Breathing exercises, ice baths: how Wim Hof Method helps elite athletes and Navy Seals
- The Wim Hof Method allows you to operate efficiently under high stress by using the breathing patterns you adopt when relaxed
- Practitioners believe the method reduces infection, and heals chronic medical conditions and psychological problems
Professional athletes have embraced it. Surfing legends Laird Hamilton and Kelly Slater are fans. US Navy Seals use it. The Wim Hof Method lets you redefine what your body and mind can do.
Developed by Dutchman Wim Hof, the Wim Hof Method (WHM), based on breathing exercises, has a faithful following in the West. Now it is gaining devotees in Hong Kong.
One of a few WHM-certified instructors in the city, Australian-born Brian Lai, says: “It’s going to be the next yoga.” Lai, 35, teaches classes in Hong Kong at several wellness and yoga centres.
“The average person breathes about 23,000 times a day, or 8.5 million times a year, something we do when we are born right up to when we die. But it’s something most us don’t pay any attention to. Every state we’re in – physical, emotional, psychological – has a corresponding breathing pattern. Through breathing, you can reverse those states,” he says.
When stressed, angry or anxious, Lai explains, our breathing tends to become short and shallow. When in a state of panic, we may begin to hyperventilate. According to the Wim Hof Method, when people are able to use the breathing patterns they exhibit in a relaxed state during high-stress situations, they can regain control and composure.
“For most people, the biggest benefit is to be able to operate efficiently under high stress levels and intense situations,” Lai says. He gives the example of the elite US Navy Seals, who he says use the technique in combat situations to stay calm, collected and able to make rational decisions.