Intense Sensations During Wim Hof Breathing's 15 seconds of Breath Hold Phase

[ucan99]

Yesterday, I was doing this, 

which is a bit more extended form of WHB. For weeks, and during the 15 secs take breath - hold breath phase, I sometimes got intense sensations that spreaded all over my body. I cant really give detail but what I can objectively say is intense heat arised and else is only understandable from someone who also experienced the same thing as me. Yesterday I almost collapsed during the 15 secs(which I usually extend to 30). Today, I stayed more cautious and held the breath less. During holotropic breathing I had cramps on my hand which made them look like claws but I guess everybody has intense experiences during holotropic breathing like that. So for you guys who experienced such phenomena during WHB, holotropic breathwork (or other types of breathwork) what can you say about causes and especially meaning of these intensifications? Although physically induced, how can we look at this from a psychological point of view?

Edited January 28, 2023 by ucan99
forgot to add the link

[aurum]

@ucan99

Well with Wim Hof breathing, if you're doing it right, you're basically crashing your oxygen saturation levels to an extremely low threshold. That is the whole point and where the benefits come from. If you stayed at that level of oxygen saturation, it'd be incredibly dangerous. Some people can pass out if they take it too far. Sounds like that might be what happened to you.

There are so many physiological reactions happening during something like WH breathing though it's hard to pin point exactly what it might have been scientifically. You'd basically need a medical degree.

The "claw hands" are a phenomenon I've heard people refer to as tetany. Basically all that over-breathing is causing you to exhale all the carbon dioxide out of your system. That causes temporary changes in your body's PH, making you more alkaline. That can lead to cramps and all those tingly, electric feelings.

Of course this is only the standard scientific POV. We could also view this through the lens of kundalini / energy healing. People who view breathwork from this lens would say that you are bringing in huge amounts of life force energy by over-breatheing, and that life force energy is being distributed to where the body needs it and clearing blockages.

Another explanation could be that you are raising your state of consciousness by over breathing, similar to taking a psychedelic.

Whether or not this is true, I don't really know at this point. It intuitively seems like it could be given how important breathing is for life. It's something I'm still exploring.

[ucan99]

Thanks for the reply@aurum