Wim HofInstructor and teacher, Wim Hof Method

I could not do it the first time. I was absolutely paralysed. #part1

25 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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1:10

Wim Hof froze trying to jump off a bridge, paralyzed by trauma from his wife Olaya jumping from an eight-story height years earlier. Despite his reputation for extreme feats, the memory stopped him cold.

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Oh, Quentin, man, the way that all began. We— this was the first bridge, and I could not do it the first time. I was not able to go, uh, from the bridge and jump, and I all prepared because my wife, Olaya, the mother of my 4 children, she jumped from 8 stories down, and that, uh, made me— I could not I was absolutely paralyzed. And I'm a guy who is climbing without gear, rocks, and going under the ice. I was blocked at that moment. This was 1 year or 2 years— 5 years after. 5 years after, it was still, of course, there. This thought of how I actually jumped down. That is too much to handle inside. And that trauma came to life there at the bridge. The first time I was not able to do anything.