Ice okay
A highly inspiring afternoon for all participants: Wim Hof trainer Daniel Ruppert brought 130 kilograms of ice, introduced friends and interested people to the Wim Hof method and supervised every single ice bather.
The event started at 12 o’clock: getting to know each other in the kitchen – with delicious tea and coffee. Afterwards Daniel led us through breathing sessions, showed breathing techniques and highlighted cultural backgrounds of breathing, mainly from India, but also China, where Daniel lived for many years.
“Breathing massages the body”
Exciting scientific facts followed – keywords included vasomotion, stressors, hypoxia, intercostal musculature – including detailed explanations. Everyone listened and marveled at the groundbreaking effects that consciously executed breathing techniques can have on one’s own body – especially in combination with cold exposure.
Zero and quite right: Daniel checks the water temperature.
Look, the tub is full of … ice!
The highlight was the ice bath in the garden. Each of us jumped into the ice pool singly – or as a couple – for at least three minutes until only our heads were sticking out. Ooooh. Ooooh. Aaaaahh. Silent ice bathing is not. Especially not when you get out: applause for everyone who gets out of the ice after three minutes, red as a beet and with a wonderful blood supply.
First warming up with a light touch: Fins in the broth. 10 seconds are enough.
Initially, some still had doubts. But in the end, the courage, the experienced self-efficacy won over the cinema in the head or ‘ghost of the imagination’ – or as Daniel calls it: the Monkey Mind, the ‘inner monkey’, which still wants to negotiate the exit when one is already standing with the legs in the ice water.
“Freezing is the sweating of winter times.”
After the ice bath, we warmed up again with delicious curry. Excited conversations everywhere. The kitchen did not empty as fast as the ice tub. The last ones left at 1 am.
The blood gets boiling: Angelina and Hannes after the ice bath.
As a convinced cold showerer and passionate ‘(c)old fox’, I could learn a lot again this time.
My personal Insights and Highlights:
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“No one has breathed himself to death yet.” (Daniel Ruppert)
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If you specifically train your intercostal muscles, you can increase your lung volume by 20-25% after about 3-4 weeks.
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The human lung covers 80 – 100 square meters in an adult human being.
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“Breathing massages the body.” (Daniel Ruppert)
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Cold exposure (e.g. cold showers) leads to an increase in the activity of mitochondria (the ‘power plants’ of human cells) by about 25%.
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Ice baths stimulate metabolic activity by about 80%.
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Exposure to cold causes the body to release significantly more melatonin, serotonin and dopamine.
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“Freezing is the sweating of winter times.” (Daniel Ruppert)
Many thanks to my wife and organizational talent Annette, Coach Daniel and all the brave first-time ice bathers!
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