![]() I personally believe that the main driver of my cancer was chronic stress. This is where I wanted my body to be in order to heal from cancer. This is the part of the autonomic nervous system that needs to be engaged to focus the body’s resources on tasks like digestion and body repair. We’d begin with calming breath exercises to help activate the parasympathetic nervous system. I’m all the more grateful that I was able to take advantage of the small group instruction that included Wim Hof breathing.Ī usual class was 4-5 people, including me, seated before our instructor. During our time in Hong Kong those courses always managed to coincide with times we were out of town and then, when we finally had a date on the calendar, coronavirus was threatening Hong Kong and the course was cancelled. I’ve never taken the actual Wim Hof course although my breathing instructor did offer them. My experience with the Wim Hof Method for cancer Alternating heat and cold, however - a shock of cold sandwiched between heating - can stimulate immunity.įinally, I was already convinced of the healing benefits of meditation, the third pillar of the Method, so I could see the potential for Wim Hof Method to improve cancer outcomes with that technique. The best research I can find in support of cold showers for good health from the Netherlands is fairly inconclusive. I constantly hear that cold exposure can strengthen the immune system but all the published research I read shows that extended cold actually suppresses immunity and reduces the number of cancer-killing NK immune cells. I was less excited by the cold showers and icebath plunges that are part of the Wim Hof Method. I didn’t have access to HBOT in Hong Kong but I knew that the Wim Hof Method of breathing helps achieve similar cellular oxygenation as HBOT. The ability to gain better control over my body - especially my immune system - was intriguing to me.Īt the same time, I had been reading the growing research on the benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) combined with ketosis for treating cancer. I did find a 2018 case study published in NeuroImage attesting to Hof’s ability to control his autonomic nervous system based on fMRI and PET-CT imaging. Again, even after searching the internet I can’t find any substantiation for that story. I had also heard an anecdotal report that I can’t verify in any way that, during one of his feats, Hof’s right kidney began to fail from the cold but that he was able to direct additional blood flow to that kidney and endure for another hour. The twelve who had trained in the Hof method had a significantly more mild reaction than the other volunteers. In the study, 24 healthy people were injected with e. ![]() I was originally interested in the Wim Hof Method after coming across a 2014 controlled study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrating that people trained in the Wim Hof Method were able to control their immune systems, a feat not previously believed possible. Today, I know my breath is the most powerful tool I have for modulating my autonomic nervous system, balancing between the sympathetic (fight-flight-freeze) and parasympathetic (rest-digest-heal) response. As someone with lung cancer who realized within months of diagnosis that I’d been breathing wrong my whole life, I was eager to learn everything I could about breathing. The breathing technique was what intrigued me most. The Wim Hof Method, as it’s taught, includes breathing techniques, cold endurance, and meditation. While he initially gained fame through extreme feats of cold endurance, he now seems more focused on research and science to document his abilities, understand the mechanisms behind them, and teach them to others. Wim Hof, known to some as “the Iceman,” is a Dutch athlete best known for his ability to withstand extreme cold. While there is no hard evidence supporting this method specifically for cancer, I decided to take some breathing classes from a Hof-trained instructor. ![]() I, also, researched these breathing techniques after I was diagnosed. I’ve been surprised by the number of people who find this site searching for information on the Wim Hof Method for cancer. ![]()
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