Bio-Hacks with the Iceman – from a META-Health perspective

Wim Hof, aka the Iceman, defies the limits of human capacity.

He climbed the 5895m high Mount Kilimanjaro wearing only shorts & shoes.

He ran through the Namib desert in the same attire, without drinking any water.

In wintery fiords, he swam for a distance of 66 meters under the ice.

He sat for two hours in a container full of ice and warmed it up with his body temperature.

This man is a freak. Or is he?

The story, bio-logically commented

Wim Hof was a father to 4 children whom he could always inspire and cheer up, when his wife, who was suffering from depression, unsuspectedly died by suicide. Wim was left to raise the kids alone, and he was hugely distressed. It was then when he found respite in merciless nature; he was intuitively drawn to expose himself to the cold of a frozen lake. ¹

“The cold silenced my mind. It brings you into connection with the deeper part of the brain, which is the adrenaline, the reptilian mode… which is not thinking but only feeling.
I didn’t feel the cold at all, but just power – which is connection.” ²

From Dr Hamer’s concept of biological laws and the brain-organ-social connections we learn that somatic sensation and suffering are suppressed in the “cerebellum constellation”. This means that when we are feeling under attack from all sides or on various levels, without means to protect ourselves, the brain’s inherent “pain-killer mechanism” is activated.

What Wim needed for the survival of his family was focus and invincibility – he used the power of his survival brain, the “Old Brain”, and learned to trigger it consciously by challenging himself with seemingly impossible feats.

Dr Hamer might have recognized the ultimate alpha male and leader in him: Wim Hof is not so much interested in ideologies but in the raw, true nature of things, and how to control and to use them for the benefit of his community – pacing and leading and empowering people all over the world.

Or might there still be a “postmortal constellation“ at play that evokes fearlessness and the devotion to something “bigger than oneself” when one has lost everything that matters?

Besides these speculations, Wim Hof seems to be a caring and humorous human being who likes to sing, joke and play the guitar.
Consequently, after 25 years of developing and using his method for himself, he felt it to be solid and ready to be studied and taught. It consists of 3 pillars:

A breathing sequence that fills you with energy
Challenges like cold exposure, breath holds, and proofs of balance and strength
Commitment to mental training for focus and endurance

With the help of these techniques, Wim Hof and his trainees have demonstrated control over their organ reactions and immune system, to the extent that when they were injected with an endotoxin that would usually trigger definite symptoms like fever, inflammation and tiredness, they remained symptom-free.³

This is great news in the context of META-Health, as we understand that the same symptoms (and more) can be caused by social conflicts, where they often appear in the phase of regeneration after addressing and resolving that conflict. It is during this phase where a learning step is processed and integrated by our mind and organism; and this integration process can take its time and toll on our system. Empirical evidence tells us that pains and problems during this phase often lead to sequels and self-devaluation in the concerned person, which interferes with the healing process.

To remain in gratitude in the present, and to prevent hyperalertness and hypersensitivity in the future, we need faith and self-esteem – and these can efficiently be developed with the Wim Hof method (WHM), to the extent that we might not need to experience those typical symptoms at all while regenerating!

It also offers massive hope and relief to people who, according to Dr Hamer’s concept, would fear to resolve long-standing conflicts because that might lead to dramatic or unmanageable symptoms such as heart attacks in the “healing peak”.

The science: what’s happening in the body?

This study ⁴ has been conducted to find what changes in brain and organ tissue are accomplished by the WHM:

The FMRI scan taken while Wim was in the ice-bath shows a drop in activity in parts of the insula. In META-Health these refer to the coronaries, laryngeal and bronchial territorial areas, meaning that stress-reactions from social settings connected to love, power and fear are deactivated. Conventional science finds these areas to be “uniquely associated with self-reflection, and which facilitate both internal focus and sustained attention in the presence of averse (e.g. cold) external stimuli.” This means resilience in conflictive situations…

Reference: “Brain over Body” Michigan Study
Simultaneously, emphasized activity was noted in the periaqueductal grey area in the midbrain, referring to pain modulation (like the “cerebellum constellation” – the brain’s inherent “pain-killer mechanism” mentioned above) and smooth muscle activity, which could be interpreted as reactions in arterial muscle or in the fascia of the breathing muscles.

Reference: “Brain over Body” Michigan Study
Forceful respiration (as well as the urge to breathe at the end of breath holds) results in increased sympathetic – mobilizing – innervation and the release of adrenaline. This matches the active phase of stress management by the adrenal medulla, but Wim does it here at will, and without conflict. To be able to do this is of great help in reframing anxiety rssponses, differentiating excitement from helplessness.
Glucose consumption rises in the intercostal muscles, generating heat that dissipates to the lung tissue and warms circulating blood in the pulmonary capillaries, to protect the lungs and heart. Both-sided activation, just like in conflicts of self-devaluation regarding breath and protection of the inner space, creates self-motivation, the feeling of power and invincibility which has been called “megalomania”. Connected to this, the release of opioids and endocannabinoids ⁵ could be noted, comparable to a “runner’s high” under profuse exertion.
In analysing the immune responses in Wim Hof and his trainees upon being injected with e-coli bacteria, fewer pro-inflammatory cytokines and more anti-inflammatory cytokines were found in their blood, compared to the control group. Cytokines are the regulators of our body’s immune responses under stress and regeneration.
In studying the extremely low incident rate of mountain sickness (hypoxia) in trainees of the WHM who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in just 2 days, the breathing method obviously develops skills that are useful for athletes and prevents activation of lung tissues like goblet cells and alveoli through conflicts of suffocation and the fear of dying (due to lack of air). ⁶

Now: Let’s breathe!

Here are the steps of the breathing sequence, which resemble “Tummo” in Yogic exercises:
Caution: Always do this well-sustained, either lying down or sitting, and never when attention is needed elsewhere! Never do this in the water!

Power breathing: Take 30 forced in-breaths – direct the air into all body parts and then release only the excess, so no deep exhale here. This “willful hyperventilation” can trigger symptoms of hypocapnia like tingling sensations and lightheadedness. Enjoy the experience!
Breath hold: Then breathe out and stop breathing for as long as you can. Direct the energy to the places you want to heal and to enhance. This breath pause may take several minutes!
Break: When you feel the acute need to inhale – usually after some contractions of your diaphragm – take a deep breath and keep it in for 10 seconds.
Repeat this sequence 1-3 times.
Alternative: during the breath hold you can do push-ups or other feats to test your power.

Let’s face the cold!

Cold exposure stimulates the (immobilizing) vagus nerve, and it also increases the release of endocannabinoids, both of which support calm, relaxation and regeneration. In conjunction with the breathing exercise, this serves to make you less “manic” and better grounded.

Do all exercises with cold exposure gradually and willfully! Never do the breathing sequence in the water!

If needed, warm yourself up with breathing or exercising
Focus on a source of warmth within you.
Begin with cold showers or even moderate showers, from the extremities up to belly, chest and head.
Always end warm showers with turning the tap to cold!
Lengthen the time of cold exposure until you reach several minutes.
Try “really cold” temperatures such as a mountain stream, a pool with ice added, or a wintery lake…

Commit yourself!

You do that already when trying out and challenging yourself with these experiences. To reap the benefits, you want to create new habits! Remember the SMART milestones to reach your goals? Use them!

Conclusion

The WHM is a biological “pattern interrupt” and a convincer. The breathing sequence is not a breath training to adopt throughout your whole day in order to optimize oxygenation, but a conscious switch to the sympathetic (energized) state while staying mindful and relaxed. It is essential, in order to enhance resilience, to make use of accessing these energetic resources for to challenge yourself out of your comfort zone!

The WHM may not be suitable for everyone. Try it yourself – if you feel excited by your response, explore it further! People who suffered from asthma, COPD, addiction, depression, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease and other dis-eases have testified they benefit from it. (Note that these diseases are basically connected to the “social brain” with territorial and self-devaluation conflicts in the background!)

If you feel overwhelmed, feel free to experiment with parts of it. If you feel it’s not your style, great! The META-Health methodology will lead you to discover what’s better for you at this point.

* “Postmortal Constellation”: when two conflict themes – “loss of love” and “loss of territory” – have shaped one’s personality to be interested in death or things beyond death. This may involve fearless dedication to a higher goal, but also manic, depressive, or suicidal behaviour.

Sources:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fqcruPL30
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H__Z_8RIPtA
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24799686
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811918300673
[5] http://www.jlr.org/content/57/3/464.short
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6EPuUdIC1E

Pictures:

[1] Aad Villerius from OudBeijerland, Netherlands via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]

[2] [3] Brain pictures screenshots from the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YficBlvPwWQ

[4] Pete Linforth via Pixabay [Pixabay license]

[5] photochur via Pixabay [Pixabay license]

[6] Kora Klapp

CO₂ – against the fear of dying!

CO₂ has gotten a bad reputation these days. We tend to forget that this gas has vital functions for survival – both for the individual organism, the ecosystem, and the earth. In this article I want to focus on human beings, a widespread stress response, and its connection to some typical dis-ease patterns that science is yet attempting to decode.

Everyone knows that we breathe to get oxygen into our system, which is needed to burn glucose from our food to create the energy needed for our life functions. Oxygen from the air is taken up into our blood, tied to hemoglobin in the red blood cells which thereby change their colour from bluish to bright red. This gas exchange is taking place in the alveoli, which look like small vines at the end of the respiratory tree. The oxygenated blood is then transported via arteries and capillaries into the tissues, where the mitochondria in each cell create ATP as energy source for our muscles to work.

As you see, these little organelles react guided by the brain stem, and are incredibly versatile in terms of their function: normally, only a minor part of the alveoli are active and streamed with blood. During exertion like sports, laughter, or high fever, “reserve” alveoli are activated in order to adapt their function to the demand placed upon them. ¹

According to Dr Hamer’s findings, the same mechanism is triggered in case of a death fright or fear of dying. When this panic is not resolved, the alveoli tend to expand their mass through proliferation in order to help to resolve the situation that leads to that fear. Have you ever been held under water long enough to feel you were unable to breathe? Then you know how this fear and panic feels. And know why “waterboarding” is such an ‘effective’ form of torture. ²

You know how dramatic that urge to gasp for air feels!

Stressed breathing

Gasping for air is a common reaction even when we feel other kinds of stress. Hyperventilation is a typical response to emotions such as fear or anger – it is assumed that 95% of cases are caused by our psyche. ³
On the other hand, studies find that the minute ventilation rate is increased in many chronic health issues such as COPD, heart disease, cancer, asthma, cystic fibrosis and diabetes. ⁴

Clearly, the reason is not lack of airflow to the lungs here. What is it?

We need to look at other factors that influence the uptake, transport and release of oxygen in the tissue. When we hyperventilate – think of a real fight-or-flight incident, the logical sympathetic response to threat – our blood temporarily thickens to prevent blood loss caused by the wounds we will sustain in the fight. Thus, hyperventilation has been used as therapy, e.g. to decrease intercranial blood pressure after brain surgery ⁵. However, the heart must work harder, and thick blood still can’t reach the cells supplied by the smallest capillaries!

What biochemistry tells us

There is a way to resolve this mechanism, and it’s based on CO₂. Those of us who attended a First-Aid training already know: breathe into a paper bag, and the funny tingling sensations and the muscle catalepsy that come with accelerated breathing will disappear. When we inhale less oxygen and more carbon dioxide, we calm down again.
Carbon dioxide in fact is a vasodilator: it widens the blood vessels. With wider blood vessels, more blood gets through and more oxygen can reach the tissues. And there is another component which refers to the mysterious Bohr effect ⁶: because CO₂ causes the oxygen to bind less tightly to haemoglobin in the blood cells, its release to the tissues is facilitated! This is depicted in the oxygen dissociation curve ⁷

CO₂ enables the cells to receive oxygen.

Let’s summarize: When a desperate organ reaction happens upon a UDIN trauma causing a death fright, this may result in unhealthy growth of lung tissues because this strategy is suitable only for short periods. It later leads to overexertion of the heart and to aggravation of supply in the tissue. Alveolar hyperventilation gives rise to free radicals aka “oxidative stress”, acidifies the body fluids and inhibits the regenerative (immune) system. ⁸, ⁹

If only the alveoli knew that there is another way!

The oxygen advantage

This is the promising title of a book by Patrick McKeown ¹⁰, explaining and illustrating the breathing method explored by doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko.

It’s actually a resilience training for your alveoli: by strictly nose-breathing and using your diaphragm more than your chest muscles, you learn to make soft breathing your new habit. Athletes often train in high altitudes to adapt to lower concentration of oxygen, which gives them the extra stamina to excel in competition. We, too, can train our body to tolerate some “air hunger” and to function well with less need to inhale: this means quality over quantity!

The method is very simple:

Notice how you breathe, and where you feel most expansion.
Notice how long you can hold your breath after exhaling, before you feel the first sign that you want to inhale (you can take the time and compare it before and after breath training)
Inhale only through your nose, not through your mouth.
Try to breathe so softly that it can’t be seen!
Train breath-holds while you walk or exercise, and avoid gasping for air.

This will get easier and easier as you go. This method is also proven to help with congested nose, asthma, COPD, and many unhealthy states related to ‘oxidative stress’.
At the same time, Buteyko breathing stimulates the Vagus nerve and supports calm and regeneration. I find it a good complement to the Wim Hof Method which makes deliberate use of the sympathetic, energized state, and which also aims at increasing resilience!

With these breathing techniques, we have effective tools to support our work with clearing fears and traumatic incidents that impact our happiness and our health.

A case example

A woman, sensitive and a shamanic healer herself, suffered from asthma as well as from digestive trouble since her youth. Interestingly from the META-perspective, she had also been diagnosed with a mild form of autism when she was a child, which hints at a constellation with themes of territorial anger and speechlessness at play. Even though she had already done a lot of work on her anger and rage related to her position within the family and acknowledgement by them, the emotions could still be triggered. Besides, her bronchi were very sensitive to temperature change, dust and any “unclean air”.

Finding both strength and calming effect in the breathing technique the next time she was overcome by rage, she was able to completely transform her attitude. The combination of emotional release, insight and physical control was a total relief for her and provided an a-ha moment.
When she is motivated to make this experience a new habit, it will change not only her asthma but also her immune system and the microbiome in her gut, resolving her indigestion.

It’s amazing once we understand the ways how our bodymind works, to be able to use bio-logical signals to resolve ingrained patterns!

	The Oxygen Advantage By Patrick McKeown. Available as: paperback * ebook * audiobook *
	Asthma-Free Naturally By Patrick McKeown. Available as: ebook *
	Anxiety Free By Patrick McKeown. Available as: paperback *
	Buteyko Clinic Method By Patrick McKeown. Available as: paperback with CD&DVD *

META-Health 4U

Bio-psycho-logical keys

Tag: resilience training