My Story
That’s me | front row | white t-shirt | 5th from the left
I’ve got Goosebumps all over, eyes wide open with awe, and I’m filled with what can only be described as raw unbridled emotion. I’ve just witnessed the second most powerful event I can ever remember seeing in my life.
It’s 2017, the setting is beautiful and serene. I’m standing in the middle of a large glass-walled yoga studio, set on a riverbank in the countryside, and I’m facilitating a ‘New Masculinity’ weekend retreat run by Rebel Wisdom.
28 men that had never set eyes on each other less than 24 hours ago, with so many stories of pain, trauma, anguish, and yearning for better. Now, the room is enriched with peace and charged with an unrecognisable energy – in that moment, words escape me.
Status, ego, stress, accomplishments, stories, you name it, have all just fallen away into nothingness.
There are tears of joy and sadness, there’s radical acceptance, recovered memories, bliss, euphoria, healing, serenity, a sense of deep connection, and so many other profound experiences.
How could 40 minutes of nothing more than deep rhythmical breathing create something so magical and beautiful?
I had just witnessed an adapted version of Wim Hof breathing – apparently, he’s called The Iceman. I’ve never heard of him, and yet I know that he’s just changed my life.
My name is Thomas Beresford. I’m from a beautiful little island called the Isle of Man – yes, it’s a real place, and no – I haven’t been to the Isle of Woman.
I have a background in Sport and Exercise Science, teaching Physical Education in High School for 10 years, and then after a career shift, as a Chartered Accountant working in finance all over the world for over 15 years now (and still counting).
I’ve always had an interest, no, a fascination, with personal power and how we can take control of our lives – I’ve even got a qualification in Hypnotherapy.
Waiting around for things to happen, for others to do things for me, for them to solve my problems and ease my pains, has never sat well with me – I have a powerful growth mindset and a ‘will try’ attitude. I seek to find my own answers, overcome obstacles, and grow towards better, and I’m most alive when I help empower others to do the same.
That’s me | from my Linkedin Profile
Fast forward to today. The most powerful event that I’ve ever seen in my life was the birth of my daughter in August 2021. It’s certainly true what ‘they’ say; that the meaning of your life changes when you have a child. Mine certainly did – now everything I do is for her and her future. I want to be the best dad I can be.
Time with her is the most precious thing to me. Watching her grow and blossom into an unstoppable force of nature, I will cherish and seek to be present for as much of that time as possible.
This means that I aim to be my own boss. Inspired by my experience with Rebel Wisdom, I became a certified WHM instructor in 2021. It took much longer than I hoped. We started in the middle of the Covid pandemic, so it’s taken a little time to get going in such an environment – gathering people in an indoor space and breathing heavily, didn’t really fit with the times of the culture.
Now, finally, I can be my own boss, and cultivate something that I can be truly proud of, and build a bright future for my daughter.
I am inspired to empower people so that they can have a profound and positive impact on how they think, feel, and relate, and ultimately take control of their own lives.
I believe that people have more personal power than they realise, and that they can have a profound influence on their own physical and mental well-being. It’s my mission to unleash that from within them.
I don’t know about you, but as Ferris Bueller says “Life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” – I’m not waiting around for any magic pill, I’m taking charge of things that I can control. I’m taking charge of my own mental and physical health - we have greatness within us and we are capable of attaining the once unattainable.
Back in that room, the leader of the retreat, David Fuller (a truly inspirational man) said something that will stick with us all “You have to do the work yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone”.
If you’re like me, and not willing to wait, if you want to take control of your own health, happiness, and well-being, and unleash your own greatness and personal power, then I’ve got a practice that I would be delighted to share with you.
Let’s go! Join me and let’s be part of a Global movement aiming at making things better!