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immune responses, Immune System, Matthijs Kox, Mindfulness, the Iceman, Wim Hof method

The Science Behind Consciously Controlling
Your Immune System: The Mind-Body Connection

ANNA LEMIND
July, 2014

Results of a study conducted with the use of the Wim Hof method suggest that a person can learn to consciously control his immune responses. Wim Hof is a Dutch world record holder who is famous worldwide for his ability to resist cold. For this incredible invulnerability to cold, he was commonly nicknamed “the Iceman.”

Scientists led by Matthijs Kox of the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, studied his method, which is similar to the Tibetan Tummo technique (yoga of inner heat) and involves third-eye meditation, breathing exercises and cold exposure, and used it to train 12 volunteers to fend off inflammation.

In the framework of the study, 24 volunteers, including 12 people trained in the Wim Hof method and 12 who did not undergo any training, were subjected to the inflammation test, during which they were injected with a strain of bacteria that provokes flu-like symptoms.

As a result, volunteers who underwent training with Hof method reported fewer and less intense flu-like symptoms than those who did not. At the same time, trained volunteers produced smaller amounts of proteins related to inflammation, and higher levels of interleukin-10, an inflammation-fighting protein.

I’ve updated this post by adding comment and content. So, Wim Hof first caught the attention of scientists when he proved he was able to use meditation to stay submerged in ice for an hour and 53 minutes without his core body temperature changing. Since then, he’s climbed Mount Everest in his shorts, resisted altitude sickness, completed a marathon in the Namib Desert with no water, and he’s proven in a scientific laboratory setting that he’s able to influence his autonomic nervous system and his immune system, at will.

Almost everything Wim has done was previously thought to be impossible, but he is not a freak of nature.

To demonstrate that any human can learn his methods, Wim offered to teach Matt Shea and Daisy-May Hudson to climb a freezing cold mountain in their shorts without getting cold. But when Matt and Daisy signed up for the training, they had no idea that the so-called Iceman was planning to lead them on a psychedelic journey across Europe that circled the chasm between science, spirituality and mystery. Watch this:

I love science breakthroughs.

Now, if you’ve been following this blog and and links that I provide, you possibly have been undergoing changes and looking back over time, I wonder if you are aware that there is by now a new more present and capable and confident you. Every day, I kept at this. Its been more than seven months now since I began my every day is a perfect day to improve back in December. If you missed any of it, you can use the archive. I added a new category: I can improve today. If you don’t already have a daily improvement routine, take a lesson every day or two and I’ll think you’ll notice a difference in a few weeks. I have more than 75 posts in this category.

Thanks for visiting.

Eric