The Method

Breath. Cold. Mind.

The Wim Hof Method is a very powerful method that can teach you how you can consciously influence your own body. It is built on three pillars — breathing, commitment and mindset, and exposure to cold. To benefit, all you have to do is follow the exercises.

Begin with three breaths The official technique Never in or near water.

In this chapter

The BreathThe official Wim Hof Method breathing technique: thirty to forty power breaths, retention on empty lungs, a fifteen-second recovery breath. Safety warning, preparation, mechanism, and the Breathing Bubble.The ColdYou will start with breathing exercises and meditation, and will gradually expose your body to low temperatures by taking cold showers. Within weeks you will fe The MindBreathing and cold are where you see it clearly. You keep going when it gets uncomfortable. At first, it takes effort. Then it becomes more natural. Less reacti Origins and LineageCold water from 3500 BCE. Hippocrates. Priessnitz and Kneipp. Pranayama and Tummo. Holotropic and box breathing. Benson and the monks. The Netherlands in 1959. How the Method ComparesEvery element of the method has an ancestor. What makes it unique is the combination, the secular framing, the scientific validation, and the systematic democra Benefits and ApplicationsEnergy, sleep, stress, immunity, performance and mood — what practitioners report, and what the studies support, kept carefully apart.ConditionsWhat people with arthritis, asthma, MS, burnout, Lyme and more have reported — each beside what the studies actually show, and a reminder to speak with your phy

The three pillars

Three practices. One method.

The Breath

Thirty to forty deep breaths, a hold on empty lungs, a recovery breath. Three or four rounds. Ten to fifteen minutes that change your blood chemistry and, with it, your day.

The official technique

The Cold

Begin at the end of a warm shower. Progress by degrees to minutes of full cold, then to ice. Within weeks you feel more energetic, less stressed and better rested.

The cold protocol

The Mind

Breathing and cold are where you see it clearly: you keep going when it gets uncomfortable. Less reaction. More space. Over time that changes how you move through everything.

The third pillar

A session

How a session actually goes.

You sit or lie down somewhere neutral, on an empty stomach, ideally just after waking. You breathe in fully, through nose or mouth, and let the exhale fall out unforced — thirty to forty times, one breath every second or two.

After the last inhale you let all the air go and simply stop. Your fingers tingle; a warmth arrives; your mind goes quiet in a way that surprises you. When the urge to breathe returns you take one deep breath and hold it for fifteen seconds. That is one round.

With every round you feel more relaxed. Doing more rounds also has a longer-lasting effect throughout the day.

Thirty to forty

power breaths per round

As long as is comfortable

on empty lungs

Fifteen seconds

recovery hold

The path

The progression, from tap to expedition.

Week one

The end of a warm shower

Fifteen to thirty seconds of cold on hands and feet, then the torso. Breathe slowly.

Weeks two to four

Minutes of full cold

Over days and weeks, one to two minutes fully cold, calm throughout.

Later

The ice bath

Only after shower habituation. Never combined with the breathing.

A season

Lakes, rivers, winter

The Art of Cold Dipping; the first frozen lake.

When you are ready

Expeditions and experiences

Śnieżka in shorts; the Barents Sea at dawn; the icebreaker channel.

How it compares

What it is not.

Not Tummo

Same inner fire, different mechanics and no monastery.

Read on

Not box breathing

Box breathing calms; this activates, then calms.

Read on

Not cryotherapy

Water at four to fifteen degrees, not air at minus one hundred and ten.

Read on

Not holotropic breathwork

Fifteen minutes at home, not three hours with facilitators.

Read on

Never in or near waterWim Hof Method breathing, when done intensely for multiple rounds, can in rare cases lead to loss of consciousness. Always practice seated or lying down, in a neutral space such as a living room — never in water, in the shower, while driving, or operating machinery. Read the safety doctrine.

Feeling is understanding.

Wim Hof

Start with the Free Mini Class.

Three free video lessons. The first starts right away with a breathing exercise. You do it, you feel it, immediately.

Begin