4 ms·

I actually went and met Wim. I took one of his seminars. He had us all go outside into a pool of ice together for about ~1 minute with all of us chanting who le

by k4ch0w 9y ago

I actually went and met Wim. I took one of his seminars. He had us all go outside into a pool of ice together for about ~1 minute with all of us chanting who let the dogs out while we froze. I walked out completely red because it was the coldest thing I'd ever done. At that point I was doing cold showers for about a year and a half. I am a very physical person and his method was the first one to put my mind into a meditative state. You actually feel it in your body and shock it which silences your regular thoughts. You only focus on your breathing and how you feel in that moment. It gives me a really quick reprieve when working on a difficult problem. You have people that take his method to extremes though, I remember one guy at the seminar literally pissed himself from holding in too long. It can make it all seem like pseudoscience. I can confirm that it has a very physical effect on my body and helps me meditate a lot easier. A side effect of the ice training is that I sweat in really cold weather. I live in Seattle and people look at me funny cause I'm rocking a t-shirt and shorts but if I wear a jacket I'm boiling.

tomcam 9y ago
Seattleite here. I am skeptical people look at you funny, at least more than every once in a while. Plenty of people dress that way in inclement weather.
- k4ch0w 9y ago
  You may be right and it's just how I perceive myself in the world. :-p
  - kilotaras 9y ago
    This is known as spotlight effect[0] - people overestimate how much strangers notice details about you. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect
    - vidarh 9y ago
      This always amuses me, because I'm very quiet and introvert until I get to know people, and people who don't know me sometimes assume this means I'll be anxious in crowds. But in fact, while I don't particularly like crowds, I learned very young that if you don't particularly want to interact with people, crowds are great. I can sit down in the middle of a party and spent 3 hours just observing people mindfully and be content, and most of the time people will ignore it. But you can also act totally outrageous in a crowd, and people will tend to try to ignore you, not pay attention to you until/unless what you do personally affects them. A useful exercise in that respect is to go a day and try to keep a mental count of how often you notice yourself thinking about your own actions vs. how often you notice yourself paying attention to someone elses action, and then at the end of it, try to recall those other peoples actions. Not only will most people find they spend far more time worrying about their own appearance or actions, but that they will have forgotten most of the interactions the noticed with other people even when trying to keep mental tabs of them. Most things that most people do simply isn't that interesting to other people. Heck, most things that most people do isn't that interesting to themselves other than in the moment.
smnplk 9y ago
>> You actually feel it in your body and shock it which silences your regular thoughts. I wonder if his methods would help people with depression.
rokhayakebe 9y ago
but if I wear a jacket I'm boiling. Funny.
qrybam 9y ago
Can relate (minus meeting Wim): when going to the spa, I alternate between sauna and submerging in ice water for 60-90 seconds. My BPM goes from 150 to ~35 in that time. Climbing out of the cold water and laying down on the chair induces such calm in my mind... Have to do this more often. Also makes me feel warm in cold weather.
andai 9y ago
> A side effect of the ice training is that I sweat in really cold weather. This is really interesting, it sounds like exposure to cold has up-regulated your metabolism or something. My genetics are from warm countries but I grew up in a cold country, and when I go home people are always terrified that I'm going to die of cold because of how little I'm wearing. It's interesting to see that the body can undergo changes like this even in adulthood: I guess humans are adapted to moving around!
nezzle 9y ago
I've been ice training for a while but I'm basically always cold now. When does this change? Also: Freediving is amazing for forcing a meditative state.

by k4ch0w 9y ago

tomcam 9y ago

Seattleite here. I am skeptical people look at you funny, at least more than every once in a while. Plenty of people dress that way in inclement weather.

k4ch0w 9y ago
You may be right and it's just how I perceive myself in the world. :-p
- kilotaras 9y ago
  This is known as spotlight effect[0] - people overestimate how much strangers notice details about you. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect
  - vidarh 9y ago
    This always amuses me, because I'm very quiet and introvert until I get to know people, and people who don't know me sometimes assume this means I'll be anxious in crowds. But in fact, while I don't particularly like crowds, I learned very young that if you don't particularly want to interact with people, crowds are great. I can sit down in the middle of a party and spent 3 hours just observing people mindfully and be content, and most of the time people will ignore it. But you can also act totally outrageous in a crowd, and people will tend to try to ignore you, not pay attention to you until/unless what you do personally affects them. A useful exercise in that respect is to go a day and try to keep a mental count of how often you notice yourself thinking about your own actions vs. how often you notice yourself paying attention to someone elses action, and then at the end of it, try to recall those other peoples actions. Not only will most people find they spend far more time worrying about their own appearance or actions, but that they will have forgotten most of the interactions the noticed with other people even when trying to keep mental tabs of them. Most things that most people do simply isn't that interesting to other people. Heck, most things that most people do isn't that interesting to themselves other than in the moment.

smnplk 9y ago

>> You actually feel it in your body and shock it which silences your regular thoughts. I wonder if his methods would help people with depression.

rokhayakebe 9y ago

but if I wear a jacket I'm boiling. Funny.

qrybam 9y ago

Can relate (minus meeting Wim): when going to the spa, I alternate between sauna and submerging in ice water for 60-90 seconds. My BPM goes from 150 to ~35 in that time. Climbing out of the cold water and laying down on the chair induces such calm in my mind... Have to do this more often. Also makes me feel warm in cold weather.

andai 9y ago

> A side effect of the ice training is that I sweat in really cold weather. This is really interesting, it sounds like exposure to cold has up-regulated your metabolism or something. My genetics are from warm countries but I grew up in a cold country, and when I go home people are always terrified that I'm going to die of cold because of how little I'm wearing. It's interesting to see that the body can undergo changes like this even in adulthood: I guess humans are adapted to moving around!

nezzle 9y ago

I've been ice training for a while but I'm basically always cold now. When does this change? Also: Freediving is amazing for forcing a meditative state.