What's Creative?: The Truth Behind the Iceman

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A little less than a year ago, I came across a video of this man that was featured on a YouTube channel I subscribe to. I clicked on the video because I was curious how these YouTubers “became superhuman like the Iceman.” Not only that, but I was really curious as to who the Iceman was. After watching this 45-minute documentary, my perspective on so much was changed because of one man, Wim Hof.

Wim Hof is known as “The Iceman” because of the 20 plus Guinness World Records he has broken including climbing up Mt. Everest in only shorts and shoes (2007), running a full marathon in the Arctic circle in nothing but shorts in -20°C (2009), and even surpassing his own record of standing in a container of ice cubes for extended periods of time (2011). These aren’t the only unbelievable feats of nature the iceman has conquered though. Wim Hof has also run a marathon in the Namib desert without any training or water and broke a record for hanging 2,000 meters in the air by one finger. Wim Hof claims that he has tapped into a way to regulate his heart rate and blood pressure and even his immune systems and autonomic nervous system, once commonly believed to not be able to be controlled but rather an involuntary system. The big question you may be wondering amongst all this bewildering information though is “How on Earth can he do these things?” Well, according to Wim, anyone can do these things through a process he now calls the Wim Hof Method.

The Wim Hof Method is based on the concept that our bodies can “adapt to extreme temperature and survive within our natural environment,” according to Wim Hof. This can be achieved through three pillars: cold therapy, breathing, and commitment. Cold exposure therapy is a practice that results in tons of health benefits including, but not limited to, growth in brown adipose tissue which leads to fat loss, improvements in sleep quality, and helps with the production of endorphins which uplift your mood. Proper breathing exercises have the potential to increase your energy levels, decrease stress levels, and uncover what Hof refers to as “an augmented immune response that swiftly deals with pathogens.” The final pillar being commitment basically says that with a dedication to these two practices, mastery over one’s own body is achievable by anyone. Some of the overall benefits that Hof claims his Method produces are improved focus, quickened recovery, enhanced creativity, and a stronger immune system. Unsurprisingly, Wim Hof’s strong advocacy for these practices’ abilities to help control a person’s body raises much speculation and criticism in the scientific community.

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Having faced backlash from so many scientists, Wim Hof decided to pursue his beliefs in his method and hoped it would eventually be recognized as a solution to curing many diseases, disorders, and even cancers in a wholly holistic manner. When sharing these practices with the world, he wanted to be honest about the Method’s benefits and have “evidence-based” support backing him. To do so, Wim had scientists from around the world run various tests on his body. The results turned skeptics into believers, to say the least. The biggest scientific breakthrough was discovering that through Wim’s Method, practiced by Wim Hof and twelve other volunteers, humans can voluntarily influence the autonomic nervous system. This experiment, conducted by the University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen, Netherlands, consisted of 24 participants and Wim. Half of the participants were trained by Wim to be able to effectively practice the Method and then all were injected with a dead strain of Escherichia coli, a bacteria that would make them feel very sick for several days. When the experiment was conducted, Wim Hof and his trainees were able to completely resist the effects of the bacteria by consciously controlling their immune systems. While this is a huge breakthrough, completely changing the scientific understanding of our involuntary systems, much more research needs to be conducted for the Wim Hof Method to considered accepted by the scientific community and evidence-based. This research on his methods credibility is just one of the many things Wim is continuing to pursue now while also spreading his method around the world through his books, social media platforms, website, and various interviews and events he’s been a part of.

So why does the Ice Man do what he does? Wim Hof first began practicing the breathing exercises and cold therapy after his late wife died from suicide in 1995. While raising his four kids alone, Wim was forced to cope with the grief he held onto while trying to understand why his wife would do what she did. This is when he began the search to understand how to control the human body, pain, and what moves us through the practices seen in his method. This type of motivation would be considered extrinsic since his mission began after his wife’s death, almost as a way to seek closure. As time went on though, Wim can be seen as intrinsically motivated as well since he received nothing for his work initially and had to persevere through much criticism before even being considered an effective method. Additionally, relating to other course material, Wim can be seen as a true leader due to his extremely charismatic personality. This man advocates against fear and encourages people to push themselves to be open to new experiences as well. If it wasn’t for the optimism, charisma, and hopefulness that Wim brings to practicing his method, there’s no way he would’ve grown the immense following he has now. These types of breathing techniques and cold therapies have been around forever, but it was not until Wim Hof decided to change the game and make people believers not just by word of mouth but also through science. By meshing the world of meditation seen as very spiritual with the world of science and hard facts, Wim may have opened up the door to powerful holistic methods of healing and living. I would say his push for scientific proof in his very unscientific field qualifies him as a creative, potentially pro-c even due to the evolutionary change he is moving forward with and continues to advocate for in terms of the power of his method.