To move a limb is to subject it to the sensation of being knifed. The instinctive response is to exhale rapidly through the mouth - hoh hoh hoh - but we're told to take long, calm breaths through the nose. "Whereas the mother of three who never gets any time to herself can sit in there, in her power." "Often it's the people who overtrain, the athletes, who really struggle," he says. What he loves about the ice bath is it's a real leveller. The first time he took the plunge, Mark started singing the Richmond theme song to take his mind off it. ( ABC News: Nicole Cleary)ĭespite having ministered this ritual hundreds of times, Mark knows the temperature can induce a fight or flight response, and so keeps a cheerfully distracting presence throughout. Ice baths are used as a form of cold water therapy. The study's authors acknowledge that it's not clear without further research which component of the WHM - breathing, meditation or cold exposure, or all of them together - was most effective. It seemed this could have exciting implications for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, but critics warn that using a healthy sample group for a short-term study is not a rigorous prediction that chronically ill people would experience the same benefits. In an oft-cited 2014 study, WHM followers were injected with an endotoxin and yet none of them developed major symptoms. Whether others can achieve similar results is still the subject of ongoing research. Hof has also been criticised for claiming in a Dutch television interview, when pressed, that "95 per cent of all diseases, amongst which are numerous types of cancers, can be cured". He's impressed, but also cautions of Hof's patter: "With conviction, he mixes in a nonsensical way scientific terms as irrefutable evidence." Masstricht University researcher Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt recruited Hof for some tests in 2017, concluding that the Iceman is not doing anything miraculous - his ability to withstand the cold temperatures comes from a combination of increased heat production (through non-shivering thermogenesis, brown fat activation and the contraction of respiratory muscles), increased body tissue insulation to conserve core heat and mental practice. Wim Hof, who is know as "the Iceman", holds 26 world records for extreme challenges in the cold. It was Hof's eldest son Enahm who turned the three pillars of the Wim Hof Method (WHM) - cold therapy, breathing and meditation - into a global brand, Innerfire. The breathwork Mark's guiding has its origins in the Tummo Breathing Technique practiced by monks in Tibetan Buddhism, as well as in pranayama yoga, while cold water therapy has roots in countless civilisations around the world.īoth were popularised by Wim Hof, a Dutch athlete in his 60s, known also as "The Iceman" for his record-breaking ability to withstand cold temperatures.
When we pulled up to the meeting point, Nicole muttered: "This is going to be a sausage fest."īut while it's true that Mark's retreats attract men keen to find a side of themselves that's discouraged on building sites and footy terraces, there are a couple of women here, too. Photographer Nicole Cleary and I are here on one of Mark's day retreats, "Don't Think, Do", incorporating strongman activities, gymnastic movement, meditation, breathwork and ice baths. Now that he's given up his building business in Melbourne to teach wellbeing - not just to epiphany-seekers but to corporates and CEOs - he lives in the hinterland of Hepburn, Victoria, with his graphic designer wife Julie. Mark was a plumber before he started teaching wellbeing.
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