jaws fit to bite off any competition then.'

Hmmmm. Biltong.

I'm drooling.

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#188
post #36

For those interested in going deeper into the incredible world of breathing techniques I recommend "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art" [0]. Part personal account, part research summary, the book covers a lot of the world's ancient breathing traditions (including Wim Hof and his antecedents), as well as what modern science has to say about them. As with many other aspects of holistic health, it's incredible how We…

> exercise your jaw. This can help build wider mouths I have bruxism. My doctor told me specifically to not chew excessively. Also, despite the bruxism over a period of >20 years, I don't have a wide mouth :(

Compared to what?

Do you have an evil twin that doesn't have bruxism?

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#189
post #21

If this is revolutionary, why isn't everybody following his method? My skeptic alarm is going off, but also all of the investigative content I read about it seems to support the claims. I'm puzzled on why this hasn't seen mass adoption.

"Because it doesn't make anyone money" is my best guess. I kinda hate how conspiracy-theory-ish it sounds, but I can't much deny it any more? I'm one anecdotal data point: Never heard of this guy, but the cold shower thing just sounded plausible enough that I figured I'd try it. Not even the whole thing cold -- I start off with a hot shower and then just drop it for the last minute or so, as long as I can stand. And…

To provide one anecdotal data counterpoint: I decided to try cold showers a few years ago (not Wim Hof method, just showers) and although I generaly get ill very rarely, that year I cougt something three times. It obviously does not prove anything, might have been just bad luck, but after the third time I did not have the willpower to restart the cold showers routine again.

Maybe I was doing it wrong but I do not know how - I started with just showering my legs with lukewarm water and progressed to colder water and longer time gradually, very slowly. However, it never made me feel as good as some people here descibe. Sometimes I felt slightly refreshed during the summer but more often I just felt cold and stiff and I had strong desire to return to bed to warm up but I could not do that and I had to sit in my office cold and miserable for hours.

Maybe cold showers are not for everybody?

Re: Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges

#190
post #101
post #99

Is there a general timeframe where people experience the benefits of the breathing experiences? Like do I have to do it for weeks, month or years until I feel the effect?

Imo highly individual. In my practice, I've observed inflammation in my heel decrease in scale of a few weeks (my heel used to be inflamed after every run for a few days, with me unable to recover from 2 weekly runs of ~ 6km; after 2-3 week started to improve, now - 2 mo later - it is completely healed, can run 4-5 times a week, and bottleneck is now something else). The second effect I observe is my decreased fear o…

Sound intriguing to try out. I have plantar fasciitis most mornings also a diet change helped me a lot reduce the pain. Did you make any other changes apart from the breathing exercises?
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