March 23rd, 2020The Ice Man Cometh
THE sight of celebrities plunging into an ice bath at the footy as a fund-raiser is enough to give anyone the shivers. Imagine, then, plunging naked up to your neck in freezing water for your health’s sake.
The plunge is one of a number of techniques to be introduced in the Highlands by a follower of Netherland’s renowned “ice man” and astonishing record breaker, Wim Hof. He once held a world record by swimming 57.5 metres under ice, set another record for the fastest barefoot half-marathon on ice and snow (2 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds), 16 times set world records for the longest time in direct full-body contact with ice (around 45 minutes), climbed to 7200 metres on Mount Everest in just shorts and shoes and ran a full marathon in Namibia’s Namib Desert without water.
In his videos Hof is the opposite of a dour Dutchman, being exuberant about his method and seemingly bursting with energy. In this he’s mirrored by Mark Kluwer, a 54-year-old former builder who is setting up a space to share in the bush at Hepburn.
There, a visitor confronts a towering 10-metre by 12-metre corrugated iron shed with great sliding doors made from an old basketball court. Giant spanners are the door handles. Glancing down, the words “LET GO” in the cement grab the eye.
Behind the shed on a deck stands a handsome wood-fired hot tub which doubles as an ice tub, a half-built stone sweat lodge and, nearby, some chin-up bars. A large wine barrel is being readied to be an ice bath. A curve of five four-metre slim wooden poles set in concrete and sharpened like pencils helps create the area.
Cold exposure and conscious breathing require patience and dedication, but Hof argues that with focus and determination one can explore and eventually master body and mind. Mark explains that the therapy has three main principles: cold therapy, breathing and meditation. Hof says that an ice bath can change the way in which fluids like blood and lymph flow through the body, with vessels constricting, then opening when the body warms after the bath. This is said to help flush out metabolic waste, while getting oxygen and nutrients to muscles.
Regular ice baths are believed to help weight loss, reduce inflammation and make people more resilient to stress. This, in turn, leads to learning how to breathe and focus during stress.
Breathing techniques are also said to bring benefits such as increased energy, reduced stress and an augmented immune response that swiftly deals with pathogens, infectious agents that can cause disease.
The benefits of meditation are well known.
This was the world that Mark plunged into four years ago when he got a last-minute ticket to a five-day Hof retreat with 60 others. Mark’s life changed, he says, while stressing that Hof is not a guru. “It’s a matter of belief,” says the burly former Collingwood under-19s player, who was into extreme sport and completed two solo full distance Murray Marathons.
Mark also studied at the Rites of Passage Institute with Dr Arne Rubinstein, an expert on adolescent development who was nominated for Australian of the Year for his ground-breaking work with youth.
From all of this Mark has developed a passion for sharing what he has learnt about social structure and the importance of community.
“I’m sympathetic to the community,” he says, “and not here to tell people what to do or be a fixer-upper. I just want to share.
“I was uninspired with life and this lit a fire deep within me. As Hof said, ‘Strength, happiness and health’.
“We’re empowering people and their health,” adds Mark, punching his chest.
Having trained with Hof in 2017, Mark recently spent a month towing a little pink and blue caravan labelled Chill Seekers to Adelaide, then up to Queensland and across to the east coast of Australia, averaging up to 30 ice-seekers at each stop.
“My aim is to share and connect with people who wish to see change in themselves and light the fire within.”
To him, the ice bath is the easy part. “It’s intense, but it’s life. Young and older people are searching, taking time out to focus deep within.
“Looking after body and mind. Breathing consciously, having good food, moving your body and plenty of rest, this is what we all need. We all have a beautiful house, we just need to find the keys.”
Words: Kevin Childs | Image: Contributed
