Il y a quelques jours, j’ai encadré une séance de coaching un peu particulière.
Pour sa troisième séance d’accompagnement, j’ai proposé à mon client de faire une via ferrata. Et pas n’importe laquelle. Une via difficile (D) à très difficile (TD), de deux heures environ. Sa première via ferrata…
Pourquoi ?
Tout simplement pour enrayer les schémas d’évitement qui le limitent. Ceux-là même qui font dire à mon client « je n’ai pas envie », « je n’aime pas », « ce n’est pas pour moi »… ou « j’aimerais mais… », alors qu’il n’a jamais essayé les activités ou options que je lui propose.
Bon nombre de ces schémas reposent sur la peur. La peur de faire, la peur d’échouer, ou la peur d’avoir peur – oui car on peut bien avoir peur d’avoir peur quand l’on ne s’est jamais véritablement confronté à cette émotion !
Or la peur n’est pas une émotion à éviter ou à supprimer mais plutôt à apprivoiser. Tous les sportifs de l’extrême, qu’ils soient skieurs de pentes raides, alpinistes, pratiquants de wingsuit ou plongeurs de falaises, éprouvent de la peur et disent en avoir besoin. Étonnamment, elle les rassure et les assure. Ne plus ressentir la peur serait paradoxalement une mise en danger.
La peur révèle nos limites du moment. Elle vient nous inciter à la prudence. Connecter la peur c’est avoir l’opportunité de répondre à la question: « Comment peux-tu procéder avec vigilance afin de réussir de façon sûre et sans danger ? »
Peur et confort
Éprouver la peur face à une situation donnée c’est comprendre que l’on se situe en dehors de notre zone de confort. Cela ne veut pas forcément dire qu’il ne faut pas faire. Cela permet souvent de réaliser qu’il y a une possibilité d’agir, avec prudence. Et chercher à agir en créant, peu à peu, du confort dans l’inconfort, est bien différent que d’agir en restant dans l’inconfort le temps que cela passe. Cela permet d’élargir notre zone de confort en apprenant et en reprogrammant certains schémas limitants.
La veille de notre séance, mon client, qui a peur du vide, avait réussi à sauter d’un plongeoir de 5m. Il m’a avoué s’être élancé sans réfléchir, sans regarder en bas et en serrant les dents. Il a pu faire ce pas dans le vide grâce à sa détermination et à sa force mentale. Mais à moins de répéter de nombreuses fois ce même saut ou de changer de stratégie, il y a fort à parier que cette situation reste inconfortable pour lui pendant un moment. C’est ce que j’appelle « sortir de sa zone de confort ». Un acte héroïque qui booste l’estime de soi and la confiance en soi, mais qui peut épuiser.
Maîtriser le reptilien
Évoluer pendant deux heures sur une paroi, à 200m du sol, offre la possibilité de vivre le stress (ou la peur) sur une durée suffisamment longue pour que la mise en place de stratégies d’adaptation soit nécessaire. Il n’y a pas d’autre choix. Céder à la réponse reptilienne « fight or flight » – « fuite ou combat », n’est pas une option.
Dans ce cadre, la respiration offre deux clés importantes.
La première est la possibilité d’être complètement présent à ce qui se joue, à ce que l’on ressent et aux réactions autonomes qui se mettent en place. Revenir à sa respiration en ressentant le trajet de l’air dans ses narines, ou le mouvement de son ventre, par exemple, est un moyen pour apaiser le mental et les émotions. C’est prendre un peu de distance avec l’évènement stressant comme pour mieux apprécier l’enjeu. C’est se donner la possibilité d’agir plutôt que de réagir.
La seconde est le prolongement de la première puisqu’il s’agit de maîtriser les réactions nerveuses, biochimiques et physiologiques qui se mettent en route inconsciemment. Car face au stress, et sous l’influence de l’adrénaline et du cortisol, la respiration s’accélère, la fréquence cardiaque augmente, le glucose afflue, les muscles se préparent à l’action…le corps entier se mobilise pour faire face ou pour fuir. Contrôler sa respiration, en allongeant l’expiration notamment, relâcher ses tensions musculaires, rester calme et souple – dans sa tête et dans son corps…sont autant de stratégies qui permettent de trouver le confort.
Ainsi nous sommes disponibles, en alerte mais pleinement conscients et rationnels, en capacité d’apporter la juste réponse à la situation. C’est ce que j’appelle «créer du confort dans l’inconfort ». Une stratégie qui permet une adaptation et un apprentissage durables et qui rend véritablement « plus fort ».
Summary: Researchers have discovered how the brain controls our breathing in response to changes in blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.Source: eLife.
Scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered how the brain controls our breathing in response to changes in blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
Breathing control is essential to life. Without an adequate response to rising carbon dioxide levels, people can suffer from respiratory problems, illness and panic. In the worst cases, this can lead to premature death, as in the case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
There's been a debate about how the brain controls breathing. Now, a new study in mice, to be published in the journal eLife, shows that when exposed to decreased oxygen or increased levels of carbon dioxide, the brain releases a small molecule called Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to help protect itself and regulate breathing.
To discover this mechanism, researchers have grown a section of a mouse brain stem (the central part of the brain). The section contained an arrangement of nerve and support cells that allowed it to «breathe» for three weeks. During this time, the team monitored the cells and their behaviour in response to changes in the environment.
«We've seen that exposure to different substances causes the brain stem to breathe faster or slower. Perhaps most interesting was its response to carbon dioxide, which triggered a release of PGE2. Here, PGE2 acted as a signalling molecule that increased respiratory activity in the carbon dioxide-sensitive region of the brain stem, leading to slower and deeper breaths, or «sighs» », explains David Forsberg, PhD student and first author of the study.
These new insights have important implications for babies, who experience significantly reduced oxygen levels during birth. At this stage, PGE2 protects the brain and prepares the brain stem to generate deep breaths similar to sighs, leading to the first breaths of air after birth.
The study also reveals a new pathway linking the inflammatory and respiratory systems . La . PGE2 is also released during inflammation and fever, which can disrupt breathing patterns and interfere with normal responses to carbon dioxide. This in turn can lead to disturbed and even dangerous respiratory arrest.
«Our results provide some insight into how and why our respiratory responses to unbalanced levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide are altered during infectious episodes. It also helps to better understand why infection can inhibit breathing so severely in newborns,»says Eric Herlenius, professor in the Department of Women's and Children's Health at Karolinska Institutet, and lead author of the article.
«Now we want to find out how the breaths form and develop during inflammatory episodes. This could be useful in looking for potential new ways to save babies' lives when they are unable to catch their breath. »
Source: eLife. “New Brainstem Model Reveals How the Brain Controls Breathing.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 5 July 2016.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/brainstem-model-breathing-4620/>.
Jungles, forests and trees are often called the « lungs of the Earth». Indeed, there are strange similarities between the shape of a tree and that of a human torso. It is not by chance that every language in the world tends to refer to trees, metaphorically, as the Earth's main breathing organ.
In fact, every time a government has to clean up its public conscience after a bad environmental strategy, it almost always starts by planting trees. Becausethe tree , by providing the oxygen we need is a symbol of life, and perfectly illustrates the close link between life and breathing..
The Earth doesn't just breathe through the lungs.
Thanks to photosynthesis, and also thanks to the connection they establish between the earth and the sky through roots and leaves, trees are intended for the exercise of breathing. And this more than any other organic entity on Earth.
However, there is not a single being on this planet who does not breathe: nothing can live without breathing.
And to fully understand this, you have to observe nature. And not only the nature around us, but also the « nature » system in our bodies.
We can then quickly perceive that breathing involves, in addition to our lungs, two other major anatomical areas: the abdomen and the brain. And by exploring the body more deeply, we can understand that each constituent element of our body participates in the act of expansion and contraction that is breathing. Each actor functions « in network», in « synergy» with the others, and it is this global synergy that allows the breath to be deep, complete and efficient.
Being in harmony
Breathing helps oxygenate the blood, regenerate the organs, and provide us with energy. It also allows us to manage our emotions, our thoughts, and to eliminate stress.
Breathing also brings us back to that capacity for presence - to ourselves and our environment - which we tend to forget in the frenzy of the modern world
Breathing allows us to be in harmony with life.
Just like the trees.
Inspired and translated by Marco Levi, source https://www.wimhofmethod.com/blog/happy-as-a-tree
« One reason why so few of us realize what we really want is that we rarely direct all of our focus and all power towards achieving a result. Most people move through life without ever deciding to master anything in particular. » Tony RobbinsTony Robbins
As you know, being totally immersed in a new activity is the best way to discover it, to understand it well, to immerse oneself in it and to progress quickly.
This is the most effective way toinitiate change while giving yourself the impetus to pursue it at home. Any process of learning about oneself is a process that must be a long-term and autonomous one.
Athletes take part in training camps, salespeople in seminars, politicians at summits, and the most spiritual among us go on retreats. There are many examples that show the importance of creating a space, time and place that allows fortotal engagement in a practice that one wishes to understand, learn and, one day, master.
So when it comes to access to oneself, to know oneself better, to have access to its full resources to connect our best version, our deepest Nature, the one that little by little gets rid of its successive layers of fears and limiting beliefs, what could be better than to take the time to immerse oneself?
A two- or three-day course for yourself
So come and immerse yourself fully, during this weekend, in the program, imagined for you, which aims at connection and self-knowledge.
Cold management and breathing work are the main topics. Every morning we will practice exposure to the cold in different forms: sitting meditation, hiking, cold bath.
The specific breathing work will start as soon as you wake up and continue, as a red thread, throughout the day. We will experiment with several breathing techniques and detail their benefits.
We will practice movement through mobility work, animal movement and yoga.
Finally, we will have time to exchange about your presence at the workshop and how to make the most of it, about the theory that supports the Wim Hof method, about breathing and the impact of movements on our health and our thoughts.
The typical schedule for the day (as an indication):
8am: breathing and sitting meditation
9:30 am : breakfast
10:30 a.m.: Hiking
12h : cold bath
1pm : lunch
3pm: movement
5pm: breathing and cold bath
7pm: Dinner
9pm: discussion
10pm: rest
A dense program to explore your mental and physical capacities and acquire the keys to develop them.
Working on oneself is a commitment, a discipline..
What you will get out of this internship will be commensurate with your determination and involvement, which will also be stimulated on the spot.
If at least one of the following motivations speaks to you, then this course is for you.
you're curious to learn more about yourself
you want to strengthen and soften your body
you want to boost your physiology, especially your immunity and your vascular system
you would like to have more energy on a daily basis
you're looking to overcome certain fears
you want to learn how to better manage your chronic stress
you want to eliminate certain limiting beliefs
you're in the midst of questioning your life, searching for meaning.
you lack drive, energy, joy
This course is open to everyone (but is limited to 10 participants).
Sporty or not, of all ages, flexible or not.
Hiking, yoga and mobility workshops are adapted to the forces at hand, which is the advantage of small groups.
Where does the internship take place?
Our immersion is planned in Italy. The hotel where we will stay with full board is calledOur House. A family hotel located in a sunny village at 1800 meters above sea level. The exterior is made of stone and wood, the building materials of the alpine tradition.22 rooms in total, large communal areas and a bright restaurant.
The hotel faces a magnificent mountain range, offering a breathtaking panorama. At the foot of the hotel, a natural swimming pool fed by the mountain streams will offer a fabulous playground.
Meals are taken at the hotel, and the chef adapts to all restrictions and requests. Vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free meals are possible.
Our areas of life are constantly changing and each change is likely to cause emotional stress. As chronic stress is detrimental to our mental and physical well-being, good stress management on a daily basis is essential to prevent it from becoming permanent.
The Wim Hof Method is a combination of breathing exercises, exposure to the cold and mental training that can help us to regulate our stress level.. But to effectively reduce stress, we must be able to identify the factors that trigger it before choosing and implementing strategies that will bring us back to a state of optimal relaxation.
Causes and effects of stress
Stress is our body's response when we are faced with a change that requires action. It mobilizes our adaptive processes and prepares us to respond to the challenges before us. Once the action is over, stress is no longer useful and our physiology returns to a state of equilibrium. So much for theory.
In reality, because our bodies are unable to distinguish between a serious threat (which could jeopardize our survival) and a small everyday worry, we risk sending unnecessary stress signals to our bodies all the time. This can lead to prolonged stress and thus contribute to the onset of many health problems and a weakening of our immune response.
Our modern world has freed us from serious threats, such as running into a hungry lion, and a stress reaction can be triggered by such simple events as traffic jams, an annoying email or a setback. Even our lifestyle can have a negative impact on the level of stress we experience: unhealthy eating, lack of sleep and even recurring negative thoughts can all send stress signals to our bodies.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of symptoms related to prolonged or chronic stress:
High blood pressure
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
Symptoms of skin conditions such as psoriasis
Numerous autoimmune disorders
Sleep Disorders
Chronic exhaustion
Asthma
Diabetes
Obesity
…
Reset our stress management
Wim Hof Method, «Iceman» , developed a method that allowed him to accomplish amazing feats such as staying immersed in icy water for almost 2 hours or running a half marathon barefoot, shirtless, in the Arctic. Wim Hof has 26 such records in the Guinness Book of World Records. This method is a unique combination of meditation, breathing exercises, committed yoga postures and regular exposure to the cold. It helps us to (re)take control of our physiology, to strengthen our body and mind and to stimulate our adaptation processes. It stimulates our nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, which greatly benefits our overall health.
It also allows a very good management of chronic stress.
Let us take the example of the cold shower, which is one of the pillars of the method. It is an important stress factor for the body and triggers all our stress reaction processes. By learning how to take a cold shower in relaxation and acceptance, through meditation and breathing, we will, every day, reset our stress management system and increase our tolerance threshold. Little by little, we will know how to limit, or even eliminate, the negative impact of stress related to "little daily worries" on our physiology.
Stress is a part of life, but when stress is omnipresent, it can prevent us from being the strong, happy, healthy person - « strong, happy, healthy” – that we have to be. So it's important to keep our stress levels moderate. The Wim Hof Method offers us all the tools we need to control our thoughts, emotions and ultimately our body. Physical and emotional stress are put back in their right place: they set us in motion.
Other ways to reduce your stress
There are several things we can do to reduce our stress level. In a simple way, at the risk of being simplistic, it's a matter of avoiding stressful situations, changing our behaviour in stressful situations, learning to adapt to stressful events and accepting the fact that we can't change everything.
Here are some examples of behaviours related to these principles:
Accept the fact that we cannot control everything in life, especially the actions of others. Instead of worrying about others, let's focus instead on how we react.
Learn to say no and set clear boundaries. Without limits, we will invariably take on more than we can handle, which eventually leads to stress.
Get enough sleep. Sleep restores our body and mind and promotes mental clarity and concentration.
Adjust our expectations to a reasonable level. Always demanding perfect results is a major source of stress.
I am practitioner of Budokon Yoga, created by Cameron Shayne. It is a mixture of yoga and martial arts and proposes to cultivate the spiritual warrior within us, a subtle blend of warrior and yogi. The warrior is the one who knows how to commit himself to change what can be, the yogi is the one who knows how to accept what cannot be changed. To use these two polarities yin and yang in us, wisely, is the assurance of bringing the right answer to the events that life offers us to live.
The Wim Hof Method for Stress Management
The Wim Hof Method is a powerful tool that can help you take charge of your mind, body and your life as a whole. Based on three powerful pillars: breathing techniques, engagement/concentration and voluntary exposure to the cold, the Wim Hof Method helps to reduce mental stress caused by a multitude of factors, including those described above, and helps to recover from physical stress caused by physical exertion. The Wim Hof Method has many known benefits, ranging from better sleep to the relief of symptoms caused by various health problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia. Scientists around the world have begun to discover the physiological mechanisms behind the Wim Hof Method. Numerous scientific studies have been carried out in recent years. They have yielded revealing results and have led to a better understanding of the functioning and limitations of the human body. To the point of rewriting certain books on human physiology...
Would you like to discover the Wim Hof Method? Come and participate in our discovery workshops..
