In this first‑person testimony, Petra Trudel recounts her journey from emigrating from the Czech Republic to Canada, where isolation, language barriers, and chronic fear of death led to severe anxiety, agoraphobia, and a deep depressive state. After a diagnosis of separation anxiety and a later bout of postpartum depression and insomnia following her first child, Petra sought help but felt no lasting relief. During the natural, drug‑free birth of her second child she discovered the Wim Hof Method. She immediately began the breathing exercises and later incorporated cold exposure. The practice produced an intense emotional high, genuine laughter, and a profound sense of happiness she had not felt in six years. Petra credits the Wim Hof Method with rescuing her mental health, saving her marriage, and restoring her ability to engage with the world. She concludes by urging others suffering similar postpartum depression, anxiety, or insomnia to consider the method as a path out of their darkness.
Chapters
My name is Petra Trudel. So 10 years I moved from Czech Republic to Canada and I left behind the entire family, my friends, job and everything and I just packed my luggage and moved over there with no language even. I didn't speak any English, so no language, no job, no friends, nothing. Everything was exciting because everything was new for me, so the excitement was there. Until I got a job, I learned English, I met new friends, and the excitement kind of faded away, and I started questioning myself, why are you even here if your family is across the ocean? What if something happened to your family and you will not have every chance to say goodbye, right? What if something happened to you and they will never have a chance to say goodbye? And those questions started like creeping in, and that's when I started going very deep in my mental health, in a deep like hole. And it continued and continued and continued, and at some point I was not able to function like normal adult tasks. I locked myself in an apartment and just looking at the door going outside scared me. I was living in fear for so many years that I was so afraid of dying that I couldn't even leave my apartment. And I was starting questioning myself, "What's gonna happen when you die? You can't die. You don't want to die." Don't go anywhere where you could possibly die, which was everywhere. You can die literally anywhere, right? So that's why I was just— was locked up in my apartment and couldn't leave because I was so afraid. When my brain was thinking clearly at one point, I realized you need help. So I went to see a therapist. I went for therapy. They gave me tools, but I never felt happy inside. I was diagnosed with separation anxiety and fear of dying. So, and then everything was kind of okay, and then I had my first baby, and that's when my symptoms went back and even worse. I had postpartum depression, which is the worst feeling for a mother to have. I had insomnia. I didn't sleep for months. And all this combination, it was just too much for my mental health. But I was so busy with my depression that I didn't even realize I need help. But at that time, I started seeing the Wim Hof Method, and I wanted to do it, but I saw that it's a breathing mindset, and then I saw the cold, and I automatically shut it down. I'm like, nope. No. And then when it actually happened, then I said to myself that I will look into this method was when I was in labor with my second child. This labor was completely natural with no painkillers, nothing. And for a woman, it's a lot of pain. You need to just accept the pain and breathe. After this happened and I gave birth, I realized, okay, this is the time I have to look into this method. So I came home and first thing what I did, I started doing the breathing. I downloaded the app and I started following whatever Wim says. Fully in, letting go. Just keep on going. I felt something. I felt high. I was completely high and I I woke up from that and for the first time in 6 years I felt the happiness inside. And I started laughing from the bottom of my heart and I couldn't stop. So for a person who doesn't even know feeling of love, how it is to laugh hard, it was something incredible. It was completely life-changing. And from that moment I said, you know what, peep the cold. I'm gonna go in the cold and I'm gonna love the cold as well because I want to feel like this all the time. For somebody who is experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety and insomnia, that was something— it was a miracle. But it wasn't the miracle, it was the Wim Hof Method breathing, Wim Hof Method, what made me happy and The Wim Hof Method saved my life, saved my marriage, saved my life, and I'm happy finally. You know, from a person who was in a corner in apartment, couldn't even leave the apartment, afraid of dying. I couldn't even look into other people's eyes because I was so afraid, and now I'm standing here. It's amazing, it's amazing. So Wim Hof Method changed my life, saved my life, and that's why I'm here on this journey. Too many people out there having same issues as I had, and I know that it's a way to get out of this dark black hole.
