I’ve been doing the Wim Hof breathing for about two weeks now, and the first 10 days or so I wasn’t really feeling anything from it. I would watch you tubers do it, would go along with guided breathing videos and all that stuff and I barely felt anything. I’d read people’s comments saying they were tingling and even passing out or feeling “high” and I was thinking they are crazy because I barely felt anything at all.

  Then one day I just thought to myself I’d try something new. I listened to Wim Hofs basic description of what the purpose of the breathing was (take in more oxygen to energize the cells) so I tried breathing in a different way that worked for me; faster than the pace in the guided videos, and at a different cadence.💥💥💥 💥 BOOM. FINALLY! It felt like my whole body had tingling energy coursing through it. THIS is what people were talking about.

TL DR: experiment to find what works for you. Everyone’s body is different, so make he technique your own !

I’ve heard his name but finally watched some of his YouTube videos. And the Joe Rogan interview was great. I just finished a few minutes ago. I felt the tingle. Man I felt high. And not in dozy drug way. I’m not ashamed to admit I sobbed for 5 seconds after. Not a cry, just my body and my mind releasing something. Just... the unhappiness I’ve had and.. not that happiness is a permanent state I should say contentment but... all the struggle.. and I was just breathing wrong.

Wow. I cannot wait to not just.. this isn’t something to do once a day, it’s a state to remain in.

I came across the 'Wim Hof Method' a few years ago. The name sounded really cool, and the guy seems pretty cool too (no pun intended), but I lost interest after not being able to find a concise summary of the actual 'method'.

In the years since he's appeared on all sorts of news networks, youtube channels, documentaries, magazines, radio shows etc, but I still don't get what the actual method is, and to what end the Method is working towards.

There also seems to be a lot of exaggeration around the benefits. Rather than focusing on a single, well-established benefit, it seems to be marketed as 'all things to all men', with lots of anecdotal evidence in comment sections, but few reliable scientific studies. In fact, I've never actually seen anything but gushing positivity from followers of the Method. It seems kinda cult-like and too good to be true.

I may be misunderstanding 'the Method', but is this it - cold therapy (e.g. a cold bath/shower) and breathing?

I'm a bit confused - the Method being named after a guy in the 21st century makes it sound like he discovered something. Washing in cold water has pretty much been the norm for most people throughout history, and deepening your breathing is a natural reaction to cope with this. Am I missing something?

Also, why did he name the method after himself? Even if he advocated a specific breathing pattern (based on my research he is far from specific/coherent), surely he acknowledges that other people already do this, so you can't really name it after yourself. Even the most egotistical of self-help gurus rarely name their 'methods' after themselves.

I don't blame the guy for capitalising on all this. I would do the same in his shoes, if he wore them.

This article contains the following more relevant quote for WHM:

The researchers observed that glucagon exposure stimulated proteasome activity and enhanced the cells’ capacity to destroy misfolded proteins. Exposure to the fight-or-flight hormone epinephrine produced a similar effect. Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, is responsible for stimulating the liver and muscle to mobilize energy reserves to boost heart rate and muscle strength during periods of physiologic stress. Liver cells treated with epinephrine showed marked increases in cAMP, as well as enhanced 26S proteasome activity and protein degradation. Epinephrine exposure also boosted proteasome activity — a marker of protein degradation — in the hearts of living rats.

This line of research could bear out why WHM seems to be effective for improving health markers. Epinephrine being increased during WHM breathing and cold exposure is likely to have the same effect as above, increasing cAMP and 26S proteasome activity and thus allowing the body to clear damaged proteins.

Disclaimer I have not been doing the breathing methods exactly as prescribed.

So I quit drinking, quit smoking, started cold showers, and although I haven't adopted the full breathing routine, through the day I focus in taking deep breaths. Sometimes I do do two rounds of the breathing in my car before I go into work though.

I work outside all day in a very active job and I have just noticed that when I look at the trees or sky or just be mindful of my surroundings, things have starting taking on a dream like quality, or they seem sort of surreal. Not all the time, but just when I look around and take several deep breaths.

So not sure if its from quitting smoking, drinking, the breathing or the cold showers but it's awesome.

Anyone own the full thing that can lmk if I should take the plunge (it’s a lot of money.) Or if there are things that I could be doing wrong (possibly detrimentally) which can be learnt from the rest of the information (not trying to free load just looking for health advice as concerned)

I've done it both. I find more relaxation lying down, but better for posture sitting up.

Does anyone have good suggestions for DIY ice baths at home? I see different options on the web... livestock water tanks, garbage cans, small above ground pools, etc. Curious what others have done and if it's worth the money (however much it may have cost). Looking to set myself up without spending a fortune. Thanks!

Can I do this method while working out?

Is there any direct benefit to the thyroid from this breathing technique? Just curious Bc it seems to help with a lot. I have been doing it for almost a month and love it. I am hypothyroid and curious if it is combatting it in any way. (I am on proper medication as well don’t worry haha)

Hello, I just found out about this thing and it looks interesting. Could anyone tell me more about it and how to do it? Thank you.

I have been doing affirmations while doing the breathing exercises such as "I will do this X,Y,Z" which are things that I want to do have will power with. Is this ok? Since I started doing this I noticed it did help me a bit to give me the will power to do the things I want to do, BUT it gave me a lot of mood swings since I started doing the affirmations...

Should I NOT have an affirmation? For example - since I have a problem with over eating crappy food, I would say to myself "I love discipline eating, eating responsibly and healthy foods it brings me massive pleasure" (inside my head, while breathing) It is actually helping my eating patterns though

Is this ok?

I'm curious about your guys experience with including the wim Hof breathing in an exercise routine. I'm currently doing a bodyweight routine with 3 sets of each exercise and 90 seconds break between sets and I'm experimenting with doing the breathing during the breaks. As wim says, you can do more push ups while you hold your breath after the breathing, so I'm thinking I could increase my max rep on any given exercise by doing the breathing in between sets. Is there anything I'm missing or should know? My main goal is to gain strength, not mass.

Would be great to hear from you all about your experiences.

I'm personally only four days in to the breathing and cold exposure, and I'm LOVING IT! I came to this subreddit mainly to see if it exists, and lo and behold-- it does! Now apparently we need more people here to contribute! So go forth and bring them here! ;p

Has anyone figured out how to achieve sertain states on the body / trigger emotions by doing the WHM? I know it is possible to guide the „energy“ to certain body parts or glands, when holding the breath. Also to fokus on spots of sickness or blockade …?

A friend of mine introduced me to the Wim Hoff Method about a week ago.

Most of what I have seen so far are motivational-like videos with only tiny bits of information.

I saw on his web site he has a book. Is it instructional? Does it have hard information? Is it worth the expense and time more than the free info on his site or some as of yet undiscovered video of substance ( versus shots of people in their underwear prancing in the woods during winter )?

Thanks.

I’ve done cold showers and shirtless jogging through snowy areas, but tomorrow I got a little ceremony planned for myself. Is gonna be about 30° and I’m gonna walk into a body of water, dunk and get the fuck out.

I got clothes towels and a warm shower lined up for when I’m out immediately after.

Any suggestions? I’m a little nervous and I wanna do it safely.