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Wim Hof: How To Use Cold Showers To Take Control Of Your Mind And Body

How long could you last in a freezing-cold shower? And for how long could you comfortably, peacefully hold your breath? My guest today insists you can learn to do both for far longer than you think.

Wim HofguestDr. Rangan Chatterjeehost

Oct 13, 20201h 19mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

60 min read · 11,626 words

0:00 – 3:46
Wim's Mission and Starting Late
1. WHWim Hof
  We are able to shoot people to the moon, but we are not able to regulate our own moods. We are have not been learned or schooled in our schools. Rocket science, yes, history and mathematics, but to be happy? We don't know. We don't know. Today we are poor. We are poor within ourselves 'cause we don't know the core values of our life itself. There we are. Yes, it's on.
2. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Okay.
3. WHWim Hof
  Wim's Memo is on with Chatterjee. Yeah, right on.
4. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Right on. Well, look, welcome to the podcast.
5. WHWim Hof
  Thank you. Thank you for having me, man.
6. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Hey, not at all. And just to give everyone a bit of background, uh, we were meant to have started this chat 45 minutes ago, and there's been a lot of back and forth. [laughs] We were on different online, uh, platforms. So we got the first thing wrong, but you seem totally relaxed. Is that right?
7. WHWim Hof
  Oh, yeah. [laughs] Yeah, I am relaxed, uh, fully, and I'm very clear my- in the purpose, uh, why I am here, uh, with you in the podcast, in life, in science, and in, uh, in, uh, in taking away the anxiety and confusion within the, uh, the human, uh, uh, human population, uh, the humanity. Uh, like every day, every day, we should wake up to being a missionary-
8. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
9. WHWim Hof
  ... 'cause it is so beautiful to be on this planet. And anything that holds us back, dealing us, you know, in, in 80% of our power or something, something strange within that makes us unable to really create, that we should, uh, like the question David Asprey asked me, "Wim, what is enlightenment? And please put it in one sentence." I never asked this question. "Put it in one sentence." I said, "Okay, here it comes in one sentence. Just be happy, strong, and healthy. The rest is bullshit." So let's get the bullshit out, everybody. Be happy, strong, and healthy, 'cause we got it evidence-based through science that we are capable of so much more than up till now has been, uh, re- reigned by the paradigm of the old. The old is gone. The new is to come. Here we are.
10. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Hey, that is a very powerful way to start this podcast. And Wim, look, this is what I love about you and your approach. There's such an energy. There's such passion. Um, and again, just to give perspective to people, you know, we were so late for this call. We jumped on, and within 10 seconds, you're singing, you're, you're, you're just happy, you're joyful. And my stress levels went right down. I thought, "Hey, you know what? It's not the end of the world, right? Nothing's happened."
11. WHWim Hof
  [laughs]
12. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  "We're just a bit late. Life goes on."
13. WHWim Hof
  It's just the beginning. [laughs]
14. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  It's just the beginning. A- and, a- and, and you have a real, a real passion for sort of simplifying this stuff for all of us. And I want to tell you, I have been in the same room as you before. You won't know this because, you know, you were on stage, and I was in the audience. But in 2017, I was at the Summit event series in LA, and you were in the auditorium. And, you know, I looked at my times, so I thought, "I'm definitely going to see Wim Hof." You know, I'd read all about you. I'd tried some of your techniques.
15. WHWim Hof
  Huh.
3:46 – 11:46
Holding Your Breath for Three Minutes and the Mind's Potential
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And I was sitting there with about 300 people, and I remember clearly at the start you said, "Within half an hour," or something like that, "Within half an hour-
2. WHWim Hof
  Yeah
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... all of you are gonna be holding your breath for three minutes." And I thought, "What? Everyone in this room, and even me?" 'Cause I, I've always had difficulty. At that point, I'd had difficulty holding my breath. I thought, "Okay, let's see." And 25 minutes later, along with the whole group, I held my breath. Not only did I hold it for three minutes, it felt fairly effortless. And I thought, "This is incredible." So Wim, how can you, how can you be so sure when you go to a, uh, another city, you go all around the world talking, spreading the love, spreading your knowledge. How can you be so sure that everyone in the audience is gonna be able to hold their breath for three minutes?
4. WHWim Hof
  Uh, we just make them. We just, uh, make them and share the power of the mind together with the life force, which is called the breath. And with the breath, we have shown recently in the brain scan to be able to willfully activate the neural activity, not 16 or 17%, but 100, 100 through specific breathing exercises. We have been in the old paradigm, which is actually a narrowed consciousness, a narrowed neurological network within us, and it e- enables us to have partially control over our, uh, own brain. And that's the thing. We don't own our own brain, our own, the seat of the mind. We don't own it. We are not born that way, not taught that way, not schooled that way. But I know we ha- uh, we are able to captivate, to learn to control 100% of our own potential, and that is only logical We are not born with a piece of meat called the brain to be 84% without our control within our head. That is not evolution. Evolution is that what you are is what you need, and then as, uh, being young to, uh, become adult, not only physically but spiritually, we grow into 100% usage of our unlimited power of our mind. And through the life force, thus in this exercise we did there within 25 minutes, bringing for sure the people over two minutes to three minutes without air in the lungs, is showing that we are able consciously to be in control over the biochemistry in the blood, in the neurology of ours, and opening up past conditioning of the narrowed, uh, mindedness, the narrow, uh, down consciousness, which is neurology, to go past and to have a tremendous tranquil feeling, sensation while holding a very st- in a very stressful situation of having no air in the lungs for three minutes. What is happening? We are just entering with that on the threshold of the power of the mind. And the mind, do not confuse the mind with just thoughts. It, uh, is a complete different dimension where we are able to get into and learn to control, to be conscious, and enter consciously, thus into paradise. This is the, in the... If we talk about yoga or the Bible or the Quran, they all talk about the paradise. Where the paradise, and, uh, in, in the Bhagavad Gita they call it, uh, they talk about it, uh, the Nirvana, and i- in the Bible they call it the Garden of Eden, the paradise, and the... It's all there, man. There is no fears, nothing there. And, uh, Muhammadas they call, and when you wake up after you have lived, no, while you are alive, you are able to enter with this powerful tool of ours, our mind, through the heart, which understands more than words, the, the greatness, the fullness of who we are and what we are. And we are now at a time of change. Cha- you see the governments, you see the, uh, uh, disease, and they are not able to control because Mother Nature is knocking at our door. Our divine Mother is knocking at our Heaven's door. Wake up, guys. Wake up to your true potential, 'cause you are beautiful, all. And until it's not showing completely been, uh, uh, taken on in the world, I keep on showing through science. And so I am doing right now the, with top researchers in the world on the DNA and show that we have the absolute influence neurologically at will to enter into our own ancestral encrypted codes of the DNA, our genetical past, to enlighten our past right here in the moment, here and now. That is our purpose. That's why we talk to each other. But before people begin to understand what is the soul all about, to be fully expressed, to be in the paradise y- already, fully there, being able to, uh, to, uh, uh, how do you say, share, to feel, uh, uh, the, the presence of it all, we will show the people how to battle disease much better than science has stated up till now, how to learn to regulate our mood much better than the psychiatry knows. And I've already shown this scientifically with groups of people. And so let's make it baby steps before we enter into the full potential of ours.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah. I mean, thank you, Wim, for that. Um, one thing that I really like about your approach is that I've heard you say that you're not special, and why I, why I, I really think this is important, people listening to this, people watching this may go, "Hey, man, you're different. You know, you have been up to the top of Kilimanjaro in your shorts. Uh, you have been in an ice bath for, you know, however many hours. Um, you know, you're in the Guinness Book of Records, right? What you do has no relevance to me." W- and, and, and what I think is powerful about your approach is you say, "Hey, look, you can all do this. I'm not special. What the tools that you're using are available to every single human being." I wonder if you could explain that for people.
11:46 – 16:55
"I'm Not Special": Mood, Depression and Inflammation
1. WHWim Hof
  Yes. So for example, depression is on the rise. Depression is on the rise in our new generations, uh, young people. What is this? This is absolutely lack of purpose. Purpose is life. Life is purpose. It's the, the, the full vibrancy of life. That's the purpose as it is. It goes past words. It is there. It's pure, it's beautiful, it's there. It's the soul, full bloom. No, people get depressed So we are able to shoot people to the moon, but we are not able to regulate our own mood. We are have not been learned or schooled in our schools. Rocket science, yes, history and mathematics, but to be happy, we don't know. We don't know. Today we are poor. We are poor within ourselves 'cause we don't know the core values of our life itself. And now when we come, and we are doing the studies right now on depression, bipolar, and we are showing that we found the keys, the keys to go within the brain consciously, to go consciously inside of the brain and to regulate what is out of order, to get into the emotion. Everybody wants to feel happy, only nobody knows how to do it. Get a hold over your own hormonal system, the endocrine system. We have shown this very strongly. Not little bit of significant change in a scientific competitive study. No, big, big-
2. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
3. WHWim Hof
  ... unknowing, unknowing. So for the guys, for the people listening, uh, uh, depression, your mood, learn to regulate your feeling. Is that possible? Yes, it has come. Natural knowledge through science, uh, shown irrefutably the evidence that we are able to willfully control our own mood. That is number one. So that one is there, guys. Just look it up. We got all the films, we got the data, we got the analysis, we got the publications. So it's there. It's, uh, for you to take up. Do you wanna be happy? Happy pappy. Take 'em on. Take 'em on. It's there. Hey, hey, yeah, party time. Party time. Let's celebrate the moment of enlightenment that the burden of life and, uh, feeling miserable and bad feelings and all that, uh, um, moods change, changes and all is the past paradigm. Pa- part of the past paradigm. This is a new time of enlightenment where you are able to enlighten your own burden, your own happiness in the biochemistry, in your neurology. It has been shown. That is number one. Number two, inflammation. Cause and effect of disease is inflammation. Infection, inflammation, it's all caused by, uh, uh, inflammation, inflammatory markers. And we have shown people being injected after a couple of days, and this was after 16,000 people taking the same experimental model with an injection of a E. coli bacteria, becoming sick for three to six hours. Now, suddenly I trained a group of people within a couple of days. They took the injection, and after 16,000 people who became sick, suddenly 12 people exposed in the, into the same experimental model were able to nullify the reaction caused by the E. coli bacteria on the immune system. They did not became sick. And then they found out that these guys, through blood samples, so there is no speculation about it, had a control over the autonomic nervous system, over the immune system, uh, far more than was stated in science. And I'm trying to tell that, uh, through science and through publications in the best of papers in the world, and try to get it to the people. And I think these podcasts like we do right now is the way to get there to the people-
4. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
5. WHWim Hof
  ... to the listeners.
6. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
7. WHWim Hof
  Disease and mood, feeling happy, it's your choice.
16:55 – 27:10
Wim's Own Endotoxin Experiment
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Wim, you've taken a group who've had this injection, but I think a few years ago I read about when you did it for the first time. I think from recollection, you were injected with lipopolysaccharide or LPS-
2. WHWim Hof
  Yes
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... which is this, this endotoxin.
4. WHWim Hof
  Yes.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And I know as a doctor they've, you know, I've seen the studies, I've seen the trials. If somebody gets injected with that, they typically will go into septic shock. They'll drop their blood pressure, they'll become very unwell. But you managed to not get sick by controlling your immune system. So I'd love to hear about that because you were injected with it. What happened? Did you feel something? Did you feel yourself starting to get sick? Did you breathe in preparation of that? Or once you felt it, were you able to then control that? I'd love to, I'd love to-
6. WHWim Hof
  Yes
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... understand that. It's so interesting to me that you had this endotoxin in your vein, but you didn't get sick.
8. WHWim Hof
  Yes, exactly. So when, uh, the professor injected me, he said-
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
10. WHWim Hof
  ... "Oh, but it takes an hour before it's really working." I said, "No, it is being injected now. Now I'm going to start. I'm just going to try... I, I do my best." That's what I said. I was, for sure, determined to succeed in my attempt to show that the immune system, the innate immune system and the specific immune system both can be activated at will, influenced at will So the innate, uh, immune system, for example, get it down, and the specific immune system, get it on. So specific solutions at the core, at the start of things happen. So what I did, I started my breathing exercises. When he injected me, I began to start. [inhales] [exhales] You see how simple it is? [inhales] Determined, my mind was not out there. My mind was in the breath, in the biochemistry. Neurology influences the biochemistry. That's, that's, uh, a l- its logic. So I was into the breathing, and then when normally the polysaccharide had to have its influence, you know, uh, like, uh, uncontrolled shivering, headaches, uh, fever, uh, all-over agony, backaches, muscle aches, uh, things, uh, e- even vomiting. Uh, uh, all that can happen, uh, for sure. That happens a lot. Uh, nothing happened. Nothing. Uh, they came to me. They said, "It's now at its peak." I said... But before they told me, I asked them, uh, "When is it co- going to happen?" And then he said, "N- yeah, actually, it is now at its peak." I said, "Yeah, I, I, I do not really feel something." So-
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So you... Can I, can I ask it? So, so basically, let's say a week before you were practicing your own breathing techniques at home, right? Was this just like you being in the hospital, and you're just practicing as per usual? Yes, you're getting injected-
12. WHWim Hof
  Yes
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... but you don't feel anything. You're, you, you could be-
14. WHWim Hof
  Exactly
15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... you could be in your own bedroom doing the same thing-
16. WHWim Hof
  Exactly
17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... right?
18. WHWim Hof
  So there, there I go and say everybody is able to do this, and yes, directly afterwards they said because they saw, uh, such a low, uh, cytokine release, the cytokine storm was less than a breeze. I, i, i, it, I felt good. I felt... And I, a- at a certain moment I let the breathing go, and a little bit came to me. A little bit, but, uh, but I, I did not d- I had won. I had done. I had shown what br-
19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
20. WHWim Hof
  ... uh, uh, breathing techniques are able to do together with your determination. Your, your being here in the now. Here and now you have neurology. When I say you're, you're... I don't know if you have two children, yes or no? But-
21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  I do, two children. Yeah.
22. WHWim Hof
  Yes. So, uh, uh, i- if I say, I, if I would say, "Your children is, are in danger," you know, uh, for real, so then you would be full of epinephrine, adrenaline, and run like an animal to, to where, uh, "Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?" And find out, and all that barely in control. Now, that is what happened at that moment. The epinephrine got so high it went higher in the blood, and they compared it to another study wherein people w- uh, jumped for the first time into a, uh, b- bungee jump. They took the blood of those people, and the level of adrenaline by, uh, uh, w- within the people lying there on the bed was higher than the people going for the first time into a bungee jump. You see?
23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
24. WHWim Hof
  That is what we do with these breathing techniques. We enter consciously into the depth of our brain, the brainstem. Into the brainstem, and, uh, thus the adrenal axis is being, uh, activated. It resets the body, and then suddenly the immune system is much more alert, and it is able to handle bacill- and virus and, and, and bacteria in any kind, because that's the nature of ours. Only we alienated from our own brain. We- they say we have 16% control within our own brain. It's like you have a house, and only 16% of your own house are able to be accessed by you. The rest is of the government or by the people in power. I don't know who, but it is 100%, my friend. Uh, ch- Rangan, my friend, Rangan, it is 100%. 100%, and that means we are able to tap into our emotional, uh, areas of the brain, into our, uh, opioids, into our cannabinoids, uh, endorphins, serotonins, adrenal axis. Anything that is within our brain is ours to be commanded by, by us. I, I think nature has it built in. A happy person doesn't make war. A happy person is not into thieving or taking what is not his. A happy person is, like, radiating positive energy all the time, and he is happy, and that's where he wants to stay. Only we did not know how to get there, and now we found these ways, and-
25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
26. WHWim Hof
  ... in brain scans showing that we are able to tap into those areas of the brain, the autonomous processes of the brain. We f- this is the way they published it. Uh, we found compelling evidence of the key components of the autonomous processes in the brain related to mood regulation. So we found the keys to, into those areas which were not controllable at will. Now they are, we found them. And now we are able to regulate our moon, uh, mood, and that is emotion. And that emotion is who we are and what we are, and the source and the power of, of, uh, uh, sanity is happiness. Happiness all the time. That's irradiance. That is flow. That is uninhibited flow. That is not narrowed consciousness, a, a, a narrowed perception, narrowed, uh, neurology. It's full bloom neurology. We are born to be wholly beings. Not half beings, wholly beings. That means 100% neurology, sane, in sanity, full flow, going within our beautiful mind, our command. That's, that's, that's what it is. And I've just given evidence through science. You can look it up. Only the old paradigm is about, yeah, shit happens, wars, uh, yeah, that is human-like. Uh, abuse, yeah, uh, uh, humans, you know? Uh, uh, insensitivity, exploiting the world, sodomizing the planet, polluting the planet. It's all there. We don't know. We don't know. It doesn't make sense. And this time we are to bring sense to the people, that they are in control over their own happiness, which is the hormonal system, their own health, which is their immune system, and their own, uh, uh, power, strength, energy, wh- which are the metabolic processes in, in the cell. And we are able to control all the three of them.
27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
28. WHWim Hof
  That's the message.
29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And, and what I, what I really love about breathwork per se is it's free, right? It's not something that people have to spend a lot of money on. It's something that the richest in society and the poorest in society have access to, and I think that's really, really exciting. Now, Wim, if we go to some specifics, there seems to be two broad arms to your method, breathing and cold, and I wonder if we can start with cold. I, this morning, because I was interviewing you today, I thought, hey, if I'm not gonna have a cold shower today, on the day that I'm interviewing Wim-
30. WHWim Hof
  [laughs]
27:10 – 33:15
Why Cold Showers Work for the Body
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  and you mentioned my kids before. Actually beforehand when I told them today I was interviewing you, my son was like, "Daddy, you, you're actually interviewing The Iceman today?" I said, "Yeah, I am darling, I am," and he was really excited. He said, "You know he's in the Guinness Book of Records?"
2. WHWim Hof
  You see, the new generation, I see a lot of the new generation already knowing me, and they love it. They love it. They need direction.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
4. WHWim Hof
  So, uh, uh, about the cold, uh, what I always say, a cold shower a day keeps the doctor away. Now I know why you were in there for 45 minutes. [laughs]
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  [laughs] Exactly. I was-
6. WHWim Hof
  [laughs]
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... I was, I was holding my breath.
8. WHWim Hof
  [laughs] Yeah.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  No, but-
10. WHWim Hof
  Holy moly. Oh, what's going to happen? [laughs]
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  But cold, right?
12. WHWim Hof
  Yeah.
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So people... So look, I think-
14. WHWim Hof
  Yeah
15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... there's gonna be people listening to this who have-
16. WHWim Hof
  Yes
17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... heard about, uh, the amazing things you've done. They'll be interested, and I wanna make sure we make it super practical so they think after this, "Actually, you know what? I could do something." So if we talk about the cold, right? You are a big fan of cold immersion, and you always recommend... Certainly I've, I've read an early copy of your book, which is really, really good. It's really interesting.
18. WHWim Hof
  Thank you.
19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Um, and you say that everyone sh- would benefit from taking a cold shower every day. Why is the cold so powerful?
20. WHWim Hof
  K- uh, the cold, uh, without a doubt, very directly, very effectively, very strongly, uh, is able to tackle out, uh, the biggest health problem in the world, which is the cardiovascular related diseases. And, uh, we have a, a, a, a, uh, this, the, the organ, uh, which is called, uh, our skin, and we never expose it to natural elements. And it is built to be able to st- to be, uh, uh, uh, to be stimulated. The electroreceptors, thermoreceptors, they are all in the surface of our skin that, uh, directly goes, when we take a cold shower, like an electrical jolt through our spine to our, uh, the deepest part of our brain, the brain stem. It's being alive. Oh, yeah, the shocking experience that you are surviving. That is a great way to not only give a jolt to, say, electroshock, uh, to your brain. For d- people who are into depression, this is great. You just take the cold shower and you d- uh, uh, depression is going to be depressed. So that, that is one. The other thing is, uh, we got, all of us, we have 100,000 kilometers, like, uh, 70,000 miles of vascular little channels. Capillaries, arteries and veins. 100, more, like 100,000 kilometers. That is a lot. That is like two and a half times the world is in each and every one of us. They contain millions of little muscles, and they help the blood flow going through. But not if it is in a condition after we have lived, l- been living with clothes all the time, which is a destimulative behavior, and which makes the muscle tone go low. And who has got to compensate for that? That is our heart. Our heart is pumping more than it should. It's pumping more because it tries to get the blood flow full of oxygen, the nutrients, and the vitamins to the cells, and it is not able to do that. You weaken yourself because you are in stress, and that stress, that, uh, uh, creates oxidative, uh, stress, uh, uh, through, uh, the continuous presence of cortisol. And that is when the heart rate goes up, that is normally done when there is danger to pump the glucose through the body. And the adrenaline, that is when there is danger. Now it is danger because we have a weak condition within our vascular system. Maybe not when you are young still, but when you are 30, 35, 40, it begins really to wear out. A cold shower stimulates all the vascular, uh, muscle tone and, thus, the blood flow will go better to the cells. Heart rate goes down with 20 to 30 beats a minute, 24 hours a day, and the energy is being fed, the energy processes, the metabolic, uh, uh, mitochondrial processes are being fed with all the oxygen, nutrients, vitamins, all what is needed. You get plenty of energy. So when you take a cold shower a day, it does not only keep the doctor away, as a saying, also the doctor is doing it. And [clears throat] it, because it is great. It's like a vac- vaccination, a natural vaccination where you make your body the way nature meant it to be, with a great blood flow which doesn't know inhibition, fears, blockages, scleroses, or anything like that because it's flowing. There is no cortisol, no oxidative stress going on. This is the way nature meant it to be. Everybody in the world should take the damn beautiful cold shower a day. It is not difficult, and the investment is by far the outcome. You get so much more energy and so much more peace because the stress will go out of your body.
33:15 – 48:20
"The Cold Is a Mirror": Stress Resilience
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  We can think of muscles, right? Everyone understands muscles, and they know if you go to the gym and work your muscles, they will grow stronger. So as you were describing that about cold showers, I'm thinking we live these comfortable lives. We have temperature-controlled houses. If we go out, we don't want to feel hot, we don't want to feel cold, we put on our jackets and our fleeces. So our blood vessels are never, in some way you could say, are never been exposed to those sort of extremes where our body then responds and adapts. And I guess having that cold shower is an intentional way of providing, I guess, like a, a helpful dose of stress to the, to the vascular system, which will cause it to, to grow back stronger. Is that, is that a fair analogy?
2. WHWim Hof
  Uh, absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, the blood flow is going to be better. The muscle tone is going to be better. The heart rate goes absolutely down. Uh, uh, absence of, uh, cortisol presence, thus oxidative, uh, stress. And, uh, yeah, sleep is better. Anything is better. The hormonal system is be- uh, the endocrine system is being fed a lot better. It's all about the blood flow. The blood flow is everywhere in our body, only we cover up our bodies and thus actually we suffocate our body. We, uh... It's breathing. The, the, the body needs to breathe, and the cold shower does it. It compensates for our covering up the rest of the day, and we get great, uh, amounts of energy back.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  If someone's listening to this and thinking, "Okay, Wim, I see what you're saying, but I, I can't take it. I, I, I, you know, I get cold a lot, you know. I, I, it's too cold for me", what would you say to that person?
4. WHWim Hof
  For, for the people who have, uh, uh, low energy because, uh, when it's cold they feel sensitive, it's because the maintenance of their body, uh, is at work, uh, at that moment, and it takes all the energy at that moment to maintain a, a normal, uh, uh, a, a core body temperature. And for the rest, they feel like shivering because there's no energy left. Take the cold shower. I know this for thousands of people with problems with the cold, having low energy levels and, uh, being sick a lot of times because of the lowering energy, it's, uh, uh, it's a low alertness of the i- immune system. After taking the cold showers, suddenly they burst with a lot more, uh, uh, energy. They don't become sick anymore, and it's all logical-
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
6. WHWim Hof
  ... because their muscle tone is back. And with that, the oxidative stress goes out. You get more energy, so you will never feel cold anymore. Taking the, taking the cold shower is a hormetic stress, uh, exercise.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
8. WHWim Hof
  A hormetic stre- uh, which actually is positive stress exercise, which neurologically, at will, makes you able to control your body whenever you get stressed out in a- any shape. Could be emotional stress, mental stress, physical, bacterial, viral, it does not matter. Now, at will, because you are the one who goes consciously into the cold shower, you learn to change your neurology, your power of will against any stressor. The cold is only a mirror The cold is a way to enter into the stress mechanisms inside of the brain. I know you want it. Uh, only we have this paradigm in, uh, our society that, uh, uh, uh, uh, and that is from the prehistorics when it was cold outside. That was the enemy, and, uh, it, it's still built in, this, this primal aversion, aversive, uh, feeling of, "Hey, cold out there. No. We have to win out there." No, the cold can be a positive stressor to, uh, like a vaccination. It's like a vaccination.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  It, it feels very much as though with that intentional dose of stress each morning or each evening, you start to build up that immune system resilience, that vascular resilience, that stress resilience which is gonna help you for the other 23 and a half hours of the day. And, and that, it feels like-
10. WHWim Hof
  Exactly
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... a really exciting practice that we can do. But Wim, you just mentioned a phrase, and it's, as I was, um, I was reading your book this morning, and you said in... There's a, there's a phrase in it that you just mentioned, which is, "The cold is a mirror." And I stopped. I put my drink down, and I read it again. It was one of those phrases that makes me stop and just think, and I think, "Wow, that is so profound." Because I was then thinking, "Ah, so if you're someone who doesn't like the cold, that's teaching you something about what else you don't like in life. It's teaching you about your resistance to certain things." I, I don't know. I mean, I wonder if you could expand on that, because I think that's a really interesting perspective. The cold is a mirror.
12. WHWim Hof
  Oh, yes. The, uh, the cold is a mirror. It shows you how you physiologically, not only, also mentally, spiritually are, uh, uh, in, uh, in, a lockdown when you go into the cold shower. Suddenly it locks down. You, you are paralyzed. And, and, and it could be very much that it has to got to do with a traumatic experience in the past, that it has psychosomatically has set in, and you think it is the cold. "Oh, I don't like the cold." No, you gotta solve something because that old trauma is coming to the surface when you take a cold trigger which takes away your normal conditioning. You have to learn to let go. And that learning to let go at that moment is so beautiful, because very soon after you go into the cold shower, suddenly you feel, "Oh, I can do this. I can even sing. I can, uh, make a dance." Uh, the, "Wow, and I feel so great." Yes, that is the nature of trauma. Blockages, uh, fears, our, uh, uh, our, uh, concept of w- uh, o- o- of what, uh, uh, uh, what the cold is. It is a great way to get into the depth of who you are and what you are. If you learn about the cold and you see you can learn to let go therein, then suddenly you will see that you are ready for any stressor. Like you look in the mirror in the morning, "Do I look right? Yeah. Uh, uh, uh, m- maybe this hair little bit this way, and nice. Uh, ah, good. Yeah. I'm ready." So if you take the cold shower, you are going to be ready for any kind of stress in the world, and that could be, uh, soliciting for a job or g- a big deal or a marriage, or you wanna ask your, the, your future wife, "Uh, pl- uh, uh, would you please marry w- with all your brilliance of being?" Uh, all that you got within the control-
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
14. WHWim Hof
  ... because you learn to tap into, uh, the, the, the, the fullness of your blood flow, the fullness of being. By going into the cold shower, you break the conditioning, and you step out, uh, uh, uh, i- into the fullness of your whole being. And then suddenly the flow is there, and that becomes one with who you are and what you are in your consciousness. 'Cause in the end, the consciousness is the, what they say still, 16%. We showed 100%.
15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
16. WHWim Hof
  Hundred. It's, i- i- it's like a little baby in your hands. There's nothing wrong with the baby. Uh, the fe- the, the legs, there's nothing wrong with the baby. It's beautiful baby. But it is still not able to walk.
17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
18. WHWim Hof
  It takes a little time to neurologically set. It takes a little time to neurologically set the access and s- uh, uh, linking up into all the parts of our brain, but that's the way nature meant us to be-
19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
20. WHWim Hof
  ... to learn to walk spiritually strong, being brilliant and full bloom, uh, realized the soul as it is the purpose of our life. That's a cold shower.
21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
22. WHWim Hof
  That's a mirror.
23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  I mean, you c- you might be able to see, uh, just behind me there on the wall, and I think-
24. WHWim Hof
  Yeah, it already intrigue me.
25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  It did intrigue you. Yes. So for people watching on YouTube, uh, there's... I, I talk to my kids a lot about this stuff. We do a bit of breathing together, and I talk to them about my favorite Viktor Frankl quote, and my daughter has summarized it there. "Between stimulus and response is a space, and in that space sits choice." That's her summary of what Daddy's been teaching her.
26. WHWim Hof
  Wow.
27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And, and I thought about that in the context of the cold shower. You're saying... And I know breathing would come into this as well, but these regular daily practices help, you know, help grow that space between stressor and response. You make that space bigger, right? So you can actually start to- ... choose the way you respond to the world rather than the world kind of, you know, making you almost a slave to it, so you're just responding and reacting to everyone around you, you start to be in control of your life.
28. WHWim Hof
  Exactly.
29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Just over a year ago, uh, I have mentioned this on the podcast before, I, I, I went and did something called a swimrun event where you, uh, you know, you- you're in a wetsuit and ch- and your trainers, and you run in your wetsuit, then you jump in the ocean, you swim, and then you get out and you run and then you swim. I went and signed up for an event even though I'd never, ever been in the ocean before to swim. And, you know, maybe 100 meters in, I freaked out. I was scared. I had a panic attack. It, it was cold. It was... You know, it was in, it was in the UK, uh, early on in the season, so the ocean was still very cold. I had never done it before. And in that moment, I, you know, I was scared. Now, I did manage to overcome it and then complete the whole race, which I was very, very proud of. Um, but that was cold exposure. That was fear of never having been in the ocean before. And I suspect now talking to you, but had I, let's say, for two months prior to that, taken a cold shower every day and done your breathing practice every day, of course I'll never know, but I suspect that maybe I wouldn't have reacted in that way. Maybe I would've been used to the cold. Maybe I would've had a tool to control my breath in that moment. I mean, what do you think?
30. WHWim Hof
  Yes, I get people within two days, even they, they are 80 years, uh, of age and never have been in a ice bath, and even with, uh, heart problems like cardiac, uh, uh, bypasses and, uh, uh, yes, and they, they tell me, and I, I t- I learn to have them at ease with feeling, uh, uh, g- go into the ice bath, breathe, uh, uh, as I've taught them. It's not difficult. And, um, they are able to stay within two days or even when in one day to stay, like, for two minutes in freezing ice water-
48:20 – 57:44
Practical Cold Exposure: Duration, Progression and Breath
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  When someone's underneath the cold water, right, first of all, how cold does it need to be? Does it need to be cold enough to give them a shock, is the first question. Then the second question, just to be super practical, you can have cold water over your head, and you can tense up and last 10 or 15 seconds if you have to, but that's gonna be very different than if you have the cold water and you lean into it and you relax and you breathe. So for people who feel inspired to go, "Okay. All right, Wim. I'm gonna try and have a cold shower," what is the minimum amount of time they need? What is the temperature they need it to be? And is there a difference if they're tensed or whether they're relaxed and slow-breathing?
2. WHWim Hof
  Exactly. So first of all, know that everybody is, uh, capacitated by nature, by birthright to go into the stressful, uh, uh, natural environment called the cold. So a cold shower is cold. A cold shower you are able to take on any, any day. That, that's first one to know. Now, if you're, i- if you are in a vascular condition which has been alienated from going into the cold stress ever, then of course you have to take it step by step, but it goes very fast. You begin with a, a, a hot shower, and then you get into the last 30 seconds of cold. Turn it to cold, and then your, uh, uh, your vascular system is very well able to, in this case, passively, because you got into the heat of the hot shower, then pa- it works like a sauna, and then go have a cold dip. It's passive, uh, because you got a lot of heat, and so you are able to lose a lot of heat passively through taking on the cold shower. Uh, 30 seconds to begin with is activating, igniting the memory cells, uh, within you, the genome expressions in the cell to adapt to the situation. That's w- uh, uh, the way the DNA works. So in 30 seconds, it's able to be activated to give this spark of ne- uh, neural activity that, uh, uh, uh, that i- i- initiates a different neural activity that, uh, directly influences into the vascular system. The vascular system and the neur- uh, neurology are, uh, tied together, and, uh, they know how to act. And in the, uh, 30 seconds, uh, to begin with, anybody can do that. And from 30 seconds, the other day you do 40 seconds, 50 seconds, up to two minutes. In 10 days everybody is able to take for two minutes a cold shower, two, three minutes, and, uh, uh, at that point you are back at your natural condition of your vascular system, is when you are able to get into, say, natural bodies of water, like in the UK in wintertime. And, and, uh, we are in the end mammals, guys, and it's great to feel the mammal inside because it's very powerful. You know that mammals are very powerful in weather. They sleep outside in rain and the cold and this and that. See how far we got away from that.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
4. WHWim Hof
  So once a day, getting into a cold shower, everybody is able to do. And with that, uh, uh, it's, i- i- the outcome is tremendous. It's... Many books can be written just on the outcome of what a cold shower is doing. Physically, mentally, uh, astrally, uh, uh, uh, spiritually, uh, uh, uh, emotionally, it's all different bodies at work because it all relates to a great blood flow. The transportation of ours, the vascular system, is being up-toned through the cold shower.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So, so, so in the winter in the Netherlands, if you were to go into a lake, right, a cold, natural lake, you're gonna go with no wetsuit. Is that right?
6. WHWim Hof
  Oh, yeah, absolutely.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And-
8. WHWim Hof
  No, w- wetsuits, no.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And okay, so-
10. WHWim Hof
  I have no money for wetsuit, so, uh [laughs]
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Okay. So look-
12. WHWim Hof
  Yeah
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... let's say then it's July now in the UK as we have this conversation, right? If I have a cold shower from now every day until winter, uh-
14. WHWim Hof
  Yes
15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... uh, right? Do you think I can, in November or December, whether here or whether I fly out to see you, do you think I can also swim in a lake that's super cold without a wetsuit?
16. WHWim Hof
  Yes. Always take it easy. Remember the breathing. The breathing, we haven't been talking about the breathing yet, but-
17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  We're, we're coming to that. We'll get to that, for sure.
18. WHWim Hof
  Yes. So, uh, I say yes.
19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So you think it's, you think it's possible?
20. WHWim Hof
  Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I train people within two days to doing incredible stuff. A- a- and it's amazing because it's only two days.
21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
22. WHWim Hof
  What is the, uh, what is happening when people suddenly double their pushups without breathing? When they are suddenly able to do endurance feats and they d- uh, uh, they thought of they could not do even the half of it, and then within two days it doubles. What is that? And then going into the cold, like freezing ice water. How to do that? And going, yes, within 25 minutes, up to three minutes without air in the lungs.
23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
24. WHWim Hof
  That is tapping into a greater potential within yourself, and that is only the start. That's only the beginning.
25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Only the start. Yeah. So I wanna get to the breath, but just to finish off on the cold then, if you don't mind, um, when they're in the cold shower, do they then need to do anything with their breath? Or, you know, is, is there something people should be trying to do, or they just need to tolerate the cold for as long as they can? What, what, what-
26. WHWim Hof
  Yes. Uh, don't cramp up. Follow the breath Don't cramp up. Don't c- no contraction of, uh, your muscles. You get... What, uh, what you do, uh, is when you, uh, really feel cold and, uh, it's not cold right now, guys. The cold shower is good. It's thermogenesis. You are exercising the vascular system when you take a cold shower now. That is great. But in winter, you're gonna meet your true self within the elements of nature, and that is a great experience. And that, for that, we condition our vascular system, and it always goes through long out breaths. [inhales] [exhales] [inhales] [exhales] This is the way you go into the cold shower, and then the body is able not to get into panic, not into paranoia. No, it's able to adapt. The thermogenesis is able to do what the body is able to do. If you do this, [panting] then the body is not able to do what the body is able to do.
27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And then can you build up from this into, let's say, if you have a bath in your house, you can run a bath with cold water, and then you can take a cold bath as well? Is that, is that, is that like a progression along the sort of cold exposure?
28. WHWim Hof
  Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. And listen, if you, if you don't make it, just take on one of my... Uh, uh, we have a free app. You know? We built a app.
29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
30. WHWim Hof
  That app is for free. So it has all what you need.
57:44 – 1:02:44
Combining Cold with Breath and the Mind
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Let's move to breathing. I mean, before we do, could we just say the cold, if all you do, right, is take a cold shower each day, and you do nothing with your breath, right? Even that I'm guessing will have some benefit, but the benefit is magnified if you also do the breathing. Is that right?
2. WHWim Hof
  Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, uh, it, it, here comes in the power of the mind because once you learn to control your breath going into the cold shower, you enter into changing, uh, uh, uh, uh, getting a hold on the stress upon the body through holding your breath to stay on, uh, with the breath. And with that you only, uh, uh, it's the beginning of getting into the stress mechanisms inside the brain.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Wow.
4. WHWim Hof
  And then the unlocking of the potential to neurologically control the stress mechanisms of your brain is beginning. And it can go very fast. It can go very fast, that you learn to control what you could not control in the past, which then created fear instead of confidence. Now you will learn to have confidence because your brain now is able to be, uh, entered into the stress mechanisms to activate it whenever you need it. It's like instead of, uh, uh, uh, being helpless, suddenly you have a gun in your hand. You are powerful. You are powerful against the stressor coming in. I'm, uh, uh, I'm not into war, guys. Uh, uh, uh, I'm not a cowboy. Uh, I'm into peace, and bringing peace is p- bringing a true confidence that you are able to, uh, uh, to, uh, confront yourself with any kind of stressor. Is... That is the way you bring peace to yourself because you are not on the watchout, "Hey, is it gonna come? Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, my work. Oh, uh, this. Oh, that." All that you learn to pacify within, to observe. That's what the cold does. And, uh, and the breathing together exponentially is a stairway to the mind, and this is what we have shown. It's, uh, uh, it's quite mystic. It was all very esoteric before, and now it's gone and become very accessible and effective for people. Uh, let me tell last little thing. People who are doing mindfulness for years, four hours a day cannot get as deep as we do when we get into this breathing technique inside of our brain. So people doing four hours of mindfulness for years have been compared inside brain scans to the brain scans b- uh, uh, being, uh, uh, taken, uh, people doing these breathing exercises. These breathing exercises, they bring you right into the depth of the mind, and that is only the logic because breathing is the life force. And you are able to stop it, to manipulate it, to slow it, to accelerate, and thus you change the biochemistry. Not only, also the neural activity you are able to control, and to enter into the deepest of yourself, 'cause you are the light, you are neurology, you are the nervous system. It's all there, and it's very simple. Within seven minutes we go deeper than somebody who is doing four hours of mindfulness for years. So follow the breath. The breath is amazing. This is the way to enter into, uh, the brain-
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
6. WHWim Hof
  ... to activate 100% of the neural activity, and to change for the good the pH levels in the blood, which is going into the brain. So the biochemistry of the brain you are able to alter, and then you are able consciously to enter into any part of your brain, 'cause your, uh, the neural activity needs the right biochemistry, and w- and then the will is able to enter into any part of the brain, and that is only logical. And this is the new paradigm.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
8. WHWim Hof
  This is what we want to show to the people. Hey, man, you are the owner of your brain and the owner of your own emotions. So be responsible, be a happy person, jolly good. He's a jolly good fellow. He's a jolly good- Yeah, let's be jolly every day. And so-
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
10. WHWim Hof
  ... that's my answer.
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  No, I love it.
1:02:44 – 1:11:25
When to Breathe, Safety and Performance
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So the breathing technique that I have done of yours in that auditorium, but also I did, I did a couple of rounds this morning, was that sort of 30 or 40, uh, you know, breaths in, let out the breath, and then hold. That's a specific type of technique, right, where you are blowing off, uh, carbon dioxide which is the driver for us to breathe, and so, you know, we're able to hold our breath. That's quite stimulating, right? So I've, I've, I did it this morning before breakfast. Um, actually, I [laughs] actually was drinking my coffee and actually reading your book and you were talking about it. I thought, "I should actually do this. I've not done it for a little while." So I went into the garden actually, uh, because I thought, you know, it was a nice morning here in the UK, the birds are singing. I thought, "Let me do it here." And I did two rounds, and I felt really energized afterwards. It's almost like having a caffeinated drink or, or a cold shower. Is this the kind of thing that you would recommend people do in the daytime, in the morning, but not before bed because it sort of gets you amped up? Or can this be used before bed as well?
2. WHWim Hof
  Oh, yes. Oh, yes. That can be done, yes, because it, uh, uh, resets the endocrine system.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Right.
4. WHWim Hof
  So, uh, uh, r- a- and w- what you want, uh, when the endocrine system is there, you want to get rid of the cortisol, of the e- existing cortisol, uh, uh, remnants of it in the bloodstream which is impeding the melatonin to set in. So, uh, what you do at that moment is, uh, spike the adrenal axis. This is what we do with this breathing exercise. And then everything gets in order. Everything is reset. 'Cause what happens when you are in a dangerous situation, you, you need to be at full functionality. That is nature. So what nature does through these breathing exercises is bring you to full functionality, and your body knows it, it needs sleep, and it, uh, uh, and, uh, and then the melatonin is a- able to uninhibited, uh, do its work, and you go to sleep. Or you take even a cold shower. It's also to spike, to spike the adrenal axis a moment, it goes very fast down, and with that the cortisol goes down. It resets it all. So, uh, the, the recommendation is, uh, uh, for the best is to do it on empty stomach in the morning, but, uh, if you are really stressed out in the evening because of this and that, da, da, take the cold shower or do the breathing 'cause it will pacify your hormonal system. Absolutely.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  And, uh, just, just so we don't mislead anybody, um, these breathing, these hyperventilation breathing technique should not be done before going in the pool or, or the sea, is that correct?
6. WHWim Hof
  Oh, not, not in the... Just on a sofa or in bed.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah. Y- y-
8. WHWim Hof
  If you want to learn to hold your breath and go under the water, do freediving.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
10. WHWim Hof
  Uh, freediving courses, apnea courses and all that. This is a strong medicine. We are talking a strong medicine.
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
12. WHWim Hof
  And we are learning how to, uh, deal with the biochemistry through c- certain kinds of breathing exercises, and don't mess with it, uh, under the water because then you get a different component to it.
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
14. WHWim Hof
  And you are yet not in control of the breathing exercises, what they do within the body. So, uh, uh, don't do them in a swimming pool or outside. First get to know what this is all about.
15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
16. WHWim Hof
  On a sofa or in bed.
17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah. And when you get good at this, uh, are we saying that you... Well, it's not about getting good, right? It's about the practice and it's about seeing where that leads you. But once you start a regular practice of exposing yourself to cold every day, of doing some of this breathwork every day, do you find then away from that, let's say you were swimming that afternoon, right? You're hours away from the breath holds that you did in the morning- That's th- th- those techniques are building up your resilience so you're better able to face the cold. Uh-
18. WHWim Hof
  Absolutely
19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... or, or is it that you, you wanna get to the stage where let's say you wanna be in an ice bath for 10 minutes, is the goal at some point in company to do it just before you get in? Or is that... Am I... It, it's not about do... It's about, uh, are these separate things or can they be-
20. WHWim Hof
  Yes
21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... put together?
22. WHWim Hof
  Well, uh, what I say with people who are into endurance, uh, sports and or, uh, fighting matches or anything that, uh, is stressful and where they have to be at full functionality, I say breathe before. Do the breathing because it brings your pH level to the right, uh, uh, to the right level. Uh, uh, yeah, uh, 7.4, say. Uh, which is, uh, uh, the residue, the chemical, biochemical residue which we normally have will up play itself, uh, when you exert your body and or your mind. Uh, and it, it will come from the lymphatic system, which was considered to be a closed system we cannot enter because of the lymphatic knots. Now we are able, through these breathing techniques, to cleanse this storage of a, a, a slightly acidic presence within us caused by could be oxidative stress, inflammation, whatever. It is the wrong biochemistry which you do not need at the moment when you are into performing, into performance. So for those people who are going into performance or even just being alive and cleansed, they, I say do the breathing because then you enter into the lymphatic system past the lymphatic knots. And this has been shown to get into the lymphatic system and cleanse whatever is acidic, bring it to the right pH level, which then, uh, when, uh, the performance is on, uh, shows itself to be. Uh, uh, there is no resistance, there is no soreness, there's no acidity. Hey, I can keep on going. How come? Yeah, that's what we do. We cleanse the body before we go into performance, and then your performance will be always better.
23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  So if I was to run a marathon, you would recommend how many rounds before you go and do that event? Uh, you know, how many rounds of breath-holds?
24. WHWim Hof
  Like four
25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Four rounds?
26. WHWim Hof
  Four rounds, five rounds. And then remember, when you run, always breathe more than you feel you need. 'Cause, uh, through our conditioning, we have a s- uh, more or less shallow breathing, s- shallow conditioned breathing patterns. And, uh, that, uh, uh, is okay when we live normal, our lives covered up, destimulative behavior. It's all all right. But when you exert your body, then suddenly you have more oxygen flow from the depth needed. So into the lymphatic, into the mitochondria, into the cells, into the t- deep tissue, you want to bring more oxygen. So what I say to the people who are doing endurance sports and haven't got that condition, I say, "Hey, breathe more than you feel you need." [inhales] [exhales] Just be more conscious about that breathing. Then you will see after 30 kilometers when normally there is a breakdown, it's going down because the deep tissue is becoming very acidic and the biochemistry cannot be influenced anymore. Suddenly you feel much lighter, and you are able to keep on going. Why? Because during your, uh, uh, uh, exercise, during the exertion, you were bringing in more oxygen yet than you feel you needed past your conditioning, and that's what you need.
1:11:25 – 1:17:55
Guided Breathing Round
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  I wanna be respectful of your time, time then. Um, there's, you know, I'd love to keep chatting, but I don't know how long you've got. For people who are listening, I wonder if you have time to take me through a round that of the breathing.
2. WHWim Hof
  Sure. Sure.
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Uh, and see... Just so people can see it, and they can feel it, and then, you know, download your app, get your book, and actually learn how to do it.
4. WHWim Hof
  Okay. A- a- everybody seated, being there, listening. All right. Relax. A relaxed body is able to store up oxygen. When you are tensed, you are not. So make sure you are relaxed. Okay? Here we are. We have a belly. We have a chest. They're all connected to the lungs. That's why I want you move you, your belly when you inhale, and then your chest [inhales] fully, and then you let go. [exhales] So fully in, [inhales] letting go. [exhales] Fully in, [inhales] letting go. [exhales] Fully in, [inhales] letting go. [exhales] Be with your mind just with the breath. Fully in, [inhales] letting go. [exhales] Fully in, letting go. [exhales] Fully in. Take 'em on. Fully in, letting go. [exhales] No holding back. Let's go. Fully in, [inhales] letting go. [exhales] Fully- You become lightheaded. Loom in the body all all right. Tingling, all is okay. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. Keep on going. Fully in. Don't mind, just go. Fully in, letting go. And fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. The life force coming in, oxygenagizing all cells into depth. Past the lymphatic knots, we are going in. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, go. 10 more. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. And fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. Intensify anything that is different. Intensify. Let go past the conditioning. Fully in, letting go. Three more. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. Fully in, letting go. Here comes the last one. Fully in, and let it go. And stop after the exhalation. Relax. Witness. Be. All be. Just be. We have blown off the carbon dioxide. We have changed the biochemistry within the blood. There is nothing going on for the wrong. The biochemistry is very pH high, very alkaline, and the body is able to do what the body is able to do. You are the alchemist. You have changed the biochemistry to the top. What now happens is that the saturation of oxygen is going down while you are still alkaline. This triggers the brain stem while being sort of high. You feel high, yet your body is in deep, deep stress right now, and thus the brain stem is at work, the fight or flight. Fully in. Yeah, okay, take them fully in and hold. Squeeze it to your head. It's bringing s- cerebrospinal fluid to the brain stem. Three, two, one, and let it go. And you can let it go, Rangan. Good. This is to show the people, everybody, how to become the alchemist, how to get into the fight and flight mechanisms, the stress mechanisms. We have been in deep stress. You were longer than a minute without air in the lungs while you have been a quite sort of high. So you didn't experience stress, yet your stress mechanisms were really activated. And thus, because you are doing this consciously, you activate neurological pathways to the stress mechanisms in the brain.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Wow.
6. WHWim Hof
  And whenever you need it out there when stress is coming to you, you ca- you are, like, observing like you did right now in your breath, and this is the mirror, like the cold is the mirror. Take them on, guys, 'cause you will be ready to take on any stressor in the world coming to you. Future is yours. Your happiness, strength, and health, that is who you are.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Thank-
8. WHWim Hof
  Happy lives.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Thank you for taking me through that. So what was ... Yeah, I didn't know that was over a minute. Um, but then when I took that in breath afterwards and held, it really felt like I was accessing a different state of, of sort of calm, and that was n- not ... That was very different when I, when I, when I held on the inhale afterwards. That felt incredible. It really did.
10. WHWim Hof
  Amazing. Life is amazing. Let's take part of the amazingness of life-
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah
12. WHWim Hof
  ... every day.
1:17:55 – 1:19:50
The Spiritual Core and Closing
1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah. And Wim, I've got to say this on the surface sounds like, oh, this is breathwork or this is cold exposure, but actually the more I hear you speak, the more I read your book, the more it's ... it sort of comes over me that this is not ... it's not really about breathwork or it's not really about cold exposure. It's about-
2. WHWim Hof
  Exactly
3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  ... finding yourself. It's about really trying to dissolve the ego and actually figuring out who you are. So I think it is incredibly spiritual at its core.
4. WHWim Hof
  Wow. That is a great resume. Thank you very much, and it's a great message. Everybody has so much more coming.
5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
6. WHWim Hof
  That is the future paradigm. Let's embrace happiness, strength, and health, all of us.
7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah.
8. WHWim Hof
  'Cause it is so bloody interesting to, to enter in the full potential of your own mind and the beauty of the soul. It's awaiting.
9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Yeah. Well, Wim, thank you so much for all the work you do. I, I very much hope that I can attend one of your courses one day. I'll definitely, uh, come out very soon once we're allowed to travel again and, and sort of have the freedom of movement. Um, I, I'm also interested that you seem to take people every September to d- to go up Kilimanjaro. It's like, how are you taking these people to do that without any training? It's, it's really incredible. So maybe one day I'll join you on one of those adventures. Um, but good luck with everything. Have a fantastic summer, and, uh, thank you very much for your time today.
10. WHWim Hof
  You too, Rangan. All the love and understanding.
11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  Thank you.
12. WHWim Hof
  All we need is love. La, la, la, la, la. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
  [outro music] Press subscribe to get more inspiration and ideas on how to feel better so you can get more out of life. And if you have a moment, why not check out this conversation that I've picked out as a perfect follow-up.