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I do not fear death. I fear not to live fully.
WIM HOF HAS submerged himself in ice water for almost two hours without any change in his body temperature, climbed Mount Everest in just his shorts and finished a marathon in the Namibian Desert without drinking any water.
Perhaps his most incredible feat was in 2011 when scientists injected him with a bacterial endotoxin which, in normal humans, would result in a strong immune response causing fever, headaches and chills. Not with Wim Hof though.
He was able to suppress his immune response by making his body secrete adrenalin. Scientists and sceptics had suggested the man may simply be a freak of nature but the same experiment conducted with 12 subjects Hof trained in Poland yielded the same results and he says anyone can do this. He also believes these methods could be used to fend off or help treat a number of disorders and diseases.
In a stunning documentary by Vice one of their reporters Matt Shea and his crew take on a challenge: to learn his methods and then climb a snow-covered mountain in their shorts (without getting hypothermia and/or dying).
Shea, like many others who have looked into Hof’s theories, certainly starts his journey as a sceptic but the so-called ‘Iceman’ appears unflappable.
His mission started after the tragic loss of his wife to suicide. She had suffered with mental illness for a number of years. In his grief he went searching for an answer, for some way to take control of his life – and especially his body.
He does not claim to be a miracle worker and nothing he does is based in religion. For him scientific proof of his techniques is paramount.
For the most part it is all about breathing and the crew learn his special method in an impressively short space of time on the first day of training, managing to hold their breaths for long periods.
At Hof’s training camp in Poland, we see the impact this breathing can have on the body. Participants have almost euphoric reactions to it, and are able to use it to stand outside in the snow barefoot without any discomfort.
Within two weeks, they mastered the technique and were able to stand immersion in freezing cold water and eventually, climb that mountain in their shorts:
Hof speaks of a restlessness inside himself that he can only get relief from once he finishes this journey he is on, pushing scientific discovery using his own body as a laboratory.
What was sparked by the deep loss he felt for a wife he “loved to death” is still all about love for the Iceman who wants to “bring love back to the world”.
“If you radiate good energy because you’re happy, healthy and strong, that’s love,” he says.
And as Shea points out in the documentary: “He walked up Mount Everest in his shorts – what have you done?”
Watch the documentary in full over on Vice.
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Wonderful news! Common sense prevails. Rare but very very welcome.
This is great. If the kids with down Syndrome receive and are given the opportunity of a decent education then they will be fairly independent in later life.
They can hold down jobs and live a full and contribute to society.
Unfortunately the journal are jumping the gun on this one,while the bill will go uncontested,Minister Quinn have pulled the rug from under our feet,his new ‘special needs’ plan will precede all the that Finian McGrath has worked for and our kids will be at the bottom of the pile again,
cheers Ruairi,karma will win this one,I have no doubt!!!!
Seriously Nichola? That is a horrible thing for government to do.
That’s a start lets wait and see what Quinn has in store though. It would be really lovely if we as parents didn’t have to meet with the department inspectors to argue the case for keeping our child’s special needs assistant too.
Some good news :)
While this is very good news for children with Down’s syndrome and welcome, why is this only being offered to children with this specific diagnosis? There are many children who do not have an SNA or adequate resource hours at school because they “only” have mild intellectual disability.
The only reason for it coming up it is due to the very hard work of a group of parents and Down Syndrome Ireland supporters .
If this comes to into place then it points the way to all other interested groups. Everybody wants what’s best for every child no matter what their needs are.
The reason this is aimed at children with Down Syndrome was because Down Syndrome was not classified as a low incident disability and so resource hours were not guaranteed. This has now changed. Psychological assessments are used also in order to allocated resource hours presently. It’s true that you need a lobby group to enforce change but there are lots of groups out there who include all disabilities who could lobby on behalf of other children.
I am totally in favour of any resources being made available for people with disabilities but surely it would make more sense to provide resources to people depending on their level of intellectual disability rather than what disability they have i.e down syndrome. What about every other child who are born in this country with an intellectual disability that is an unknown syndrome or disorder. Surely more resources should be made available for them too. They should be passing a bill for mainstream schooling for people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, so every child is giving the chance not just down syndrome specific
Great news for those waiting for many years BUT ELECTION IS ON ITS WAY,,,
have your say