12 years of Wim Hof

If you’re interested in cold exposure and breathwork, especially in the Wim Hof style, I recommend Scott Carney’s reflections of 12 years of doing the method. In short:

• There are huge diminishing returns, so the big fireworks from the first few months of training will taper offer. This matches my experience.
• Wim Hof has nothing to do with the organization bearing his name; his son pushed him out and is making money off his father’s name.
• There are a lot of other methods and approaches, it makes sense to find the one that works best for you.

The video resonated with me. Over the years I’ve grown to like the powerful huffing and puffing of the Wim Hof method less. Instead I prefer a minute or two of regular deep breathing and then a retention of up to two minutes.

Likewise, working on full body awareness, calmness and controlling my otherwise normal breath is how I step into a cold shower these days. And the water’s plenty cold in Amsterdam this time of year.

And to this day, even though I’ve been doing this on and off for years, a cold shower is the best way to calm down, energize (these two aren’t mutually exclusive!) and boost my mood for the rest of the day.

This stuff is really something else and so simple. For further reading, check out Scot Carney’s What Doesn’t Kill Us and James Nestor’s Breath. Neither book is new age nor filled with pseudoscience.