I went to a Wim Hof Breathing and Ice Bath Workshop this weekend. 

I didn’t know much about Wim Hof before this, and I dreaded the idea of doing an ice bath, but I decided to go and give it a shot anyway since my friend Kamalika was the instructor (she’s actually met Wim a few times and has some really cool stories about it). 

It’s kind of funny when I think of the concept of going to a breathing workshop. Breath is what makes me alive, and yet no one ever specifically taught me how to do it. Or how to harness the power of it. How my breath can change the state of my mind and body. We tend to just assume from the moment you're born that you’re breathing, so you must be doing it right.

The reality is, I realized through the workshop that much of my breathing is super shallow, and I’m missing out on many of the benefits of a more structured breathing practice. I totally see myself incorporating some of this into my meditation practice. And cold exposure, too.

I’ll share my experience with the workshop, as well as some of the things I learned about Wim Hof, the breathing method and sound bath we experienced (okay I can’t wait and I’ll tell you now–the sound bath was absolutely beautiful), and the experience of my first 3-minute sit in an ice bath (definitely stick around to the end–you’ll love the story behind that part!). 

Who’s this Wim Hof dude?

Wim Hof –also known as The Iceman–is a beast. He’s a yogi from The Netherlands and is known worldwide for his ability to tune into his body through his breathing to do incredible feats.

He climbed Mt. Everest past the death zone (basically, the altitude at which there’s so little oxygen that there’s a countdown of time before your body shuts down) wearing only shorts and sandals. He ran a marathon in the Namib desert with no water, and held a Guinness World record for the longest sit in ice, at just under 2 hours. 

Defying conventional science

He’s also been the subject of many scientific studies to find out what specifically it is about him that allows him to defy so much of conventional science, like voluntarily controlling his autonomic nervous system (like heart rate and ability to trigger his immune system to fight off an injected endotoxin). Here’s a cool video on YouTube about this.

He’s a huge proponent that there’s actually nothing special about him–it’s just the method of breathing and training his body through cold exposure that makes these things possible. So he teaches people worldwide how to tap into the dormant powers of their body to do things they wouldn’t have thought possible.

3 Components of the Wim Hof Method

Basically, there are 3 components (pillars) of the method named after him. The Wim Hof Method involves commitment (mindset), breathing, and cold exposure. 

We went through each of these 3 pillars through the workshop. I’ll focus mostly on the breathing/soundbath and the cold exposure parts because those were the most transformative for me personally.

1. Commitment (mindset)

The first part of the workshop involved some learning about the connection between the brain and the body, and how they both affect and then influence each other. Basically, we get what we focus on. Whatever we expect is what we tend to find. 

“Our life is the creation of our mind.”-- Buddha

We focused on some visualization exercises of seeing ourselves in the ice bath going through the journey and just witnessing what it was like for us to come out of it on the other side.

2. Breathing

We did about 45 minutes of Wim Hof breathing along with a sound bath in the background (more on the beauty of that later). Basically, the breathing method helps you expel more carbon dioxide from your body than usual breathing does, and there’s lots of benefits to that. It stimulates the Vagus Nerve (which is fascinating the more I keep learning about it over the years) and the parasympathetic nervous system which is all to say–it brings the body into a highly relaxed state. 

Can you say oooooooohhhhhhh, ahhhhhhh? Yeah, that kind of relaxed.

It was really refreshing to be able to learn the science and practice it together, while also going at my own pace. 

It was super meditative. Also, it’s cool because there’s enough to consciously focus on with the cycles of breath that it keeps your mind from drifting off to other things too much. At one point I was so relaxed I fell asleep, and I only know that because I remember startling myself waking up. I remember consciously thanking myself for giving me exposure to the experience. It felt really healing. 

The instructors said after doing 100s of groups like this, ours had the most intense breathing session they’d ever seen (well, of course, it’s because I was there!). 

The guy who was on the mat two spots over from me was celebrating his birthday and brought his mom along with him. (It was funny because during my breathing/meditation, I had this urge to bring my mom there. And funny enough, when I opened my eyes, the guy’s mom wasn’t there anymore, she’d stepped out of the room.) 

Another attendee shared how it was almost as if he could feel the aura of the woman who was on the mat next to him. She shared about how she had felt a huge energy bubble around her. So there were some cool and wild stories like that. It was a really powerful and spiritual experience.

SoundBath: An Added Bonus

Lindsey, a certified sound healer (what an amazing concept!) ran the sound bath while we were breathing. I’d never experienced a sound bath and didn’t even really know what it was (I’m still not exactly sure what it is–but it was beautiful). I guess I could describe it as feeling like you’re inside the music.

She explained, “Sound is energy. You are energy.”

And something in that just really hit. I never thought of sound that way and I guess this prepared me to take in sound in a different way, to feel it not as an aesthetic “How’s it sound?” but more as an energy “How’s it feel?”

It was really pretty breathtaking and beautiful (I know I keep saying that but I don’t have better words for it). 

As we lay there with our eyes closed, breathing according to the Wim Method, she played different instruments and made different sounds, along with a drummer who would walk around the room with his drum (changing how we felt the vibrations). 

I realized it wasn’t so much about listening to the sound (although, yes, of course, I was listening), but more about feeling it. It was a feeling of being one with the vibrations I was hearing. It was like an ocean moving through me and beyond me, too.  

(Side note–a friend and I keep talking about visiting The Integratron Sound Bath in California. It’s a sound bath in a dome building made with perfect acoustics and only wood construction so that you feel the sound that much more intensely.) 

The beauty of sound

There was this really beautiful moment where we were coming to the end of the session, and the sounds slowly stopped playing, and we were left in silence momentarily. But it wasn’t actually silent. I could hear the cars outside. I could hear people talking down the hall. And in that moment, I experienced the sound in a way I never have before. 

It was so beautiful, just to hear sounds like that. I no longer saw them as a bother or a nuisance getting in the way of the practice, but that those were sounds, they were energy, and part of the experience of being present. 

And something about it was just so touching, and so beautiful. I started tearing up, and at the same time, I was feeling so over the top giddy. It was as if I’d just gone on some psychedelic mushroom trip or something. 

I felt so connected, and it was really beautiful. 

3. Ice Bath (2-3 minutes)

Okay my favorite part! (Well, the sound bath was pretty amazing, too. But this is the part I’m most excited to tell you about!)

I appreciate y’all that see me as some kind of super brave daredevil that has no fear jumping out of planes or doing adventurous shit. But in reality—I was so afraid of this ice plunge. I was telling everyone ahead of time that I hope I can do it, that I might cry, that I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to climb into the tub without running and hiding (ya girl likes her comfort and warmth). 

I think what made the biggest difference for me was learning the science behind cold exposure ahead of time. 

Cold exposure is a form of hermetic stress, we learned, which is a small dose of intentional stress on the body over time to make us stronger. The ice bath is like a gym workout for your circulatory system, Kamalika explained. 

“Okay, I can get down with that,” I thought to myself.

Preparing for it with a coach and community

I knew that it was gonna suck first, and that my body was going to go into panic mode and start breathing frantically, but that it wouldn't last past the first few seconds. So then I was able to expect it, and honestly, I expected it to be a lot worse than it actually was. 

Then, you have the community around you. The people, dancing, music, and most importantly, a certified coach and instructor to help you get through it. 

There’s something about having a coach in an experience like that–someone that’s eye level,  right there with you. They may not be in the water at that moment, but you trust them because you know they’ve been there before. You trust their experience. And you don’t trust them because they’re so experienced and say, “Oh, it’s not a big deal, I didn’t struggle through it at all.” You trust them because they also struggled and they got to the other side. So you believe that you can too, with their help. 

(Also, this was just such a special moment in seeing another perspective for the work I get to do as a coach myself–I share my struggles so that people know they’re not alone, and that I’m there to walk with them through it. There’s a beautiful thing about someone who is willing to walk through the difficult (or cold) moments there with you. They see the strength in you when you don’t, and they remind you how powerful you are.) 

“The cold is your warm friend,” a quote from Wim said before we went to the ice bath.

“Yep, righhhhhtt. That sounds grim. This is really going to suck,” I thought.  

Kamalika explained how the ice bath actually gets cooler after more people have gone, because more and more ice gets added. So part of me wanted to go first so it wasn’t as bad. But there were others that were far more ambitious than I was, so I ended up going towards the middle of the line. 

Jumping in the ice bath

First we just stepped our legs in and stood in the water. That in of itself was enough to get my shock reflexes going, and Kamalika could see it on my face that I was definitely gonna need some heck of a coaching through this. Still, I followed along with her lead and when she motioned for me to take a deep breath and lower myself in up to my neck, I didn’t let myself think too much, and I just went in. 

It was not pleasant. 

I started hyperventilating (a total normal response, apparently it’s the release of adrenaline, which shows you that the training for your body is working).

Coaching me through it

But Kamalika was right there with me, she crouched down, eye to eye level. She was all I could see or focus on. She coached me on slowing down my breathing and to listen to the drums playing. I don’t remember everything she said, but it was definitely a special moment. 

She said something about how right now I was facing my fear. How I was doing everything I was afraid of. How I’m capable of anything, and I’m proving it to myself right now at this moment. If i can force my body to do this, I can do anything. And I held onto that. 

By now, it was about 30-40 seconds being submerged up to my neck and I was back to a state of calm. I was taking slow deep breaths, and it wasn’t so bad anymore. 

After 30 seconds

It’s very weird. It’s as if your body acclimates and you don’t feel the freezing cold anymore. Then, you’re just sitting there. I did notice that when I moved my body a bit, shifted my arms or my fingers, I’d feel a new rush of coldness where apparently there was a small bubble of heat still tucked away under my armpits or between my fingers. But it felt good. I started shifting to see if I could feel any other places where the heat was still hiding, because it was just an interesting experience to witness it.

At one point, Kamalika explained how humming is one way to also help the body get to a place of calm, so I started humming and singing, and it was actually kind of fun. 

There was a little rubber ducky thermometer ,and I wanted to know how cold the water was, but the numbers on the ducky were so faint that it was hard to tell. Kamalika said it was probably about 35 degrees.

By the time my timer was done, it’s not like I was aching to get out. (The sit was supposed to be for 2 minutes, [anything longer than that is just ego, Kamalika says, and you already get all the benefits from just 2 minutes], but apparently I was so freaked out and in need of her coaching when I got in that it distracted her from starting the timer, so I was actually in there for 3 minutes.) 

No matter. Once you get past those initial 30 seconds or so, the rest all feels the same. It doesn't hurt, it’s not uncomfortable, you’re just there. It’s quite weird. 

Once I got out

Once she counted us down and we got out, I was expecting that my bare skin touching the air was going to be freezing and that I’d rush for my towel, maybe even rush back inside. 

But surprisingly, I felt really warm, really good. I got back into the crowd with the others, put my flip flops on, and didn’t bother to grab my towel. I was feeling fine without it. 

That was super weird. DIdn’t expect that at all. 

I actually felt warmer when I got out than before I went in. (I’m sure Kamalika and some other science folks could explain the science behind it. I just assume it’s because my body did all that work heating itself up.)

You’ll notice in the background that there's drum playing, and people doing a dance with “Whoo— Hahhs”. Apparently this helps your body stay warm.

You get down in a horse stance I think it was called, like a partial squat, and you extend your hands left and right across your body while saying “Who and Hah,” as apparently the vocal sounds also help warm you up internally. (Note: I didn’t realize how much of a workout that actually was–I woke up the next day and my obliques and ab muscles were sore!)

And then there’s a sense of community, you don’t want to go back inside, you want to support everyone else who is doing it. 

That was beautiful. 

Would I suggest it?

Yes, 100%.

As soon as I finished, I couldn’t wait to go back to another cold plunge, maybe next time in running water like the lake or a river.

I was glad that Kamalika had mentioned earlier in the workshop how the community element makes it such a special experience–so many people come to the workshop, love the cold plunge and go buy themselves an ice bath for their home, but then never use it because it’s not the same as doing it with a group of people. If she didn’t say this, I totally could’ve seen myself looking for how I can get one for myself (cause I’m THAT person).

The experience was really meditative, healing, and calming. It was also very connective, it was great to connect on that level with the dozen and a half other participants. After you go through that cold plunge together, you feel bonded. You just conquered that thing together, and there’s a sense of community in that. 

And for me–experiencing the feeling of calm that’s on the other side of my fear. Man, what a life lesson. 

I loved it.

If you’re in the Cleveland area, I definitely suggest checking out Chagrin River Holistic Health for a workshop or an experience at another cold plunge. Maybe I’ll even see you there next time! I might be hooked. 

Anyway, give it a shot. You may surprise yourself with what you’re capable of. 

I know I sure did.