Wim Hof: How to Supercharge Hormones, Strength, Mood & Health using Breath Techniques

Content by: Wim Hof


The above video is 2:36 minutes long.

Watch the full interview below or listen to the full episode on your iPhone HERE.

Stu: Imagine if you could supercharge your hormones, strength, mood and health with a short daily routine, a little commitment and guidance with the right techniques. In the short video above, we have Wim Hof (aka The Iceman) walking us through what is known as the ‘Wim Hof Method’.

With over 20 world records under his belt where he has pushed his body beyond what was thought humanly possible, Wim’s message is not to be taken lightly as he shares with us why he believes everybody is capable of much greater things than they ever dreamed of.

wim hof iceman

“We can do more than what we think.” It’s a belief system that I have adopted and it has become my motto. There is more than meets the eye and unless you are willing to experience new things, you’ll never realize your full potential.” 
― Wim HofBecoming the Iceman

Some of Wim Hof’s incredible accomplishments include:

  • He climbed to 6700 meters (22,000 ft) altitude at Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes
  • Completed a full marathon (42.195 km), above the arctic circle in Finland, in temperatures close to −20 °C dressed in nothing but shorts
  • Holds the ice endurance record in by standing fully immersed in ice for 1 hour and 52 minutes and 42 seconds
  • In 2011, Hof also ran a full marathon in the Namib Desert without water.

Want to learn more about the Wim Hof retreat? Here’s my experience I had there in Australia recently.

Wim Hof Full Interview:

Audio Version

In This Episode:

downloaditunesListen to Stitcher

  • The scientific study that shows how we can boost our immune system daily
  • How to tap into your autonomic nervous system; something that was believed to be scientifically impossible
  • How to do the Wim Hof Method and the best place to start
  • How to use the 3 powerful pillars | Cold Therapy | Breathing | Commitment
  • His incredible world records and his most dangerous
  • And much much more…

Get More Of Wim Hof:

Full Transcript

Guy: Hey this is Guy Lawrence on 180 Nutrition and welcome to today’s house sessions. We have a pillar of a guest for you today and his name is Wim Hof, the Ice Man. I must admit I was very excited to hear when Wim was coming on and I had an absolute blast today. If you’re unfamiliar with Wim and his work we’ll get into that in sec. He actually holds over 20 world records which is amazing. He’s done some amazing feats. He’s climbed Mount Everest in his shorts and got 6,700 meters in altitude. He’s only in his shorts and boots. He’s completed a full marathon above the Arctic Circle in Finland in temperatures up to minus 20 degrees Celsius which is minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit dressed in nothing but shorts. He’s also brought the ice endurance record by being fully immersed in ice for an hour and 44 minutes. I can’t handle 2 minutes in a cold shower, think about that. He’s also run a marathon in the Namibian Desert without water.

He’s done all these amazing feats and showing what the human body is capable of. Today he’s coming on the show to get that message out there because he’s sharing what he can now call what is well known as the Wim Hof Method. The Wim Hof method we will get into fully into the Podcast, but he’s essentially using 3 elements which is the breath, the cold and the commitment all from a person. By combining these things if practiced daily, what Wim is saying, everyone is capable if they want to even do what he’s gone on and done. Not that we want to go on and do it, but it’s allowing people to do more than they ever thought was capable of as a human being.

With the right training, using these methods and exercises he’s saying you can make your inner nature stronger and prevent disease. By doing that some of the other side effects like improving sleep, recovering faster, even works with athletes, reducing inflammation which is a big one of course, getting [00:02:00] bottomless energy and so forth and so forth. We dive into it. I will say I thought Wim today was just awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The guy is larger than life. He’s a very happy go lucky guy and he’s very authentic and true to himself which is just an awesome quality to have.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just go with the ride. This episode goes off in every direction possible and then bring it all back and how it can apply it to your own daily life. I have no doubt you’re going to enjoy. I just want to thank everyone for, people have been living reviews. I’m just going to give a shout out to Jess Holley who left a nice review recently. Even if you did say I mumble, which you’re not the only first person to say that, then having a Welshman and a Dutchman as a guest today you’re going to really enjoy it. Let’s go over to Wim, enjoy the show, go on guys. Hi this is Guy Lawrence, I’m joined with Stewart Cook as always, hi Stewart?

Stu: Hello mate.

Guy: Our fantastic guest today is Mr. Wim Hof. Wim welcome to the show.

Wim: Hi Guy, thank you.

Guy: It is a pleasure to have you on mate. I’ve told a lot of people over the last couple of weeks, once I knew you were coming on to the podcast, I go “We’ve got Wim Hof, the Ice Man coming on.” I found there were two responses. The first one was like, “Oh my God,” they are raving fans and they go, “This guys is awesome, I can’t wait to hear it.” The second response was they had no idea what I was talking about. I’m hoping we can please both parties today with the interview because I have no doubt … I have a sneaky suspicion a lot of our listeners will be exposed in your work done for the first time. It did get me wondering how to explain it and it got me thinking as well Wim, if you were in a cocktail party and somebody came up to you and said, “What do you do?” how would you answer that? [00:04:00]

Wim: I would say, “They call me the Ice Man but I’m just an investigator in life” because I’m totally relaxed now. I don’t look for recognition or anything like that. I’m just at ease and I say, “Yeah, cheers man nice drink.”

Guy: Perfect answer mate. Where did it all begin for you? For the listeners who are not familiar with you Wim and your work because it’s so different. It’s not something you sort of wake up and just go, “I’m going to get involved, put myself in cold water and breath work.” Where did your journey start for you?

Wim: It was when I was 12 years I began to have this longing for, thinking about there is a deeper existence. I don’t know what it is, but it crawled up on me. It made me read when I was 12 years old books on psychology and Hinduism and Buddhism and esoteric disciplines. I began to do my practice in Yoga and Karate and Kung Fu and Meditation and all that. It was a great mystery, just trying the utmost to get this feel from the East into my Western body, my Western understanding.
Years later, 5 years later, 6 years later, I came across the cold. It was on a Sunday morning and I felt attracted to a thin layer of ice on the water. I went in and there I felt from within [00:06:00] this is it. It made me feel really connected within. From there I returned every day and my breathing pattern changed because it has to change and it naturally changes because exposed to cold impact you have to breathe deeper. More effectively cold is an impact, is a force on the body. You need oxygen. You learn to breathe effectively deeper. I came across when I went in the cold water, just 25 of these deep breaths and I could sit 5 to 7 minutes under the ice.

Guy: That’s incredible.

Wim: The only thing I heard then was … like being at home. It’s a tremendous deep feeling and it gave me of course a tremendous power, a power connection within the depth of my body. That makes the senses all stronger like you are on drugs. Very silent down there, very powerful because the cold is a force and you need to develop something inside to oppose that. It makes you feel great from within. This is the way that it all started.

Guy: That was all instinctive, that was just you, just following your own instinct and figuring it out for yourself?

Wim: Yes exactly. It was instinct and having read so many books [00:08:00] on esoteric disciplines, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholic, Mystical disciplines etc. I dind’t get it from the books. It felt intuitively. I had to go into this water and from there something deeper in my brain was ignited, was awakened. From there I began to explore more and more into the human body, the human physiology because it just feels great. It creates a great strong feeling inside. I was longing for that. That was my inner power or … Everybody has it. It is just that I was looking for it and I got the answer inside. Now I’m teaching everybody. I’m seeing that everybody actually is very able to tap in deeper into the physiology the way nature has meant it to be.

Stu: I listened to a podcast recently, Wim, with Joe Rogan and you were the guest. It was an excellent podcast. It was a long podcast, so I got to listen to heaps of your background and story. I noticed that from your experiences in the ice you have set up something called the Wim Hof Method where the likes of Guy and myself could log on and start to learn these techniques. I just wondered if you could just tell me a little bit about what that program actually is and what it does.

Wim: Yes, I’m sorry, I forgot your name again.

Stu: Stu.

Wim: Stu, okay it’s almost soup [00:10:00] Stu.

Stu: It’s almost stew, but it’s hot, so it probably wouldn’t go down that well with you.

Wim: Yeah. I don’t know. I always go for extremes, but easy does it. Make jokes, no war, that’s what I always say. The thing is the Wim Hof Method has been derived after we subjected all what I know from nature in laboratory settings, in research centers. In the universities they saw that the techniques which I adopted in nature, which I learned in nature, that they work on the deepest levels of the immune system. Their hormonal system, they found out that it is the first time we have influenced into the autonomic nervous system like it was never been proved scientifically to be possible. Now we did. 12 people I trained and this is important for the listener.

Guy: When was this Wim when you-

Wim: Two years ago. Finally we could have this study framed, a comparative study, where I was training 18 people into my techniques and in 4 days they were able to show in the hospital to control a bacteria injected within a quarter of a hour. What normally the control group, they suffered from fever, headaches, [00:12:00] uncontrolled shivering, overall agony and my group whom I trained with my techniques-

Guy: For four days?

Wim: They didn’t suffer at all. Yeah, four days.

Guy: They were 12 of them and none of them got sick?

Wim: None of the got sick and it showed that they, in the blood, it showed that they all suppressed the cytokines which is inflammatory bodies in the blood. That means they were able to fend off the reaction of the bacteria injected, the reaction on the immune system which causes inflammation and so you get fever, headaches and all that. They were able to fend it off and had no symptoms at all. The techniques then, they became a method. The techniques are about breathing, little cold exposure and mindset. If I talk about … Just have it over there. Breathing, cold exposure, mindset, that’s it.

Stu: Your breathing as well is different in the way that we’re used to breathing, isn’t it, because I’m guessing … We’re told that a lot of us don’t really breathe that well and we don’t take a big deep lung full of air and we shallow breathe quite a lot as well. How does your breathing differ from perhaps what we’re doing right now?

Wim: There are two very interesting points they saw in the hospital. One is after you do this breathing technique30, 40 times, deep breathe in, letting go, deep breathe in letting go of course you become light headed and loosen the body and tingling [00:14:00] you feel. That’s because oxygen gets into the nervous system and it creates, causes a tingling, that’s one. There’s a lot of, the C02, carbon dioxide, just gets out. Then when you stop after exhalation you will be able to stay one, two minutes without air in the lungs. That’s one. What happens is that simultaneously the PH level goes up, PH level in the blood, and after one and a half minutes without air in the lungs … Hello what is this? Is it finished?

Stu: Yeah.

Wim: Are you still hearing me?

Guy: We’re still here, we’re still here.

Wim: I lost side of Guy.

Guy: You don’t want that.
Speaker 3 I touched something, I touched something. I’m very …

Stu: You’ve got electricity in there, don’t touch it.

Wim: Yeah, yeah. There you are, hi mate.

Stu: I tried your experiment after I’d listened to your podcast with Joe Rogan. I thought, “I’m going to try this myself.” First off I tried to hold my breath, just straight off the bat. I just thought. “Right, take a deep breath, hold my breath, how long could I do it?” I got to 45 seconds. Then I did 30 of these really deep breaths and I reckon we’ll ask you to guide us through exactly what that looks like in a moment, but I did 30 of those and I managed to hold my breath for two and a half minutes [00:16:00].
Wim: Nice, how do you feel that? Don’t you feel the inner power then?

Stu: It was very strange because then the next day I thought, “I’m going to apply this underwater.” I went to a local tidal pool with some friends and I said, “Just keep an eye on me, just in case.” I did some deep breaths and then I dove down and I swam across to the other side of the pool and it was quite a long pool. As I was swimming under water I was thinking, “This is really strange. I don’t need to breathe, but I know that I probably should be, but I don’t need to breathe.” I got all the way across the other side of the pool and turned around and started to come back. I though, “There’s something different here.”

Wim: You just became a fish. You know what happens Stu? Is that the PH level, they really go up very rapidly. We breathe to have the PH levels right. When the PH levels are right, you don’t need to breathe, that’s it.

Stu: It’s the way it is.

Wim: You know what happens? It’s genius mam. It’s so simple and nobody knew anymore, the cold taught me. “You just breathe motherfucker,” it taught me, “You go inside and you do that.” This is the way nature meant it to be, bring up your PH levels. Then you become strong without training. You awake this ability, this capability of ours. Everybody is able to do that. After one and a half minutes without air in the lungs, you see that the oxygen in the hospital, we saw this all, we see that the oxygen decreases dramatically. You know what happens in the deepest of the brain then, is the reptilian brain, the primitive [00:18:00] brain, the brain stem, it’s all the same. If we [inaudible 00:18:06] on oxygen, when there is no oxygen it tells, “Danger, danger, danger!” but there is no danger because the PH levels are up. You know why? Because we did it consciously. We’re not like animals. Animals do not do breathing exercises. Only humans can do that. That’s the difference. That’s why I always say a part of this, I always say to people, breathe consciously.

Later on I will explain about this. The thing is after one and a half minute it decreases the oxygen level. Could decrease even up til the measurement device is not able to measure it anymore and it jumps down to 30. It needs to be 100%, but it can lower up to 30% and then it is shut down. The measurement device says, “This man is dead, dead, dead,” but is not. We just tricked the brain and what happens then with this brain stem, this primitive brain, it reacts on having no oxygen there. Then the adrenaline shock comes, boom, and it resets the body completely.

Of course why do you need adrenaline, that’s for a dangerous situation to be able to escape as fast as possible. It brings your body in alert, there you are and there you go, that’s why it is. We get a peak of adrenaline and that resets the body in the right natural way. Then these people in the hospital I taught were able to fend off the bacteria. They got a contact, [00:20:00] resetting the body means also that the immune system is accessible, hormonal system is accessible. You know what they saw? They saw them lying in bed producing more adrenaline than somebody in fear going for its first bungee jump and totally at ease.

Stu: Is that just with breathing or is that in combination with breathing, cold water therapy and then also mindset, some kind of mindset training. Is that those three elements combined?

Wim: No. This is just the breathing and use the mindset as well to go deeper. I will tell you about the mindset. The mindset is nothing more than thoughts. The thoughts translated chemically are neuron transmitters in the hormonal system and in an electrical potential, a signal in the nervous system. They work together, the hormonal and the nervous system. They work as one. This is the hormone, the molecule, whatever particle it is. The other one is the electricity which is the nervous system, they work together. Based on taking blood without movement, me standing before a tank I was gone into the tank for say 80 minutes into ice water or ice cube and to fill it up until my neck. Then they took the blood. I was not moving, but because I knew I was going inside they saw 300%, more metabolic activity in the cell.

Guy: Because you’d seen the ice tank before you got in?

Wim: Yeah. I’ve got to go [00:22:00] inside. I’m ordering inside heat. I’m ordering energy in the cell.

Guy: Is that happening automatically.

Wim: That’s mindset.

Guy: Is that happening automatically, just because without you …

Wim: For that you need the right PH level, right PH level, because a neuron transmitter, together with electrical signal, which constitutes the thought, needs to travel in the body. The travelling is done by the right PH level. Otherwise it’s like gasoline with sugar. A low acidic state of ours doesn’t let a neuron transmitters go freely and it’s not listening so well. With the breathing before I go into the tank, then ordering with my thought, the thought and the breathing together brings up the PH level. Then the thought, the neuron transmitter, is able to travel throughout the body easily and generates or influence cell activity. Anybody could do it.

Guy: The heat being generated inside, is that the autonomic nervous system kicking in that …

Wim: Sure. All these 12 people did it. That’s the autonomic nervous system was until recently, until last year, it was scientifically, people were not able to tap into the autonomic nervous system. After 200 years of science [00:24:00] it all starts in the books, the autonomic nervous system. What is autonomic? Outside of our will. Now it is within our will. That’s because it’s like you swimming under the water, you didn’t think before you were able to that. Then suddenly you find yourself, “I don’t need to breath.” It was always said, “You need to breathe, you need to breathe, you need to breathe.” We think, “We need to breathe, we need to breathe.” All these signs made us think we are not able to tackle disease or to control our food or energy. Now I say, “Yes we are.”

Stu: The autonomic …

Guy: You there Wim?

Wim: Yes I’m here.

Guy: Sorry the camera has gone off.

Stu: It’ll pop back on. Just thinking, when the autonomic nervous system then is basically the … our bodily’s unconscious functions like I guess breathing for one.

Wim: Exactly. If we do not breathe it makes us breathe. Now we are able to consciously intensify this breathing. Thus we change the chemistry in our body.

Stu: I wondered then if we could go back to the breath work and just in order to tap into that breathing technique, if you could maybe just guide us through a few breaths so everybody at home could get a true indication of how we would do this differently than what we’re currently doing right now.

Wim: Yes. Okay there [00:26:00] you are, now we can start.

Guy: I still can’t see you Wim.

Wim: You can’t see me?

Guy: No.

Wim: [Dutch 00:26:12] The autonomic nervous system, as I’m explaining I got into and outside of will, outside my control and I touch all kinds of things here on the board. I really got to try them men.

Guy: That’s brilliant, I love it, I absolutely love it.

Stu: This breathing technique, most of us when we get scared for instance we might … we’re hyperventilating. Your techniques, can you just step us through exactly how we would have to breathe to access this?

Wim: Yes We do 35 deep breaths, relax now. You guys relax, are you relaxed?

Stu: Very.

Guy: Very.

Wim: What do you think of, your wife or what? I got a joke. As long as you relax it’s okay. Anything that makes people relax is okay. There we go. It doesn’t matter if you … I always say, it doesn’t matter what kind of hole you use, just get it in, and let go. Deeply in.

Guy: 35 breaths?

Wim: Yeah, and let go. Deeply in, yeah and let go and deeply in, and let go. Once again deeply in, let go [00:28:00]. Four deeply in, all right. 30 more, keep on, keep on. I’m light headed, loosen the body. know what happens physiologically. We’ll explain later.

Stu: I’m going to continue to talk as Guy this because I’ve done this at home already and …

Wim: Come on Guy, get him on.

Guy: It’s number 10.

Wim: 26 more.

Wim: Deeper, deeper Guy, Deeper.

Wim: You guide him, you guide him.

Stu: That’s it, slowly out. Not too much out, just slow … that’s it.

Guy: Thumbs are shaking.

Stu: I’m hoping he’s going to clap.

Wim: Go on, go on.

Stu: That’s it.

Wim: 21, Okay, almost 20. Go.

Stu: Keep going, nice big deep breaths.

Wim: Yeah. Go for it, gasp for air, let it go. He’s all almost there. Not so good, get high on your own supply men.

Stu: That’s it Guy, keep on going, a couple of more, couple of more.

Wim: I’ve got the standard watch here.

Stu: We’ll do a breathe hold after, shall we?

Guy: One more?

Wim: Yeah. That go stop.s
P2 That’s it. [00:30:00] You hold your breath Guy and while you’re doing that Wim’s going to be recording. What I’m going to ask you Wim now is as a newcomer to this and I’m interested in your breathing techniques, the cold water therapy, all of these things, what benefits would I expect outside of tapping into the autonomic like nervous system which is huge, but I guess for anybody that doesn’t really know what that is, am I just going to be generally healthier or am I going go to ward off infections? Am I going to sleep better? What will I get out of it?

Wim: That’s just three of them. You get more energy because the chemistry interestin the body is going to be better. You get more energy. Like 52 seconds, 53 …

Stu: Come on Guy, he doesn’t need to be …

Wim: It’s all right, I hate this feeling. It is nice. Yeah man, it’s your body man. Your body talking to you, “Hey where have you been all this time?”

Guy: I got to breathe, my arms are on fire.

Stu: How long did he take?

Wim: 110.

Stu: 110, Guy that …

Guy: There was a couple of things I didn’t get. The last question, when I breathe fully out, do I breathe fully out or just let go and then hold or …

Wim: You let go.

Guy: Just let go.

Wim: You’ll just let go and maybe one liter of oxygen, air will remain.

Guy: Right, because I thought, the first 15 seconds was the hardest because I felt “Wow, everything’s going to …” I was controlling just to keep this urge that wanted to come through and then it settled down and then. The heat through my shoulders and my arms now is … Yeah wow.

Wim: With this conscious breathing we influence the chemistry in the body. Stu, [00:32:00] about the benefits, you tap in into the hormonal system and what is happiness? Happiness are hormones. What is strength? Those are hormones, like adrenaline and all that. What is health? That’s the immune system. We tap into these both, the systems, and enable us to have a much higher degree in control over our mood, strength and health. That’s it.

Stu: Excellent, because at the weekends, every Saturday we … a group of friends from the surf club, we all go on a big ocean swim. We do this year round. The temperature over here is pretty good. In the winter it might drop down to maybe 16 degrees in the water, but generally it’s about 18 to 20 degrees. There’s one guy in the group and he’s from Serbia. Regardless of what the ocean temperature is he will come in and he will always have a cold shower and we always scrabble, put 20 cents in and get the hot showers coming out and we stand under it for 5 minutes. He always has a cold shower and he never gets sick. He never gets sick.

Wim: That’s it. That’s it brother, brother holy mamma, that’s it. How simple it is. This is what it is. It doesn’t only make you feel good and tap into your systems. The conscious breathing brings, gives you access into whatever creates your mood. It’s not only about involuntarily create a bigger defense in the immune system in order not to become sick, but it also is that you with your will are able [00:34:00] to guide your mood and your strength. Your strength even. That’s what I’ve showed on cellular levels, but those are the benefits. I want this to be shown scientifically on and on and on. Because no money is involved. I don’t see here like 250 a dollar and 175 and hey, a bottle, 60 cents for a breath. You cannot buy this shit. You only can attain the richness of yourself by conscious breathing and take a cold shower and you better believe it, that’s the mindset. That’s all.

Guy: Have there been any studies yet Wim with people with any kind of health issues or illnesses of any kind that have been doing the techniques and have built their immune system and it’s helped them recover?
Wim: Yes, I’m right now into that, in several universities they want to do studies on depression. They see that the blood markers they found in our study, that they relate to whatever causes depression. We got with this shit what we did now, we get these people doing this and they change their chemistry and hormonal balance will be created which caused the depression, as simple as that. Another one is arthritis, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. Another one is another disease and probably very soon in America we will take up studies with different universities, it’s underway. [00:36:00] I say once again, only until the studies have shown I can proclaim I can heal people with this technique. Until now we’ve got a lot of people healed who are using this. We have testimonials about it. I cannot proclaim this. They tell it, they use it and they do it because the world … there’s so much money going on, so much interests and all too very much make belief. The so called gurus, the healers and the woooo. I don’t like that.

Guy: Just going off tangent slightly, is the breath work the same as Kundalini breath work, because I’ve been looking at that at the last few months.

Stu: What is that Guy?

Guy: Kundalini is just movement of energy through the body using the breath essentially and it’s a Yogic practice.

Wim: Yes, I know all about this, I know about the Kundalini, the Ida Pingala Sushumna, the rising force, the subliminal force going up the spine towards the cerrada which is the brain and the pineal gland, epiphysis. I know and all chakras are the glands who interfere into the subliminal energy and they make these colors in geometrical shapes. Those are called chakras, but I’m not dealing that way. Breathing is something we always did. If you are able to consciously manipulate the breathing or using the breathing in a certain way you are [00:38:00] able to tap in where we never have tapped in before. A science stated it like the autonomic nervous system, because no study out of India or anywhere else has been able to show the autonomic nervous system to influence. That’s my credit. The credit is I went on and on and on to look for scientific proof and not only [inaudible 00:38:37].

People tell culture, “I was somewhere,” but still they don’t know the clue of it all. Why? They just do it? Yeah you become stronger, you become this and that. No. We scientifically prove that every person in very short period of time is able to tap in much deeper into its physiology and it doesn’t take years like they say in Yoga, the autonomic nervous, like 5 keys or any esoteric discipline. They always make it so complicated and put a lot of incense and a lot of candles and things like that. That’s not me. I wanted to find a way that suits for the western mind and body. We found it and it is very simple. The mystical is not gone. It is just very simple to tap into the mystical, that’s it.

Guy: Sorry we lost your camera again mate. That electrical charges …

Wim: That’s my excitement again.

Guy: It is.

Wim: I don’t know what, I didn’t touch it, I didn’t touch it, really.

Guy: There we go.

Stu: It’s coming in, [00:40:00] it’s coming in right now. I’ve got a question for you …

Wim: I didn’t touch it.

Guy: I think Guy touched it. I think I did see Guy’s hand.

Wim: You did it? I made you do it. I made you do it.

Guy: Live it alone Guy, just put your hands up so we can see them all the time.

Wim: Control yourself.

Stu: I have a question regarding …

Wim: Not too much breathing yeah.

Guy: Exactly.

Stu: He’s breathing too quickly. My question is on recovery for athletes. How, if at all, would your system benefit these guys?

Wim: Very simple for recovery. It’s logical that they need to get rid of their acids. Their acidic state of being. Breathe better and you will see, if you use these strips, strips … base or acidic alkaline strips. You use them in the swimming pool or any bath and you get-

Stu: Like PH strips.

Wim: Yes, you have it, you piss on it, before and after the breathing and then you see that the alkaline degree goes up very quickly. From yellow which is acidic to blue in 20- 25 minutes.

Stu: Got it. That in turn would lead to-

Guy: We’ve lost him. He’s coming back. Yeah it’s all good, I’ve got everyone back, awesome.

Stu: Excellent. Excellent, excellent.

Wim: We were talking about …

Guy: Athletic, recovery for athletes.

Wim: Yes. Once again if you see tomorrow for example with these strips, these aciding PH strips. You see in the morning [00:42:00] you are acidic and if you do 25 minutes of this breathing you see it gets into being alkaline. If you have done performance very much, you’ve exerted so much of your body, you become acidic. If you do 25 minutes of this breathing afterwards you’ll go from being an acidic to being alkaline. Up to what a degree I do not yet know precisely, but every sportsman I work with, they’re improving fast, recovering fast. Not only recovery but also improving in their performance level.

Guy: Do you get them doing the breath work straight after exercise or do you just get them to do it in the morning?

Wim: I have them in the morning doing this to make the body and alkaline. To make it alkaline. To have the right PH level. That the same energy will have a greater output because whatever … if your chemistry is a little bit acidic the performance is less. It’s logical. Influenced in the morning first your PH level and then the outcome of the same in energy input is better.

Guy: Are you using the cold as well as the breath work for that?

Wim: Yes, we didn’t discuss the cold. I explain a little bit about the cold. The principle is we got 125,000 kilometers of capillaries, veins and arteries inside our body. They all contain primitive muscles [00:44:00] and reflexes. Capillaries, reflexes, arteries and veins that have primitive muscles. They help with the flow, the blood flow. If you do not stimulate this it works like muscle, if you do not stimulate the muscle, it becomes … The function of these, all these little muscles and reflexes is to help the blood flow, go through the body. Thus the heart beat goes down. Now it needs to compensate because we act in a destimulative behavior comfort zone. We have no interaction with nature and if you have interaction with nature, then the body adapts and that’s all about the veins. Are all about these channels and these little muscles, they work. I live in New Trivoli, all day these little muscles, they get weaker because there’s no stimulation.

Therefore we take cold showers. The benefits are, benefits is that the heartbeat is going down. It’s being helped with all these millions of little muscles and reflexes. That’s the transportation of oxygen inside the body, is a whole lot better. That’s one. The immune cells, they are better fed with the oxygen. Every second, every minute if you take cold showers, you will see, everybody will see that their heart rate is going down, they feel more relaxed in the head because [00:46:00] a heart rate up is only at performance or danger. Not while in a rest. A lot of people are in their heart failures and blah, blah. Their transportation system is weakened because it’s not being stimulated, but the heart is going. That’s why they get stress hormone inside. A reaction of the primitive brain is when the heart rate is going up adrenaline, adrenaline, stress hormone, stress hormone because there is danger. That’s the way it works.

Stu: Would there be an optimal time to take these cold showers because I’m thinking if I took a cold shower last thing at night it might disrupt my sleep. Would that be true or that would not be true?

Wim: No. It wouldn’t be true. It would make you sleep better. You know why? Because you get in a stressful moment and when you breathe tranquil you get into the stressful moment, but then directly afterwards it shuts down. Now all the stress hormone in the body gets out. You control your stress hormone and you sleep better. You sleep deeper.

Guy: A bit different of a hot bath with Epsom salt, isn’t it?

Wim: You get a little bit numb with a hot bath because the veins open.

Stu: You’d be very well known then for everyone that follows you right now for doing some really amazing things and holding world records as well that are all related to your breathe holding techniques and cold water therapy and exposure. I wondered if you could perhaps just tells us about some of your most memorable world records and [00:48:00].

Guy: Because there’s quite a few.

Wim: It’s like swimming under the ice. You swim under the ice and you forgot to bring on your goggles and you lose sight under a meter of ice.

Stu: I’ve heard of this.

Guy: A meter thick.

Stu: What was the distance that you swam?

Wim: At that time 113 meters.

Guy: 130 meters?

Wim: 13. I calculated it later. I went by strokes. Every stroke was one meter 20. I lost the 50 meter hole because I couldn’t see anymore. the coronae got frozen. You know what happened then? I tried to find and to see, but I never felt the agony of drowning.

Guy: You didn’t get scared or panicked or …

Wim: Absolutely not. I lost fear for dying over there, right over there. It’s a really immense, very impressive experience, sensation. When you’re down there and you find, there is no agony. It’s all split seconds. You get it. Those are the answers I was looking for because in no book, they only proclaim, “Yeah, dying, dying is inevitable. You die and …” It creates fear. There’s no control. Then they talk, the Tibetan tradition or Egyptian, the Bardo Thodol, the book of death and this … They make it dramatically so big. They’re idiots. [00:50:00] The thing is, I bring it back to the little rabbit. A day before a rabbit dies it is still able, not like these elder homes where people are … not being respected, but for being old etc. Taking paled like this candy. Things like that, they die … that’s not a nice way to die. A rabbit, a little rabbit, one day before it dies, it is still able to flee, to fight, to find food, even to procreate possibly and the day after of course it dies at ease.

The day after it’s going to sleep. You know why? Because its PH levels are right. It’s like we are in a building and you need to get out. You are the soul. Then you have to turn off the light, switch off the light. Switch off the light, that’s the nervous system. But as we have wrong PH levels inside the body these neurotransmitters, the nervous system, the electrical system is not able to shut down. Then you get this. Nobody likes to die, like to go away like that because finally you get into the tunnel, the tunnel of the light, which is the spine. That’s about the Kundalini and the chakras and this, but I just say it’s the ganglia of the spine going up to the brain stem. Then DMT is released. DMT is dying and in the dreams. Subconscious to work it out, what you subconsciously took in.

Guy: The methotreptamine. When you’re … [00:52:00]

Wim: Last one, last one, the DMT, it is nice to die then. You see, “Wow, 3D man.” You see the light. You like to die man. You like to go. Whatever it is you prefer.

Guy: Was you seeing that under the ice, did you get to that point, because you said you were close to dying under the ice, or that was the closest?

Wim: No, I was not … and it was not my time, but there was no … I was grabbed finally by a diver and he brought me back to 50 meter hole, unconscious, almost unconscious. Very little consciousness, but I felt no …

Guy: You were at peace.

Wim: No nothing, no fear, no nothing. It was really strange, awkward, but actually nice. It’s not my time. I’ve got these techniques now that we are able to tap into the brain stem and cause DMT as well. That’s aside. What is more important is that these techniques enabled you to control your mood, your power and your health. It’s genius, it’s genius and I didn’t get it from the book. I got it from nature and it made sense, a deep sense. Now I’ve got it in the laboratory setting and now it’s in the scientific books on the university, a full chapter. University books.

Guy: What about when you climbed Mount Everest in your shorts? Did you go all the way up to the top of the summit where-

Stu: No, no, no. Up to seven and a half kilometers in shorts and with no problem. Seven and a half kilometers no problem. It was only prior to this time, three months before I [00:54:00] did a half marathon barefoot with minus 20, beyond the polar circle running barefoot half a marathon. I had some problems with my left forefoot at that time after 18 kilometers. The veins got … Video stopped. Once again. I’m really not touching this. No, no, no.

Guy: I’ve lost all three of us this time. That’s amazing. Let’s keep going.

Wim: Three months prior to the mount Everest I did this half a marathon. My veins were yet not flexible and they need to adapt at those heights. They open up, they close. You open up, that’s adaptation. Open up, close, open up. They didn’t close well and open and that’s why I returned. I said, “I may be crazy, but I’m not a fool.” I go back. That’s it. I had a great experience. I had no problem whatsoever at those heights at being in shorts. I had no problem. I think I can go with a group of 20 persons and do the same.

Guy: One question that popped in there regarding that is altitude sickness.

Wim: Oh yeah. We have shown with almost 50 people now to go in record times up Kilimanjaro, six kilometers, last time in 31 hours from beginning to the top, 31 hours. That’s it.

Guy: That’s incredible.

Wim: It was no [00:56:00] everybody did it and the oldest was 65.

Guy: Because every time I’ve been on altitude I’ve had altitude sickness, really bad.

Wim: Yeah, but not with my breathing.

Guy: I’m going to have to try that Wim.

Wim: Just try and find … I had a guy who almost died twice at 4,000 meters and he told me, “It wasn’t fear.” Now we did in a record time to six kilometers. I had no problem.

Stu: One thing that I wanted to raise because you mentioned that you’d taken groups up to train and-

Wim: I’m going in January again.

Stu: Is that … I noticed that you offer retreats. Would that be a retreat? Is that what it’s about?

Wim: No. Thursday, tomorrow I go back to Poland into the mountains. I have a retreat for people and in one week we will make them able to climb in freezing temperatures in shorts man or woman, regardless of age or even a possible disease they have.

Guy: Are you there Stu?

Stu: I am, I am.

Guy: We lost him.

Wim: No, I’m back. I don’t know, the technique or something. It’s interfering or we do this telepathy thing.

Stu: I think that’s what it is. We’ve got an electrical storm outside in Sydney. I don’t know whether that has a thing to do with it. It could do, it could well do.

Guy: It’s all happening tonight. No cameras.

Stu: It is. We’re 28 degrees and thunderstorms right now. It’s 8:30 at night. It’s hot and sticky.

Wim: It sound good, it sound amazing man.

Stu: It is. Very atmospheric. [00:58:00]

Wim: Listen up guys. Stu and Guy. We have a nice talk.

Guy: Fantastic, loved it.

Wim: I love you guys man, just hanging out with the dudes, right now. Life is so beautiful.

Guy: It’s amazing man. You’re influencing all these people now and they’re coming to Poland, is it to learn your techniques? How often do you run them, if we wanted to come and do one or anyone listening to this? How often are they being run each year or each month or … Wim?

Wim: Yeah, I do it now one, two weeks, three weeks, four, five weeks, six weeks in the winter time, but as you live in Australia why not do it over there on Tasmania or something like that? In the cold, it’s beautiful down there. We could organize something over there.

Guy: Wim, I’m up for it. If you want to come and do one somewhere in the cold.

Wim: It is already being organized, but we could organize more.

Guy: Have you done one over there?

Wim: I’m going to come to Sydney or Melbourne, I don’t know … what is it, Sydney?

Guy: Sydney, yeah.

Wim: In June, that’s in winter time for you guys.

Stu: It is, yeah, it is. Winter isn’t really winter in Sydney. It’s …

Wim: If you guys generate the interest with this then we make it worthwhile going down to say Tasmania
Speaker 1: There’s no time

Wim: There is no time, but we make it happen anyway. If interest is there we make it happen.

Guy: Canberra, Canberra is where-

Wim: I make a documentary about the human physiology. [01:00:00] There is no limit. Life is beautiful. You see, all these guys within a week transforming. That’s the beauty of it and that’s the way we can share it for Australian television as well. The people go back to be natural like the aboriginals before were. We can combine that. I love to do that. I’m into this project with the Massai now in Africa. We first drilled wells over there for them and I generated money for them, but now we want to open an office and to have these people back in the savanna with … back in the savanna. These people do not fear lions. We are full of shit when we go as westerners with this attitude in the city and … If you see lions in the facility then you’re full of shit you feel. These people, these Massai they guide us in the wild.

Thus we regain natural behavior. This is the tourism we are going to develop. We could do the same showing that we go back to nature in a controlled way. It’s not giving up western ways or anything like that. Just tapping into the deeper physiology of ours which is very beneficial in our pressurizing daily jobs and all that. It just brings about more energy, more quality and all, but ultimal respect and harmony with nature and the heritage of Australia which is possibly the aboriginals. [01:02:00] We’ll not become aboriginal, we will become original.

Stu: I love it, I love it.

Wim: Make this happen man, together.

Guy: That’s awesome. There’s a lot of stress people have.

Wim: I peace out, Guy.

Guy: We shall mate. WIm, we have a couple of questions that we ask everyone on the show if that’s cool before we wrap up because we’re just aware of the time.

Wim: Did you say fool?

Stu: He did. He said cool in his Will Shaxon.

Guy: The first one is … I heard you eat one meal a day, is that correct?

Wim: Yes.

Guy: We always ask everyone on the show what did you eat yesterday from a nutrition perspective?
Wim: I had Anton visiting me. He’s staying at my place. Anton is an artist. Sociologist, artist and a former stock broker. He doesn’t like it anymore. he made cabbage. Cabbage with … as he thought he was going with me to Poland he took everything what was in the fridge and made miscellaneous, a mix of all the vegetables and it was really nice. That’s what I ate. I told him, I took him two bowls, I eat once a day. I said, “This is good shit man. Very well done.” That was yesterday. What it is today? I don’t know. If you eat once a day you really like to eat. You really [inaudible 01:03:59] you really feel [01:04:00] the meat. You smell it.

Guy: If you eat once a day you really enjoy that meal when it turns up regardless of what it is.

Wim: That’s it. You have to learn to enjoy every moment again. We have to bring about this deeper physiology. This is what this method does. It brings back the joy, the enthusiasm, the will, the why we live just because it is. If you are really hungry you don’t need to know why you need to eat.

Stu: You just eat.

Wim: Yeah, you go. If you really love your woman you don’t need to know why, about this love. You take the woman and so forth and so forth and that should be every moment. Able, should be able into that feeling, that sense of living. That’s it. That’s the method really about. It’s about happiness, strength and health for everybody.

Guy: Definitely. Our last question is Wim, for you, and we ask everyone on the show, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Wim: Being given?

Guy: Yes. Or even the best piece of advice you’d give?

Wim: Stay yourself, be yourself.

Guy: Be yourself.

Wim: That’s it, it’s perfect.

Wim: Be yourself and nobody else, yeah.

Stu: I don’t think you can argue with that. Absolutely.

Wim: It’s just perfect. We just have to refind and this … to take the covers away, this cover, whatever, all the shit out and be pure. Just be yourself, you’re beautiful, it’s perfect. If you do not understand, if you do not feel be [01:06:00] reconnected. These super techniques, they work. Use them. Use them, abuse them, do whatever, but be yourself.

Stu: With your techniques, the Wim Hof Method and everything else that you’ve spoken about tonight, where can people go to access this information wim?

Wim: That’s always www.theInnerFire, Inner Fire.

Stu: Inner fire, got it.

Wim: InnerFire.nl. NL is for Netherlands.

Stu: Netherlands, got it. www.InnerFire.nl. That’s excellent. We’ll find the Wim Hof Method there and pretty much everything we’ve discussed today.

Wim: It’s quite a bit for free. People can really get a taste of it. They can feel it and feeling is understanding. From there they are able to dig in and to see what they need. We’ve got these fast conditionings and all that. If you do this really then you can go any depth nature has meant to be with us.

Stu: Fantastic, it sound wonderful.

Guy: That’s awesome Wim.

Wim: Live is so.

Guy: It truly is man. Wim, thank you for your time today and thanks for coming on the show. That was brilliant. I have no doubt, everyone that just listened to that is going to want to find out more about you and go to that website and check it out. That was brilliant.

Wim: Yes. Up till the research it was about me. Now it’s about you. That’s the listener. Really, anybody can do this. [01:08:00] I had a great talk with you, hanging out with the dudes.

Stu: That is awesome. Wim, thank you so much. What we’ll do, we’ll put everything that we’ve spoken about today, we’ll transcribe it, put it on the blog and we’ll give you a shout when we’re going to throw it out onto iTunes and all of the other social media outlets as well. It’s been a fantastic talk, really, really appreciate it.

Guy: Awesome.

Wim: Great Guy and Stu. Keep it hot. Keep it hot.

Stu: It’s stinking hot right now. I’m going to have a cold shower before I go to bed.

Wim: We keep it cool. Love you guys, bye, bye.

Guy: Later man.

Wim: Right on.

Stu: Bye, bye Wim.

Wim Hof

This podcast features Wim Hof. He got his nickname “The Iceman” by breaking a number of records related to cold exposure. His feats include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts, running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle on his bare feet, and standing in a container while covered with ice... Read More
Share:

Want More Articles Like This?

Sign-up for the 180 Nutrition mailing list to receive the latest news and updates.

I agree to 180 Nutrition Pty Ltd Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

2 Replies to “Wim Hof: How to Supercharge Hormones, Strength, Mood & Health using Breath Techniques”
Andre says:

What a character! 🙂 amazing stuff!! Thanks Guy & Stu for bringing him on the show and keep up the good work guys 😉 (…and Stus lol)

Guy Lawrence says:

Thanks Andre, I’m glad you’re enjoying the interviews 🙂

Comments are closed.