FOREWORD: An Unlikely Meeting

Elissa Epel, PHD: Was looking for ways to increase hormetic stress at a convention.

The Wim Hof Method has been shown, in small pilot studies, to improve the immune system against an endotoxin, inflammatory arthritis of the spine, suggesting it can reduce chronic inflammation and symptoms. It is also being practiced in groups from spinal injury patients to the elderly.

PREFACE: It’s All There for You

Based on cold exposure, conscious breathing, and the power of the mind. People who have embraced the method have reversed diabetes, relieved symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and Multiple Sclerosis. As well as addressing other autoimmune illnesses, from lupus to Lyme disease.

Chapter 3: A Cold Shower a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

1. WHM Protocol: Cold Exposure for Beginners

Initially, cold exposure will engage a cold shock response, or a gasp reflex. This may lead to hyperventilation, which subsides over time once you adjust to the new environment. When you take a cold shower, the muscles in your vascular system are activated and exercised. After 10 days, your heart rate should decrease.

• Week 1: 30sec of cold water at the end of a warm shower
• Week 2: 1 minute at the end
• Week 3: 1 minute and a half
• Week 4: 2 minutes

Some benefits begin at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. So most tap water is cold enough. Vascular tone improves, illness decreases, stress decreases, and you’re energized.

2. The Wim Hof Way to Get Warm

The following exercise is said to activate brown adipose tissue, which is capable of energy combustion, alongside the activation of your intercostal muscles creating heat:

• Sit down.
• Inhale slowly and deeply 5-6 times, letting your breath go naturally each time.
• Inhale fully.
• Relax to exhale.
• Inhale fully.
• Hold you breath, for no more than 5s.
• Tense your upper back muscles and chest while you you hold your breath – but don’t tense the head. Keep the jaw relaxed.
• Let go.

Wim Hof was able to increase his core temperature by a degree and keep it consistent in an experiment (Wayne State Study) using a cooling vest. Rather than go through the exercises, he just focused on the experience and gained the same effects. Adjusting to the expected temperature, like preparing for a regularly timed meal or drug.

3. Wim Hof Method Experiment #1: Ice-Water Bath for Warmer Hands and Feet

The exercise:

• Fill a bucket with 1/3 ice and 2/3 water.
• Redirect your mental focus to your hands (or feet).
• Place them into the bucket.
• Hold them there for 2min. At some point, they should start to feel warm.
• Remove them, but keep mental focus on them.
• Shake them out a few times to encourage blood flow back into them.

At first, blood vessels constrict. This is a natural protective mechanism. Once the blood reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they open to allow blood flow back in. This helps to reset your tolerance and physiology. After a few days of practice, they shouldn’t feel as cold as they used to.

Chapter 4: Breathe Motherf*cker

A group of people that Wim trained were monitored whilst undergoing breath holding. Their blood oxygen went below saturation levels of 50%, where people usually die. However, they were fine. Their biochemistry changed and with the spiking of alkalinity the brain’s adrenal axis changed. Resetting it past its old comfort zone, and enabling it to withstand and overcome stress. Crohn’s disease, cancer, depression, arthritis, asthma, and bipolar disorder are caused by a deregulation of our immune and endocrine systems via uncontrolled inflammation. Using breathing exercises we can suppress the inflammatory markers in the blood. We can tap into the Autonomic nervous system, suppress inflammation, clear the lymphatic system, regulate temperature, mood and emotions.

When the diaphragm moves, it massages the intestines. Something that isn’t normal when we breathe short chest breaths. When doing the breathing protocol, it is best to do it before breakfast. When your stomach is full, all the metabolic activity and oxygen is directed to the stomach and blocks the way. Digestion is a peripheral nervous system activity and this breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system.

Inhale fully 30-40 times and let go naturally for the exhale. You should feel a tingling sensation. The final exhale, hold your breath. You should be heavily oxygenized and CO2 depleted. Alkalized. Time it if you would like to test the breath holding period. Be calm, relaxed, and present. The acidic state is what triggers the desire to breathe (CO2 and H+ ions). When you feel the urge to do so, breathe in fully and hold the breath for 10-15s. Then release gently and repeat the whole process 2-3 more times. Doing this as a group creates a vulnerable bonding experience. We can all let go and just be. Some people may laugh, cry, or experience intense emotions seemingly unconnected to the current setting. The next few rounds, you should be able to hold your breath longer, due to the even higher alkaline state. However, the total breath hold is not important. If you are dealing with a lot of inflammation, you may need to breathe sooner. Every round activates the adrenal axis. Explained further in the following steps. 

1. WHM Protocol: Basic Breathing Exercise

The Instructions:

• STEP 1: Sit in a meditation posture, lying down, or whichever way is most comfortable for you, in a quiet and safe environment. Make sure you can expand your lungs freely without feeling any constriction.
• STEP 2: Close your eyes and try to clear your mind. Be conscious about your breath and try to fully connect with it. Take thirty to forty deep breaths in through the nose or mouth. Fill up your belly and your chest, all the way up to your head. Don’t force the exhale. Just relax and let the air out. Fully in, letting go.
• STEP 3: At the end of the last breath, draw the breath in once more and fill the lungs to maximum capacity, without using any force. Then relax to let the air out. Hold the breath until you feel the urge to breathe again. This is called the retention phase.
• STEP 4: When you feel the urge to breathe, take one deep breath in and hold it for ten to fifteen seconds. This is called the recovery breath.
• STEP 5: Let your breath go and start with a new round. Fully in, letting go. Repeat the full cycle three to four times.

2. In Case of Altitude Headaches

Wim’s group climbed the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, wearing very few clothes, in 44 hours. Next time was 36 hours. No sickness or altitude sickness either. The next time was 28 hours. If suffering from altitude sickness or experiencing a headache (the first sign):

• Slow down your pace.
• Breathe in fully and relax to exhale 10 times.
• Stand still or sit. Make sure you are in a secure position.
• Breathe in fully, hold your breath for 5s, and try squeezing or redirecting the breath to the head.
• Let go.
• Repeat the steps until you sense that the headache has disappeared.

3. Breathing Exercise While Walking at High Altitude

• Consciously breathe more than you feel you need to.
• Focus on your breath. Feel yourself breathing as you move.
• Synchronize your breath and your pace so you can get into a cadence. Find your own rhythm without forcing it.

4. Resting Breathing Exercise to Adjust to an Altitude Greater Than Thirteen Thousand Feet

You can forestall the dangerous symptoms of low O2. It is best to have a saturation meter to measure blood oxygen levels when doing it.

• Wake up 4-4.5 hours after you went to sleep.
• Do the basic breathing exercise until your saturation meter reads a minimum of 95-100% saturation.
• Practice the breathing exercises for at least half an hour.
• Go back to sleep.

5. Wim Hof Method Experiment #2: Extending Your Retention Time

To change your biochemistry:

• Breathe normally, exhale fully, hold the breath.
• Do the same thing after 30 deep breaths, relax the air our and hold.

The time of the exhaled breath hold increases dramatically. The CO2 and O2 ratio changes after deep breathing. The breathing reflex is triggered by high CO2 in the blood. So, once you exhale out a lot of CO2 you can hold it longer. CO2 is an acid and breathing increases blood pH.

When you jump in cold water you gasp. When you breathe air deeper into the lungs and tissues your biochemistry changes. Oxygen and nutrients are better able to be absorbed, energy production increases, intercostals get exercised, heat is produced by them, and your pain tolerance increases.

When you first jump into water it may feel painful. After a minute or so, your natural opioids and cannabinoids kick in, leaving a feeling of euphoria. The skin will be all red and invigorated. Clothes desensitize our skin.

20-30min of the breathing exercise will relieve hangover symptoms. Breathing alkalizes the blood, which eliminates the acidity caused by toxic substances like alcohol.

Chapter 5: The Power of the Mind

1. WHM Protocol: Basic Mindset Exercise

• Find a quiet place, remove all distractions, breathe in deeply, let go, follow the breath, and a sense of calm will wash over. Begin to scan the body and visualize what you are going to do (some challenge you are focused on). Set your intention, tell your body what you expect it to do, scan how you feel, assess any misalignments with attention and feeling, remain calm, wait for the moment is which trust and centered energy is established.

Dr Kamler wrote, “Standard medical dogma states that once your core temperature falls below 90 degrees, you stop shivering – a process that generates heat. From that point on, if a source of external heat is not provided, your body temperature will continue to spiral downward, and you will eventually die of hypothermia. Wim has proven this wrong. His body temperature dropped to 88 degrees and then came back up to 94 without any external heat source.”

He was able to increase his metabolic rate by 300% in a different submersion, producing more internal body heat. They even injected him with an endotoxin and he had no reaction. He did his basic breathing exercises and his blood oxygen levels fell to 30% in a controlled hypoxic state. Apparently there is a positive effect on the cell metabolism in a low O2 level environment. They measured IL-6 and IL-8 (pro-inflammatory proteins), and IL-10 (anti-inflammatory). Also, tumor necrosis factor (cell signaling proteins that kill cancer cells). His blood results showed he was suppressing IL-6 and IL-8. A lot of expensive autoimmunity drugs inhibit these. He then spent 4 days training 12 male subjects and they managed to avoid reacting to the endotoxin as well. They suppressed IL-6 and IL-8, as well as increasing IL-10 and TNF. Previously, Wim was 1/16,135 people who hadn’t reacted to the endotoxin. 

2. WHM Meditation

• Sit down in a safe, comfortable place and clear your mind.
• Start connecting with your breath. Let yourself breathe naturally.
• Start counting your breaths. Each inhale and exhale is one count.
• Count up to seven and back.

3. WHM At-a-Glance: Three Pillars of a Daily Practice

See Basic Breathing Exercise in Ch4. Influences health by increasing vitality and focus, lowering stress, reduced inflammatory factors, and optimized immune system.

Mind: Post breathing practice state is a great time to program your mindset (Ch12. for details):

• Before getting up from breathing, bring up a thought or goal, like staying in the cold shower longer, feeling happier, healthier, stronger, etc.
• Reflect on the thought and how it makes your body feel.
• If you identify any inner resistance to your intention, just keep breathing steadily until you feel alignment between the body and mind.

Cold exposure for metabolic efficiency, regulating your hormones, reducing inflammation, endorphins, and endocannabinoids:

• Turn a warm shower cold
• Can start exposure with feet and legs, then arms, then full torso.
• Do not do your breathing practice here.
• Gradually extend the exposure every day until you can handle 2min.
• If you are shivering when you get out, try the horse stance exercise to warm up (pg118.)

Chapter 6: Olaya

While squatting with a bunch a free sprits, Wim felt like the person he wanted to be. He could experiment with different experiences, played guitar, did yoga, messed with cold, connected to nature, etc. It meant he could let go of stress, judgement, preconceived notions, and himself for who he truly was. Our lives are governed by rules, morality, and a sense of ethics driven by conformity, and informed by the commotion of politics and the unceasing cycle of current events. Creating a narrow minded perception of the world, the opposite of freedom. When you are truly free, there is no need for depression or disillusionment.

Seekers who are free within become finders.

Chapter 7: WHM for Health

Helped people with Crohn’s, MS, breast cancer, IBD, etc. Decreases IL-6 and IL-8 so any autoimmunity diseases should be helped.

Chapter 8: WHM for Performance

1. WHM Protocol: Power Breathing for Endurance

Increase oxygen = increased ATP = increased energy.

Also increases recovery time from injury and illness.

Wilfried Ehymann – “With more breathing, there is simply more ATP, while the production of lactic acids is reduced, which keeps the body in an alkaline state. At the same time, with deeper breathing, more CO2 is exhaled, the blood pH level becomes more alkaline, and thus more aerobic dissimilation can happen.”

The power breathing is an adaptation of the basic breathing. Delaying the deprivation of oxygen in the muscle tissue, thereby postponing the point of lactic acidification. It also causes a release of adrenaline and glucose that your body can absorb immediately:

• Breathe in deeply and relax to let your breath go sixty times.
• On the last breath, inhale fully and then hold the breath for at least 15s, squeeze your entire body toward the head by tensing your pelvic floor and allowing that pressurized feeling to move up your spine to the top of your head.
• Relax to let your breath go and start a new round.
• Start each new round with your regular WHM breathing rhythm, and then increase the speed and intensity of your breathing as the round proceeds.
• Wait a couple minutes to ground yourself again and then begin your endurance exercise.
• Breathe more than you feel is necessary and stay aware of your breath during the endurance exercise.

Conscious breathing even influences mitochondria in the lymphatic system, making toxin and waste release more efficient.

Athletes who use the WHM report better sleep, reduced inflammation, and faster recovery times.

Another study recently showed that breathing activates the cori cycle, recycling lactic acid via pyruvate, into new glucose.

2. Wim Hof Method Experiment #3: Does WHM Improve Your Athletic Performance?

While performing push ups during the breath hold you can usually perform more than normal and without as much lactic acid fatigue.

Sexual performance can be increased by performing the breathing exercise during, enabling greater perineal contractions and endurance. Much more control over the sensation. Not to mention the effect that ice baths have on testosterone and sex drive.

3. Wim Hof Method Experiment #4: How Long Can You Hold a Horse Stance?

To prove a point about being able to control his own body without being a puritan, Wim did a horse stance for 3 hours in the snow, after consuming a beer.

Performance requires the right amount of energy for the job: Sleep, less stress, food that is right for you, and breathing.

Chapter 9: The Truth Is on Our Side

1. Breathing for Pain Regulation

Wim showed that he had a similar level of brown adipose tissue, at 52, as the average young adult. Also, that he metabolized 4 and a half times more energy from it than younger subjects. Brown fat is capable of thermoregulation and thermogenesis, but it decreases with age, due to wearing clothes all the time.

Breathing for pain regulation:

• Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Once you are relaxed, direct your attention to the spot where you feel the pain. Take 5 calm, deep breaths.
• Now take 20 more breaths. Fully in, and letting go. Do not force your breath.
• Exhale the last breath fully out, then inhale fully in once more, and hold it for 10s.
• While holding your breath, focus your attention on the point of pain, and press your held breath toward it. Tense the muscles around the pain area as well.
• Release your breath and all tension.

Think of the painful sensation as a signal. Motivate yourself to listen to this signal and become attuned to it. This signal is telling you that the chemistry in the area needs to change, or is changing. A positive train of thought influences the perception of the pain. The purpose is not to suppress the pain signal, but to change the internal chemistry that caused it in the first place.

“But are we into healing, or are we into medicine?” This answer will determine whether self interest drives the health industry or if it is the betterment of us all. If the answer is self-interest, we have no need to ask for support from those with different motivations.

Chapter 10: A Day in the Life of the Iceman

1. WHM Protocol: Ice Baths and Cold Plunges

Ice baths:

• Find somebody to share the experience with.
• Prepare yourself by doing 2-3 rounds of the breathing exercise while visualizing the cold water and how it will make you feel.
• Confidently enter the water while taking deep, calm breaths. Focus on your breath. Embrace the cold; let it take you to the depths of yourself. Do not perform the WHM here. Do long, conscious exhalations to bring your breath into a controlled, steady rhythm. Take breaths through your nose and try to relax. Let out a long “hummmm” on the exhale.
• Keep your focus on your breath and your being as you exit the water. Warm up with a horse stance while maintaining inner attention.

Chapter 11: Freeing Our Ancestral Burden

1. Breathing for Mood Regulation

We can influence our DNA via hormetic stress, which can be passed on to our offspring. When we alter our DNA for the better, the genes we pass along become an ancestral gift, rather than a burden. Instead of the Western mindset of duality, or the Spiritual one based on freedom from responsibility, we should take responsibility for our ability to affect ourselves, our communities, and the generations to come. Release the science and spiritual dogma (which both have monotheistic religion foundations) and learn to be open but skeptical. Identify the presence of incentive within a system and passively reject those that go against the betterment of us all. Fighting gives energy to the very system you are trying to defeat.

Inflammation influences the transcription factors, which directly relate to the expression of genes within our DNA. By suppressing inflammation, we can activate the chaperone proteins that protect the cell, ensuring that undesired gene expressions do not occur. Affecting telomerase and telomere length (see The Telomere Effect).

Shocking our system with cold water activates the survival instinct (fight, flight, freeze), as it seeks to protect itself from the harsh environmental stimulus. Once the mind and body acclimatize, they neutralize the magnitude of the cold’s impact. Changing vascular tone, allowing more blood flow into the periaqueductal gray hemisphere, converting the pain associated with the initial shock into a pleasurable sensation.

This exercise uses and trains neurostimulative brain control, to help alleviate moodiness or depression. Supplying O2 to the brain to improve wellbeing:

• Sit or lie in a safe, comfortable place.
• Feel and try to relax every part of your body. Observe and be aware of what you’re feeling, seeing, and hearing, without judgement. Just be present.
• Take 20 deep breaths. Fully in and letting go.
• On the last breath, breathe in deeply, hold it, press your chin toward your chest, tense your pelvic floor, and direct that tension up your core towards your head.
• If you’re experiencing any physical discomfort, focus your attention there and observe. Tense the muscles in that area. Hold the breath for a maximum of 10s.
• Release the breath and all tension.
• Repeat two or three times until you feel better.

Chapter 12: Beyond the Five Senses

1. Interoception with the Breath

• Sit or lie in a safe, comfortable space and close your eyes.
• Breathe normally, but focus on your breathing. Fully in and letting go.
• Now consciously take a deep breath in through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. Do not force it.
• Visualize your lungs, and consciously feel the oxygen entering your lungs. Interoception is now beginning.
• Take some more deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Nice and easy.
• After a few more breaths, visualize the exchange of gases in your body. Visualize the oxygen going from the lungs, through the capillaries and into the blood, and visualize the excretion of carbon dioxide upon exhalation.
• If you notice your mind has started to wander, simply reset your focus to your breath. Over time, you will learn to become more mindful and gain more control over your mind and be less consumed by your thoughts.
• Practice this exercise for several minutes.

With the power of interoception, you can influence your stress levels and immune system, making it easier to respond to threats and adjust our biochemistry. Defending ourselves from bacteria, viruses, distress, oxidative stress, and emotions.

2. Interoception of the Heartbeat

• Sit or lie in a safe, comfortable space.
• Relax.
• Feel and visualize your heartbeat.
• Connect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it so that you can feel it everywhere.
• Now visualize your circulatory system. Visualize that with every inhalation, oxygen-rich blood is flowing from your lungs to your heart, to every part of your body, through a network of blood vessels that could wrap around the earth two and a half times. Imagine how your blood provides oxygen and nutrients to organs and muscles, and transports waste products (like CO2) to your liver, kidneys, and lungs.
• Reconnect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it again.

Make a journey through your body and try to feel the heartbeat in different parts of it. If you focus on your hand, feel the heartbeat there, and if you focus on your feet, feel the blood flow from your ankles to your toes.

Chapter 13: Into the Light Within

1. Wim Hof Method Experiment #5: Breathing for Stress Control

• Set a timer for 1 minute.
• Settle yourself somewhere comfortable.
• Breathe in deeply.
• Breathe out with a sound like “Hum,” “Ah,” or “Om.” Make whatever sound makes you happy.
• When you run out of air, breathe in deeply and let it out with another “Hum.”
• Continue until the timer stops.

The parts of the brain that control breathing and temperature regulation have probably atrophied, along with whatever is nearby and associated with them. By training these responses to hormetic stress we are actively promoting neurogenesis of these fight or flight regions. Making our stress levels more resilient to actual threat. Without the presence of physical threat, we dwell on the mental and emotional. With the current physiological state of our comfortable citizens, pathogens and food intolerances are probably an effect of untrained immune systems and environmental threat management.

2. Unite with the Light: The “Stroboscope” Exercise

• Sit in a relaxed, comfortable position.
• Close your eyes, follow your breath, witness yourself calming down.
• Just look at what you see with your eyes closed. Don’t try to see anything in particular. Be patient. In this way, your energy is able to disconnect from the external perception of the visual cortex and go into the deeper realms of the brain.
• Keep following your breath and turn your inner focus to the center of your forehead, the “third eye.” You may see a luminous halo that pulses with your breath- in, out, in, out, like the flashing light from a stroboscope. You might feel you want to look more directly at it, but then you will take away from the intensity. Once you are more experienced with this, you can add it to the Basic Breathing Exercise and focus on the forehead.

FAQ

They advise against practicing if you suffer from:

• Epilepsy.
• High blood pressure (particularly if you are taking BP meds).
• Coronary heart disease (e.g., Angina pectoris; stable angina).
• A history of serious health issues like heart failure or stroke.
• If you suffer from migraines, they urge caution with ice baths.