In the world of health and wellness, there are countless techniques and practices vying for attention. Yet, amidst the sea of trends, one method stands out as a shining example of a captivating media niche – The Wim Hof Method. This is a niche that I am heavily involved in and personally enjoy. Now you might think I’m crazy, but this method has been proven to have significant health benefits and even so-called make you ‘Super Human’.

Now a brief run down as to what this method composes of: The WHM, is a unique combination of breathing exercises, meditation and cold exposure. Developed by Wim Hof himself, the method is founded on the principles of controlling the autonomic nervous system and tapping into the body’s innate ability to withstand extreme conditions. It can be broken up into three pillars as outlined below:

Now this niche is targeted at anyone, but particularly those interested in improving their physical and mental well-being. It is a social community and many post their experiences, particularly on social platforms such as Tik Tok or Instagram. So, for this DA, I will be predominantly using these platforms to create content and raise awareness for this method, how? By doing it!

I practice this method every day and will document my experience with little fun facts about the benefits, from filming myself freeze in an ice bath, to getting high on my own supply. By actively engaging with this community and partaking in the method myself, I will be able to observe how people interact, what they talk about, and what questions they ask (e.g. through online forums, Instagram polls etc.) These ethnographic skills will enable me to create effective social content throughout the semester.

This will also tie into my autoethnographic research, which is “… the use of personal experience to illustrate facets of cultural experience, and, in doing so, make characteristics of a culture familiar for insiders and outsiders” (Ellis et al. 2011).

Ultimately, by actively partaking in this niche, I will be putting myself in other people’s shoes to see how they might Interpret it, through personal engagement both from the outside and inside.

References:

FQS. 2023. View of Autoethnography: An Overview | Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095.  [Accessed 07 August 2023].

Willem L. Middelkoop. 2023. Do amazing things with a focused mind – Taking an ice bath and swimming in the Amstel river. [ONLINE] Available at: https://willem.com/blog/2018-12-06_do-amazing-things-with-a-focused-mind/. [Accessed 07 August 2023].