Wim Hof Method Thailand
Looking for Wim Hof Method workshops and events in Thailand, well look no further, Breath Inspired runs regular Wim Hof Method Thailand classes in Bangkok. And regular workshops around Thailand.
Learn from the only certified Wim Hof Method instructor level 2 in Thailand. Stuart Wilson, who is the co-founder of Breath Inspired, the first certified Wim Hof Method Instructor in Thailand. If you want to learn the Wim Hof Method, make sure you learn it from a certified instructor.
Now you can learn the WHM in Thai. Kam Waritsara is the first and only Thai Wim Hof Method Certified Instructor in the world.
Wim Hof himself held 2 exclusive events in Thailand, the retreat on the island of Ko Phangan for seven nights from November 27, 2019. Iceman Wim Hof has a hot deal for devotees who want to meet the man to learn how to rebalance their lives on a secluded tropical island.
The thailand retreat promises luxury accommodation, first-class food alongside expert training from Wim Hof and his team.
During the day, they will demonstrate his techniques for breathing by the Wim Hof Method, yoga, his famous cold therapy and meditation.
Attendees will also have access to sightseeing trips, sports and other activities on the island, which nestles in the Gulf of Thailand, 55 kilometres offshore from the mainland and a short boat ride from neighbouring island Ko Samui, which has flights connecting to Bangkok and other airports.
Exclusive event
Accommodation is available at the retreat base camp, which boasts magnificent coastal views from a remote jungle hill top.
The cost for the week, including lunch, dinner, accommodation and the training is 2,499 euros — but excludes travel costs.
Hof flags the retreat as the most exclusive event he runs, due to the limited number of available places.
“The small scale allows for all the personal guidance you need to learn the power of a mind at peace,” he said.
Meet the Iceman
“Practice breathing techniques and cold therapy in addition to yoga and meditation to rebalance both body and mind. Recalibrate your immune system and massage your cardiovascular network to flush out all the residual biochemical debris. Allow the suffusion of oxygen to calm you, and the cold to centre your mind.
“The tranquil surroundings echo and amplify the clarity and stillness that you attain over the course of the week, as you practice against a backdrop of pure white sand, crystal clear skies, and a vast, calm ocean.
“Take a deep dive into the Wim Hof Method, learn from the best, and reach a level that brings you newfound peace and clarity, for a stronger, healthier, happier you.”
Hof won his Iceman tag by setting a series of world records at extreme temperature endurance events.
The Wim Hof Method Explained
Iceman Wim Hof has some cool ideas about honing your mind and body under extreme conditions.
Hof won his nickname by collecting world records for completing nearly 20 trials in the cold.
He’s famous for taking the longest plunge in an ice bath, trekking up snowy mountain peaks in just a pair of shorts and running marathons in polar conditions.
This exposure to the extreme brought Hof attention from academics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Researchin New York and the Radboud University Medical Centerin the Netherlands.
Researchers were fascinated how Hof could seemingly influence his autonomic nervous system by a combination of breathing techniques, mental focus and exposure to the cold. They are looking at how these three attributes seem to have a positive impact on the body.
Who is Wim Hof?
The Iceman is Dutch athlete Wim Hof who seems to have a superhuman ability to perform in extreme temperatures.
Born in April 1959, Hof holds world records for his exploits, including:
- Staying immersed in an ice bath for an hour and 13 minutes
- Reaching the top of Mount Kilimanjaro barefoot wearing just shorts, in only two days
- Completing a full marathon dressed in only shorts above the Arctic Circle in Finland where the temperature fell as low as -20 degrees,
- Hanging on one finger at an altitude of 2,000 metres
- Completing a full marathon in Namib desert without drinking any water
- Running a barefoot half-marathon in ice and snow
- Swimming a 188 feet long course under ice
Hof is one of nine children and has an identical twin, Andre.
He has six children — four with his first wife who killed herself in 1995 and two other sons with his second wife.
How Hof discovered his ability is unclear. Two explanations are circulating:
· When Hof was 17 he had an urge to jump into a frozen canal and discovered the cold did not affect him
“I had a stroll like this in the park with someone and I saw the ice and I thought, what would happen if I go in there. I was really attracted to it. I went in, got rid of my clothes. After 30 seconds I was in,” Hof said. “Tremendous good feeling when I came out and since then, I repeated it every day.”
· He also suggests sadness over the death of his first wife prompted him to attempt extreme feats
Surprisingly, no scientific research seems to have been undertaken to see if his twin brother has the same physical reaction to extreme temperatures or if Hof’s meditation techniques are responsible for his endurance rather than a physical attribute.
What is the Wim Hof Method?
In short, the Wim Hof Method is meditation technique that claims to give practitioners the ability to control the autonomic nervous system, which in turn manages how the body reacts under stress and pain.
The method links physical fitness with spirituality and science in a way previously thought impossible, say Hof’s supporters.
The result is Wim Hof can complete almost impossible feats of endurance in conditions that would leave others close to death.
What does the autonomic nervous system do?
The autonomic nervous system has important roles to play in the human body through a trio of underlying systems:
· The sympathetic system controls the ‘fight or flight’ reaction to stress or danger
· The parasympathetic system maintains the body during rest and recuperation — including managing heart rate and temperature
· The enteric system takes care of how the gut works
What the scientists say
A report published in scientific journal NeuroImage points out that few people can sustain exposure to extreme hot or cold temperatures and cites Wim Hof as a case study.
The researchers say how he does so is not known.
“Analysis indicated that the Wim Hof Method activates primary control centres for descending pain/cold stimuli modulation… possibly initiating a stress-induced analgesic response” the team writes.
“In addition, the Wim Hof Method also engages higher-order cortical areas that are uniquely associated with self-reflection, and which facilitate both internal focus and sustained attention in the presence of averse (eg cold) external stimuli.”
However, they dismiss a claim that the Wim Hof Method can activate brown fat to manage energy release as ‘unremarkable’.
The summing up explains the tests into the Wim Hof Method offer ‘compelling’ evidence that his claims are true.
“Our results provide compelling evidence for the primacy of the brain rather than the body in mediating the Iceman’s responses to cold exposure. They also suggest the compelling possibility that the Wim Hof Method might allow practitioners to develop higher level of control over key components of the autonomous system, with implications for lifestyle interventions that might ameliorate multiple clinical syndromes,” they said.
The dark side of the Wim Hof Method
Some critics accuse Hof of overstating the benefits of practising his method, especially by offering false hope to those suffering serious illnesses.
Hof has suggested his method reduces the impact of some medical conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. But his claims some cancers could be cured seem far-fetched, says doctors, although trying his method is not harmful when practised in a safe environment with a helper.
However, four people have drowned while practising the technique, with breathing exercises blamed.
So does the Wim Hof Method work?
The consensus seems that no one really knows if the Wim Hof Method works.
Hof has undoubtedly performed better than expected when competing endurance feats in extreme conditions under the scrutiny of professional experts and scientists.
But no one seems able to pinpoint how or why he can perform in conditions that would place others close to death.
The worst anyone seems to say is some of his claims about how the Wim Hof Method can affect serious medical conditions is hopeful rather than proven — but giving the technique a go might provide some relief and certainly won’t make matters worse.
Hof explains that the method skills are not unique to him and can be learned and applied by others under his guidance.
To that effect, Hof has built a lucrative business based on public motivational speaking, books, online learning, an academy program for instructors and clothing lines.
Thousands seem to support Hof’s philosophy, as his social media accounts show.
His Facebook group has more than 125,630 members, while Hof’s personal Facebook page has 197,000 followers and 190,000 likes.
Go to the Wim Hof Method web site
The Wim Hof Method deconstructed
Hof and the teams of researchers who have examined his methods have broken down his training into three components — breathing, mindset and concentration, and exposure to extreme temperatures.
On his web site, Hof tries to explain how these interact to give him effective control of his body.
Ins and outs of breathing
Breathing is one of the automatic body processes that we seemingly do without thinking.
Hof describes breathing as the easiest body function to regulate.
“By not breathing out entirely, you come to a point where a residual of air remains in the lungs,” said Hof.
“After doing this 30 times, you exhale again without any use of force. This time though, you don’t immediately inhale again, but wait with inhaling until you sense your body needs new oxygen. After this, the whole process starts again.
“While you start to sensations of lightness, laxity and tingling, these rounds are repeated a number of times.”
Hof goes on to say that his breathing exercise give control over some of the body’s physiological processes.
The science, he explains, is to expand the surface of the lung where gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place with the goal of increasing oxygen intake and lessening the amount of carbon dioxide in the body.
“One of the pillars of the Wim Hof Method is to increase stamina. When practicing the breathing techniques, by thoroughly inhaling and exhaling, people often become aware of just how easy it is to do a round of push-ups during the inhaling process. The efficacy of these breathing techniques can be explained down to the molecular level within the cells,” said Hof.
The breathing exercise takes about 15 minutes, he says, and is easy to practise anywhere at home, work or just out and about at any time of day.
Mindset and meditation
Regulating the autonomic nervous system is another automatic bodily process that we all carry out unconsciously and widely held medical opinion argues that nothing we can do influences how the system works.
To test the Wim Hof Method, researchers injected 112 people, including Hof, with an e-coli bacteria. The aim was to stimulate the ‘fight or flight’ instinct by tricking immune system into believing the body was under attack.
The typical reaction is for the body to react with flu-like symptoms for several hours, but Hof reportedly suffered a mild headache, which along with other tests led researchers to conclude he could control his body’s response to attack by concentrating.
The conclusion leads to the question of if Hof is an extraordinary case or can others replicate his response if he shows them how?
To test the question, Hof trained 12 volunteers in his method who were injected with e-coli bacteria along with 12 untrained volunteers as a control sample.
Researchers found the trained group suffered fewer symptoms of illness than the untrained control group.
Hof claims this shows his method can control the autonomic nervous system.
“The Hof technique is not primarily aimed at putting the body into a relaxed state, but rather into an active state. Wim Hof thus has a strong mindset and makes use of his (trained) concentration to achieve certain goals, such as influencing the autonomic nervous system,” says Hof’s e-book.
“The outcome of multiple tests also outlined that Wim Hof and those who practice his method can actively increase the concentration of stress hormones in their bodies. In the process, the production of inflammatory proteins decelerates.
“By doing so, it appears as though a stress reaction, the typical fight of flight response, can be steered.”
If you want to take up the Hof mindset, he suggests going with the flow by letting go of your thoughts and just feeling what is happening to your body.
Next, program your mind to accept the cold by imagining you are in freezing water or an ice bath. This readies the mind for the reaction and can even stimulate the feeling of being submerged in extreme cold water or ice.
Cold feats for warm bodies
The first point to understand is prolonged exposure to extreme cold leads to the body suffering freeze damage.
The body shuts down as the temperature falls by reducing the blood supply to the limbs to keep the major organs warm and functioning.
When the core body temperature drops below 35 degrees centigrade, hypothermia starts and can lead to loss of consciousness and death within an hour. In freezing water this can take place within a few minutes.
Hof shows remarkable resilience to cold temperatures.
His techniques manage to keep the body out of hypothermia for at least 80 minutes, with exposure to icy conditions witnessed for up to two hours.
Hof’s tip for beginners taking up his wellness exercises is to turn those hot showers into cold ones. The first few are miserable, he says, but you soon learn to adapt to the temperature change.
A study by researcher Maria Hopman revealed Hof’s heart stayed low and his blood pressure remained normal when exposed to the cold.
“”Hof can turn up his heating system to three times the normal rate. He also does not shake and shiver, which is normally what the body would do to get warm. We don’t understand how this is possible,” she said.
Like Hopman, another team of medical researchers from the Hypothermia Faculty of the University of Minnesota in America concluded Hof could stoke up his body temperature without any external heat source.
“It’s a mystery that we have not yet come close to solving. It tells us that there’s enormous potential within the brain that is going untapped. And if we can study him more, and study people like him more, maybe we can unleash that potential for the rest of us,” said team leader Ken Kamler.
In a news article, Kamler and Hof describe the results of their first meeting.
“It’s very easy to speculate that the same mind control that you use to control your heart when you’re scared also can be called upon to control the other organs in the body. And maybe that’s how Wim Hof does this.
“It’s speculation, but it sort of makes sense, and a lot of scientists are working very hard to try to figure this out now.”
There are new studies being produced on a regular basis now showing that Cold Therapy has numerous health benefits from sports people, sick, to healthy individuals looking for that extra edge
How Wim Hof practices his method
In an interview published by The Smithsonian Institute, Hof explained he happened on his method by trial and error.
“I had to find the interconnection of my brain together with my physiology,” he said.
The first step is laying down in a comfortable place to start a series of deep-breathing exercises that can last for several minutes. He says he knows when he is ready because he starts to tingle, which signals a low carbon dioxide level in the blood.
“That’s what nature meant us to do, breathe deep when we are stressed,” Hof says.
Tests show that when Hof is in this state, his body releases chemicals into the blood that relax his systems and inhibit pain and cold receptors.
One doctor testing the Wim Hof Method, Otto Muzik of Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, theorises the technique may work in the short term, he cannot explain how Hof can endure cold or heat for so long.
“While Hof’s method may work for short periods in terms of tricking the mind into ignoring extreme cold, it is less clear how the technique might help human bodies resist the physical effects that one might expect from climbing snowy mountains in shorts,” says Muzik.
“Nor does it explain being able to survive in the desert without water.
“You can think whatever you want but your body still freezes and you are dead.”
Benefits of the Wim Hof Method
Even though Hof admits the benefits of his method are speculation rather than scientifically proven, he lists a string of possible benefits from his technique:
· Relieving an overactive auto-immune system and aiding conditions such as rheumatism
· Fortifying the heart and cardiovascular system by exposure to cold
· Maintaining brown fat to regulate body temperature
· Cleansing the body and generating more energy
· Improving stamina and endurance
More research is underway, according to the Wim Hof Method web site, including a study on how the technique helps people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis by Radboud University Medical Centre.
Other medical teams are looking at how the technique decreases pain and sensitivity to cold, metabolic activity and motivation.
The motivation study, conducted by RMIT University, Australia, is surveying how the Wim Hof Method could offer relief to patients in acute pain by asking 3,000 people practising the technique about their experiences.
How much is the Wim Hof Method course?
Fundamentals is the basis of the Wim Hof Method and comprises a 10-week online video course of 43 lessons lasting 13 hours in total.
The course offers four sections for each weekly topic — a group class, homework, stretches and guided breathing sessions along with Wim’s wise whispers.
The topics covered include stress control, energy management and spirituality.
The cost is US$297 or 249 euros.
The Wim Hof Method web site also has a free three-part mini courseand a 10-week no frills course for $199 or 179 euros.
Qualified Wim Hof Method instructors deliver training and events worldwide if you want a personal experience of how the techniques work, including ice baths.
Prices vary, but seem to be set around the $100/100 euro mark.
Find a Wim Hof Method event in Thailand
The Wim Hof Method also has a smartphone app that links to the Apple Watch which includes videos explaining the techniques, scientific papers and a tracker to log training and progress.
Download the official app for iPhone or iPad
Download the official app for Android
Celebrity endorsements
Wim Hof has earned some plaudits from celebrities — including several athletes and even British and US comedian Russell Brand.
Brand has a podcast The Cold Is Your Teacher with The Ice Shaman Wim Hof online.
Other testimonials are listed from fighter Alastair Overeem; surfer Laird Hamilton and sports coach Brian Mackenzie.
Wim Hof — Crank or guru?
So is Wim Hof a modern guru with a relevant message to deliver or a crank with some quack medical theories?
The suspicion is sometimes these exercise regimes work because we want them to without any underlying rhyme or reason, but occasionally an individual comes along who breaks the mould and stands out as someone who can deliver what they say.
This guide has worked through the claims and evidence so you can decide if Hof joins the likes of Uri Geller and other tricksters who make a good living from pedalling self-promotion and exploiting a grey area of science that no one can prove or disprove, or if his method genuinely assists in promoting health and fitness.
Hof says he wants to establish beyond speculation that his techniques have a positive physical effect that anyone following his instruction can apply.
But he admits the benefits are not yet scientifically proven.
“We trust that it will be proven soon so that anyone can influence their autonomic nervous system and immune system and that this is only the beginning of a new or possibly a very old approach to health. Until such a time, we can make use of the results obtained in scientific studies thus far to obtain an indication of what possibilities we can expect the method to provide,” he writes in his e-book.
