I've been practicing the wim hof method of breathing for a few weeks now and wanted to share the amazing Scientifically backed benefits with the steemit community
Warning important message: Always do the breathing exercise in a safe environment (e.g. sitting on a couch/floor) and unforced.
[video demonstration of breathing at bottom of article]
Wim hof is a guinness world record holder for a lot of amazing feats. Like climbing mount everest in his shorts or running a marathon in the desert without water!!!
[Video created and owned by wim hof]
Now there are plenty of freaks that can do amazing feats but wim hof claimed that with his breathing technique anyone could accomplish such things.
Wim hof was actually injected with a endotoxin with an 100% infect rate that causes fevers, uncontrollable shakes, migraines and so on. But after 15 minutes of the breathing wim hof's blood had killed the toxin, and he was able to teach 12 researchers to do the same in just 4 days. [Endotoxic research conducted by Prof. Peter Pickkers, UMC St Radboud (amazing results, influence on the autonomic nervous system and immune system!)
Blood tests during meditation and breathing exercises in the UMC St Radboud Nijmegen led by Prof. Netea and Prof. Stick]
[Video created and owned by wim hof]
Enough about wim hof for a minute let's move onto his breathing methods
The Wim Hof Method is similar to Tummo (inner heat) Meditation and Pranayama (yogic breathing).
- Get comfortable
Sit in a meditation posture, whatever is most comfortable for you. Make sure you can expand your lungs freely without feeling any constriction. It is recommended to do this practice right after waking up since your stomach is still empty or before a meal. - 30 Power Breaths
Imagine you’re blowing up a balloon. Inhale through the nose or mouth and exhale through the mouth in short but powerful bursts. Keep a steady pace and use your midriff fully. Close your eyes and do this around 30 times. Symptoms could be light-headedness, tingling sensations in the body.
[This means you're doing it right and driving the oxygen into the muscle, and also raising your ph lvl which has insane health benefits] - The Hold, retention after exhalation
After the 30 rapid successions of breath cycles, draw the breath in once more and fill the lungs to maximum capacity without using any force. Then let the air out and hold for as long as you can without force. Hold the breath until you experience the gasp reflex. - Recovery Breath
Inhale to full capacity. Feel your chest expanding. When you are at full capacity, hold the breath for around 10 seconds and this will be round one. The breathing exercise can be repeated 3 rounds after each other. - After having completed the breathing exercise take your time to enjoy the feeling afterward. This feeling will be more and more like a meditation. [http://www.icemanwimhof.com/innerfire]
If you think you might have a hard time controlling your breathing because you don't breathe often try a breathing app. i use 'paced breathing' because it's free and let's me change each aspect of the breathing to fit my needs the best 
Your inhale and exhale times might be different so do what ever you're comfortable with
To get the benefits of this breathing and feel naturally high, you only need to do 2-3 rounds which only takes a few minutes. This is where this method stands out as not only being the only methods to affect your auto immune system but also does so in a few minutes
Now let me share some things I've learned from practicing this breathing for a few hours every day for a few weeks,
Wim hof's method has been described as controlled hyperventilation, the main thing you have to remember is you have to take in more oxygen than you let out and stay relaxed otherwise you will just be hyperventilating and you want feel very good.
One of the big things that separates this breathing from others is the hold at the end after you've exhaled. And this can be a very strange and scary feeling for people but this is okay.
The reason we're able to release drugs like adrenaline using this method is because we trick the body into going into a survival mode by holding our breathe but because we have all this oxygen built up and elevated ph lvls we aren't doing any damage to the body even though the feelings can be so extreme.
Wim hof actually claims this breathing can release DMT in the brain, and is working with Rick strassman to get solid results on this claim. But anyone who's practiced this breathing for a while can attest that you can reach psychedelics levels of consciousness if you go deep enough. If you're a cannabis smoker you'll notice you can go much deeper when high because of the increased mental and physical focus or heightened states.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4034215/
http://www.icemanwimhof.com/files/pnas.pdf
Here's a video of me demonstrating the methods for 1 round. Keep in mind that everyone has their own breath, just try to get in more oxygen than you let out, and exhale with a quick release instead of a slow long exhale. You'll see me doing the quick release in the video, I'll link videos of others demonstrating it as well
I fast forwarded through the breath holding after the last exhale because it was about 1:00 of silence (When my head was down) but I wanted to show you guys the effects of the oxygenation
1 from Gavi D. Crane on Vimeo.
The reason I picked up this breathing is mainly for the health benefits. I currently have a stomach virus and nutrition deficiencies that cause headaches, nausea, fevers, aches and so on. The only thing that's helped me feel better was medicinal cannabis, but since then the breathing has helped me even more than the cannabis because it actually starts to help me be better and not just feel better.
By raising ph levels it gets rid of acidity in the body which is the cause of a lot of gastro intestinal distress and aches and pains. Just a few rounds of the breathing helps take me from bed Ritten to up and painting/stretching.