Page 26 - WOM August 2018_FINAL_SPREADS_Neat

I C E M A N
FROM PERSONAL TRAGEDY TO CHANGING LIVES.
By Shaun Scully
im Hof, better known
globally as the Ice Man
W currently holds 26 world
records, ranging from swimming
under an ice sheet for 66 metres,
in only his shorts. Climbing to
6,700 metres altitude on Mount
Everest in nothing but shorts and
shoes. Reaching the top of Mount
Kilimanjaro only wearing shorts.
Running a half marathon above
the arctic circle in Finland, in
nothing but shorts. Can you see a
theme occurring?
In addition to this, he has run a
marathon in the Namibian desert,
without food or water. He has hung
from 1 finger for 30 seconds, on a
rope between 2 hot air balloons at
2,000 metres altitude, and the list of
crazy achievements goes on and on.
He also holds the world record
for sitting in an ice bath, in 2011
he recorded a time of 1 hour and
24 WORD OF MOUTH SPRING 18
52 minutes and 42 seconds. What Wim decided to take the medical
makes these achievements more studies further, “I wanted to show
incredible, is that he is able to that my breathing and meditation
regulate his body temperature, by techniques could influence the
utilising a simple breathing and sympathetic nervous system and the
meditation technique that he has immune system. In 2012, I undertook
developed and mastered over many a study with Radboud University
years of practice. In 2008, scientists Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
at the University of Minnesota rigged I was injected with an bacterial
endotoxin and within 15 minutes all
my symptoms were under control as
I do not only endure the I was able to influence my autonomic
cold, I love the cold. nervous system.” The study is titled:
The Influence of Concentration/
meditation on Autonomic Nervous
Hof up to temperature and heart System Activity and the Innate
rate monitors while submerging him Immune Response: A Case Study.
in a tank of ice cold water. “What Authors: M. Kox, M. Hopman, P.
you’re seeing basically is a situation Pickkers. et al. - Radboud University
in which the usual response to Medical Centre.
a shock or cold was completely He later proved this further,
obliterated,” Dr Larry Wittmers, one by replicating the study with 12
of the scientists observing Hof, told participants who had no previous
America’s ABC News. understanding of his method. “I worked
Breathing is the single most important
thing you can do for your body.
with them for 4 days, taking them clarity to his method. He has sought an icy river in his hometown in the
through the breathing technique and the backing of the medical community Netherlands. No one else was around
cold exposure. We then climbed a to legitimise what he can do and to and he says “I saw this thin layer of
mountain on the Polish/Czech border teach others to achieve the same. As ice on the water and it called to me, it
at minus 17 degrees Celsius in just our he says in his own words, “what I am invited me in.” He still doesn’t know why
shoes and shorts. We danced at the capable of, anyone can learn”. to this day, but he made the decision to
top of the mountain like crazy people. I Wim’s journey began many years disrobe and step into the water, “and
knew then that they were ready for the ago, “I was the black sheep of my at that moment, spending 1 minute in
final test. 4 days later, they participated family. I always thought differently, the water I knew that I was really going
in the same study. They were all searching for answers to life’s big deep within myself and was responding
injected with the same endotoxin. They questions. I was often ridiculed for my to the soul searching I had done for
all had the same results. Within 15 beliefs growing up. I found peace in many years”. As he emerged from the
minutes, all their symptoms were under yoga, meditation, martial arts and the water he felt alive and it changed the
control.” This was part of an additional belief that if you could learn to control trajectory of his life forever.
study undertaken by Radboud Medical your mind and your emotions, you The exhilaration and the excitement
Centre, in 2014. could achieve almost anything you set he felt from the water, brought him
We live in a world where there your mind to.” back to the river the next day, the
are many snake oil merchants, from In 1995, his life was turned on its next and the next. He repeated this
Dr Oz, promoting the latest weight head. His wife and soulmate, the mother process and refined and developed
loss pill on Oprah’s channel, to Uri of his 4 children committed suicide. “The his breathing technique until he was
Geller bending spoons. So, it is rare, love of my life left me. I was left to raise able to first manage, then master the
when someone comes along with 4 beautiful beings, without my partner, cold. “I found that by breathing deeper
extraordinary claims, backs it up with without my best friend.” and more consciously, I was able to
hard science and shows the world “Sadness for me, was a deep stay in the cold water longer. I found
how they can do the same. This is trigger, not for decline, for resolution”. that I no longer even had a sense of
where Wim has separated himself Searching for answers, on a cold the cold.”
from the charlatans and has given Sunday morning, he was walking by Wim learnt to befriend his fears
WORD OF MOUTH SPRING 18 25