THE ONE MINUTE, ICY COLD PATH OF AWAKENING

(IF YOU STAY WARM AND DRY, IT WILL TAKE 10 MINUTES)

- STEPHEN KIESLING

Wim Hof is known for swimming long distances under ice, bathing for hours in ice, running marathons barefoot on ice, and getting scientists and doctors to wake up to the most remarkable fact of all: Wim Hof is no different from you and me. You, too, could do these things. Stranger still, you might want to. And his simple 10-minute breathing exercise may be the most powerful health practice ever.

Your now-famous breathing practice has a long history, going back to your teens.

Yes. By the time I was 17, I was a vegetarian and had read a lot of esoteric books and tried a lot of disciplines like karate and kung fu and yoga—all kinds of things—but none that let me into the depth of what I wanted to experience. So, in due time, I became a seeker, a seeker of something—I did not know what. But when you find it through your gut, you click on.

What was your awakening like?

Like a blessing, a confirmation—like when the blacksmith makes two things come together in the heat of the moment. And that, for me, was going into the cold water. It’s merciless. But righteous. It brings you into a direct experience beyond any words, connected to a deeper physiology that’s not mandated or controlled by thinking. And it is not learned or acquired by thinking. It is acquired by doing. When you go into the cold water, you don’t think. That is presence. And that presence is what I was looking for. That is passion for life.

You write about being in Beatrixpark in Amsterdam, at a place in the river between two willows. You waded in …