The first time I heard of The Iceman, I assumed he was a Marvel villain. It turns out, Wim Hof was a legend for his ability to hike mountains half-naked and break world records while submerged in ice. He was a marvel, indeed.
Wim’s cold journey began roughly 40 years ago, on a wintry Sunday morning while walking through a local park in Amsterdam. He had found himself staring into the icy water and, after jumping in, Wim left this review. “I felt this attraction to the thin layer of ice on the water. So I looked around, undressed, and fell deeply into the water. I didn’t feel the cold whatsoever, I played with the ice and felt an internal power and connection.”
After the tragic suicide of his wife and the mother to his 4 young children, Wim had been searching for deep healing and a connection to something beyond religion and philosophy. He found both, that day in the cold canal, and returned the next day to receive the healing again. As these private plunges continued, Wim worked to cultivate his now-famous breathing method finding he could stay submerged without taking a breath for 6–7 min, “no problem.” Over the next 25 years, Wim continued this daily routine but didn’t tell anyone. He simply showed up in shorts, and, in the silence of the snow and frozen canal, he became at one with the cold. Wim Hof had found the divine connection he had been searching for.
