Sea Swimming Blog #77
Day 445 Sea Swimming.
#77 of the blog.
Wim Hof Experience - Air Temp 11 degrees - Wind W 31mph - Ice Bath Temp unknown
Belcroute - Air Temp 10 degrees - Wind W29 mph - Sea Temp 9.3
Ok, so not strictly sea swimming, but, something that shares many of the benefits and techniques that are used when swimming in the chilly, winter waters.
Last week I photographed an advanced Wim Hof Method workshop… this week I took part in a beginner level workshop.
In last weeks blog I described what I saw during the session whereas this will be more of an experiential description of the events that’s took place and how I felt throughout from my own perspective.
(Aside from the first photo of me in the ice bath all other photos are from last week).
Having had a bit of prior knowledge of Wim Hof, his teachings, the App and observing last weeks session, I arrived pretty confident of what I would be getting myself into… but as you probably know, a little bit of knowledge is sometimes more dangerous than no knowledge at all… let’s remain openminded I thought to myself.
Although I’d used the App a while ago I’d had a big break from it and so decided to re-familiarise myself with it last night, doing about 3-4 of the rounds of circular breathing… I was ready.
I pulled into the retreat with a ‘fully formed’ view of how things were going to go down ready for those first slightly awkward early introductions.
Funny introductions dealt with (I mentioned that I’d brought my cactus speedos with me for the ice bath - which I’ve lovingly termed my ‘little pricks’ - a story that didn’t need too much explaining), Russ the instructor began by discussing the background to Wim’s methods, along with the science which contains many amazing verifiable facts as well as some incredible anecdotal evidence.
The 3 pillars of the method are centred around breathing, mindset and immersion to the cold and we would spend the session exploring these areas.
After taking a deep breath and then breathing out, Russ asked us to do as many push ups as we could before we were forced to stop by the need to breathe again.
Lying on our backs, on yoga mats on the floor, we then did several rounds of breathing using the Wim Hof circular breathing technique - emphasising nasal inhalations (as breathing through your nose allows a greater amount of oxygen into your respiratory system) as well as trying to breathe ‘into our bellies’ to engage our diaphragms. This was all set to rhythmic music and with Russ’ instruction on when to breathe and when to hold our breaths, we went deeper and deeper into… wherever we were going.
From the outset, but particularly by rounds 3 and 4, I felt a strong sense of tingling throughout my body with my forearms feeling like they were weighed down and sinking deep into the floor while my veins coursed with an ‘electric energy’ of some kind.
I’ve heard Wim mention that he “gets high on his own supply”… after this breathing session I know what he means.
Visually, it’s not uncommon to see all kinds of things, from colours and lights to more distinctive geometric shapes and even animals, people or landscapes.
I had a sense of light and suggestions of colours but that was a deep as I felt it on a visual basis this time around… I imagine that doing it again, any changes to set (mind set) or setting (your environment) could alter your experience in much the same way as psychedelics do (allegedly).
We then came back to the push up challenge, this time doing a couple more rounds of the breathing techniques and this time everyone smashed their previous best attempts.
Was it the breathing? the mind? both?
Who knew, but we’d need both of them and more for the ice bath that would conclude the session.
Russ once again did an excellent job of talking us through the experience, what to expect, what to do before, during and after we’d been in.
We began with what’s known as a horse dance - a dance designed to move blood through your body and get/keep you warm - with it being a rainy day there wasn’t any dog walkers around to see us in action but you can see from last weeks photos, it’s something that requires you to let go of apprehension and embrace the silliness (and seriousness) of it all.
Once sufficiently warmed up we took turns in pairs to brave the ice, 2 minutes at a time, concentrating on what we’d learned throughout the day…. breath and mind working as one to overcome the cold.
Much like the sea swimming and getting over the first initial chill, if anything the water is that cold that (with the correct application of the breath and mindset methods) it starts to feel warm, in a kind of burning, tingling way - that might not sound that appealing but believe me, there is something slightly addictive to that sensation on your skin.
2 minutes completed it was then a case of getting back into the horse dance (not allowing yourself to dry off with a towel or get changed) thereby slowly and surely raising your body heat with movement as your body races with endorphins.
All in all it was a great experience, spent with cool likeminded people and is definitely something I’d do again.
… and just to make sure I’d had my cold fix I went to Belcroute on the way back home for a quick 7 minute dip!
“We have become alienated from nature,
but the cold is capable of bringing us back to what we once had lost”
- Wim Hof