One of the many perks of living in a rad mountain town like Asheville, NC is that it attracts some amazing humans to connect and share. Last year I had the pleasure to meet Luke White founder of Retruvian. Luke is one of those special humans that will make a terrible idea sound like a great time, he is a kindred spirit who enjoys exploring his edges to find personal growth. Luke has a holistic, naturalistic life-philosophy where as a practitioner he trains in mind-body disciplines in order to unlock personal potential through reconnections to nature, thoughtfulness, and physical exercises that involve organic movement. This really resonated with what we believe our outdoor athletes need to be prepared for their adventures. To help our community and athletes embrace training and competing during these winter months Luke facilitated a Wim Hof Fundamentals workshop at McHone Performance Training.
The workshop began with a movement practice followed by a presentation about the benefits of the Wim Hof Method and its core beliefs. Wim Hof Method is based on these three pillars: Cold Therapy, Breath Work and Commitment. For taking on endurance events in cold temperatures athletes can benefit from learning to control their mind, body, and breath so that they can stay calm and continue to focus at the task at hand. After the presentation, Luke led us through breathwork to help us prepare our nervous system for staying calm during the cold exposure portion of the workshop. As the breath practice gained in intensity Luke brought out a drum and helped us keep our breathing with the cadence of the beat. As the drumbeat grew louder and faster so did our breathing. Then it was on to the calming breathwork, for me this was the most challenging initially. For this breathing practice, Luke had us holding our breath as he began to play his flute. I felt a calm come over me as the notes of the flute took my mind away from holding my breath and into a peaceful trance state.
After the breathwork, it was time for everyone to change into their swimsuits and head out to the ice water tubes. Luke again took us through a short movement practice to help up warm up before going in along with bringing awareness back to our breath. This would also be the movement practice that we would engage in as soon as we got out of the ice tub in order to pump warm blood around the body and shake out the cold. I got to take my turn in the ice tub and stayed submerged for around 2 min in 28-degree ice water before dunking my head all the way under to seal the deal. As soon as I was out I rejoined the rest of the group with the warming movement practice which was a game-changer. I felt warm within minutes of getting out.
The Wim Hof Fundamentals Workshop has definitely given me a new perspective as a personal trainer, coach and fitness professional about the effects of cold submersion techniques. I plan on adding the breathing and plunge into my regimen once a week throughout this winter to see how my body feels over the next few months as I begin to build up on my training hours. If you are interested in the Wim Hof Technique or connecting with Luke head over to www.retruvian.com and keep a lookout for future workshops.