On experimenting with the Wim Hof breathing technique.

For a little over two months now, I have been experimenting with some Wim Hof techniques. I typically struggle with seasonal anxiety and depression during the cold winter months hence why I decided to explore the practices of breath retention and cold therapy. There is so much science to support the effectiveness of these practices for overall health and well-being. I will spare all the technical explanations here as all the information can be found on the Wim Hof website. I will instead share with you what I have noticed as I consistently work with these practices. Today’s post will focus on the breath.

Breath retention: This practice is a series for 30-40 rounds of deep breathes, followed by retaining the breath as long as you can without forcing, and then a 15 second hold reset breath. You repeat this for 3-4 rounds and track your results. I feel it’s important to take note that manipulating the breath in any way can actually result in inducing anxiety. But just being open and curious as to how the practice unfolds is a huge component to any sort of self-care routine. Some patterns for me…

1. The first round is always the shortest breath hold, and it progressively gets longer from there.

2. Days that I’m more stressed it’s much more challenging for me to retain my breath.

3. My lung capacity is expanding as my breath holds are longer on average from when I first started.

All this seems very obvious and makes sense to me. Working with the breath like this can be a form of exercise that the yoga practice recognizes as pranayama. It can also be a practice in meditation. Beyond the quantitative observations listed above, energetically I have noticed other big changes as well…

1. I feel so much more energized and awake.

2. My seasonal struggles are much less than any other year.

While this may not seem substantial … it is! Think about how having more energy impacts your entire day. You not only have the capacity to do all your adult obligations with more clarity and vigor, but you also have more energy to do the things that you love. When you can allocate time to the things you love, then that automatically invites more joy into your day to day.

I would love to hear if you have any regular breath practices that you integrate into your day that create a shift in how you are able to live your life. Truly, it doesn’t have to be a breath practice, it can be any sort of technique that you use. Next week more on the cold therapy.

In love, light + with gratitude,

Nicole