Listening to the Rich Roll podcast last December I stumbled upon a fascinating episode. It was about the ‘iceman’, Dutch modern era primal breathing guru, Wim Hof.

Wim Hof is famous for taking on extraordinary challenges in the extreme cold such as swimming under arctic ice, running a marathon distance from the Everest base camp (5300m altitude) and many more. His goal has been to raise awareness to health through breathing techniques, and his mission is simple, helping people become ‘happy, strong and healthy’. What is good about Wim Hof’s method is that he claims anyone can do what he does.

I decided to try his method and signed up for the 10-week program. It’s a process whereby one gets used to the cold by mastering the breathing. This triggers an increased blood flow, expands the capillaries and so on. It is about focus, commitment, consciousness and adapting to the cold over 10 weeks, it covers yoga exercises, breath retention, cold challenges, meditation. Quite a full-on program. A bit more than I had expected but once more it is the realisation that in life, and in big challenging adventures, nothing comes easy and there are no quick-fix solutions, it’s about consistency, time, commitment, practice and patience.

In week 5 now. I feel significant adaptation to the cold. This is key for me considering I suffered from mild frostbite 4 years ago when summiting Himlung Himal. Anything will help.