Cold Water Immersion Instructors Course
Introduction
What’s in the course?
The aim of the Apnea Survival – Cold Water Immersion Instructor certification is to provide CWI workshop facilitators, the knowledge and understanding necessary to provide their workshop participants with safe, simple and effective relaxation and breathing techniques to better control their autonomic nervous system, improve their health and manage stress.
The course focuses on:
- Relaxed breathing techniques
- Controlling autonomic toning
- Understanding stress and fear responses
- Breathing to manage stress
- Mammalian dive response
- Cold shock response
- Specific CWI protocols
- Contraindicators to CWI
- Responding to CWI emergencies
These notes are an accompaniment to the Cold Water Immersion Workshop Powerpoint presentation and support the topics of focus in the presentation.
Note: Videos examples of the CWI practical prerequisites can be found listed as drills in the course table of contents.
What to expect
As a result of participating in the Apnea Survival – Cold Water Immersion Instructor training, participants can expect to be able to pass on knowledge to their clients that enables them to:
- Better assess their psychophysiology and its connection to breathing.
- Better understand the CWI journey.
- Develop more skillful breathing.
- Increase their ability to modulate their autonomic nervous system.
- Improve their ability to remain calm during stressful or intense situations.
- Improve decision making during stressful situations
- Develop greater self-awareness and self-control
Practical prerequisites
We need to assess your ‘skin in the game’ so there are a couple of prerequisites demonstrations you’ll need to complete, video record and upload to a folder we’ll set up for you.
- 1:1 Shiver protocol – 5 rounds @ 1 minute CWI in water 0-3 degrees C + 1 minute standing outside of the cold plunge 1/1 CWI challenge
- Cold Shock – controlled breathing protocol – 1 round @ CWI in water 0-3 degree maintaining complete control of your breathing in gear 1 for 3.30 minutes
- Deliver a CWI safety brief.
All prerequisites and safety guidelines can be found in the CWI General standards, contained in the lesson titled CWI General Standards Declaration.