DO THIS To Reduce Inflammation & Become IMMUNE TO ILLNESS! | Wim Hof & Mark Hyman

This is the time for awakening to our inner mechanisms, our potential, the way nature meant it to be.

Welcome to Doctor's Pharmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman. That's Pharmacy with an F-A-R-M-A-C-Y, a place for conversations that matter. And if you want to know how to hack your biology and attain superpowers that aren't really super but are just our human powers that we haven't accessed, you're going to love this conversation with my friend, Wim Hof, who I've known for many years, I've experienced some of his teachings personally, and in fact, in his honor, he's known as the Iceman. I just took an ice bath before our podcast. I literally did. He is an extraordinary guy. He holds multiple world records for his feats of endurance and exposure to cold. He has climbed Mount Everest in shorts. He has been in an ice bath for almost two hours. Can you imagine being dunked in ice for two hours? He swam underneath the ice for almost 130 yards, which is stunning. He's been injected with biotoxins that would cause people to die and has willfully controlled his immune system to fight the infections. Imagine if we could all do that with coronavirus right now. And he is the author of this incredible new book called the Wim Hof Method, Activate youe Full Human Potential. And he is not kidding. The benefits of Wim's method, now practiced by tens of thousands, have been validated by eight university research studies. So this is not just hokey pokey kind of super duper parlor trick. This is validated scientific techniques that help you access parts of yourself that you have never even dreamed you could and empower you in ways to not only create health but to actually have a happy fulfilled life, which is a side effect. He's been featured on GOOPs Labs, six-part Netflix series in episode two, which I encourage you to watch called Cold Comfort. He's been on the BBC Vice Media Discovery Channel and Now, he was featured also in a best-selling book called what Doesn't Kill Us by Scott Carney. And he lives in the Netherlands with his family where he's speaking to us today. And I'm so glad to be able to have you on the podcast. Before COVID I only did podcasts in person.

Now I can talk to anybody, anywhere in the world. It's pretty awesome.

So you're welcome to the podcast, Wim. Thank you, thank you, Mark. You made your mark with this one. Well, I remember we shared the stage at Tony Robbins' event, and you came on before me, and there was no competing. You've got our stage. you jumped and you did a giant split, then you played your guitar, and then you gave this incredible talk, and I'm like, all right, I don't know what I'm going to do. And then I actually been in one of your workshops where I literally was able to easily hold my breath for over two minutes without any stress or pain or discomfort using these techniques that really are pretty extraordinary. You hold 26 world records from climbing Mount Everest in your shorts to running across in a mar-- doing a marathon in the Namibian desert at 104 degrees, without drinking any water, you don't actually quite sound human. So how did you get started on this? You weren't born the Iceman. How did you become the Iceman?

Yeah, exactly. I was born a human, like anybody else, but I think it was a trauma. Not only me, I say this, it was my mother. I was one of the twins. One of the twins and unexpected. I was the second. I was too long in. And then I almost suffocated and I was born in the cold of the hole, just before entering into the operation room. So I think it is, it inflicted a trauma right over there. And that made me different. That made me different of my identical twin. It were, you know, being getting born, being almost suffocated in the cold of a hole that inflicts on that little being there, something you don't know but it's there. And that made me always different of my twin brother, identical twin brother, because he has been experimented or researched upon because we are identical.

That's incredible, yeah.

And it shows that he is not capable of doing what I do because I trained. But the drive I got from that trauma made me a soul searcher, a searcher for something that is deeply within me. And I had to go and connect with that and solve it. And then, you know where I solved it, where I found it? When I was 17, consciously, I felt the attraction to go into the cold water. I just felt and I went in and it felt like, this is it. I was looking for this. Without words. And that made me feel good. And then the other day, I went back and I did the same thing and it felt good. as it did the first day. And then I began to do it, of course, every day. And then what happens when you go into the cold water, you do.

You.

Take a deep breath. That's natural, a natural reflex, because you need to influence your biochemistry deeply when cold ice water, which is a stressor, is inflicting upon you as an impact, you need to change the biochemistry inside. And that is done by deep breathing.

Yeah.

Then I separated the deep breathing at home, doing it at home, and I saw all what I had been reading upon these chakras, the esoteric disciplines. I learned to control the breath. and to manipulate my nervous system, endocrine system, to the level of the autonomic nervous system. This was thought of impossible by humans. So I did this for 25 years on my own, because everybody was thinking I was crazy. Swimming outside.

Well, you are crazy, but that's okay. In a good way.

I'm bloody crazy about my wife and my life. Yes. And after all, it's not so crazy after all, showing insights to go past the existent paradigm of our possible influence at will within our own bodies and mind. That means the autonomic nervous system. Endocrine system, immune system, all a lymphatic system. We were believed, we were schooled in that that was impossible to interact with or to influence deeply inside those systems of ours. And now we are going in comparative studies to make people within a couple of days being able to tap into all those systems that in contrary of what was written in medical science.

Yeah, so just to put in perspective for those listening, what Wim is talking about is you have two nervous systems essentially. You have the voluntary and the involuntary nervous system. The voluntary nervous systems, you can raise your hand, you can scratch your head, you're doing that at will. But there's a whole set of operations in your body, your heart rate, your breathing, all the basic functions of digestion, your immune system, your endocrine system, they're all governed by your nervous system. It's called the automatic or autonomic or involuntary nervous system. And this is not something that we typically can control. Yes, we can control our breath, we can breathe faster, we can breathe slower, and that's the doorway you're talking about into this system. But what you're talking about is really a medical paradigm shift, which is that we can have voluntary control over what we previously thought were involuntary functions, such as Regulating our body temperature, right? Which is what you do when you climb Mount Everest in your shorts. And this is, you know, what I'm really curious about, Wim, is, you know, you mentioned these esoteric texts and in Tibet, these practices, you know, they were, we were like searching for outer space and we're going to outer space. They're going into inner space. So they, the technology systems that we've developed that are our current modern technology systems, the amount of science has gone into that. They put that into the science of the mind. into understanding our biology, understanding how to influence it. And it seems like you somehow hit upon that. There's an ancient technique called Tumo from the Tibetans, which is used as a spiritual practice where they teach monks how to dry the sheets. They dip sheets in ice water, they wrap themselves in the sheets, and when they're able to dry the sheets, then they send them up to the top of the mountain in their underwear to sit in the snow all night, not freezing to death. And essentially, Was that the thing you read about that got you started thinking about this?

Yes, absolutely. And it got me absolutely intrigued because there is not only more than meets the eye, I wanted to find it. I wanted to find what was written in all these esoteric books from the Bible to the Quran to the Bhagavad Gita to the Torah and all the textbooks on yoga. this Patanjali, all those things I wanted to see and how to experience. What are they talking about? What is this possible connection to a deeper level within? And now I found it and I brought it to science. I found the proprioception, interoception, being able to be top down regulated. So it all began with being inspired looking at Guttama, which is one of the esoteric practices of in Buddhism done by Naropa, the doctrines of yoga. Tummo is one of them. Lama Longgumpa is another is running in trance for days and trance running. Yes, trance running and you've got the levitation, Lagimya, CD. You get all kinds of supernatural, so-called supernatural abilities within us, but they have to be awakened. You have to learn to connect with those abilities. And I thought, very inspiring. But what I actually want is to find happiness, strength, and health. So for that I went inside and the cold is a it shows you who you are and what you are. You have a possibility to learn to control interior mechanisms inside through the power of your conscious will. It is concentration and then neurologically We learn to connect with systems existent within us, but within our Western science thought of impossible to connect with, impossible to connect or to control at will by humans. And now I have shown in studies how to do it. For example, The last study I did in Michigan, Detroit, psychiatry, brain scans. I showed how to tap in consciously into the deepest part of our brain, which is the pterygoid aqueductal gray hemisphere, the place where opioids and cannabinoids are being activated. But this was known to be not possible to be done at will. And now I showed how to do it in brain scans just by my sheer willpower. So in brain scans, not even moving, I was not allowed to move. Just by the power of my thought, I was able to make cold water coming on my skin and just by thought making my skin temperature not going down. That is top down regulation in theroreception, thought of non-existent in science. Now they saw, hey, I was doing that all the time and the temperature never decreased. It stayed one degree up. So one degree more than normal. There I positioned it. Apparently, that's the way it works. And it stayed over there after exposure of cold water for 45 minutes. And it stayed over there. And then they saw what normally happens with test subjects because they had 74 test subjects done the same thing in the brain scan and the fMRI. They saw them and then they saw that the insula was very low activity and the prefrontal cortex was very high activity because of the stress. But they never saw the deep brain stem activity of the periaqueductal gray hemisphere, the endocannabinoid system at work. And in my case, my endocannabinoid system inside was at will being activated. And thus I had a great time. My insula was very nice. My prefrontal cortex or the stress was not there because I had a good time while being in the brain scan exposed to icy cold Water on my skin.

Incredible. Incredible.

That shows the deep esoteric disciplines of the Kutumo and the Buddhists and the Yogis and all. This is what I show people to be able to do within a weekend.

Incredible. So let me just stop you there because what you just said there was groundbreaking. Aside from the ways in which you can control yourself, that last sentence, that this can be taught in a weekend, I'm reading a book now called the Way of the White Cloud. by Lama Govinda, maybe you know that book, and he talks about these practices, whether it's tummo, the trance walking, the levitation, these superpowers that these monks get after being in a cave for nine years meditating, or 12 years meditating. But what you're talking about is a weekend. Yes. That actually, you're not necessarily that guy who's been meditating 40,000 hours, but somehow you found a shortcut. to access your happiness. And in a way, these practices are really not about having superpowers. Who cares if you can jump in an ice-cold lake? Fine. Maybe you won't drown if you jump in the ocean if you fall off a boat. But really, it's not about that. It's about mastering control over your own biology, your own mind, in a way that most of us don't think we have the power to. So tell us, how can you take a bunch of overweight, unhealthy people from the city and have them climb Kilimanjaro in their shorts and be great after just a few days of training. Like, how does that even work? Because, you know, you've been mastering this for 25 years.

Yes. Last time I climbed Kilimanjaro in shorts, the oldest participant without former experience in mountaineering, suffering from Lyme's disease, he did it in shorts. in 31 hours. He is healing people with Lyme's disease now because he...

Normally it's four days to go up, right? To get up there.

Normally it's five to nine days and then 40% in well-dressed with a lot of layers, 40% only a summit. And in my case, everybody is going to summit and then in record times we are defying all the existent physiological laws of acclimatization of red cells and white cells, we just show a different paradigm. And that is possible in only, say, one day?

Unbelievable.

And that is amazing.

So how do you do it? Because you know, usually you have to meditate for 40,000 hours to have these changes in your brain, right? We see these altered traits. We've had Dr. Daniel Goleman on our podcast talking about these studies with Richard Davidson at the University of Michigan. looking at brain imaging of these meditators who've been meditating for 40,000 hours, these Olympic meditators, and have all this control and power over their physiology and their brain and their mood, their happiness. But you're saying it's a weekend training?

A weekend training, yeah. Maybe one day. One day.

One day.

Oh, one morning even.

Oh, God.

Mark, it's like your house is on fire. Then you don't think you do. And then incredible things happen. We think too much. We are overcomplicated. We have never learned to bring the blood flow from our neocortex into the deeper hemispheres of our brain, which is the seat of all those so-called supernatural abilities of ours. The adrenal axis we showed in comparison of research where they took the blood of people going into their first bungee jump and these people doing these breathing exercises, doing these breaths, they took the adrenaline of those people doing breathing exercises and I can show people doing that within 10 minutes that they have a higher level peaking of adrenaline then the people in fear go in for their first bungee jump. See what I mean? It's fully in control. They are lying down. They feel a kind of high and they are tapping into their adrenal axis deeper than those people going into their first bungee jump.

That's incredible.

If you have a control over the adrenal axis, then you know how to reset yourself to the way nature meant it to be, to be the utmost of functionality because there is danger. And now you get in control over that. And then suddenly the tables are turned. Then suddenly bacteria and virus and.

How.

Do you say anxiety and all those things, they disappear.

Yeah. Incredible. Incredible. So you talk about cold being your only master, your only teacher. Why is cold so healing?

I call this because it shuts up. It's not complicated. You just have to adapt. Learning about the mind is learning how to let go of your fear, anxiety, too much thinking, overthinking, complicated being, No, in the cold, you learn to let go so the body is able to respond, to adapt. And then you get into the adaptive mode of the immune system. You get into the adaptive power of the body and you learn about it. And with that, because when you go into the cold and you learn to do that on regular basis, then the neurology changes and you get neurological pathways to the adaptive power of your own body, the way nature equipped you with. Very logical. And then bacteria and virus and anxiety, mood regulation, all those things, they happen naturally. Because that's the way we are built. We are built to be not in anxiety, because we have to judge and to be alert. We have a system for that inside. So depression, bipolar and all those things, we are doing the studies now with San Francisco and Michigan on bipolar and depression to show that we have found keys to equip people with a higher control within their own brain.

Using cold therapy or using just breathing?

Breathing, most of it is breathing. Because what do you do when you go into the cold? You learn to breathe deep. So the deep breathing influences par direct the biochemistry and the biochemistry changed is learning how to suppress the inflammation.

Yeah.

And then it doesn't go through the blood brain barrier or the brain blood barrier. and affecting and deregulating their hormonal homeostasis over there, and calling a call to depression or feeling bad or feeling confused or anxiety or anything like that. We have a natural ability to rebalance our biochemistry through breathing.

With 10 minutes. Hi everyone. Hope you're enjoying the episode. Before we continue, we have a quick message from Dr. Mark Hyman about his new company, Farmacy, and their first product, the 10 Day Reset. Hey, it's Dr. Hyman. Do you have FLC? What's FLC? It's when you feel like crap. It's a problem that so many people suffer from and often have no idea that it's not normal or that you can fix it. I mean, you know the feeling. It's when you're super sluggish, your digestion's off, you can't think clearly, or you have brain fog, or you just feel run down. Can you relate? I know most people can. But the real question is, what the heck do we do about it? Well, I hate to break the news, but there's no magic bullet. FLC isn't caused by one single thing, so there's not one single solution. However, there is a systems-based approach, a way to tackle the multiple root factors that contribute to FLC. And I call that system the 10-day reset. The 10-day reset combines food, key lifestyle habits, and targeted supplements to address FLC straight on. It's a protocol that I've used with thousands of my community members to help them get their health back on track. It's not a magic bullet, it's not a quick fix, it's a system that works. If you want to learn more and get your health back on track, click on the button below or visit GetPharmacy.com that's GetPharmacy with an F, F-A-R-M-A-C-Y.com Now back to this week's episode. So what happens when we're exposed to cold, like to really cold conditions? What are the benefits? Why should we even be thinking about it? Because last thing I want to do.

Is jump in an ice cold bath.

Bath or in ice water.

I say always gradual cold exposure. Gradual. First take a cold shower. And a cold shower does wonders, miracles. Our biggest enemy within our Western society, the killer number one is cardiovascular related diseases. And anything that has got to do with the quality of life is a bad blood flow. too much stress inside because the condition of the millions of little muscles in our 100,000 kilometers, like 70,000 miles of vascular channels and capillaries, they contain all these little muscles. When they are stimulated through cold showers, they help the blood flow go through. Then the heart rate goes down 20 to 30 beats a minute, 24 hours a day. That means stress is out, and the blood flow is guaranteed going better to all cells. So oxygen, nutrients, vitamins get better into the cells, you get more energy. You get more energy and less stress. That's what the body wants. That's the natural state of our body to have sufficient energy for anything. Because that's the influencing into the Mitochondria, the energy factories, through aerobic disimulation, oxygen. Oxygen didn't get in because the blood flow is being helped through the stimulation of those millions of little muscles. And a cold shower a day keeps the doctor away. In this case, the doctor is arrived.

Okay, so how long do you have to stay in the cold shower?

It begins with 30 seconds. You gotta take the shower anyway to cleanse yourself and, you know, to be clean and everything.

So at the end, just put the coat on.

Yes, 30 seconds and naturally you will feel a boost. Naturally you will feel the effect of the stimulation on the millions of little muscles inside the interior of you. This is the greatest vascular fitness exercise ever, a cold shower. And 30 seconds, then it goes very fast because the condition of the vascular system, it goes very fast to its natural state, which should be much better than the way we are because of our destimulative behavior. Wearing clothes over our biggest organ all the time.

Yeah.

For the body, it's not logic. So, a cold shower a day, It is the best exercise to train all these little muscles. Then you get a lot more energy. You feel a boost of energy. Yeah, because it gets better into the cells. And it produces more molecules, more energy, ATP. It's all logic. And then naturally people are very fast able to prolong inside the cold shower. Go for 45 seconds to one minute. so when it arrives at three minutes, there you go. You got so much more outcome in energy in the day than the investment is by far.

It's nothing.

And you know what? A cold shower is addictive.

Yeah. I I like the cold bath. So I do the steam, then I jump in just the cold water in the bathtub, and I lay there for a bunch of minutes, and it's. It's incredible. You literally feel your system come back online, your brain come back online, your energy increase. It's pretty amazing. You created this Wim Hof method, activate your full human potential. The book is incredible. I encourage everybody to get a copy. It's really not just about a simple technique to jump in cold water. It's really about reclaiming your health, your life, your happiness, your control over everything. It's not just a little technique to get in cold water. It's the side effect of doing that is your life. You've learned how to control your breathing, your heart rate, your circulation, to withstand really extreme temperatures, to actually be injected with infectious agents that would kill people and subdue them with your immune system under your conscious control. You've developed this into a teachable method that everybody can learn. It's not, oh, here's this cool guy who can do these party tricks. It's like, this is a gift you're giving to the world. It sort of seems like a little bit of a shortcut than living in a cave and meditating for nine years and sort of cheating, but it really isn't. And you really developed these three simple pillars, cold exposure, conscious breathing and the power of your mind. So can you talk about the method and how it works and what we should be doing?

First of all, in the new book of Scott Carney, he is an investigative journalist. and he wrote that book, what Doesn't Kill youl, which has been sold in 34 languages all over the world, very successful, New York Times bestseller, blah, blah, the whole thing. And he was to debunk me six years ago.

Good luck with that.

Yeah, he is an anthropologist and an investigative journalist. He was paid to debunk me. and then two days later he was standing in the snow barefoot doing like a cloud. He was standing in the snow, he was making himself ridiculous almost. No, he saw there that it is real. It is real. And in his new book he tells and he was investigating a lot of doctors and one of them is a psychiatrist doctor who's into brain scans and all. And he tells that Professor Musick, Professor Musick states Wim Hof has found the secret of placebo. What we see as mind power, but we don't know where it is, placebo. Now it is a tool, it's an entity, and we are able to connect with our will with that power of the mind and to intensify even the placebo effect and to make it even stronger.

That's even for people whose minds aren't disciplined or trained. You're saying this is possible.

Yes, yes, absolutely. Because they are born with it. Only if you are schooled all the time saying, Hey, that you are not Mark Hyman, but that you are Peter Frankl, then at a certain moment you become Peter Frankl, because Marc Haiman is not accepted, it's not the way, you cannot do this, you are crazy if you are Marc Haiman, and all those things, you know. We have been schooled that we are not able to tap in at will, with our mind, into our bodies, and to deal with stress. And that's the way we are taught. And now I teach the people within one weekend. within one weekend. I teach them to change the paradigm. Man, you can do whatever you want, but you are built to be able at will, at will to control yourself so much better inside your own body. And it's only logic. It's only logic that our will, which is already inside of our body, that is able to control. systems in our body to push buttons whenever is necessary. That is, of course, is a complete different paradigm than up till now we thought is possible. We are made to be dependent on pills, medicine, pharmacy, on McDonald's, on television, on all that. That is our system.

Yeah.

And that system is it has to change because that system is polluting the world, sodomizing the planet, exploiting the planet and we become insensitive to ourselves and to others. This is the time for awakening to our inner mechanisms, our potential, the way nature meant it to be. the way nature gave it to us at birth. And we have to listen to that.

It seems like there's little doorways that you've created, right? The cold exposure, the breathing techniques, the meditation mindset that you use in the book. These are the sort of doorways that people can access these abilities that help them manage their own minds and manage their own happiness and well-being. and their health in ways that are pretty striking. I want to just chat with you for a minute about this experiment that you did, which I still find mind-blowing, which is you willingly let doctors inject a known biotoxin from E. Coli into your bloodstream, knowing that this is something that would kill a normal person. Yet, you were able to overcome this using your techniques and manage your immune system. What I'm curious about is, did you consciously go, okay, I'm going to direct my immune system to fight these bacteria or these toxins or neutralize them, or were you just dropping into a state of meditation? How did that work? I mean, particularly this time of coronavirus, we're all wanting to strengthen our immune system. We're all wanting to make sure we are able to fight whatever we're exposed to. How can this play a role for us? And what did you do? And tell us about that study because.

It'S so fascinating to me. Exactly. The same inflammatory markers that are the damaging factor in COVID, in COVID what is happening now that is the cytokines. Yeah, the cytokines number one, number six, number eight and number 11. I suppressed them within a quarter of hour. And this was known not to be possible by humans. I did my breathing. I changed my biochemistry and I do it willfully and of course I know, oh the doctor is going to inject me with the endotoxemia now, the E. coli. Okay, then the E. coli is working now. Not the effect after one hour, then it is, then you begin to notice, I began directly to fight the E. Coli's reaction upon my immune cells with the immune system inside the cytokine storm and all that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I began to fight it directly by alerting my body through my mind. That was one. And through the breathing, breathing, specific breathing exercises. And they are within the method. They are very accessible for everybody and they are very effective. Not only with me, then I said, oh, but you are the Iceman. You can do this. You can get the sites down where 16,000 people could not. You are the first one to show a complete different, yeah, a complete different picture. Oh, you have gone into the autonomic nervous system. You have been influencing into the endocrine system, into the immune system, thought of all not possible. And you have done that. But you are the Iceman. Then I said, no, no, no, no. I'm the Iceman.

No.

At the most, maybe you can say, I'm a nice man. Iceman, that is nice for my ego, but I'm just a simple man, nice man, But let me tell you, we can do so much more than what you guys are thinking of in the science. We are built to be able to tackle disease, to prevent from disease. For that we have our will and our ability through our breath, manipulation of our breath to go deeply within and to change the biochemistry, to be on the alert, to activate the adrenal axis to the utmost, and then danger can be emotional danger, emotional stress, mental stress, bacterial stress, viral stress. Any stress in the end is cell biological stress, which is danger. And then the adrenal axis activation takes care of that.

Wow. There it is. But you also said you did also the study with people who weren't you and I read that they actually were also able to do the same thing you did even though they weren't the Iceman. They were like four other volunteers who were agreed to be injected with these toxins.

Exactly, 18 others.

Wow.

Yes. randomly chosen of those 18 after four days of training were exposed to the E. Coli bacteria as well. And they all showed 100% being able to control and suppress the cytokine storm, the inflammation. They all felt good. They made jokes. They said they didn't inject the us with E. Coli, but with sugar water.

That's unbelievable. And they measured the cytokines and they measured all of that and they saw that change in your biology, which we only see often with medication or not at all. I mean, it almost seems like this is such a simple technique to everybody to learn to help fortify them against coronavirus, right? I mean, even if you have coronavirus, do you think you could actually help to reduce the inflammation as a result of it?

Absolutely. Especially when you feel the symptoms. and I heard many already, but it is not medically researched. I don't know why, maybe they are not interested, like yourself in your position with integrative medicine, you cannot make the money out of that. But it doesn't matter. Let's go past and let's get back to the facts. The fact is that the cytokines the interlukin number one, number six, number eight and 11 are the damaging factors of the COVID And we showed in 2014 in a comparative study within groups, we showed to suppress it within a quarter of an hour. When you feel symptoms of COVID then get into the breathing and you will be effectively able to suppress the cytokine. that's it.

That's unbelievable. So share with us what a technique of breathing that you teach us.

You just lie on the sofa or in bed and then relax. And the relaxed body is able to store up oxygen in the tissue. So relax. There's nothing going on. Nice. Then you take a full breath in. from the belly, chest, and you let it go. And once again. And once again. We do this 30 times. Fully in. Let it go. Fully in. Let it go. Keep on going. I explain what is happening. We are blowing off the carbon dioxide, but it becomes very alkaline, more than normal. And that is a sign within the brain, two alkaline, two alkaline, adrenal axis activation. The adrenaline pumps in, It peaks and anything that should not be inside of the body is going to be eliminated, suppressed. And what is it in COVID? Cytokines.

So.

If you activate the adrenal axis through doing this 30 times, then we go after 30 times because the oxygen trigger to breathe is carbon dioxide but it's blowing off. Body is very alkaline. Your biochemistry is great. It's great. And you just exhale. You hold after the exhale. So only a residual amount of air is left in the lungs. And you stay in that condition. And then easily you are able to go one minute, one and a half minutes, maybe two minutes if you have done well the 30 deep breaths. Two minutes with a residual amount of air in your lungs for two minutes without breathing. And that what happens? Of course, the brainstem, the primitive oxygen parameters, they say there is no oxygen, no oxygen. and they shoot into the adrenaline, it's all reactive. So the brainstem, the reactive part of our brain, it's just the buttons are pushed and then the adrenaline shoots out, epinephrine shoots out over all the body. And this is very good to detoxify. So people with a hangover, if they do this, 20 minutes, they detoxify. They can go for a drink again.

So. So the idea is to do 30 breaths, then you hold your breath for a minute or two, and then you do it again.

After the exhalation. After the exhalation. And then at the end, or when you feel the urge of breathing again, you take a fully in. You hold for 15 seconds. Fully in, hold and squeeze a little bit to your head. because it's nice. You bring in cerebrospinal fluid to the head, then it gets into the brain stem and into the limbic system, into the midbrain, where we normally don't have so much blood flow because we always think, think, think is where the blood flow goes. Now we push it from the inside, inside the deepest part of the brain, and then suddenly it begins to become neurally alive. And then we are able to connect at will because that's neurology. So we are and then we get a sense of control over our mood. That is mood, absolute mood regulation. In case of people with depression, mostly it's caused by inflammation and stress and emotional deprivation. all that creates a biological or a biochemical deficit. And through doing this, you feel you're filling up the tank and you feel that you are in control and nobody wants to feel bad. Then they feel good again.

That's incredible. So basically the technique is 30 breaths, hold for a minute or two, take a breath, hold for 15 seconds and then repeat.

Yes, you will see, find out that every time it goes and easier and longer.

So do this for 20 minutes a day, is what you're saying. That's it.

That's what we do right now in San Francisco, big study on the DNA with this method, with this breathing. And it's amazing, the results are amazing on the DNA.

So let's see, two or three minute cold shower and 20 minutes of breathing and you can give up all your winter clothes.

Yep, you can hit the road anytime without car.

You can fight coronavirus. You can feel happy, empowered and control of yourself.

You feel the connection. And then when you need it, you know what to do. You just go within. And then you learn about the lost connection within because of our exterior way of gaining information, control over the world, et cetera. And that the control inside we lost, and now it's back. And we don't need to sit for nine years in a cave.

That's incredible. That's incredible. It's incredible to me because I've always thought that you need to practice and practice and practice and meditate, meditate, meditate for decades in order to be able to.

You know what, Mark? they compared, they compared 10 minutes of this breathing, specifically breathing, it brings people deeper in the brain than people who are doing exercising for four hours, a mindfulness a day, four years.

Wow. All right, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. I'm starting tomorrow.

Anybody can do this.

I'm starting today. Starting today. I'm so excited about your book because your book, the Wim Hof Method: Achieving Full Human Potential, is exactly about teaching you how to do this. It's not just the theory, it's not just all the stories of how you had these superhuman feats, but it's really about how you as an individual can overcome some of the challenges we face as human beings that make us feel powerless over our own minds, over our own happiness, our own life, our own well-being, our own health, And this is a very, very empowering idea that you're...

Yeah, especially right now with all the turmoil, the confusion, the anxiety, and the helplessness against the COVID Man, there is so much more within us and it's time to wake up.

Yeah, it's so beautiful. It's like you're the unlikeliest guru. I love... It is. this crazy guy from the Netherlands who just like found some doorway into something that was obscure to most of us for thousands of years. And I'm just so grateful for your work and your commitment. And, you know, I know you've got- Like what?

I'm honored. I'm honored to be your guest on your podcast. Thank you very much. Of course. You are a great, bloody great guy.

Thank you. Well, we have fun together when we're together. Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. And I'm coming. I want to go as soon as COVID lightens up. I want to go do one of your week-long, what is it, week-long workshops in Poland. You go to the ice in the winter.

It's like four or five days. And the end, you will be exposed to the elements of cold, wind, that is wind chill and all. for five hours in your shorts and you're going to have a great bloody great time.

Oh my God, I need it, you know why? Because I love swimming and there's lakes here and I went in yesterday, it was a little chilly. I was like, I came out freezing, I'm like, oh no, Wim's going to be mad at me, I was so cold, I had to come and take a hot shower.

Man, I don't like, yeah, I love hot showers. But I also love the, you know, the cold. The cold gives you such a power. And if you do the cold on a regular basis, like daily, you become, when you get older, and you know, so many people get older and get so many inflammation and deterioration of their condition and this, you will never get sick. No, no, no. more.

It's amazing. Yeah, I know, speaking of that, I think looking at the studies you've done and combining cold exposure and breathing, meditation, and your mental attitude, it's had huge effects on people's health. And, there are many students that you've had who are practicing this method for years and they've been able to reverse diseases, things like diabetes and Parkinson's and lose weight and do incredible feats of that system.

Autoimmune.

How does that work? I mean, can you share some of these stories? Because this seems like a revolutionary approach to treating illness. Yes.

Autoimmune diseases is inflammation based on inflammation cytokines, cytokine storms, an overreactive immune system, and we had no control over this. So when you begin to do this, you learn to tap into the adaptive immune system. You learn to go into the innate immune system, both. And suddenly your rheumatism, arthritis, psoriasis, a disease of Crohn's, Parkinson's, all these things begin to become within your control. You sense it, you feel it. You don't need to know what is all happening. You simply sense that you are in control over the inflammatory markers. The inflammation doesn't happen anymore. How is that possible? Now, that is what is happening. And that it needs to be researched. And into the research right now with the Rutgers University here on rheumatism, on arthritis, because hundreds of people with arthritis and it's gone. They control it.

It's incredible.

Without medicine, without pills, they just control it. They got there and the doctor say, Spontaneous remission. Look into the healing power of Forna with.

Well, I'm very close to the rheumatology department at Cleveland Clinic and the doctors there are very interested in open to these ideas and be amazing to do a study. I love that.

Yes, please. Let's go.

Because autoimmune disease affects 80 million people more than diabetes, more than heart disease, more than cancer together. And the treatments we have are only somewhat effective and often have a lot of side effects and costs. So I think it's a really important idea. I love this idea. So we're going to figure this out. Now, one of the other things is really relevant.

Mark, this is very important.

I know.

Studies, non-speculative evidence-based trials is what you need to say.

I agree.

Because 80 million people relieving of their suffering by autonomy within themselves, that is love.

Yeah. All right. You just said it. It's love. That is exactly what this is all about. I just, you're so full of love. You're so so giving, you're so on a mission to teach people how to be happy and be empowered. And, you know, right now is one of the most challenging times in a long time in human history. And we're all facing the threat of economic loss, the disruption of our social fabric, the incredible fear and disease, the depression and loss of autonomy. I mean, there's so many things that are taking us down. And I know this is a very tough time for a lot of people. and what you're saying is that a lot of this is in our minds. I mean, there are realities externally that are real and yes, there's loss and there's all sorts of things, but how we handle that is up to us. And using these methods in this power of learning how to regulate your own biology and your own health, that actually you can relieve things like depression and anxiety. Yes. And talk about how that works because we sort of hinted at it. But I think it's worth spending a minute talking about how these techniques, the Wim Hof method that you describe in your book, Achieving youg Full Human Potential, which everybody should get, and I'm excited to have my copy and go through it and practice it, is how can we use this method to help us with this difficult time and how does it work to relieve depression and anxiety?

Exactly. Depression is directly related to to a deregulated biochemistry, inflammation, a deregulated immune system caused by oxidative stress, could be stress from mental stress, emotional stress, bacterial, viral, doesn't matter. It's all cell biological stress. Are we able to have a cell biological stress influenced positively by us at will? Yes, we have.

Before you go on, I just want to make a point. For those listening, depression from the traditional scientific perspective now we understand is a disease of inflammation in the brain. So, if you're depressed, your brain's on fire. That's why what women is talking about is so important. So, continue. I just wanted to make that point. Yes.

So that is deregulating the hormonal balance of dopamine, serotonin in the brain because of the inflammation. Are we? The question is, are we? And inflammation is the cause and effect of actually any disease. But let's get back. Are we able to bring down inflammatory markers or inflammation? And I say yes. within a quarter of hour. Within a quarter of hour, I mean, a very developed stage of disease takes more time, of course. It takes healing, it takes energy, it takes plasticity and all. We are all able to influence therein vigorously if we just take up the techniques well, I've seen so many people with so many diseases thought of incurable without the aid of pills and medicines. And now these people took on these natural ways and they cure. They get a control, a sense of control within their own bodies. And then it all starts. But for prevention, I tell you, and depression, which is inflammation. We are very able within 20 minutes to feel a different human condition of the mind within 20 minutes. Just do this breathing and then find out and feel because feeling in the end is the real understanding.

Wow. Incredible, Liam. I mean, this is such a gift. You know, one of the things that you talk about is how when we push ourselves physically, that we learn about our boundless capacity as humans and of our spirit. Can you talk about that?

Yes, the human performance. When I get people, anybody, within five minutes, I can make them doubling their push-ups performance without breathing.

Without holding your breath, holding your breath.

They hold their breath and push up like twice the amount in number of their push-ups they ever did.

Wow, so I can do 50 push-ups. You're gonna get me to 100? Yes.

And then without the aid of breathing.

Wow.

Okay, so you do tomorrow or after this, because you gotta lay on the ground. But this is what it is. We are able to influence par direct into the biochemistry, into the muscle tissue and make it alkaline. Then you know performance when you become sore, acidic, you're not able to perform anymore.

Yes.

But if you make it super alkaline, you keep on going because the neurotransmitters are able to keep on going. This is the simplicity of performance. It's learning how to control and influence deeply into your biochemistry. Are we able to do that? Yes. We showed this. And that's it. We are incredible.

All of us. Well, you know, what you're talking about is regulating your pH through through the breath. So for people who aren't medical, your pH, you know, is your acid alkaline balance, and it's kept to a very strict number in your body, 7.4. But it can vary slightly, and it has big impacts on your physiology, on chemical reactions, on performance. And the best way to quickly regulate, the only way to quickly regulate your pH is through your breath. So carbon dioxide, if it builds up, will tend to make you more alkaline, right? And if it's low, it'll make you more acidic. So if you're increasing your carbon dioxide, you're actually becoming more alkaline, right?

Yeah, yeah. What we do is actually blowing up carbon dioxide. We blow it off. We blow it off and it's being measured in the university. and it shows that the pH level went from 7.37.4 to 7.8 to 8 even. And you know what happens with the virus? They become irreversibly damaged viruses when it reaches the point of 8.

That is... That's more alkaline.

Yes, very alkaline. But it only peaks And then it comes back to its original state. But you know what happens in most of the people with autoimmune diseases, they have a chronic presence of being slightly acidic.

Acidic, yes.

The lymphatic system and they don't clean up inside whatever the reason, doesn't matter, it's there and that is the foundation for a deregulation of the immune system. In the end, it gets back into the system. And with these techniques, we are able to empty the lymphatic system of being acidic and make it make the right to clean it up. That's prevention of autoimmune diseases. So simple.

Depression, autoimmunity, happiness. Yes.

Happiness. Yeah, man. so good.

So what do you say to people who kind of say, oh, this is nonsense. This can't be true. I don't believe it.

This is what I always say, you know, nonsense. Try to sense this. Feeling is the understanding. Do it just once and then judge.

Yeah, that's good. I think try it. You like it. Like I said, right?

Yeah.

So you, you've inspired so many people around the world. What would be most proud of what you've done?

Every time I get a letter that I saved somebody's life or that he cured of a terrible disease or depression or being out of this dark space where they have been with a family, for God's sake, not being able to be a genuine, beautiful father or mother. over their children, then that blesses my soul. That is the best.

Yeah, it is. It's nice hearing those stories. I think it's just incredible. And, you know, Wim, what's your vision for the Wim Hof Method? What would you like to see happen with this? You're putting this book out in the world. You've been doing this for a long time. You have a cult of followers, but now you're getting out into a bigger stage. What's your vision?

My vision is that we actually.

I.

Want to show that everybody is able to awake through a non-dogmatic choice to become happy, which is the control over the hormonal system, to become healthy, which is the control over the immune system, and to become strong, which is the control over the metabolic processes in the cell. Are we able to do this? We have shown this in science. And now it's coming to you as a non-dogmatic choice. And that's what I wish people to be happy, strong, and healthy, man. It's a great place. Let's enjoy.

I love that. You know, I think it's so true. I mean, you're, you're such a gift to the world, and, and you've taken something that's very abstract and mystical and religious and turned into something that's really practical, accessible, immediate and Powerful, and its ability to reset your mind and your body on a path from disease and depression and despair to hope and happiness and health. And I mean it's just an incredible gift and I'm just so happy to know you and I'm so excited. When are you going to do your courses again? Because I want to... Are they happening?

Most welcome to come anytime when it's possible when the presidency allows us to travel again.

Okay, so everybody should check out his book, the Wim Hof Method, and activate your full human potential. It's out, you can get it everywhere you get books. Go to his website, wimhofmethod.com, it's an incredible treasure trove of information.

I gotta say something. On our website, we have developed a free app, and the free app really covers all the basics. You never have to see me again. Just take on the free app and become happy, strong and healthy. If you want to get to know me and do some crazy stuff like climbing a mountain in your shorts, then come, welcome.

Great. And you know what? You also have these great online courses, right? Wimhofmethod.com/elearning. So you don't have to go to Poland and sit in an ice bath in Poland. which sounds like fun ish. Which sort of sounds like fun, I think. That's what I want to do on my vacations. I'm excited about going and you can learn yourself at home and I encourage you to check out Wim's stuff. He's one of a kind and he's opened a doorway that most of us never dreamed we could possibly enter. And it's really three minutes in the shower a day, 20 minutes of breathing and that's a great way to start. There's much deeper dive in the book, so check it out. I know you'll love it. and leave a comment if you love this podcast. We'd love to hear from you what your thoughts are if you've ever tried the method or know someone who has or curious about it, tell us about your story. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and share with your friends and family on social media and everywhere you can share because this is a groundbreaking podcast that I think will help millions of people if really you dig in and share.

That's power.

Thank you so much, women.

Happiness and strength for everybody. That's power. It's called love.

Love. Amen to that. All right. Well, thank you all for joining us in the doctor's pharmacy. Thank you, Wendy, for being here. And I will see you in an ice bath soon.

Yes. Love it.