Growing up in Florida, cold was not my friend. In fact, I was a little baby with the cold; more like a big baby. Anything below 70 and I was putting on layers and if it was below 60 my jaw was shivering. Moving to Tennessee was going to be a change for me. I knew when I started hearing about this crazy sounding dutch man named Wim Hof, going around saying “the cold is my warm friend” and holding several world records around cold water immersion, prolonged full body contact with ice, and barefoot half marathons in ice and snow, I had to take a deeper dive into it.

The Wim Hof method was one of my first introductions to the power of breathe. Without going into all the science and benefits of cold water immersion, I want to highlight the biggest take away I have gotten from adding a breathing practice to my life. That is the ability to control my state and find rest even in a moment that should be stressful. The seminar starts with a series of different breathing exercises and how it can affect things like breath hold times, max number of pushups, and even bringing a sense of calm. Next it was time to head outside and get ready for our ice bath. Now this seminar was in February, so this ice bath wasn’t going to be a nice break from some heat. I was already cold standing outside in just my shorts in 50 degree weather. When it came to my turn to get in the ice bath, I did my best to “just be a man” and hop in quickly. Immediately my body went into the stressed induced fight or flight mode. Every cell of my body was screaming to get out of this ice. My breath became rapid and very shallow, my body wanted to shiver, and it felt like my lungs were up in my throat. Following my instructions, I brought my attention to my breath. I started to breath in and out through my nose. I focused on slowing my breathing down and trying to push my breath down into my abdomen more. Within seconds, all those red alert signals my body was giving me went away. I was calm and relaxed in this stressful environment. The 90 second goal of staying in the ice bath not only became tolerable, it was quite enjoyable. I had control over how I responded to that stress.

Isn’t that life though, one big ice bath. The idea that we are going to come to a place in life that stress is gone and we can finally rest is an illusion. Life has stress, it is what pushes us and makes us stronger, but we must also find a way to rest in it. When everything is falling apart at work, doesn’t every cell of your body tell you to get out of there. When someone cuts you off while driving, notice how your breath becomes rapid and shallow. When you get in that fight with a friend or loved one, don’t you get choked up and feel like your heart and lungs are up in your throat. If we don’t find a way to rest in the stress, it is going to wear us down.

Viktor Frankl said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Now, that amount of space we have between stimulus and response is going to change depending on the time of life we are in and the amount of stress we are under. What I urge you to do is start finding that space and choose to breathe. Our breath is our number one lever to pull to help control our state. Research has shown that just taking 6 slow deep breaths, can help calm down our nervous system. Start focusing on your breath. Notice how it changes throughout the day. When you can start controlling your breath, you will have more control over how you feel, and may finally find some REST!

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Between Stimulus and Response...Breathe