BY: WIM HOF
Listen or Download Podcast Version
Additional Note
I am not a Wim Hof instructor. To ensure safety, it’s critical that you use a certified instructor (or Wim’s free app) if you’re interested in trying the method. You should consult your physician before trying anything new.
One More Thing…
This Book 411 doesn’t discuss too much of the science of Wim’s method because we have four Science 411s available on it. So, check out those if you want to nerd out.
4 THOUGHTS
1. The Origins of the Wim Hof Method®
“I began to notice that I would involuntarily gasp each time I immersed myself [in cold water], and I found this intriguing. And when, at a certain moment, I did twenty-five deep breaths, it made my body tingle like crazy, like electricity. … It was an amazing feeling, and over time, a routine gradually took shape. It was organic and progressive, and this physical experience of the cold and following my gut led me to a true personal discovery of my own consciousness, my own mind-body connection. I was only seventeen, and I felt alive and excited.”
That’s how the method started: 17-year-old Wim went into the cold and listened to his body. But sadly, it was a tragic loss that led to the full development of his method. When Wim was in his mid-thirties, his wife and mother to four children, Olaya, committed suicide.
Wim says he didn’t have time to properly grieve. He had to take care of his children. Thus, he relied on the things he had been practicing—cold, breathing, and meditation—to help him through (plus, of course, his love for his children). This is how the three pillars shaped into a method:
“It was then that I first understood the true benefits of the cold water, breathing techniques, and positive mindset I was employing. So I made a method out of them, in the hope that others could benefit from them as I had. …That was twenty-five years ago, and the method has evolved a lot since then, but its original spark is still with me. Like the memory of my dear, sweet love, Olaya, I carry it with me wherever I go.”
It’s tragic that Wim endured this loss, but inspiring that he used it to not only heal himself but to also create one of the most popular methods on the planet.
Let’s dive into its components.
2. The 3 Pillars of the Method: Cold, Breathing, and Mindset
There are three pillars in Wim’s method, which are cold, breathing, and mindset. Let’s briefly look at each and the basic way of doing them.
1. Cold: Although Wim does extreme cold endurance, his recommendations for starting out are very practical:
“So what can we do to reduce the impact of the shock and instead allow the ice water to optimize our cardiovascular system? Most of us who live in the West take showers every day, and most of those are warm or hot showers, because we don’t like the cold. But if you end your warm or hot shower with just thirty seconds of cold water—just thirty seconds—you will begin to see results.”
Thirty seconds isn’t much to ask to get the benefits of the cold (which we’ll discuss in the following thought). And Wim says you need only 10 days to start noticing these benefits.
2. Breath:
“We can live in sensitive connection with our most vulnerable souls and become the enlightened, radiant beings we were meant to be. It all begins with forty breaths.”
You probably know this one by now:
Take 30-40 full breaths
Exhale
Hold for as long as comfortably possible
Inhale and hold for 10 seconds
Repeat for 3-4 rounds
Wim suggests that beginners start using the nose, or nose-in/mouth-out, because it’s easier to remain in control. Use his app to guide you through the process.
3. Mindset:
“We call this pillar ‘commitment’ in our training programs because you must have the right mindset to make the commitment to go against your ego and take the damn shower, to just breathe. You could also call this pillar the power of the mind. It includes the idea of will and the power to imagine, to meditate, to visualize — the power to send your attention to any part of your body, to observe any bodily process.”
The basic approach is to sit or lie comfortably and follow your breath, breathing deeply and peacefully. When you feel a sense of calm wash over you, set an intention (doing more push-ups, rocking a presentation, etc.). Visualize doing that task. “Tell your body what you expect it to do.” Then, continue the visualization until you know you can do it. (Listen to the audio version for more.)
3. A Cold Shower a Day Keeps Us Breathing the Right Way? (+ achieve deep meditation in one minute)
“All we need to do to begin reclaiming our innate capacity, our inner power, our ability to place mind over matter, and achieve strength, happiness, and sustainable health is to take cold showers. Just a minute or two a day. It’s all there for you, and we have proven through science that it works. … A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.”
Wim is obviously a huge fan of the cold, and he provides a lot of scientific and anecdotal support for why the cold is so powerful for building resilience.
(This one especially stood out:
“The control you will gain won’t be limited to your body’s response to the cold though. It can be applied to stress in any form, be it heat, emotion, work, frustration with the traffic, relationships, whatever. Because the cold is merciless but righteous, we can learn from it.”)
But although we know the cold is powerful, we often separate it from the breath pillar of his method. However, the two really work in synchronicity. Here’s why.
When we practice cold exposure, our vascular system gets exercised—we condition our “sixty-two thousand miles of veins, arteries, and capillaries.” This ultimately improves blood flow. Why does this matter? Back to Wim:
“[I]t’s our vascular system that delivers blood to the cells and with it, all the nutrients, oxygen, and vitamins our bodies need to thrive.”
Thus, remember that breathing is nothing without blood flow. And better blood flow makes each breath we take more efficient.
Together, we see that the cold complements the breathing perfectly.
So, in addition to keeping the doctor away, we could say that a cold shower a day keeps us breathing in an efficient way.
***
P.S. And if that’s not enough, Wim says the blood flow changes from cold exposure can also help you achieve deep meditation in one minute: “Because the brain and the heart are connected neurologically, your decreased heart rate affects your mood, lessening your anxiety. In peace and at rest, your brain begins to “cool down,” and blood slowly flows deeper into it. If that blood reaches the limbic system, it is possible to achieve a level of deep meditation that only seasoned mindfulness practitioners of many years have been known to realize. In my experience, a one-minute cold shower every day can deliver you to the same realm.”
4. Wim’s Daily Routine (+ his one-minute stress relief breathing)
“I rise in the morning, and I do my breathing. I don’t do it because it’s good for me, which it is, but because it feels good. That’s why I want to do it. And then, shortly after, I take my cold shower, or an ice bath if I can. I love it, and I never skip a day, even when I am on the road. The ice bath, combined with the breathing, generates a ton of metabolic activity in the body. I stay in the cold water until I feel a deep peace, which comes from complete adaptation.” (my bold)
It’s always inspiring to find out how authors use the information they’re writing about. Of course, it’s a little different in Wim’s case, but still awesome to get a peek into his routine at the time of this writing.
After the cold, here’s what he does next:
“When I get out of the water, I don’t jump directly into a warm shower or anything like that. No. I let the body work, and it’s amazing what it does, what it can do. All the metabolic activity and biochemical processes are priming the body for ultimate functionality. Everything works. I do some stretching, some splits, some balance exercises.”
Breathing, cold, stretching. If it works for Wim, I’m sure it can work for us 🙏
***
P.S. Although his routine keeps him aligned, even The Iceman gets stressed from time to time. His solution? Humming. And it only takes a minute:
“What I do for stress is one minute of humming and breathing. This always works for me. It taps into your parasympathetic nervous system — where the peace is inside — and calms down your hectic sympathetic nervous system.”
Here are his instructions:
Set a timer for one minute.
Breathe in deeply, and hum in any way you’d like during exhalation.
Repeat until the timer goes off.
Easy and highly effective 👏
1 LIFE-CHANGING IDEA
Wim’s Breathing Philosophy: The Breath is a Door (and of course: breathe, m❆therf❅ckers)
There are lots of life-changing ideas in this book. But, perhaps the most inspiring is simply Wim’s philosophy on breathing. Adapting even a fraction of his enthusiasm for (and belief in) the breath is guaranteed to change your life.
Here are a few gems to contemplate and incorporate into your thinking:
“[T]he breath is a door. It leads to corridors that take us deep within ourselves.”
“Without the breath, what is there? It’s where you and I and everyone else began. It’s where all life begins.”
“The breath is as big as the ocean. … It is the sea itself. It’s where we came from, who we are. It is bigger than us because it is us. Now go consciously into the breath and let go.”
“It starts with the breath and controlling the life-force through breathing. Without the breath, we are nothing, but by controlling it, we are able to access the neurology of our consciousness, our perception.”
“Be still, and breathe. That is where the depth is gained.”
“There’s nothing mystical or abstract about it. It’s physical. Your breath is your life-force, right here, right now. It could not be any simpler. Just breathe and reclaim your soul.”
“Can it really be so simple? Just breathing deeply? Is that it? The answer, friends, is yes.”
And finally, remember to breathe, m❆therf❅ckers:
“People come up to me with questions like, ‘Should I breathe through the nose?’ or ‘The diaphragm this or that,’ and I just say, ‘Yeah, breathe, motherfuckers! Don’t think, just do it! Get into the depth of your own lungs!’ ... get out of your mind and get into your breath because the breath is the life-force. Not your mind, the breath. Follow your breath, and it will lead you anywhere in your brain—thus the mind—that you want to go.”
1 STACK OF MEMORABLE QUOTES
“I realized that we all have this sacred spot within us, and it became my aim to access it. Once you can do that, you become aware of your own light, your own being, your own purpose. It’s all there for you if you know where to look.”
“There is so much more to life than meets the eye if you choose to seek it. The seeker becomes the finder, the finder of so much more than we thought was possible.”
“It’s very simple. A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.”
“Anybody is able to endure thirty seconds of cold water, especially after spending several minutes under the warm or hot water, collecting heat. The warm water opens up your veins, aiding your blood flow. So while the cold water might cause you some discomfort at first, thirty seconds is no great hardship.”
“The greatest accomplishment you can achieve is stillness of the mind.”
“People think of the sixth sense as “extrasensory perception,” like reading minds or telling the future. But I call the sixth sense “confidence,” the absolute confidence in your own nature, your own destiny, your mission, your purpose on this earth and beyond.”
“We are limited only by the depth of our imagination and the strength of our conviction.”
“They all called me a madman and mocked me. To be sure, many still do. And you know what? They’re right. I’m crazy about life, I am! I love it!
“Breathe. Go out into the cold. Feel it. Follow the light. It will take you back into yourself.”
“Follow the breath. Lean into it. The breath goes everywhere, and it will lead you where you need to go.”