One Week Training with Wim Hof | Short Documentary

You work very decently.

Well, I wanted to come here and experience this with Wim Hof because there's nothing like firsthand experience. You know, you can listen to a podcast or read a book, and I've watched all the Wim videos, But to get a chance to come and actually stay at the master's house, it's like going to see Yoda. I couldn't pass that opportunity down.

There's nobody else like Wim Hof. There's nobody else who has the body of knowledge that he has. And there's nobody really in a close second.

I decided to come to the experience because I didn't want to come. I Googled Wim Hof, I saw what he was doing, I was like, "Oh, hell no, I don't want to do that." But the rule is fear is a compass, you got to do what you're afraid of.

Going and hanging out with strangers for 5 days and not being able to escape is like massive discomfort. I spend my life giving speeches and running courses and retreats for other people. It's always on my terms. So to go somewhere where it's like someone else is in charge, and in this case it happens to be this Iceman who's got his own agenda every day, who is known for going rogue and throwing out all of the plans and doing something complete. So you— so much of it is just, well, I'm not in control here. And for me personally, that's a good thing to experience, not being in control. Like, well, I guess I'm not deciding. Oh, the jumping! And this is colder than any water I've ever been in.

Do it very decently.

Fuck it up!

Fuck this, Wim!

Yeah, if you go to the black, not the narrow side. Wim was eyeballing the rocks to see where was safe. He— I'm like, why is he— he knows this thing, so why is he like seeing, oh, it's okay to jump here or here?

Yeah, you can do that way.

Yeah, that was more terrifying because now I wasn't just afraid of cold water. I thought, oh, I'm gonna, you know, jump onto a rock.

Close.

Yeah, about 3m, 2m out. Past that white? Yes, past that white.

Yes, over these two?

Yes, over the beginning here, inside of that big one.

3, 2, 1. Yeah! When I landed, the The shock of the cold water was a little bit lost on me. So like I came out and it was almost so fast that I didn't have time. And that has been one of the big things that I've taken away from this. The amount of time thinking that leads to overthinking, that leads to over-analysis, that leads to paralysis, that leads to shame because you now can't do it. That you create all these blockages because you've thought so much about a thing.

Let's go, baby! Yes!

I have no swimming experience. I've never jumped in water before. When I was getting ready to jump, I was super scared. I was afraid of hitting the rocks. I was afraid of not being able to get out of the water. I was afraid of the cold. But nobody was pressuring me. I was feeling encouragement.

Let's go!

There's 7 billion people in the world, and we met with the best in the world at what he does, and that's a privilege. And with that comes responsibility to absorb it and transfer it to my kids, to anyone that wants to listen to me, and, and to apply it to my own life.

Yeah, 10 minutes in the ice-cold water.

The fear was so strong that I thought, I'm not even— pride doesn't even matter. I just don't want to do this.

Yes, yes, boom!

I spent the first minute rehearsing my apology to the rest of the group, being like, guys, I'm sorry, I thought I could do this, I can't do it, I gotta get out, sorry guys. And being like, crap, I can't get out, I can't get out.

Hands on your thighs! Let your body do what your body is able to do.

Even though nobody is sure putting any pressure, you don't want to be that first guy out. You don't want anybody to go out.

Eventually, I just, I committed to it. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I was still genuinely afraid. What if I might hurt myself? What if it does some kind of real damage?

That first minute and a half, it just kept getting worse and worse and colder and colder. Finally, I focused on my breathing and it settled down. And the moment I focused on my breathing and it settled down, the pain didn't go away. I just had a better relationship with the pain. And it took another 2 minutes to just gain my composure. And it makes me think of how many things I cut short in my life because I couldn't handle that first 2 minutes. It surprised me how resilient my body is, how resilient my mind is, and how simply focusing on your breath— like, there's nothing mystical and magical happening here. This isn't a secret breath technique. This is just paying attention to how you breathe and being very purposeful with each breath you take and how much that can help you and benefit you in your life, especially in the most difficult moments. And I was shocked at how quickly learning that had instant results.

There it is, guys! Oh yeah! Easy money! Easy money!

We created a bond through discomfort. We have to be uncomfortable. We have to be uncomfortable with the people we care about, and that's the bonding. I developed 13 brothers and 13 heroes on this trip. And they're encouraging me to turn myself into my own hero as well.

It's like we just became a team, like a team of brothers, you know? Because we were doing hard shit. We were doing really hard shit. Everybody was there for each other, helping everyone else get through it. And I know that helped me at times. I know I hopefully helped others at times as much as they helped me. And I think that whenever you share something like that with other people, it's like there's a connection there that can never break.

The authenticity of coming to where this whole philosophy came from, you can just feel the presence of something even higher than Wim. It's wild. And that was— I didn't expect that.

I hadn't done a lot of breathing exercises, and so the effects of those, I didn't really know.

Fill up your last bit in your head and let it go. Oh yeah, just mind about the breath. Follow your breath. The breath is the guide. Oh yeah, let it go. Oh yeah, let it go.

But it was just kind of mind-blowing how deep and how mysterious serious, the mental states I was getting into just by breathing. Really powerful.

Let it go and stop. Magic is going to happen.

You're hit with different feelings. You're either hit with— some people experience big emotional reactions. I think everyone experiences a big physical reaction to that. It is a crazy kind of high that you experience from doing that, and then a very peaceful feeling afterwards.

Free your mind, free your past. Release the traumas. It's time for you to rise to your capacities. You are the one to make that difference.

Eyes closed for, I don't know, the sessions must have been 90 minutes. I've never done anything like that. I don't do yoga. I don't really meditate. And I got super emotional. I just did not expect that. I thought I was going to breathe, feel good, and go and enjoy my merry way. And this was like unbelievable.

Breath is the carrier of your willful consciousness. The breath goes everywhere. You can go everywhere and make change.

I found myself at the end like crying, yeah. The crying was almost like laughter, it was hard to tell which one it was. And it was unique because there's absolutely no thought or memory attached to it whatsoever. It's just like pure emotion coming out of me.

Yeah, give him a hug, man. Yeah.

Great. Usually if I cry, there's a reason I'm crying. Like I thought of something sad or I saw something sad or saw something beautiful. But it wasn't like that. It was like just a feeling coming out. So I don't really know what that is or how to explain that, but It felt powerful to me and it felt important to me.

Relax. Back in your bodies.

Well done.

Well done.

I think what's really we're seeing here in the breathwork is something else that's really special and powerful, and that's the release of emotions that have been stored and things that have come up. You know, like, I do breathwork a lot. The second round here today, I was so happy that I started crying because I recognized how often in my life I'm not that happy.

You know, as a kid, I was teased and Been bullied a lot, and as a dad and as a father, you want to be able to shield your children away from that.

To go through this with a brand new group of guys where I really don't know any of them, and to see that outpour of emotion over the course of those 4 days from each one of them, everyone had their vulnerable moments. And that's the beautiful thing about something like this is there is no hiding, because when people are afraid, you see who they are, you see their character, you see how they respond to extreme stress, extreme fear, extreme discomfort. And you also see how they play as a team member and how they connect in those moments and how they lift each other up. It connected me to men again. It really did.

The space they made for me to be myself, the space they made for each other to be themselves, the encouragement, the positivity, The second you start to share with them and become vulnerable with them, they become actively involved and they get into it with you and to help you.

Like Mark, hearing you today, man, like that's the shit. Like I know you've run some long distances. I'm not that impressed to be honest, but I'm fucking super impressed with you from what you just said there. Like I admire you for that.

It's like Aubrey said, like, I'm not impressed. You know, like, no one cares, man, what you've done or who you are or whatever. It's like, what are you going to bring to the table here? And what are you going to share? And what can I learn from you?

Yeah, group hug. Nice.

It's important that everyone see this kind of a journey for men. To see what men can be. At their best, to see men afraid, to see men vulnerable, to see men open up emotionally, to see how men care for each other, to see how men don't feel enough, to see what they're battling with internally. This is so useful for men to see because they can see how they could be.

Let me tell you something, man. When you get 13 guys that don't even really know each other, you know, that come together, and grown men that played professional football are weeping, and guys— it was just— it's unbelievable. Here's what I love most, to be honest. Every single event that we did, at the end of it, everybody hugged. If we got out of the pool, we're all hugging. We walk over to the waterfall, everyone— you jump We're hugging. You don't jump, we're hugging. We have dinner, we hug. It was like, when do you get that kind of like camaraderie from strangers at 50 years old? It just doesn't happen. You know, we all experienced all these new things every day. We didn't know if someone was gonna get hurt, if someone was gonna get frostbite. We just didn't know. We trusted.

Easy fucking day. Easy fucking day.

Yeah. You know, I kept saying to everybody as much as I can, like, remember this. Don't— just remember this. We're never— we might never get this chance again. So, you know, whenever you get a chance to create an opportunity or a memory, take it, because you just never know when you'll be healthy enough, and you might not get that chance again.

Realize the completely illusory nature of the beings that we think we are and get back again to the beings that we really are, which includes all this.

We are here on the Štiška Mountain. I call it a holy mountain. It's where people will come all together through exposure of the elements of nature.

When you look out of your eyes at nature happening out there, you're looking at you. We were at the, that final stretch, you know, where it got, it got tough. Like, that wind was whipping and the hail, you know, how much that stung when it was whipping against your body.

There was no egos. Everyone wanted everyone to complete the hike. I mean, there was no selfish initiatives, and that's so rare. And I think the reason why that got stripped is because nobody was the master. We were all students.

Easy does it.

All right, so we're at the top of this mountain called Sněžka. We're here with this group of men to really see what we can do, how far we can push the limits. And Wim has done an amazing job of leading us and guiding us in this journey.

To be proud of everybody. Yeah, it is, it is.

Oh man, I'm just blown away by the whole thing. It's one of those crazy things that— how do you even put it into words? Man, I'll say this, I don't like the cold. I came into this genuinely afraid of how hard it would be. This has really given me a sense of, you know, what other things could I do. Know that this wasn't easy for me. I went into it genuinely afraid and we did it.

If I didn't do this trip, I'd have so much regret. And I don't want to have regrets. I'm just proud of myself for saying yes.

It'd be hard to find a week where you create quite as many stories as you do on this one. I know I'm going back with a lot of tales, you know. Like, just look at that thing I did and that thing I did and that thing I did.

I think I was most proud of realizing that the work that I have to do is really internal. I think I realized that you can live a life where you don't have to put things off. You can live a life where your relationship with fear is dramatically healthier and it's not just causing you anxiety. You can live a life that allows you to feel better without turning to your phone, a substance, food, outside distractions. You can actually do this with all the tools that you already have.

Life is not always a comfortable ride.

Everybody's got scars that they hide. and everybody plays a fool sometimes so be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Be as you are Are we going to bring it back one more time? One more time. Hey, let me sing. Be as you are. Your turn. Be as you are.

My turn. Be as you are.

Sing it. Be as you are. Come on now. Be as you are. Hey, be as you are. Last one. Be as you are. Hey, be as you