Posted By Mahabodhi on Jun 16, 2024 | 0 comments

Permission has been sought from Erasmus University Rotterdam to use the image of Wim Hof in an ice bath

Are we stimulated enough?

When the subject of meditation is brought up, many people think in terms of relaxation, but relaxation is only half of the story; as important to meditation, and to mental and physical health in general is stimulation. Wim Hof is known as The Iceman, and is a Dutch extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He set Guinness world record for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and still holds the record for a barefoot half-marathon on ice and snow.

I led a series of three sessions on YouTube in the first year of lockdown: 2020, which I called ‘Super Stimulation Week.’ In those sessions I focused on the ideas of Wim Hof and on the value of physical stimulation, and in particular, its role in meditation; I wanted to encourage my viewers to take cold showers–following Wim’s gradual method–to access better energy and health:

Day 1

This week, on Thursday the 17th September, it is the six month anniversary of beginning the ‘Compassionate Response to COVID-19 with Mahabodhi’ sessions, the day after Boris Johnson announced his ‘no-gatherings’ policy, launching the UK lockdown.

After six months of lockdown, personally I do struggle to keep my energy as bright as it would be under normal circumstances. Yet according to Wim Hof, also known as the ‘Ice Man,’ who we see in action in the video below, we can effectively work with simple breathing techniques and gradual immersion in cold temperatures – such as taking cold showers – to bring physical and mental stimulation to our lives. So as a way of marking this anniversary I want to dub next week ‘Super Stimulation Week,’ and in it focus on the Wim Hof method, or something akin to it.

Instead of my normal (non-interactive) sessions on Facebook Live I will be moving over to YouTube and hosting live interactive Zoom classes for an hour at 7.30 every weekday morning. In those sessions I will explore some of Wim’s breathing techniques and try to set us all up with personal programmes for the week to bring more stimulation into our lives. There will be space to feedback our progress within a supportive group.

As a well experienced teacher Wim emphasises ‘working at ones’ own pace;’ we always need to tune into our experience and act from there, rather than push our bodies in an ego-based way, a principle I have repeated emphasised in my sessions here. If we do have any kind of challenging health condition we will need to be careful to honour this – definitely check out any doubts you may have with your doctor first, but there will always be a way – however minimal – that we can dip our toe into Wim’s method, and thus derive benefit from it. It may be that we need to get hot, as well as cold! It will depend on what our body needs at any one time!

Download the ‘Super Stimulation Week worksheet’ mentioned towards the end of the video here: https://bit.ly/3fSSKTj

Watch the documentary: ‘The Superhuman World of Wim Hof: The Iceman’ here: https://bit.ly/3hEpaAg

Day 2

Day 3

Wim Hof image courtesy of djandywdotcom at https://bit.ly/33wRRL4