“Relax to the deepest and breathe”
Doing one thing daily for 30 days.
Image courtesy: unsplash.com
I wanted to experiment with doing something that holds some meaning to me. Pandemic pushed us all to go within and work on ourselves. For me personally, meditation was something that really helped me silence my mind and focus deeply. So for going a step ahead i wanted to try a breath work popularly known on the internet but also wanted to see what changes it brought in me on paper. I defined parameters to measure changes that happened before and after the 11 minute breath work. Here’s what, where, when and how of the whole experiment. Being a designer i used the data points to define a user journey map for this experimentation.
What did i pick to do daily for 30 days?
In the Month of September, in 2021, one thing i did everyday was an 11-minute Breath-work technique proposed by “Wim Hof”, popularly known as the “ Wim Hof Method.
Who is Wim hof:
Wim Hof (born 20 April 1959), also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures.
He has set Guinness World Records for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and previously held the record for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow. He attributes these feats to his Wim Hof Method (WHM),
Hoff has been the subject of several medical assessments and a book by investigative journalist Scott Carney. [Learn more here]
Where and when?
I practiced this every day preferably just after I woke up in the morning on my bed or sitting somewhere in peace listening to a guided meditation from Wim Hof himself that I found on YouTube. Some days i also practiced it before going to bed, those days getting to sleep was easier and i found to have been in deep sleep for more hours than other days.
How?
The breath work has three parts to it first is hyperventilation, then breath hold and then repetition. I followed a beginner’s 11-minute breath work procedure daily which consists of 3 rounds of breathing. In every round one breathes in through the nose and breathes out through the mouth like a whiff for 30 times and there’s no wait time between each breath cycle. After every round we hold our breath till we can, it can be 15 seconds to up to 2 minutes or even less than 15 seconds. Then you take a deep breath and hold for 15 seconds and breathe out. This way we continue for 3 rounds and come back to normal breathing.
What to keep in mind:
It should not get too uncomfortable while pushing the breath hold. One should keep in mind that we need not force anything and let the body do what it is capable of doing. Also it does gets easier with practice.
Guided Video can be found here.
Why?
I have been considering for a long time to make a lifestyle change and getting myself centered is something that has always helped me in the past. The breathing method is something that I follow every day during my meditation but this breathing technique particularly caught my attention because of the health benefits and is backed by science.
Findings and touchpoint after the experiment:
The first set is generally very difficult to concentrate while counting breaths or focusing.
The 11 minute guided meditation by Wim Hof on YouTube helps to focus.
The breath hold in the last set is always the longest and the most calming.
The heart rate always goes down after.
The lowest heart rate difference before and after is 6BPM and highest is 9BPM.
I experienced the highest breath hold of 95 seconds and highest difference in heart rate after which was 10 BPM.
Dropped measuring breath holds after each set and started measuring it only after the third set.
Followed through the guided meditation each day and was able to hold breaths up to 90 seconds in the last set everyday.
Stopped pushing through more time to hold my breath and just followed the guided breath work audio as it is.
Only measured the heart rate before and after the whole breath work and meditation.
The heart rate difference was higher as compared to previous week
It has become a habit now and if I could not practice it early morning I would often end up practicing before sleep.
It felt weird and like I am missing something if I didn’t practice breath work the whole day.
Parameters used to measure changes:
Sleep index using a smart watch every morning.
Heart rate difference before and after the the breath work.
Maximum breath hold each day.
Following is the user journey map created using the data points.
Conclusion:
To conclude here’s my overall experience, the majority of the days I was able to do my breath work just after I get up in the morning after having a glass of hot water. The three rounds of breath work have varied over these days for me. The first round is generally when my mind has so many thoughts and things that I need to get to in the whole day, the second round is a bit calmer because then I focus on making those breathings more perfect, just like it’s there on the guided meditation. So coming to the third set of breathing, it’s the calmest one, and when I finally hold my breath for a little over a minute in the third round, I feel tingling in my fingers my heartbeat slowing down, even more, a sense of relaxation through my arms my foot. I sometimes focus on the structure of my body like my drawing my mind from the foot to my head, and parts of me that I like, parts of me that I do not like too.
First two weeks I did take a lot measurements like my deep sleep cycles, the times for my breath holds in that one minute when I hold my breath I also sometimes think about how grateful I am, how there are so many things I want to forgive myself and others for, and what will it take to become my most authentic self. Doing this daily has really helped me control my stress, and just get on with the day so nicely
