In this informal YouTube tour, Wim Hof narrates how he acquired a rundown house in Poland and transformed it into a multi‑purpose retreat. He describes the step‑by‑step renovations – adding a roof, ice‑bath basin, two saunas, a large bunk‑bed dormitory, a practice attic, and a garden with hazelnut and cherry trees. The space now hosts hundreds of visitors for cold‑exposure sessions, breathing workshops, yoga, music, poetry, and scientific research on autonomic and immune system modulation. Hof shares personal anecdotes about friends who contributed handcrafted furniture, his brother’s visits, and symbolic elements such as a dragon‑adorned gate representing the conquest of fear. Throughout, he emphasizes the community’s joy, the therapeutic release of trauma, and the philosophy that the mind can profoundly influence the body.
Chapters
Hi guys, let me tell you the story of how I ended up here in Poland with this house. This house didn't look like this. It was my dream to live here. So years later, when I had the money, all the money I had, I then went to Poland and tried to see if there was a house for sale. And I ended up with this house, which was in deplorable state back then. Let's go inside. Yes, these stairs were not here. The whole building looked like shit. Still, we got to do some renovation on the roof, as you see. In the summertime, it's beautiful here. This looks like a little house, but it is a basin. It's an ice bath. Here I was with the Lewis Hauser group. Hundreds of people came in here. The water is freezing cold. So let's go in here. Here we're going into the back door. Into the kitchen. All right, here we are in the kitchen. This is where my friend from Argentina, Noel Cardoso, he made all kinds of stuff. Yeah, it's, it's, this is a cupboard he made. And this one, you know, he doesn't want to be orthodox. So it goes a little bit like this. I like it. I like people doing crazy stuff, which is beautiful, just to break loose, you know. And here, coming in. I remember I made this. Nice handle, eh? From nature. So he made also this one. The sun. And we broke through the wall. There's glass on both sides. We got a present. The Chinese figures, you know, the Terracotta Army. So he made these tables. You see, these are from nature. So here we come. So many things happened here already. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people have been here. In the winter, imagine there are 20, 25 people here sitting everywhere and they're making music, doing yoga, doing all kinds of exercises. Poems, poetry, stories. Sitting here trying to get Wi-Fi, and it's very difficult. You gotta find your charger and then make fire over there. And then we have food here. There's a lot of fun here. When the house is full of all this joy, laughter, emotions, it's amazing. Look at this. This is where we go later. But doesn't it look like a fairy tale?
This is Sparta.
It's where people make themselves, tarnish themselves through the icy water, becoming knights. Beautiful. Yeah, this is, this is the shit I was doing. Yeah, you see that? Standing on one hand with one leg somewhere and the other leg somewhere else. In the snow after doing my ice bath. I can still do that, maybe not this one, but different techniques now, different body awareness kind of techniques. So we go up. Ah, wait a minute, maybe can get the sound in one time now. The army of love is coming. Here it was where we did the breathing exercises to show with doctors here in a scientific research program how to influence deeply, much more than in science was thought possible, to enter into the autonomic nervous system and immune system. It has been conducted right over here. I was there giving instruction to the guys. We have shown that we have so much more power physiologically by our mind over our body and mind. All right, this way. Look, my brother! I did a lot of abseiling in the Pyrenees. He's also in shorts. Look, in shorts, shorts. Hang loose. He's always here. So, uh, we are here. We slapped Always. And look at this. This is the only trophy which I still got. The other ones I threw away, but this one looks like the church. I gave it to my mother therefore, because she was so believing in God and Christ. And so I gave it to her because it looks like it's from the church, you know, the priest's artifact from the priest. Then she died and I got it back. It's the only one I didn't throw away. And I'm not going to now either. It's my mother's little guitar. I got a guitar. Doesn't sound too good. In the beginning, there were very little bats here, but Later we built all these bunk beds. They got little lights.
Yeah, it works!
Enlightenment! Darkness. No darkness. I am enlightened. We got about 26 beds here in the house. I had no money back then, and so We got wood from the forest and then made it into these things. Here we enter into the formerly the garage. It looks a lot better than the garage as it was. So we made some saunas here. Sauna 1, little one, big one. Like 20 people, 15, 20 people. Yeah, that's nice. Let's go up. Yeah, the old stairs are still there. Here we are. Here you got the rooms full of bunk beds. As you see, it's kind of cozy. You know, very rich people come here and suddenly they have to sleep like they are in a a summer camp. And then in the end of the week, they really appreciate it because they got back to simplicity. Okay, let's go to this place here. Here, the old sewing machine is still here, and the old typewriter. Yeah, here I said it. This was 2010. What I can do, anybody should be able to do. This was before the studies. Yeah. Yeah. Here we are. This is the attic. And from the attic, we built a practice room. As you see, it was full of dirt here. Just dirt, dirt, and dirt. There was no floor. There was nothing. You could not walk here because you would destroy the ceiling of the first floor. Here, this instrument which has been made out of the pipes we found in the garden is tubular bells. Tubular bells. The breathing exercises have been conducted here. Release the traumas. You can go everywhere and make checks. Yeah, give him a hug, man. Yeah, great, good. Yeah, great. All lying, so many emotions, and release. All happened here. This is a place where trauma flies out like birds. Good. Yes, we are able to go out. It was just like, uh, when I'm not here, they made these things because, uh, people got in and and stole things. So I had this made, but now it looks like a prison or something. Whatever. Here we are in the garden. This is a nut tree. Hazelnut. The hazel, yes. In the summertime, it's a real nice garden. It's no comparison what you see now and what you see in summer. That is a cherry tree. It has fallen. But it bears a lot of cherries. Hundreds, thousands. Yes, let's get in. It's too cold outside. Come on. Closing the light. So this is the house, more or less. Looking at 8 houses, this was in the most deplorable state. But then the person, the broker, she said there's a beautiful spot. Because you like nature, and that's because of what you're going to see now. Let's go. Yes, look at this. Firmly anchored into this wall is this gate. Look up. This gate is all about these dragons, and the dragons, to me, it's the symbol. Here is where we conquered the freewheeling energies of ignorance. We brought this portal wherein the ignorance has manifested itself and froze into these dragons. The gate to wisdom goes through bravery and facing your fears. There we go.
This is what she showed me. I was sold. I saw this. I saw this power, cleansing power, and now Thousands of people come to do the same. We jump from there up there. I knew this is the place I need to have. I was sold. This deplorable state of the house, I don't care. It's okay. This is here. This is going to cleanse me. So many better times have been here going into this place. It really cleansed me. It's the cold. All year round, this water is cold. It is stronger than your shit.
That's it.
This is happening every day now, much more than before. Thanks guys for watching this video and, uh, hearing my story about this house in Poland which has become a historical spot for pilgrimage. Because we beat depression, we beat ignorance right over here.
