Delays

I got into a bad habit of writing things on paper and not blogging them immediately.

I've been super busy with a few things that suddenly started happening for me and regrettably wasn't able to find the time to breathe, let alone sleep a decent amount of hours each day. I'm going to restart week 4 on Sunday.

Week 4 - Day 2

I've figured out why my retention times aren't improving...

1) I'm usually doing it after training/a long day as opposed to in the morning
2) I'm usually doing it after having coffee/dehydrated
3) I'm sitting with improper posture, even when I try to sit with proper posture. I work a desk job and my lower back is pretty weak because of it. I believe my tight back and chest restricts my ability to take air in.


I stayed home from training after work and decided to do the exercises at 5pm. I'm going to make a conscious effort to wake up early and get this done instead of leaving it until later.

After the first round of sitting upright and being disappointed in my results, I decided to lay down for the first time in weeks and instantly there were much better results. I was able to take more air in, I felt my hands cramping, I felt more fully charged, and more tingling in my body. I also saw more lights in the later rounds. This feels 'right'.

This week Wim has you do 3 rounds of breathing, pushups, more rounds (as many as you like), certain stretches and other yogic poses, followed by meditation. He gives you more mental coaching to help with the cold showers which has provided some interesting results.

Week 4 - Day 1

Week 4 looks amazing. The video is an hour as opposed to the regular 30 minutes.

My times were 130>145, 130>140, 153>230 and I did 70 pushups after round 4. I felt incredibly charged and had tremendous focus, with a sense of 'it's starting to make sence' (Why I'm doing this). My awareness feels stronger/less easily distracted.

I did 40 pushups afterwards

Week 3 - Day 7

I found that I'm able to retain better if I dont give myself opportunities to look at what time it is.

130>200, 135>200, 200>230, 215-245

I did 40 diamond pushups afterwards. Cold shower went fine, my initial reaction is less and less but I am anxious to get onto the next week already.

Week 3 - Day 6

Today didn't yield great results as it was 7pm and I had just finished eating

Times were 110>130, 117>200, 131>205, 145>215. I decided to do 35 slow pushups instead of giving it decent explosiveness

Week 3 - Day 5

I ripped home after teaching a tough jiu jitsu class where I worked myself to the limit and hardly ate all day. I wanted to do the exercises on an empty stomach but was starving.

Times were 115>140, 132>210, 145>235, 155>245

On the third retention as I was holding my breath I felt a fire inside of myself, and an extreme burst of energy. I wrote “POWER” down on my journal and dug my pen in as I was writing it

I’ve been training a lot, so I started doing the pushups on the inhale and already felt this wasn’t going to go well. I did 15, stopped and started doing situps instead for 40 before I relaxed into meditation

I’m listening to this to help activate the ‘third eye’ as I meditate. It’s produced some interesting results of feeling as if I’m not in my body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4XILtCBJ3k&list=FLwwhsWFjgUx8x1Wd1LOm7fg&index=18

The cold showers afterwards are annoying to have to go through, but every day are getting easier and more tolerable.

Week 3 - Day 4

Again I had a long day and started my exercises at midnight. This time I did forgo the cold shower just because of how exhausted I was.

Times were 1:31>145, 150> 230, 2:00>230, 210 >240

Pushups were on the inhale this time and I did 50. Shoulders felt like they were going to explode. I wonder if I should just do them slower instead of being as explosive.

Week 3 - Day 3

I did today’s exercises at 12:20am before the veterans day/remembrance day holiday. I need to get into waking up earlier and starting the day off with these as opposed to finishing with them.

Times were 115>140, 133>200, 140>230, 140>230

There was a lot of strobing lights in my vision, I felt light headed and my ears were ringing very loud to the point where I couldn’t hear the lesson by Wim. I did a trick I learned to get rid of the ringing.

I placed my palms over my ears with my fingers pointing towards the back of my head. I press down on my palms and drum on my head with my fingers. The ringing goes away.

I kept telling myself “It’s too late, no cold shower today, we’ll do it tomorrow. I did it anyway.

Week 3 - Day 2

Times today were 140 > 225, 157 > 246, 200> 300, 145>245

I felt tingling in the hands, did pushups after exhaling this time instead of holding the breath. I did 40 extremely powerful, explosive complete pushups.

Still afraid of over doing it and fainting as I’ve heard some people have had this happen to them.

Cold showering is getting easier

Week 3 - Day 1 - 'Seeing the light(s)'

Over the weekend I was asked by a friend "What affect do you think it is having over you?".

I started rambling and took the time to consider how I've felt before I started, how I feel during the practice, after, and to the current day.

I replied "I am becoming more in tune with What I am, as opposed to Who I am."

In other words, all the drama involved in being me has seemed to not be as seductive as it once was before starting the program.

I am feeling more and more as if I am not 'John' or any other relationship based label I hold in my life, more so I am a human being/animal/being on the earth. 'John' is just the title someone gave the movie which is my day to day life, at this moment in time and space.

While I've come to understand this intuitively while I'm sitting in meditation, in moments of reflection or in solitude, it has never 'become me'. I have always easily fell back into being 'John' after a few minutes of my life's routine.

The more I practice Wim's method, it seems as if it is easier to not get caught up in my life's drama and I am able to rest in the ultimate reality of What I am, as opposed to Who. Even when I was a regular meditation practice it did not come this easy.

I recall that this transformation was earlier described by Wim. Paraphrasing of course, the breathing practices results in toxins leave the body, and the vein highway strengthen due to the cold showers. As a result, the heart works less, resulting in less stress hormone releasing into the body. Less stress hormone in the body results in less anxiety, resulting in improved presence and mental clarity. Some have cited cold may be a 'cure for anxiety'. Knowing people with anxiety I wouldn't try to play that tune just yet, but it has seemed to help me in this area.

I know that my heart rate has definitely improved over the last couple of weeks in rest and in exercise.

I feel more balanced and not always in my head. I feel fearless, energized, resilient and confident.

The other day I found myself staring at my hands, moving them around in complete awe of the ability of the magic of being alive, wondering "How did I get 'in' here?"(my body).

Diving deep into the rabbit hole of such thinking used to give me anxiety and/or a feeling of disassociation.



So starting week 3, it is advised to do a few more breathing rounds, pushups, and no stretching or exercises after, and ten minutes of meditation. I was looking forward to stretching as my flexibility has improved 30% in the provided stretches.

Wim says that now since the nervous system has starting to clean itself through the breathing, we should be able to 'see lights', which is explained as either being the nervous system or a combination of that and the pineal gland chakra.

Times were better as now I'm doing the exercises in the morning.

130-200, 200-245, 210-250, 215-300, 40 pushups as I'm still pretty sore.

After this I did the advised ten minutes of meditation (where I kept having to remind myself to forgo expectations of seeing lights in order to go deep) where you are to focus your awareness on the center of your forehead.

After a few minutes I did see a strobe light in my vision.

I thought maybe it was just my eyes doing something weird, so I poked at the corners of my eyes to ensure that this light was not emanating from the range of my eye sight.

Much to my delight it wasn't coming from my eyes. The stroboscopic light was actually coming from the middle of my forehead, out of the range of my eyesight. I felt very peaceful and content. "It's really happening".

I'm now finding myself attached to the development in this area as opposed to the breathing and showers as those practices are on a slow incline.

This week it is asked that the cold shower time is extended which is easily manageable and it becomes less of a mental ordeal, and has become more of a 'lets get this over with' mindset as opposed to having such a strong aversion.

Week 2 - 'Day 8'

Since I missed the cold shower that one day I decided to add an extra day onto the 'week'.

I've decided to now make myself get up earlier and do it in the morning on an empty stomach and a way to start my day a bit more energized.

My retention times are also better this week in terms of holding the breath before inhaling again and holding. While I'm still not getting to where I would like as the PH of the blood rises after holding the breath for a minute and a half, I'm still above this.

Times in total (which I forgot to mention will now include the time I held the breath, as well as the time after when I've taken another breath and held it) were

1:30->2:30

2:00->2:30

1:55->2:10

I did around 50 pushups afterwards on round 5, I sort of lost count.

Week 2- Day 7

By the time I actually got around to doing my exercises it was 12:40 in the morning, so I decided to forgo the cold shower as I was dead tired.

Times were low after a big meal.

2:00, 220, 230 (but held breath times were poorer)

I've been trying out 'letting go' of the breath vs exhaling. Just letting the breath come out instead of pushing it out half way. Mixed results so far.

My joints felt lubricated after round 3 and I stopped at 60 pushups.

Week 2 - Day 6

Times were 230, 230 and 216 There was extreme ringing in my ears followed by dead air after round two that subsided after a few minutes. I felt natural, charged, and alive. Everything else went as expected, showers are becoming a bit easier every day to get through.

Week 2 - Day 5

Today I tried sitting with upright posture in my lower back, adjusting my breathing so its two seconds on the in-breath and two seconds on the out-breath, taking more than 30 breaths (more towards 50) and it is working a lot better.

My retention times were 2:03, 2:19, 3:00

Afterwards on 'round 4' my push-ups were awful just because I've been doing them every day so far on top of training jiu jitsu, which means my pecs and triceps are killing me. I stopped at 40.

I did the exercises after jiu jitsu at 9pm with no food, and it made everything so much easier.

I felt bulletproof going into that cold shower, the warm was meh, and going back to cold is as if nothing even changes.

I definitely think having an empty stomach helped a lot with entering the cold shower as my body is not spending energy digesting food.

Week 2 - Day 4

I remember when I was younger wondering

"How do animals in winter deal with the cold? Do they actually experience cold and it doesn't bother them, or does it bother them but they hover just around the point of dying”

I think I’m starting to figure that out outside of scientific reasoning and taking into account the concept of self-awareness.

After review of today, I wasn’t happy with my retention times, but I think part of the problem is that im eating/drinking coffee then 45minutes to an hour later doing the exercise as opposed to being on an empty stomach. I’ll try that out tomorrow.

I also noticed my lower back posture is not upright. I’ll make that change tomorrow.

Times were 150, 155, 207 and I did 69 pushups on ‘round 4’, elbows in.

Afterwards something weird happened in the shower. I went in, started the cold, and after a few minutes my hands started cramping to the point where it was difficult to open them.

I asked online about this and someone added I may have just been dehydrated. I was drinking coffee before starting, so that was likely the case.

Getting into the cold shower is easier and easier with focus, breathing, and I feel more able to calm the mind after each passing day.

Week 2 - Day 3

Today my head hurt and my back was tight from training.
I’ve been ‘playing around’ with the breathing, postures, etc.

Times were 1:40, 2:15 (ears started ringing very loud), 2:15 – ears still ringing.
Now I had to do pushups and I kept my elbows inside instead of out, and to my surprise the results were a lot better, having done 60.

The cold shower was much to be expected. Terrible, but it is getting easier.

Week 2 - Day 2

I'm starting to really experience some amazing things.

Times were 2:03, 2:55, 2:00. Again, I think my tight chest and back is restricting my airflow.

Then came entering the cold shower. I stood there focusing on it before entering, every so often touching the water to remind myself how cold it was.

After a few minutes I just entered and it was awful... but once I got used to it to the point where I was completely covered, it put me into an extremely high meditation.

This might sound a bit 'far out' to someone with a bit more judgmental mind, but this is how I would describe it;

The cold didn't feel 'cold' anymore. It didn't feel like anything. My body's receptors of what was pleasurable and un-pleasurable had fallen by the wayside. I felt for maybe the first time in my life that I was in sync with my body. I entered a deep meditation trance where my mind was completely calm and I was extremely present. Even when I had a daily meditation practice I had never felt this present before.

The experience is what I imagine people experience in the last moments of their life when they are about to die of hypothermia or trapped under ice. Just blissful awareness, complete presence without the pestering mind. The self or any inclination of selfishness is gone. It just 'is'.

When I switched back to the hot shower, which I normally enjoy or experience pleasure from, there was no pleasure. It was literally like my body and mind could not perform a connection between good or bad, pleasurable and un-pleasurable. Surprisingly to myself, I wanted back in the cold as quickly as I could.

I went back into the cold and it didn't affect me at all. I felt like a 'master' of the cold, my body and my mind. It was a liberating experience.