The Wim Hof Method Quotes

“There is so much more to life than meets the eye if you choose to seek it. The seeker becomes the finder, the finder of so much more than we thought was possible.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Material things are external and have no bearing on the soul. You can only drive one car and occupy one room at a time. But if you seek happiness within your own being, in control over your own life-force, mind, and purpose, nothing else matters. You can be happy unconditionally. That’s the kind of happiness I want to give to the people I love because it comes from within. It’s already there.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“I don’t need that kind of external validation. If you engage too much in outside validation, you lose the path to yourself. You get off course. Self-love is being proud of yourself by your own lights. What is your best? Move toward that, not the best of your neighbors. Back yourself. Care for yourself. Not by protecting your ego, no, but by remaining present for your being when you feel most afraid, most uncomfortable, or awkward. Be calm in your love for yourself. It will enable you to see others more clearly and with more compassion. Don’t seek to change others; change yourself. Just mind your own mind and let others mind theirs. Show them who you are through your actions, through your conviction. Be clear and transparent, vulnerable. If I cared what others thought of me, I would have stopped going a long time ago. I would have been eaten by the system.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“In nature, it is not only the physically weak but the mentally weak that get eaten. Now we have created this modern society in which we have every comfort, yet we are losing our ability to regulate our mood, our emotions.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“We work harder and harder and stress ourselves out to achieve more and more, but to what end? So we can become lawyers and businesspeople? So we can make lots of money to buy a big house or a fancy car but that can’t buy us happiness or health? I saw too much of that misery, which is why I withdrew from that world a long time ago.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Cold is a stressor, so if you are able to get into the cold and control your body’s response to it, you will be able to control stress.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Your blood flow, the life-force, the electricity, they’re all in there. But what are you going to do with them? This is the only life you’ve got, so it’s time to move beyond your conditioning. It’s time to move beyond your fear or whatever else is holding you back from living fully because that’s the way nature meant you to be. Your fears are a consequence of a conditioned mind, and they are nothing but a burden.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Just breathe and reclaim your soul.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“We will become able to act naturally within heat and cold and withstand all the elements of nature without significantly impacting our core body temperature. And it’s amazing what kinds of health benefits stem from there. Not only is it good for our vascular system, which again is the transportation system for all of the vitamins, oxygen, and nutrients our cells need, it also relieves the cells of biological stress. With that comes peace. Deep peace.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“WEEK 1​Thirty seconds of cold water at the end of a warm shower WEEK 2​One minute of cold water at the end of a warm shower WEEK 3​A minute and a half of cold water at the end of a warm shower WEEK 4​Two minutes of cold water at the end of a warm shower Do this gradually and work your way up, at least five days a week. Follow the feeling. Don’t force anything. It’s also fine to start with fifteen seconds and build up more slowly, as we do in our 20-Day Cold Shower Challenge.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Once you become happy, strong, and healthy, you radiate like the sun, and you pass your warmth onto others. You become a healer, and there is divinity in that healing that transcends language and the dogma of our societal conditioning. We are here to share the love with the mothers in Baghdad, New York, Beijing, and any other place in this world. We are here to give peace, strength, happiness, and health to all of our children, because that is what they deserve.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“People come up to me with questions like, “Should I breathe through the nose?” or “The diaphragm this or that,” and I just say, “Yeah breathe, motherfuckers! Don’t think, just do it! Get into the depth of your own lungs!”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“WHM PROTOCOL: BASIC MINDSET EXERCISE The greatest accomplishment you can achieve is stillness of the mind. It is only when your mind is still that you can go from external to internal programming. In the absence of thoughts, this stillness brings your feelings into alignment with your innermost being, reflecting the true self in a direct mirror. This is how I was able to set all of my records, and you can do it too. First, take a step away and find a comfortable place to sit down. Then begin to follow the breath. Deeply in, letting go. Deeply in, letting go. Peacefully following the breath. Deeply in, letting go. Deeply in, letting go. A sense of calm will begin to settle over you, and it is in this moment that you can set your mind. Begin to scan your body while visualizing what it is you are going to do. Perhaps you want to stay longer in the cold shower or achieve a new personal record for push-ups. Maybe you want to hold a particularly challenging yoga pose or take a longer bike ride than you ever have before. Now is the time to scan your body and set your intention. Take your time with it. Tell your body what you expect it to do. Scan yourself for how you feel. You will be able to detect any misalignment of your intention and your body’s feeling. Just remain calm, keep breathing, and wait for the moment in which there is a sense of trust, of centered energy, of alignment. Give power to that feeling with your breath and then go and do what you intend to do. Success.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“THE WIM HOF WAY TO GET WARM Are you one of those people who feels cold all the time? Would you like to be able to warm your body even when you don’t have access to an external heat source? If so, the following exercise can be done to activate brown fat tissue (or brown adipose tissue — BAT), which is capable of energy combustion, and your intercostal muscles. The intercostal muscles are several groups of muscles that run between the ribs and help move the chest wall during respiration. Activating them also generates heat. Do as follows: 1​Sit down. 2​Inhale slowly and deeply five or six times, letting your breath go naturally each time. 3​Inhale fully. 4​Relax to exhale. 5​Inhale fully. 6​Hold your breath, for no more than five seconds. 7​Tense your upper-back muscles and chest while you hold your breath — but don’t tense the head. Keep your jaw relaxed. 8​Let go.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“If you engage too much in outside validation, you lose the path to yourself. You get off course. Self-love is being proud of yourself by your own lights. What is your best? Move toward that, not the best of your neighbors. Back yourself. Care for yourself. Not by protecting your ego, no, but by remaining present for your being when you feel most afraid, most uncomfortable, or awkward. Be calm in your love for yourself. It will enable you to see others more clearly and with more compassion. Don’t seek to change others; change yourself. Just mind your own mind and let others mind theirs. Show them who you are through your actions, through your conviction. Be clear and transparent, vulnerable. If I cared what others thought of me, I would have stopped going a long time ago. I would have been eaten by the system. I just keep on. This is my mission.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“I feel young because I am young. The spirit and soul are eternal and exist outside of time.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“baking potatoes in the little fire we’d build. To this day I believe those potatoes were the best food I’ve ever eaten. With just a little bit of salt, they were so delicious, so exquisite.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Do you know what a happy person needs? Nothing. Because he is happy. That is what I want to give to my children, to the beloveds around me, to all the living beings around me. I want to be happy, and I want the same for you.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“BREATH 1​While seated or lying down, take 30 to 40 full conscious breaths: Breathe fully in to the belly and the chest, then letting go, without force. 2​On your final exhale, let the air out and hold it out for as long as you can without discomfort. Listen to your body and don’t force it! 3​When you feel the urge to breathe again, take a deep breath in, hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Then release and relax. 4​Repeat the steps above two or three more times, paying attention to how you feel and adjusting your breath as needed. 5​Rest in this elevated state until you are ready to move on with your day. Alternatively, use the energy you just generated for your morning workout or yoga practice. Experiment with what feels right for you. Congratulations! You just influenced key drivers of your health, increased your vitality and focus, busted your stress, reduced inflammation factors, and optimized your immune system. FOR COMPLETE WHM BREATHING INSTRUCTIONS AND SAFETY GUIDELINES, SEE CHAPTER 4. MIND Your post-breathing practice state is the perfect time to program your mindset. Try this: 1​Before you get up from your breathing practice, bring up a thought in your mind like “Today I’m going to stay in the cold shower for 15 more seconds than yesterday,” or “I feel happy, healthy, and strong.” 2​Reflect on this thought and notice how your body feels. 3​If you identify any inner resistance to your intention, just keep breathing steadily until you feel an alignment between your body and mind. With practice, your sense of your inner experience, or interoception, will sharpen, allowing you to more consciously observe and control your body and mind. SEE CHAPTER 12 FOR DETAILS. COLD 1​At the end of your warm shower, turn the water to cold. 2​If you like you can start by first putting your feet and legs, than your arms, then your full torso under the water. 3​Do NOT do the WHM Basic Breathing Exercise while standing in the shower. 4​Gradually extend your exposure every day until you can handle two minutes in the cold. 5​If you are shivering when you get out, try the horse stance exercise. (See “How Long Can You Hold a Horse Stance?” for details.) Success! You just improved your metabolic efficiency, regulated your hormones, further reduced inflammation, and are enjoying the endorphins and endocannabinoids released in response to the cold.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“BREATHING EXERCISE WHILE WALKING AT HIGH ALTITUDE 1​Consciously breathe more than you feel you need to. 2​Focus on your breath. Feel yourself breathing as you move. 3​Synchronize your breath and your pace so you can get into a cadence. Find your own rhythm without forcing it. RESTING BREATHING EXERCISE TO ADJUST TO AN ALTITUDE GREATER THAN THIRTEEN THOUSAND FEET This exercise can help you to forestall the potentially dangerous symptoms caused by a low oxygen level in your body that you may encounter if climbing or visiting somewhere where the altitude exceeds thirteen thousand feet. Please do not rely on this exercise to prevent altitude sickness symptoms without the proper supervision or experience. The best way to safely learn it is to participate in one of our expeditions. See “Further Reading” for more information. It is helpful to use a saturation meter to measure your blood oxygen level when doing this. 1​Wake up four to four-and-a-half hours after you went to sleep. 2​Do the Basic Breathing Exercise until your saturation meter reads a minimum of 95 to 100 percent saturation. 3​Practice the breathing exercises for at least a half hour. 4​Go back to sleep.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Cold showers are the gateway to flow and energy and peace. I’m not exaggerating. It’s the entry point from which you will learn the power of the mind over the body. If you do just ten days of cold showers after warm showers, meaning that you end your regular, warm showers with a minute or so of cold water, then you will be able to command your vascular system to close up when you go into the cold.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Our vascular system needs to be stimulated to achieve the desired muscular tone. It doesn’t need training, only awakening. Then, once it’s awakened and optimized, let’s say in ten days, a whole sequence of magic begins to occur within the body.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Sit down in a safe, comfortable place and clear your mind. 2​Start connecting to your breath. Let yourself breathe naturally. 3​Start counting your breaths. Each inhale and exhale is one count. Count your breaths up to seven, and then from seven back to one. If you find yourself suddenly thinking about your daily life and your to-do list, return to counting the breaths. You will eventually find yourself able to just count the breaths, up to seven and back down again. The blood flow will go into the deeper areas of your brain, awakening feeling, not thoughts. Let the feeling become stronger. Follow the feeling and go as deep as you want. As you go along, the counting will fade away, like a song fading out. Follow the feeling and go deep into yourself, deep into peace.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“WHM PROTOCOL: BASIC BREATHING EXERCISE Before engaging with this breathing technique, remember to be mindful. Listen to your body and learn from the signals your body and mind send you while you are doing the exercises. Use those signals as personal feedback about the effect of the exercises on your body and mind, and adjust them as needed to find what works best for you.3 STEP 1​Sit in a meditation posture, lying down, or whichever way is most comfortable for you, in a quiet and safe environment. Make sure you can expand your lungs freely without feeling any constriction. STEP 2​Close your eyes and try to clear your mind. Be conscious about your breath and try to fully connect with it. Take thirty to forty deep breaths in through the nose or mouth. Fill up your belly, your chest, all the way up to your head. Don’t force the exhale. Just relax and let the air out. Fully in, letting go. STEP 3​At the end of the last breath, draw the breath in once more and fill the lungs to maximum capacity without using any force. Then relax to let the air out. Hold the breath until you feel the urge to breathe again. This is called the retention phase. STEP 4​When you feel the urge to breathe, take one deep breath in and hold it for ten to fifteen seconds. This is called the recovery breath. STEP 5​Let your breath go and start with a new round. Fully in, letting go. Repeat the full cycle three to four times. After having completed this breathing exercise, take your time to enjoy the feeling. With repeated practice, this protocol becomes more and more like a meditation. Once you have a little experience with the basic breathing exercise, try this additional technique: In round 2, step 4, try “squeezing” the breath to your head when you take your recovery breath. You do this by tensing your pelvic floor and directing that sense of tension to the core of your body and up to your head, while keeping the rest of your body relaxed. You should feel a sense of pressure in your head. Then relax everything when you exhale.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“What Doesn’t Kill Us,”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Potential, Transcend Your Limits

“But sadly, mankind as a whole has lost its connection to this power because we rarely, if ever, venture out into the elements anymore. We stay snugged-up in our cozy, heated homes, safe from the environmental stressors that enable this power to rise within us. Thus, our minds are not able to transcend the impact of extreme forces on our bodies or to accept the truth of mind over matter.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Potential, Transcend Your Limits

“The Manual of Breath Therapy, wrote in a 2015 article, “With more breathing, there is simply more ATP, while the production of lactic acids is reduced, which keeps the body in an alkaline state. At the same time, with deeper breathing, more CO2 is exhaled, the blood pH level becomes more alkaline, and thus more aerobic dissimilation can happen.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential

“The true story is that Wim has shown us what we all can do. The underlying method requires something uniquely human — the power of belief in ourselves, the power of strong intention combined with directed attention.”
― Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential