This winter I found myself rolling around in the snow in nothing but a bathing suit.
Never in a million years would I have even entertained the thought of doing something like that. Yet, there I was, basking in the strange glory of a feeling that I never knew was possible.
The cold. I hated it.
Ever since I was I kid, I would cry about having to go outside if it was even mildly chilly. How I ever survived growing up in rainy Vancouver is beyond me.
Which is why when the Wim Hof Method was introduced to me, I laughed and thought those people must be crazy. Like, REALLY crazy.
Wim Hof is the “iceman.” He holds 26 world records for things like climbing to a 6.7 kilometres altitude on Mount Everest, wearing nothing but shorts and shoes.
When I was young my mom reinforced my fears, telling me that I would “catch a cold” if I didn’t stay warm all the time. Strangely enough, no matter how many jackets I piled on, I was sick a lot as a kid. My immune system was terrible, and I suffered from an autoimmune disease that left my skin itchy and full of sores all the time.
A couple years ago, I moved to the Sunshine Coast where I lived in a cabin by the ocean. It wasn’t as idyllic as it sounds. It was winter, and I was unemployed. A number of entrepreneurial projects had fallen through, and I was depressed and desperate. The ocean raged non-stop storms that kept me up at night. In my desperation I suddenly had the strange impulse to jump into the freezing cold ocean. Maybe it was just dark sadistic thinking. Maybe I needed to find a way to come to terms with the non-stop raging waves. Maybe I was just going crazy from isolation. I had recently been introduced to some Wim Hof-inspired meditative breathing methods, so maybe something about the breath actually motivated me to face some of my deepest fears. Whatever the reasoning was, with no where else to turn, I filled up with oxygen, calmed my mind, and jumped in.
It was exhilarating. My body felt more alive than I had felt in years. All my anxieties washed away, even if for a few moments. I felt like a superhero.
So, I did it again the next day. And the following day. And then 1-3 times a week for 8 months.
Something amazing started to happen. I stopped being terrified. Breaking through this fear allowed me to see through the illusion of my other fears. My body felt like it was getting a huge tune-up; re-calibrating to a more natural, high-functioning state. In addition to practicing the Wim Hof breath, movement, and cold exposure techniques, I also started eating healthier. And for the first time in my life, my skin condition completely vanished.
Slowly, over time, I somehow become one of those crazy people that I used to laugh about.
As I started hearing more stories from these people, I realized that maybe it’s the rest of the world that’s crazy. We artificially control temperatures to such extremes that we’ve greatly reduced the natural ability for our bodies to self-regulate. We are actually capable of so much more than we think.
And if nothing else, facing our fears and reminding ourselves that we are capable of more is a powerful act.
The confidence and clarity of mind I gained through these practices allowed me to see what I really wanted to do with the next stage of my life, and shortly after, I found myself working a dream job at Hollyhock.
I’m not the only crazy one. Check out this inspiring story with 60-year old Roula who lives with Lyme disease: