How often do you say, “I’m just going to get through the day”? You’re stressed out of your mind, barely drawing a full breath, and running on adrenaline and your fourth cup of coffee. You might live like most of the people you know and miraculously make it to your appointments on time, but this lifestyle isn’t sustainable.
If you’re not relaxed, you’re not breathing enough. If you’re not breathing, you’re not getting oxygen.
It’s a loop. This kind of fast-paced living leads to continual exhaustion, burnout, mental health breakdowns, and midlife crisis.
On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk about the power of breathing and connecting to yourself, others, and nature to heal your mind and body with a man known as “The Iceman” — Wim Hof.
Wim Hof got his nickname “The Iceman” by breaking several records related to cold exposure. His feats include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts, running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle on his bare feet, and standing in a container while covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes.
He says that our brains have the power to guarantee us happiness, strength, and health. We can actually regulate our minds and autonomous nervous systems by breathing and being present. To help people do just that, he developed the Wim Hof Method: a natural path to an optimal state of body and mind.
Today we’re discussing how mastering your mind, connecting to your willpower, tapping into your sixth sense, and relaxing can help you kill disease, overcome burnout, and be happier and braver. This episode is full of inspiring ideas. So get ready!
Who Is Wim Hof?
Wim Hof believes humans have an inner power, which is the ability to adapt to extreme temperatures and survive within our natural environment. On this principle, he developed the Wim Hof Method, a natural path to an optimal state of body and mind. Over time, our lifestyles have disconnected us from our age-old survival mechanisms. As a result, we’ve lost touch with our inner power. After decades of self-exploration and groundbreaking research, Wim has created a simple but effective way to stimulate these deep physiological processes, reconnect us with ourselves, others, and nature, and realize our full potential.
Today, Wim teaches people worldwide, from celebrities and professional athletes to people of all ages, to control their body and mind and achieve extraordinary things.
In this interview, we talked about how to prevent illness, reclaim a sense of control when you’re exhausted and on the edge of burnout, and tap into your sixth sense to experience more joy and feel fearless. If you’ve been feeling detached from the life you’re meant to live, today’s content will give you the practical steps you need to take to begin feeling connected to all the greatness in and around you.
I’m so excited to share this episode with you today because I’ve personally used these principles over the past few years when I’ve felt stressed and overwhelmed. And some of our listeners who have worked with Wim have seen huge transformations in their lives. So get ready to learn how to harness the power of your mind and step into your highest physical and emotional state!
Beat Disease and Mental Illness by Mastering Your Mind
Extreme circumstances of cold force you to connect your consciousness to your will and reclaim control of your body and mind. After years of living in an environment that doesn’t require us to trigger our fight-and-flight responses like our ancestors, we have lost the ability to easily and quickly operate from our gut instincts and connect them with our will.
The human mind is powerful. However, thinking often gets in the way of our ability to experience its full potential. Instead of being connected to ourselves and what’s happening around us — allowing our gut instincts to guide us — we think and reason our way through it.
Wim first discovered the power of restoring this connection by putting his body in extremely stressful circumstances which forced him to tap into his intuition and respond with his will. Once, during a controlled experiment, his body temperature dropped so low that scientifically his organs should have shut down. Wim explained that he was distracted by Serena Williams, who was present and had just won the US Open. As soon as he connected with his willpower and focused his mind on his current circumstance, he was able to stop his body temperature from dropping.
When we are in tune with our intuitive feelings, we are able to accomplish even more, as demonstrated by Wim’s ability to control his body temperature when scientists said he was too cold to do so. Here’s how Wim described this phenomenon:
“Willpower is in the center of the brain, [the] prefrontal cortex, [and it connects] into the brain stem. The brain stem is about survival, but because we live every day in a very controlled environment … The animal [brain] is not being [used] anymore. We are not living like zebras and giraffes to know the danger and flee.” – Wim Hof
We don’t have to avoid predators like animals, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have dangers. Our dangers are inflammation, overworking, stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and mental illness. When we encounter these dangers, we need to step into deeper parts of our brains to find solutions and peace. But accessing the deeper, intuitive parts of our brain is no longer natural to us because our controlled environment only requires us to access our thinking brain.
Learning to manage the cold and master breathing techniques allows Wim and others to access parts of the brain previously thought to be inaccessible. Once you have accessed these deeper parts of your brain, neurological pathways are created, and it’s easier for you to re-access them. Wim explains that experiencing extreme cold isn’t about defying the odds; it’s about learning to connect with yourself to deal with the stress so that you can overcome inflammation and mental illness. And by doing this you can reach your fullest potential.
“It’s about how to deal with stress on your body just by using your mind. … The cold is merciless, but righteous so, that you can always depend [on it to allow you] to tap into the depth of yourself by going through the initial reflexes of the cold coming upon you, and then suddenly, you get that deep power. I think it is a noble force.” – Wim Hof
Whether you use extreme cold temperatures or breathing techniques, connecting to your inner self can empower you to experience more freedom and wellness both physically and mentally. At the end of the day, that’s what Wim said the importance of his work was:
“… to bring people to the awareness that they are in control of their beautiful emotions through their beautiful mind.” – Wim Hof
