Are you referring to the hyperventilation technique? I ended up at one of his workshops randomly and tried that.

It’s actually an old technique to increase the ability to hold the breath. The hyperventilation clears carbon dioxide from the system (hypocapnia). That’s what the buzz is.

Never ever ever ever ever do this underwater or you have a serious risk of death: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving_blackout#Shallow_wa...

Hof did not warn of this at the time, though I believe he does now after someone died using the technique while swimming.

As for the cold resistance, Hof’s twin brother Andre displayed the same physiological traits that Hof has, despite not having undergone the same training: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

The one interesting thing I have seen related to Hof is that he apparently was able to suppress the immune response to an endotoxin. Though it would be interesting to see that same study done on his twin.

This is a reasonably good article: https://www.pepijnvanerp.nl/2016/01/wim-hof-method/#andre

I think Hof is well intentioned, sincere, a poor communicator, and prone to both mystical thinking but also interested in scientific verification.

yeah all these techniques are ancient in origin. Revived for every new generation.

Pranayama is at least a thousand years old and encompasses all of this. And many of the foundational texts refer to even older practices.

I remember this technique also releases some stress hormone. This could indeed solve some health symptoms (for example cortisone is used agains astma). But I'm not sure what the long term consequence is of always releasing this stress hormone into your system.

The claims do sound pretty loopy at first blush, but there have been several studies at this point, and the science PDF they host on his website is pretty interesting.

https://explore.wimhofmethod.com/wp-content/uploads/ebook-th...

Edit: The PDF is actually a bit out of date, the more recent studies are summarized here: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/science

The article mentions the first class the author took taught them Sudarshan Kriya, which is a particular kriya that the Art of Living Foundation teaches. From what I understand a large part of the kriya involves bhastrika pranayama, which is pretty much what the beginning Wim Hof method is, except he adds a kumbhaka (breath retention/hold) at the end of the 30 breath cycle. I appreciate what Wim Hof is doing, but a lot of these techniques have quite a long history in yoga.

What I find nice about his technique, is that it is much simpler than yoga and pranayama. He does not, for example, emphasise inhaling or holding or exceeding for a particular count of seconds. I find that it is easier to perform the Wim Hof technique because of this.

The breathing technique which is closest to Wim How is that of Tummo. You can find videos of this on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUQ-SV092GM

I’ve never tried Wim Hof’s techniques — I’d like to — but I have practiced bhastrika a good amount and do nadi shodhana every morning before meditation. Does his technique really resemble tummo? I’ve tried to find a tummo teacher (haven’t found one), but I’ve read “The Bliss of Inner Fire” and from what I understand a fundamental part of it involves mula and uddiyana bandhas being engaged in conjunction with the “vase” breath. Does Wim teach these things? I’ve seen photos of him practicing and he’s definitely doing uddiyana bandha, but I’d be surprised if he teaches that, it requires deep transverse abdominis activation to do. I only started getting that awareness in that layer of muscle after a couple years of yoga practice.

If he’s not teaching the bandhas then the technique really is just bhastrika with retentions. It’s a totally great practice, but I’d say it’s just the beginning step in the path of pranayama practice.

You make a great point. I think you are right in your classification. But the basic point in my comment was that the Wim Hof technique is simpler than Pranayama, and is highly beneficial in itself. Pranayama is very technical, and I am always worried that I am "doing it wrong".

The YouTube channel Medlife Crisis, run by a practicing cardiologist in the UK, did a fairly long video reviewing the Wim Hof method and the science surrounding it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6EPuUdIC1E

I've made it to 3:40 at times, usually on my second round. Committed meditator and I often start with a round of some kind of breathwork.

I'd second that Wim Hof's breath-work works for me, too.