This is 1 of the 10 topics from Richard van der Linde's – Bukuru founder – research into superhuman skills.The main source to be credited is www.dmtquest.com. At the bottom of the page is a link to the other topics.

Summary: There have been recorded many cases of increased physical abilities, ranging from increases strength to increased endurance levels to withstand cold or hot temperatures to controlling and boosting the autonomous nerves system's response. Similar mechanisms seem to be at play here as with growing by suggestion or hypno analgesia: slow brain wave states combined with visualization leading to changes in melatonin levels and directions of bio-electric currents that ultimately result in temporary superhuman physical abilities.

The Influence of our Mind on our Physical Abilities

Buy a bunch of fleas from your local pet store and put them in a glass jar about 20 cm tall. Secure the jar with a lid and keep it closed. If you open the jar after three days, you will find that the fleas will no longer be able to jump out of it. You would think the fleas have given up the belief that it is possible to jump out, even though fleas can generally jump 25 cm high.

Another example of this kind of limiting conditioning, often referred to as learned helplessness, could be seen in Dr. Martin Seligman and Dr. Steven Maier's experiment using dogs. In their experiment, they exposed dogs to inescapable electric shocks, which led the dogs to become passive and give up trying to escape even when they later had the opportunity to do so without the shocks.

An anecdotal example that involves humans instead of animals comes from the works of mystic philosopher George Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff's hypnotic practices can be traced back to his childhood experiences and the influence of the nomadic tribes he encountered. Growing up near the Caucasus in Russia, he interacted with wandering nomads who possessed unique knowledge and skills, including exercises related to breathing and body temperature regulation. These nomads used hypnotism in their daily lives, for instance drawing a circle in the sand around a child and telling them they cannot leave until the parents return. In his autobiographical book Meetings with Remarkable Men, he recounts his childhood experience when one of such children was bullied and forced out of the circle, driving the poor child mad. Being a bystander and seeing no reason why the boy could not step out of the circle, his curiosity about the workings of the human mind was stimulated and he went on in later life to develop methods some claim to be highly effective for achieving the highest states of liberation and consciousness.

Yet another set of intriguing examples – although (luckily) the effect is usually only temporary – comes from the practice of stage or street hypnosis. Illusionist David Lion, for example, can be seen performing rapid inductions on the streets of New York. Apparently within less than a minute of engagement, some of the participants are no longer able to move their feet, to separate their hands, or to recall their own name. 

Hysterical strength

In an often-replicated part of hypnosis shows, which involves expanding rather than limiting one’s abilities in the hypnotic state, a participant is instructed to become stiff as a plank and is placed as such on the backs of two chairs, forming a bridge for other people to sit or stand on. While medically this condition is called body catalepsy, in the context of a hypnosis show, it comes across as an exhibition of muscle strength that the volunteer would not be capable of when not induced under any hypnotic suggestion.

Outside of the hypnosis context, an example can be provided of the renowned martial arts specialist Bruce Lee, who impressed the then world champion in karate and kickboxing, Joe Lewis, with a demonstration of his six-inch punch. After this exhibition, Lewis gave up on karate to start training with Bruce Lee. It was Lewis who had first demonstrated this punching feat. While already being impressive (perhaps even literally), his six-inch punch was nothing compared to what Lee subsequently demonstrated. With less body mass and from a smaller distance from the poor participating reporter, he delivered a punch with far more impact than Lewis's punch, as can be seen in the video from which the following stills were taken. The first two show Lewis before and after the punch, the second two show Lee before and after the punch.

While part of the difference in visual impact comes from a difference in setup – the reporter slid most of the distance on the chair – Lewis experienced Lee's punches as those of a heavyweight, whereas Lee clearly was not a heavyweight. How Lee was able to generate such force can be explained by physics, but there is a knowledge gap in this literature: researchers are yet to explore whether the ability to generate such muscle power so efficiently has a link with conditioning.

Besides the above examples, there are numerous anecdotes of people who have shown unusual strength in a stressful situation, such as in an accident where a person got trapped under a heavy object. This suddenly generated power, often referred to as hysterical strength­, is more or less the opposite of learned helplessness. Here are a few examples from DMTQuest:

• In 1982, in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Tony Cavallo was repairing a 1964 Chevrolet Impala automobile from underneath. The vehicle was propped up with jacks, but it fell. Cavallo’s mother, Mrs. Angela Cavallo, lifted the car high enough and long enough for two neighbours to replace the jacks and pull Tony from beneath the car.

• In 2006, Ivujivik, Quebec resident Lydia Angiyou saved several children by fighting a polar bear until a local hunter shot it.

• In 2006, in Tucson, Arizona, Tom Boyle watched as a Chevrolet Camaro hit 18-year-old Kyle Holtrust. The car pinned Holtrust, still alive, underneath. Boyle lifted the Camaro off the teenager, while the driver of the car pulled the teen to safety.

• In 2009, in Ottawa, Kansas, 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st) Nick Harris lifted a Mercury sedan to help a 6-year-old girl pinned beneath.

• ·In 2011, in Tampa, Florida, 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), 295 lb (134 kg; 21.1 st) University of South Florida college football player Danous Estenor lifted a 3,500 lb (1,600 kg) car off of a man who had been caught underneath. The man was a tow truck driver who had been pinned under the rear tire of a 1990 Cadillac Seville, which had lurched forward as he worked underneath it. The man suffered only minor injuries.

• In 2012, in Glen Allen, Virginia, 22-year-old Lauren Kornacki rescued her father, Alec Kornacki, after the jack used to prop up his BMW slipped, pinning him under it. Lauren lifted the car, then performed CPR on her father and saved his life.

• In 2013, in Oregon, teenage sisters Hanna (age 16) & Haylee (age 14) lifted a tractor to save their father pinned underneath.

• In 2015, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Nick Williams lifted a four-wheel-drive vehicle to save a young boy pinned beneath its tire.

• In 2015, in Vienna, Virginia, Charlotte Heffelmire was able to momentarily use incredible strength to free her dad from a GMC pick-up truck.

The most intriguing aspect of these cases are the lack of physical harm done to the “superheroes” in these events. This is distinctly different from examples of superhuman strength by those under the influence of a drug called PCP. There have been many testaments by police officers as to the abnormal, elevated strength of people who have ingested PCP. However, they also coincide with severe physical damage suffered to their bodies in doing so. 

What are the true limits of the human potential?

Back in the early 1950s, running a mile in under four minutes was considered an elusive and seemingly impossible goal. Many experts believed that the human body was not capable of such a feat. The prevailing opinion was that the physical limitations of the human cardiovascular system would prevent anyone from running that fast. At that time, the four-minute mile barrier had become a symbol of the ultimate athletic achievement. Various runners had come close to breaking it, but none had succeeded. The record at the time stood at 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds, set by the Swedish runner Gunder Hagg in 1945.

Roger Bannister, a British medical student and middle-distance runner, took up the challenge to break the four-minute barrier, which he deemed possible, based on his understandings of the human body and the extraordinary capabilities of the immune system. On May 6, 1954, at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, England, Bannister made history. With a combination of meticulous training, strong belief, and sheer determination, he completed the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds, stunning the sports world and captivating people around the globe. His achievement shattered the long-standing belief that a sub-four-minute mile was impossible.

Bannister's record-breaking run opened the floodgates for future athletes. It inspired others to believe that they too could surpass seemingly insurmountable barriers. In the months and years that followed, numerous runners suddenly started breaking the four-minute mile. As of July 1999, the record stands at 3 minutes and 43.13 seconds by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj.

Could it be that Bannister’s achievement had the same effect on runners as hypnotists have on people performing plank or perhaps mothers of ancient tribes when picking up their child from the restrictive circle in the sand?

Bannister believed in the possibility of the human body to tap into the innate immune system, something a man called Wim Hof, nicknamed “the Iceman”, seems to have turned into an art. But before we look at some of his astounding feats, we’ll need a little background on the biology of the human nervous system.

The Nervous System

The human nervous system has two major divisions: the central nervous system (brain/spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (cranial and spinal nerves that branch out). The entire nervous system is what gives us the ability to perceive our external and internal environments. It allows us to “feel” and “sense” things via the five senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and vision. ​The pH (acidity/alkalinity) of the blood (which is interrelated with cerebrospinal fluid pH) directly and ultimately affects how our central nervous system operates: Acidity from elevated carbon dioxide levels tend to lead to a depression of the central nervous system, whereas alkalinity from depressed carbon dioxide levels can lead to hyperexcitability.

The primary factor in dictating pH levels for a reasonably healthy human is based on respiration rate. A deeper and/or more rapid respiration rate than normal leads to a decrease in blood carbon dioxide levels, characterized as hyperventilation. A shallower and/or less frequent respiration rate than normal leads to an increase in blood carbon dioxide levels characterized as hypoventilation. Although the term “hyperventilation” generally has negative connotations, deep rhythmic breathing, such as that observed during REM sleep or in long-term meditators (delta state), appears to have undeniable positive physiological benefits for both the brain and body.

Consider this. Two EEG studies published in the journal Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology in 1991 and 1992 investigated the effects of induced hyperventilation on EEG measurements. Both studies showed an increase in slow wave (theta/delta) activity and a decrease in alpha power. Slow wave activity increased as a byproduct of hyperventilation, showing that there is an apparent feedback loop between breath rate and EEG state.

The Iceman

Wim “The Iceman” Hof is a Guinness World Record holder who defies the laws of biology. He can run barefoot across scorching deserts and plunge himself into ice water for hours on end. In 2009, Wim climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (19,340 feet above sea level) in just two days. In the same year, he also completed a 26-mile marathon above the Arctic Circle in Finland (temperatures averaging −4 °F) while dressed in nothing but shorts. He completed the marathon in 5 hours and 25 minutes.

Not to be limited to cold challenges, in 2011, The Iceman completed a 26-mile

marathon in the Namibian Desert (104 °F) without drinking any water. While this would be

considered very dangerous for most people due to the likelihood of the core body overheating and leading to hyperthermia and septic shock, Wim's core temperature remained the same throughout the marathon.

How does he do these things? The patented Wim Hof Method seems to contain all the answers in its three pillars: breathing, cold therapy, and commitment. In fact, a group of researchers conducted a study involving Wim undergoing an 80-minute full-body ice immersion during which he practiced his meditation technique. At the end of the study, the scientists concluded this: “The concentration/meditation technique used by this particular individual seems to evoke a controlled stress response. This response is characterized by sympathetic nervous system activation and subsequent catecholamine/cortisol release, which seems to attenuate the innate immune response.”

Basically, Wim's meditation techniques are so strong and effective that, like Roger Bannister (but to a much superior level), he is able to influence his autonomic nervous system and thereby his innate immune response.

In 2014, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a paper on the effects of the Wim Hof Method. The study comprised 24 volunteers of which 12 trained for 10 days utilizing Wim's techniques such as “third eye meditation,” cold immersion, and cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention. The other 12 volunteers did not undergo any training at all. The researchers noted the physiological differences between the two groups after having been administered the endotoxin (a bacteria) known as E. Coli. The results were as follows:

"Hitherto, both the Autonomic Nervous System and Innate Immune System were regarded as systems that cannot be voluntarily influenced. The present study demonstrates that, through practicing techniques learned in a short-term training program, the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can indeed be voluntarily influenced. … flu-like symptoms were lower in the intervention group. In conclusion, we demonstrate that voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system results in epinephrine release and subsequent suppression of the innate immune response in human in vivo. These results could have important implications for the treatment of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, such as autoimmune diseases."

This clinching piece of evidence demonstrates the successful science behind Wim Hof's techniques. Overall, the verdict is clear: Mere breath work – intentional and controlled breathing techniques – seems to have the ability to influence the autonomic nervous system over the long term. By slowing down our breath and engaging in deliberate inhalations and exhalations, we awaken the parasympathetic branch of our autonomic nervous system, promoting relaxation and healing. Through this process, the brain forges new neural connections, reshaping itself and offering one the power to activate “supernatural” physiological responses—like those shown by Wim Hof and Roger Bannister.

Possible explanations

While breath and visualization seem to play an important role in the accumulation of strength – generating higher levels of melatonin – it's also hypothesized that the mechanism involves our bio-electricity like how visualization under the right conditions can spur growth or lead to control over sensitivity to pain. For example, the differences between “hysterical strength” cases and “PCP-induced” strength cases could lie in the bio-electrical patterns and direction within the brain & body. The sheer visualization of strength while being in a slower brain wave state than usual is known to enable abilities such as visualized changes to the body's shape and condition as well as reduced pain levels. The visualization is known to lead to changes in bio-electric currents that run through our bodies like how electric currents run through our houses and devices. Upon visualizing a change to a body part, the direction of the bio-electric current changes its direction like how changes in direction are measured within animals that are known to be able to regenerate limbs, like salamanders and rats. The change in current coincides with their spectacular regenerating efforts, which could be considered an accumulation of powers by the body. When humans get into a situation where we need to act instantly, we sometimes become entirely absorbed by the actions and become completely self-forgetful, like how this can happen in meditative or hypnotic states.

Conclusion

Our breath seems an effective tool to reach a state with more physical abilities, although the mind can also achieve it with sheer focused attention. And when it learns how to do that, some of the supernatural abilities discussed in the other articles might become realistic as well.