Can’t meditate? This is better!
“I can’t meditate.” I hear this pretty often. It’s basically equivalent to saying I can’t exist.
Sitting and being aware of your existence is meditation. Now, if you’re not levitating or seeing the next alien landing on earth during your meditations then you might feel like you’re missing the fun, and you probably are to an extent.
There should be no goal to meditation. You’re existing and being in that moment with yourself. That’s it. However if you’re after out of body, deeper understanding of self or complete relaxation and detachment then you’re going to be frustrated by 5-30 minutes of running through to-do lists and thoughts about your day to day problems and inadequacies.
Do you want to feel all the life changing benefits of meditation that you hear about from Arnold Schwarzenegar, Charles Poliquin and Brendan Burchard? These guys are all advocates of TM - Transcendental Meditation brought to the world from India by Mahirishi. In one way TM can be seen as the commercialisation of meditation, a technique passed down through the ages that seems beyond monetary values. On the other side Transcendental Meditation has been the method to impact the Yang culture of the modern Western culture with some of the deeper Yin of the ancient East.
I did a course in Transcendental Meditation just over 12 months ago and enjoyed the experience. The best of it was during the instruction in a powerful meditating environment. I have used it since but like many modern meditators I found myself disappointed with only occasionally feeling like I was getting to a deep relaxation or a state unlike the one I was in for the rest of my time awake.
Wim Hof Method.
I’ve always wanted to be better. To improve is to live is the ethos I grew up in. You’re here to do well so do it.
Wim "The Iceman" Hof
When I get sick I feel disappointed in myself. Where did I go wrong? I was sick quite often as a kid but I didn’t realise it was mostly because of my gut, mind, diet, movement habits and sleep. Now that I know more - I get it, I take more responsibility for my health. I’m not God / The Source but I know that most of what I deal with is a result of my own doing.
I got sick together with my family. My mind opened a little wider towards learning why and how to change that in the future.
I received the podcast of Wim Hof with Guy Lawrence, a good friend who founded 180 Nutrition. I listened to it and got the feeling. THIS IS IT. I believe that feeling in the heart around decisions and actions is very important. Following the head and what I want to be right is rarely as right as following feelings.
More research, Joe Rogan, Tim Ferris, Ben Greenfield, Vice Documentary and I was away. I actually did my first rounds of breathing driving. I don’t recommend this but don’t think I’m dobbing myself in for any offence the “authorities” could pounce on.
Breath Motherf#$*er
-In the nicest possible way is a motto of the ambitious, bubbly and convincing Wim Hof.
Wim has 26 Guinness World Records for extreme sports challenges – including longest time spent in an ice bath at 1 hour 52 minutes
So I did. I have used the method most mornings since. I’ve used it at the beach, in a float tank, in the middle of bushland at the back of the property I live on, at Perform-360 together with other coaches from realMovementProject, I did it to start the work day with realMovement success coach Kerrod Holzheimer during some big plan creation days for realMovements future, I’ve done it in the sauna. I’ve measured my heart rate and heart rate variability live during the method. I’m exploring.
I love it. “Love” is a word you will hear a lot from Wim Hof if you do the research.
Is it meditation? What does this have to do with the introduction?
What I love most about the method is that it quickly takes you to a different mental and physical state. There is a change. There’s a different feeling. A deep relaxation, a change in muscle tone.
The research is now there to say that we’re learning to change from Sympathetic to Parasympathetic dominance when we use this method. That we can release large amounts of hormones and progress towards some of the amazing feats that have earned Wim a couple of dozen world records.
I’ve since learned that Benny Garard was one step ahead of me this time with his coach Yami Tikkanen using this method to start his days. No surprise that Ben is back to his best after implementing RealFOOD recommendations and this powerful tool.
ICE is what’s hot. I haven’t recommended Ice Baths to athletes in recent years. I believe that ice is massively over prescribed in the treatment of injuries (as does the founder of the RICE method who retracted his recommendations for ice 40 years later.) Using ice baths seems to be effective for repeated bouts, back to back competitions but NOT for athletes with longer recovery periods like in the NRL. Still most teams use them and over-use them as a recovery tool. What Wim is doing is not about speeding recovery from exercise. Neither is my current use of ICE. It’s about self control. Mind over matter. There are many bio-chemical reasons why ICE can help for many dys-eases and for improving mental state. The biggest thing I see with Ice is regaining control of self. Your body can adapt to anything. Even sitting in ice for long periods of time.
Comfort is the biggest achievement of 21st century modern living. It has become a disease. The search for comfort has created the least physical capable, least resilient human population of recent millennia at least.
When we move away from soft and easy in as many aspects of life as we can amazing things happen.
Taking yourself a little closer to death from lack of oxygen, or cold exposure may just be the tool to shift the erroneous search for more and more comfort in a failing system.
Later this year I will take on the next level of Wim Hof method beyond the online course which I’m now up to week 4 in. If you’ve never heard of this know that there are now 11 thousand members in the Wim Hof Facebook group with way too many stories of miraculous change for me to talk about here. This wind of change has also taken me into experience a little Holotropic breathing, a rabbit hole that links with my on-going desire to experience “La Medicina’ - ‘the medicine” amazonian Ayahuasca.
I hope I’ve pricked your interest. If meditation hasn’t delivered what you’re after then Wim Hof Method could be the place to look. Whichever way it’s time to get uncomfortable, only then will we start to see more of our divine nature. Make sure you’re moving while you’re at it!