Cold Therapy and Calm: How the Wim Hof Method Helps Manage OCD
Robert James Pizey, host of The OCD and Anxiety Podcast, is sharing how he worked through his OCD struggles with the Wim Hof Method. In this special episode, Rob shares how he uses the Wim Hof Method, which includes breath work, cold exposure, and mindset training, to help people manage anxiety and OCD. He explains how these techniques can improve mental and physical health. Rob also talks about his journey from being a teacher to becoming an OCD and anxiety coach, and offers words of encouragement for those struggling with OCD. Sponsored by Thrizer, this episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice.
00:00 Introduction and Special Guest Announcement
00:37 Sponsor Message: Thrizer
01:27 Welcoming the special guest
02:26 Rob Pizey’s Background and Journey
03:21 Exploring the Wim Hof Method
06:50 Acceptance and OCD Management
15:03 Final Thoughts and Words of Encouragement
17:07 Where to Find Robert Pizey
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Erin H. Davis: [00:00:00] Well, welcome everyone to the bossing. Bossing up overcoming OCD show today. I have a special guest, Mr. Rob Pizey. He is the host of the anxiety and OCD podcast. He's an OCD coach and anxiety management expert who uses act, which is the acceptance and commitment therapy and through his own experiences.
He helps other clients refocus their attention, identify their core values instead of being busy. And so Rob, I was reading up on you too at your website. So you're doing improv comedy. Is that right?
Rob Pizey: Yeah, I mean, not so much these days, but that was something that I was using as, um, a technique to, to help me with, uh, some social anxiety, uh, that I was struggling with in the past.
And, uh, yeah, that was, uh, an interesting approach to it.
Erin H. Davis: I'm sure. Well, that would be exposure therapy at its finest.
Rob Pizey: Absolutely. Yep. Yes.
Erin H. Davis: Well, and did you want to share any more about your background with the listeners?
Rob Pizey: Yeah, sure. So, yeah, as you were saying, my name is, uh, Robert, I'm an OCD and anxiety coach.
Um, yeah, before that I was working as a, as a teacher, um, but, uh, yeah, about five years ago now I decided to pivot in my life and, uh, I recently, uh, completed a degree in psychology. Um, You know, so very committed to this path now of, uh, you know, working and, and helping people with, uh, with OCD and, uh, and anxiety.
Erin H. Davis: Yes. And part of our preparation for our conversation today, you were in listening to your podcast too, like you do the Wim Hof method and a lot of other breathing techniques and somewhat of like. Outdoor nature therapy type stuff. So I'm very curious to hear more about that because I love natural remedies.
So in getting started, can you give me some background about what the Wim Hof breathing method is?
Rob Pizey: Absolutely. Yes. So the, the Wim Hof method actually has three main pillars to it. Uh, the breath work is, is one of those. Um, the second big pillar is cold exposure. Um, so if you've seen, uh, on Instagram, people doing ice baths and, uh, things like this, it's often it's related to the Wim Hof method.
Um, certainly Wim Hof was the guy that kind of made that, that famous, uh, and the third pillar is looking at the mindset and it's these, these three things, uh, together that, that tend to be really, really beneficial. Um, the, the breath work is, is, uh, It's quite different from most other types of breath work.
that we look at. It's quite, it's very deep breathing. Um, you're breathing quite rapidly and then it involves, um, holding the breath. Um, and yeah, so a lot of people report that they feel more relaxed after, after doing it. But, uh, it has a lot of science, um, uh, research now, uh, because the Wim Hof method has been put forward as something that can be beneficial for, for all sorts of things, uh, lowering inflammation in the body.
Yeah, there's a lot of research showing that it successfully lowers inflammation and can be very helpful for a lot of autoimmune diseases and other problems too. And it also seems to be beneficial for mental health. So, so that's one element of it. And then the other element that's really important as well is the cold exposure.
Uh, just an important side note, you should never mix, uh, with the Wim Hof method. You should never mix the, the breathing with, with water, with the cold exposure. So if you're doing the breathing, You do it separately. You do it before and then, you know, maybe 10, 15 minutes later, you can then do an ice bath, but never do it together because the breath work is so powerful.
You can actually, um, you know, you can faint if you're not [00:05:00] careful.
Erin H. Davis: Oh my goodness.
Rob Pizey: Obviously, you don't want to do that in the water.
Erin H. Davis: Yes. Yes. Well, an ice bath would already be like challenging enough. So, uh, but I did get my husband an ice bath for his birthday. He hasn't used it yet. Yeah. I've been seeing a lot of this, um, just posting and information about how beneficial it is.
And I totally agree with you about. The inflammation, because inflammation does play into autoimmune, but it plays into OCD and anxiety.
Rob Pizey: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So inflammation is a big, a big cause of, uh, you know, problems in health in general now. So it's amazing that you can lower that, but there's all sorts of other things that they're looking at.
It's very good for the cardiovascular system. Uh, it's very good for the immune system in general. So, you know, all sorts of positive things. And recently there was some research that came out and that showed that, um, it increases the number of endocannabinoid receptors in the brain. Um, which is actually very, uh, very powerful because endocannabinoids help to regulate the amount of dopamine that you have in your system and optimize it.
Um, you know, which is super interesting and, uh, yeah, positive that you're able to do that through something like, uh, cold exposure and breath work.
Erin H. Davis: Right. And so, Rob, how do you encourage your clients to take an ice bath? Like they're saying, Rob, this is, this is sounds like too much, or I'm afraid, like All because, you know, OCD, they want certainty and they want guarantees.
So how do you encourage them to do some of these methods?
Rob Pizey: Yeah, absolutely. It's a great question. Um, some people are just not, you know, willing or wanting to do that at all. You
Erin H. Davis: got to be willing.
Rob Pizey: Yeah, which is fair enough. And I completely get that it isn't for for everyone. However, if you are willing to, to try it and explore it, um, you know, it can be something that's incredibly beneficial because when you're in the cold, um, for me, it's been one of the best teachers that I've found, uh, to, to help me to learn about acceptance.
Um, you know, and not just on that intellectual level, which I think Many of us can get, uh, stuck with sometimes when we're trying to, uh, to deal with OCD and anxiety. I mean, these are things that I've, um, dealt with myself, uh, a lot in the past and that's why I've ended up being a coach in, in this area.
But I think for me, for a long time, I, I understood the concept of acceptance, um, but I wasn't so good at actually applying it, um, to, to my OCD and to my life. I was trying to, but I wasn't. Maybe I could do it sometimes, but I wasn't very consistent with it. Um, and what I found through doing a cold exposure, whether that's with a cold shower, uh, it doesn't have to be an ice bath, uh, or, you know, or an ice bath itself is that you, you can learn how to feel that discomfort.
You can learn how to. get comfortable almost with that discomfort and to bring a practical understanding of acceptance to it. Because when you're in, in the ice bath, if you fight with, you know, that those really difficult sensations that you're going to be experiencing in your body with the urge to, to get out with.
You know, with, with the really, I mean, it's horrible.
Erin H. Davis: I see what you're saying. The metaphors here and the parallels of how uncomfortable it is. Oh my gosh. Yes. Because I also think about that even in exercising because when you're doing something that feels uncomfortable, you want to stop. You want to leave, you want to escape, which is exactly the cycle that OCD puts you into.
You want to get out, you want to find a way to avoid. Yeah, so this is a great parallel of working through those feelings and then, man, finding acceptance. I could see where that's a huge learning lesson and teacher, as you were saying,
Rob Pizey: yeah, yeah, there we go. So it was, it was huge for me. And, you know, learning how to practice acceptance in, in the ice cold water actually helped me to bring more acceptance to other areas of my life, including with OCD and anxiety.
You know, so, um, if people are willing to give it a go, that's, that's the kind of payoff that you can get. It's very uncomfortable at first, but if you practice it in a positive and safe way, never do it on your own. Make sure if you're going to do it, that you do it with people who know what they're doing so you can learn how to do it properly.
[00:10:00] Ideally with a trained Wim Hof instructor, for example, um, wow.
Erin H. Davis: Those exist. Wow.
Rob Pizey: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm one of those, but, um, that's something else that I do. Yeah.
Erin H. Davis: Yeah. So you got certified in this method.
Rob Pizey: Yes. Yeah,
Erin H. Davis: that's amazing. Yeah. And okay. So in talking about acceptance, you know, that can be really hard to come to.
Was that something that you wrestled with for a while until you came across like this ice bath method? Or how was that acceptance journey for you with your OCD?
Rob Pizey: Yeah, well, I think there's different levels. I don't know what you think about this, but I think there's, there's different levels to acceptance.
Oh,
Erin H. Davis: wow.
Rob Pizey: No, like, I think we can begin to, when we first start trying to deal with, uh, anxiety a bit differently, when we realize the old way of doing things, or fighting with it, or trying to push it down, or trying to ignore it, when we realize that that doesn't work. And we start trying to apply acceptance and compassion to it.
Well, you know, maybe at first we do begin to see some benefits and some improvements because, you know, we are accepting a bit more. But, you know, it might feel a little bit more like tolerating something at first. Yes. It isn't, it isn't true acceptance, but you're beginning that process, you're putting up with it a bit more, you're recognizing, okay, this thought or this intrusive image or this horrible feeling of anxiety in my stomach or in my chest.
I really don't like it, but it's going to be there for now. And if I can just get on and focus on other things. Perhaps it's going to go down a little bit, and now you're beginning that process of acceptance, and I think over time, that's something that you can build up, you can work on, you know, you can, you can improve it, and I think, you know, the Wim Hof method is, is just one of those tools that, that kind of helps with that.
Erin H. Davis: Yes, absolutely. And I mean, it sounds like it's its own exposure to, and it's just a different type of exposure because, you know, for one, like it. In part of your story, if you have the fear of public speaking, then the exposure would be on a higher scale to do the improv comedy, you know, but just at a minimum of dealing with discomfort, accepting that you're going to be uncomfortable and almost like, Okay.
Inviting it in. That's what it sounds like. The experience is like, like, you know, it's going to be there and what I have found to be powerful in some of the OCD clients I work with, it's acknowledging, yeah, this intrusive thought or this intrusive image is going to be there, but you don't have to do anything about it.
Rob Pizey: You don't,
Erin H. Davis: you don't have to react to it. Like it's there. We get it.
Rob Pizey: Yeah, there we go. And that's empowering when you realize that, um, you know, because the opposite where you feel that you've got to get rid of that all the time, which is impossible because
Erin H. Davis: yes,
Rob Pizey: you know, like intrusive thoughts, they happen sometimes.
And, uh, if you just determined that you're always going to get rid of them, well, you're always going to be fighting that battle and you're going to keep getting more of them. Um,
Erin H. Davis: so true. So true. Such a valid point. And I think that That is really a key highlight for a lot of listeners. They, they want to be 100 percent free of these thoughts, but the reality is like you have to learn how to manage them and turn down the volume.
And as you're saying, like bring acceptance around it, which I'm sure is very hard in the beginning, you know, but there is a lot of free, there is freedom that can be found through. Doing some of these strategies.
Rob Pizey: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, so yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it's a powerful thing when you realize that, you know, whether it's doing, uh, exposure work, ERP, um, cold exposure, whether it's kind of, um, letting go of, uh, ruminating about something that you, you know, you've been fixated on and worrying about for a long time and just kind of walking away from that.
And saying I don't know the answer to that. I haven't figured it out, but I'm going to walk away from it. Anyway, I
Erin H. Davis: love it.
Rob Pizey: That's another form of exposure.
Erin H. Davis: Yes, absolutely. Because OCD, it tends to ask questions that are nearly unanswerable. Like, you will never find an [00:15:00] answer. So you're just, as you were saying, you're like spinning your wheels if you try.
Rob Pizey: Yeah. Well,
Erin H. Davis: Rob, I really appreciate your time today. And do you have any words of advice or words of encouragement for the listeners before we wrap up?
Rob Pizey: Yeah, I think the important thing I want to get across to people is that, you know, there's, there's much more hope than we sometimes think. I think one of the things OCD tries to take from us is that, that feeling of empowerment, that feeling that there's hope that you, you can improve, um, you know, it's, it's very frustrating when you're in the cycle of OCD and you're going around in circles with it and you're not seeing improvements.
No, it's like, um, You're kind of getting an intrusive thought or a typical obsession is coming up. You're feeling awfully anxious about it. Then you're performing a compulsion. You feel temporarily better. Um, but you know, unfortunately, because you performed a compulsion. That just means that you're going to get more of those, those thoughts and we get stuck in that cycle.
And I think people can end up feeling a bit, uh, well, very frustrated and, um, can find it very hard to get out of that trap. And I think my message is that, you know, there's a lot of hope if you, uh, are, are willing to, to focus on. Um, some of the methods that are out there, be that ERP or, um, or ACT or even if you wanted to learn about the Wim Hof method, there's so many different modalities and approaches.
Um, and, and people to work with such as yourself, um, you know, that, that can help and, you know, so I, you know, I think the, the main message is don't, don't kind of, uh, sit back in, in silence if you are struggling, you know, uh, see if you can reach out to somebody and, and seek support because it really can make all, all the difference.
Erin H. Davis: Love it. And I sincerely appreciate that because time and time again, the OCD. Folks, they feel like OCD is a part of them and that's not true and like you can feel better. So I love how you're highlighting that and so people can find you at your website robertjamescoaching. com. Where else can they find you, Rob?
Rob Pizey: Yep, so you can find me on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at robertjamescoachinguk and on YouTube. Um, I'm posting a weekly content there now, meditations as well. So you can search for, uh, Robert James coaching, uh, or the podcast, then you'll, you'll find me there.
Erin H. Davis: Awesome. And I'll be sure to put all of those links in the show notes.
And I really appreciate you coming on the show today. Thank you so much.
Rob Pizey: Thank you. Great.
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Check out Rob’s socials!
🔗www.instagram.com/robertjamescoachinguk/
🔗https://www.youtube.com/@theocdandanxetypodcast
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