This year I’ve really gotten in touch with my thoughts through the practice of meditation. I’ve always been into visualization to access creative thinking, sports performance, and brain storming, but have never been into the idea of meditation until now. Recently, I’ve been lucky enough to be around friends that are exploring meditation and mindfulness. I attended a Wim Hof Method workshop in the bay area, talked with my friend in Houston who went to a Wim Hof Method Instructor course in Amsterdam, and talked with my other friends from jiu-jitsu about cold training and meditation. I’ve really begun to better understand the practice of mediation through Wim Hof’s breathing exercises. Wim’s workshop is what really opened my curiosity to explore meditation and it’s potential.
To be honest, I think I’ve regressed in some of my approaches to mental toughness since I started meditation. But I also believe if I follow through with what I’ve been doing it’ll be a “one step back to go three steps forward” experience. Catapulting my potential through to the next stage of comfort and mental toughness. Tiger Woods went through a transition like this at the peak of his career. After becoming the best of the best, he discovered some flaws in his swing. Instead of playing it safe and maintaining his swing, he chose to adapt a new swing with more power and precision. He had to take a risk and regress in order to break though to another level.
Since I went to visit my friend Reed in Houston in late July, I’ve been trying to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Using the cold as a means to challenge my discomfort, I started by taking warm showers and turning them over to cold to finish up. This was quite difficult at first, but has become quite natural after a few months. I used to jump and cringe when the water turned cold, but now that cringe lasts only a few seconds before I feel my body warming with the cold water.
Once a week I would make an ice back with over 300 lbs of ice. This has been a great community event at our jiujitsu studio, getting in the cold ice bath after a Friday night training session. Seeing people go through the process has helped me understand the challenge even better. I’ve noticed that my “current state of mind” is exposed with my response to the cold on those evenings. Some nights I’m focused and calm. I’m able to find comfort in the uncomfortable. On other nights, I already know I’m going to struggle with the cold even before getting in. The next stage is being able to move past that struggle and refocus myself when things feel turbulent.
Just recently, I started doing the sauna again. I’ve stopped doing this just because it wasn’t convenient to visit the sauna. While I was in Finland, for the ADCC, I got on a sauna twice, and was reminded how much I enjoy that intense heat. (During graduate school at SFSU, I would start my day in the sauna. I was commuting out to SF from Plymouth, CA and would spend a couple nights in the car. In the morning, I would drive over to 24hr fitness to sauna and shower to get ready for the day. I remember how this was a great stress relief for me.) So the other day, I decided to combine the cold with the head. And not only did I feel great and sleep great that night, but I had great energy the next morning. Here is what I did.
I started with a cold shower. (I’ve been very nervous to do this… I really don’t like the cold.) Did a cold shower for about 4 minutes and then jumped in the sauna for 20 minutes. I usually bring drinking water into the sauna but I didn’t have any with me on this night. I try to make sure the dry sauna gets quite warm by adding water to the rocks and ceiling. I followed the sauna with another cold shower for about 4 minutes. This was great. In the past, I’ve gone from hot to cold, but adding the cold at the beginning was a great addition and I felt it incorporated that next mental step necessary in getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Something I took away from the Wim Hof Method training that I’ve been doing is forced inhales before entering the cold. One explanation I’ve heard is that the cold leads to the body metabolizing oxygen, and by flooding your body with oxygen before entering the cold, you become better adept to handling the cold. I also take a deep breath and hold my breath before entering the cold. This is to avoided the initial “panic” breathing response when your body touches the cold.
Going back to the Wim Hof Method workshop. I recall a few powerful phrases that were emphasized by Wim. One that I have been processing lately is “don’t think just feel.” With an emphasis in feeling my body’s response to the cold, the heat, the breath, and the mind. With that I’ve feeling I try to get in touch with the cold as it sinks me in to a deeper darker place. When I was in Finland, plunging in the Baltic Sea with my friends Paul, Ryan, and Ty I was really able to push myself to some outer limits. As I look forward, I’m excited to take a step back in order to discover a more powerful and precise swing.
Eliot Kelly