How I Do The Wim Hof Method: Meditation
Note: This is part two of a three-part series where an average, middle-aged dude — me — tells you my step-by-step method for how I do each…
Note: This is part two of a three-part series where an average, middle-aged dude — me — tells you my step-by-step method for how I do each of the three aspects of the Wim Hof Method. Part one was about the breathing technique. Today is focused on meditation, and part three is about cold exposure.
I admit it: I suck at meditation. This is why, over the past few years, on most days I’ve committed to — and followed through — on at least five minutes of it every day.
Five minutes? That’s not going to do anything, man! Yeah, one would think. But my experience (and some science) suggests otherwise.
In today’s post, I want to tell you how I do the meditation part of the Wim Hof Method. In addition, I’m going to share a brief overview of a spiritual practice I tag on at the end of my meditation, which I hope to expand into another blog series after this one.
Okay, take out your meditation cushion, take a deep breath and … wait, are you starting to meditate on me? Knock it off! Read the article first!
So my practice is very simple. After I finish the three rounds of Wim Hof breathing, which takes between 10 and 15 minutes, I do the following.
On my iPhone, I shut off the Wim Hof App and open the Insight Timer app.
I then hit the Discover button on the bottom of the screen, which opens up some options including Timer which I select.
I then press the Start button and a 5 minute counter begins. (Note: I’ve already prepped this)
I stay in whatever position I’ve been in for the breathing exercise, either lying down or sitting.
I close my eyes and concentrate my focus on an area between my eyes.
I imagine my inner landscape as like being the sky and thoughts that appear as being clouds that drift across the sky.
If I catch myself latching onto one of these thought-clouds, or, if I find I’ve been immersed in one unconsciously for a while, I simply say, “Thinking” and return my attention to the center of my eyes.
I may consciously slow down my breath if it feels a bit sped up. To do this, I use the 4–7–8 method, which means you breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven and exhale for 8 and repeat that a few rounds.
About that method: One question I’ve asked but never had answered is what one does between that 8-second exhale and 4-second inhale. I like to take a pause there, otherwise it feels like I’m rushing through a process that is trying to get me to slow down. But I don’t count that pause; I just do it for what feels natural to my body. Sometimes this means no pause at all!
DING!
That was the timer! Yup, this is true, when you only do this routine for five minutes, the time goes pretty quickly. And that is why sometimes I will extend it but the key is this: I don’t have to. All I require of myself is the five minutes. And when I do, I find I feel much more grounded and relaxed and, here’s another key, I find I’m able to, throughout the day, use this kind of slowing-down-and-witnessing-my-thoughts-technique in situations where I may be feeling some anxiety or stress.
So that’s it! However, before I let you go, I want to tell you about my short spiritual practice I add to the end of this routine.
My Spiritual Practice After Meditating
Before I get up from my meditation position, I do the following:
Repeat the 4–7–8 breathing technique but this time, I start with a four-second inhale and put my outstretched hands together above my head. As I do the seven-second breath hold, I keep my hands together, as in prayer, and slowly move them down until they are right in front of my chest and I time it so on 7, I open them up and begin to move them parallel away from each other. Once they are outstretched about halfway to where they could go, I start to move them in tandem vertically back up until my hands are stretched upright above my head as though I was giving the signal for a successful field goal in football (that’s Yankee football, not the one where people often use their feet). This last process takes eight seconds and I am trying to think of the whole thing in terms of a circular routine.
Once I’ve got my hands up like that, I say the following, “Thank You for the Gift of another day.” On this one, it’s totally up to you to ponder who or what you are thanking. This is something I learned going through the 12 Step program — it doesn’t matter what your Higher Power is, all that matters is you have one.
Then, I do that same breathing/hand movement process again.
In round two, I say the following, “Thank You for the Opportunities presented by this Gift.” This one’s my favorite! Why? Well, because I came up with the exact syntax of this whole routine and I love using the word “present” as a verb as I speak about a “gift.” Wordplay, baby!
Same breathing/hand movement process for the final time.
Last, I say “May Thy Will be my will.” This one isn’t mine and it’s probably not necessary if you are already uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of this prayer after rounds one and two. However, I love the power of doing things in threes and I like how this really cements things for me and reminds me to be mindful and not be guided by my ego.
My Gratitude Practice
Now, that’s the meat and potatoes of my version of the meditation routine of the Wim Hof Method. That last part takes an extra minute, so you are looking at maybe 7 minutes (when you add in prep), which is tacked on to the 10–15 minutes for the breathing, so this whole deal is only 20 minutes every day and it does wonders for one’s holistic health in my experience. Add on the cold therapy, which I’ll explain in the next post, and you are good to go!
Having said that, there’s one more element of my meditation/spiritual practice which I’d like to outline. This one is reasonably personal and I don’t expect anyone to do it the same as me. However, I think this is a pretty cool template that you can play around with. What I’m doing here is working with various archetypes, offering them gratitude, and asking that they be activated in me throughout my day should I need them. It took me about two years of playing around with these for the exact language to settle and I still sometimes consider changing certain things. In other words, this is an evolving practice that is open for me to change as I evolve!
The Practice
Before we begin, a few things. First, you can start with any four of the directions. I chose the north because being born on January 4, I literally started my life in “the north” or “winter.” Second, I am combining the archetypes of the following four things: directions, time of day, seasons, and the masculine archetypes as defined by Douglas Gillette and Robert Moore in their book, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine. I’ve pondered a lot what these archetypes have in common to come up with the attributes I list. As you’ll see, to keep in line with the “four” theme, I list only four attributes, but of course there are many more. The goal I had in doing this was to be holistic but efficient. Thus, this process takes only about two minutes.
Here is the process:
Standing up and with my eyes closed, I face the north and I say, “To the north, the night, the winter, the Magician. Your attributes are intuition, intelligence, wisdom, transformation. Thank you for these attributes, may I access them should I need them throughout the day.”
Then I turn 90 degrees to face the east and I say, “To the east, the morning, the spring, the Adventurer/Warrior. Your attributes are curiosity, courage, strength, valor. Thank you for these attributes. May I access them as I may need them throughout my day.”
I turn 90 degrees to face the south and I say, “To the south, the summer, the afternoon, the Lover. Your attributes are beauty, sensuality, creativity, vitality. Thank you for these attributes. May I access them as I may need them throughout my day.”
I turn 90 degrees to face the west and I say, “To the west, the evening, the fall, the King. Your attributes are benevolence, compassion, perseverance, discernment. Thank you for these attributes. May I access them as I may need them throughout my day.”
I then face the ground/floor and I say, “To the Earth and Water. Your attributes are: connection, stability, flow, embodiment. Thank you for these attributes. May I access them as I may need them throughout my day.”
Last, I face up above me and I say, “To the Air and Fire. Your attributes are: inspiration, enthusiasm, passion, wit. Thank you for these attributes. May I access them as I may need them throughout my day.”
That’s it!
Now, I’m planning to write a blog post on each of these six “regions,” elaborating on why I chose these attributes and on how I came up with this system. What I like about it is it continues the gratitude and humility of the end of the meditation and also seems to connect me to the various archetypal energies that surround us all every day.
Okay, folks, there you have it, my meditation routine. All in all, it takes 10 minutes and, after doing a routine like this one every day for almost 1,000 days, I feel pretty confident in saying that it’s a beneficial activity for me and perhaps something like it would benefit you as well.
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