The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
I’m venturing on a soon-to-be-announced business journey and my stress levels may be the highest I’ve ever experienced.
After neglecting my morning Wim Hof Method breathing, stretching, and affirmation routine for months, I went outside to treat my self better today.
I spent about 15 minutes laying out in the pre-dawn air and then got myself to a yoga class.
I’m not stress-free, but much on my anxiety lifted as I tackled the day’s checklist for our new adventure.
I got a cold shower between a midday roll at Elevated Studios and an evening game of indoor soccer.
It was awful, but I have little doubt that it helped me do two of my favorite things in the same day (the first time I’ve attempted this).
I rolled for nearly an hour and played a full 40-minute game. It felt great to give each my full effort.
Or…I hated her for three minutes as I took my first cold shower in months.
It’s very annoying when my impressive friends tell me I’m inspirational, then call me out on my bullshit.
It felt good to get back into the cold. With my activity levels returning back to “Insane,” the cold relaxes my muscles and eases my aches.
Renée got me there, dared me to get back to my uncomfortable routine.
Make friends with impressive people. Watch them. Listen to them. They want the best for you and will show you the way.
Thank you, Renée.
My jiu-jitsu practice is full of deficiencies, consistency of training being the most glaring.
After a year of excuses, I finally struck a balance in my routine that promises to improve my soccer, yoga, and jiu-jitsu practices.
This week I had two of each discipline. Soccer is likely the most unpredictable and two tough games to draw were the challenge I needed to see if my body could prosper on the fields and mats.
Yoga is the mental, physical, and spiritual reset that seems to make it all possible.
I am confident that returning to the Wim Hof Method breathing technique (still taking lots of cold showers) as a daily routine will further enhance my overall recovery and performance.
I thank God everyday for the energy to do these things. I thank Him for the focus on health and self-improvement that has driven me during a time when the narrative diminishes these goals. I thank God for a body that treats me better as I treat it better.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Five rounds of thirty intentional breaths with a hold after the final exhale of each round; alternating Bridge and Happy Baby yoga poses, and meditative prayers and affirmations.
I haven’t been doing it.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Late nights with my sons, sleeping in with my girlfriend, and a purposefully lighter daytime schedule have all contributed to a full month without Wim Hof Method breathing.
I’m pushing my physical limits with more competitive soccer than ever and I could use the restorative benefits of WHM breathing and cold therapy.
So I returned to my mat outside this morning and took time to start my day off with peace and healing.
This is my daily worship; my physical, mental, and spiritual check-in; and the time that is purely for my Self.
https://amzn.to/3jryufk
I created this category at the beginning of the Lockdowns. I knew in my gut that our approach was wrong. By this time I had poured over studies out of China and Italy and the notoriously mishandled German case falsely creating the asymptomatic spread narrative.
I was too angry and fearful of backlash to communicate clearly and focused on why I was feeling that way. I wanted to find the courgage to be a positive firce in the world. First, I had to get my own emotions in order.
I tried to establish a yoga and meditation routine, but that wouldn’t take until I started Wim Hof Method breathing and cold shower therapy.
I dug into my fears and released them. I came to accept a deeper truth for myself, that social interaction was paramount to my spiritual health and the learning lifestyle that I had crafted for my sons and myself. I reached out and found those friends and family who had similar intuitions and we started spending time together. I made new friends who also valued living this life to its fullest over adding grim days to it like prisoners tallying their lives in chalk on a grey wall.
I reached out to my small business owner friends to support them and assure them I would be there at the door when they were allowed to open.
I started a soccer team, even though I had sworn off managing weeks before.
I focused my energy on creating a better world.
I’m still there, but I’ve also got a happy warrior inside who wants to mock the madness. I’m a trouble maker and those who would continue to halt life deserve some trouble. And seriously, the memes are too good not to share.
Disclosure: The link below is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
“Breathe, mutherfucker, breathe.”
These words settle me. Hof’s voice is full of love and joy. No one delivers vulgarity in more beautiful tones.
This practice has built a small calm place inside me. It is there when I need it, when my reactions are poisoned with fear. It turns breath into dance. It turns breath into healing. It turns breath into a smile. It transforms my body into its own best medicine. I need not fear the aches, they become voices communicating their need for my attention and love. I need not fear the tightness in my stomach, it is a resentment I can release with an exhale. I need not fear the future for there is infinite healing and love in this moment.
Join me in healing yourself. Start right now. Wim Hof went searching for life-saving happiness and he found it outside in the cold and inside in the breath.
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/free-mini-class