Fancy a dip? The power of the mind

by Dave Sabat on Fri 20 Jul 2007 14:30 BST Permanent Link
Earlier this week, British endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh became the first man to swim at the North Pole. He spent almost 19 minutes at minus 1.8C as he front crawled for one kilometre - more than half a mile in the coldest water a human has ever swum.
Lewis Pugh's incredible ability to withstand the icy cold has been developed over years of training. Before he dives in, he spends around 15 minutes using mind power alone to superheat his body. His pulse rate shoots up from 70 to 160 a minute and his temperature rises from 37C to 38.4, causing him to sweat profusely.
This is all without moving a muscle - and something which would take an ordinary person around 30 minutes of hard exercise to achieve.
This is a wonderful example of the power of the human mind. We are all capable of so much more if we are prepared to leave our comfort zone and make the effort to make that beneficial change that we seek.
If someone can superheat their body in 15 minutes using mind power alone, is it possible that we could use our mind to increase our learning potential, boost our immune systems and increase our health or improve our sporting performance?
I firmly believe that the power of our minds is incredible, we are all capable of incredible things, the question is will we allow ourselves to trust the power within us?
Lewis Pugh is a great example of a man who not only believes he can, but actually does it. He doesn't just dream about it or talk about it, he does it. Fair play that man.
Be happy and have a great weekend.
Dave.