Wif Hof had me trippin’..?
“Did I just pass out?” I asked myself as I found myself coming to the Lotus Room of GLOW Fitness on my yoga mat. I looked around and saw everyone starting to stir as the Wim Hof breathwork exercise was concluding and our facilitator, the amazing Kevin Maurer, started to grab our attention so we could prep for the second part of the workshop - the Cold Plunge. Brrr.
“Why were you about to pass out?” you may be asking, so let me share a little bit about the experience. A few weeks ago, GLOW collaborated with Kevin Maurer to host a Wim Hof Breathwork workshop that supported deepening your relationship with breathwork and also combining this with Cold Plunge so that you can expand your understanding of recovery modalities. There was a group of about 15 of us, some traveled from different states to participate in this transformative experience. The workshop began with us learning the history and science behind the Wim Hof breathing technique. This technique was created by a man named Wim Hof, who is also known as “The Iceman”. He developed this technique through years of extensive training that he conducted, by placing himself in extreme cold conditions and then utilizing his breathwork to support him through these intense conditions. Examples of these conditions are running a half marathon above the Article Circle barefoot, or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts. Girl how.
During the workshop, we were also given the opportunity to practice the breathing techniques while guided by a professional, and this may have been one of the most rewarding workshops I have ever taken part in! The practice started by us beginning with some stretches to loosen our bodies up. Think gentle yoga poses and if you can’t feel free to try one of our Yoga classes so you can have the experience for yourself. Following the brief stretching session, we all then laid on our backs and were to begin the breathing exercises. We were instructed to take deep inhalations through our nose, expand the belly, and then exhale through the mouth. We were going to be doing this for a minimum of 5 rounds, and each round consists of 30 breaths. The interesting thing about the Wim Hof method is that it places you in a state that feels similar to hyperventilating, which brings an intensity to your breathwork. I was in there SWEATING from BREATHING. Never would have expected that.
The first few rounds were pretty calm. I often spend time meditating and practicing breathwork on my own, so taking 60 breaths was okay for me. Although, that was when it started to go LEFT. Starting the third round, I began to feel a little panicked and overwhelmed. “I CAN”T BREATHE ANYMORE”,”GET ME OUT OF HERE”, “HOW MANY BREATHS CAN A BIH TAKE?” are a few examples of my internal dialogue. I had never taken so many breaths before, although I could see how the practice was expanding my understanding of breathing and pushing me to go deeper than I had gone before. I remember feeling a little teary eyed around this part as well, and shed some tears, realizing that the intense breathwork was also allowing me to release some stress and emotions in a way that I never experienced before.
Once I got to the 5th round (the supposed last round but he had us do around 7 cause at GLOW we GO HARD), I started to relax again and interesting things started to happen. Other members in my cohort shared that they started to experience visions, seeing colors and different geometric shapes. Some saw an eye (think third eye chakra vibes). For me it was as if I was floating in space with just myself, and it was so interesting because initially I thought I passed out. But as I reflected on my experience I felt awake the entire time, just not aware of my surroundings. Relaxed. Astral projection. It was a really sweet moment for me, too. As I was in this astral projection space, I got to really connect with myself and ended up doing affirmations and encouraging myself to continue to follow my passions and dreams. How sweet.
Following this astral projection session, we then started the Cold Plunge exercise. It was super cool to go through this experience with a group, and bond with people, AND also have them encourage you as you are going through something that can be new, uncomfortable, or intense depending on your background. Everyone in the group ended up trying the Cold Plunge, and then afterwards we all had some Cacao provided by Kevin and decompressed to talk about our experience. A few people said that they were interested in participating in the workshop again, due to how much they enjoyed and benefited from the practice. The level of calm and relaxed but alert was so interesting to me to experience, which is why I have wanted to incorporate both the breathing techniques and Cold Plunges into my lifestyle. Even the following days, I felt an energized calm I hadn’t experienced before.
If you have ever wanted to expand your breathwork exercises, or explore Cold Plunge, I definitely recommend this workshop! It was a comfortable space to try something new, and the GLOW community made it so enjoyable with the openness everyone had to the experience and the sharing of experiences and debriefing. I hope to see you at the next workshop, because I will be there!! Trust.
-Shawn, Events Coordinator + Instructor
