Hof & Cold
As I step in and lower myself down into the ice, every cell in my being is ringing an alarm.
GET OUT.
The stinging sensation has a vice-like grip on my entire body. A million fleeting thoughts and cries of agony pulse through my brain and course about my trembling core. Looking up to a bluebird Northern Rivers sky, I attempt to smother the incessant discomfort: the ice has well and truly knocked everything out of me. Closing my eyes and taking long, drawn-out breaths, I turn every measure of my attention internally. A distant voice tells me we’re 30 seconds down — there are another 90 seconds of brutal frigidity left to come.
How many videos of people dipping into ice baths have you seen in the last little while? And on how many occasions have you heard or read the words ‘breathing techniques?’ There’s little doubt both have been doing the rounds in social media over the last few years, perhaps spurred on by the logicdefying feats of the modern-day father of cold immersion, Wim Hof. A lunatic or physiological outlier? Opinions are divided on
