[image]
[title]It’s not every day that a large, world-famous Dutch man in a psychedelic T-shirt with superhuman endurance skills roars at you as you breathe thinly in a huge inflatable pool full of ice at Luna Park. But, when Wim Hof (god of ice, oxygen and hiking Mount Everest in shorts and sandals) comes to Sydney, you bloody well answer the call.
As a tender-fleshed Sydneysider who becomes borderline despondent when my weather app says that the top temp will be under 20 degrees Celsius, the opportunity to hop into a gigantic tub of ice wasn’t exactly top of my bucket list. This being said, I knew that if I didn’t do it, I’d probably regret it forever.
Wim Hof is an extreme athlete and motivational speaker who has been making frozen waves worldwide for the better part of the last two decades. In recent years, he has entered the mainstream public consciousness in a big way, with his remarkable physical feats of climbing snowy mountains shirtless, breaking the world record for the longest-ever swim under ice, and running a half marathon in the Namibian desert without a single drop of water, all making him one of the most incredible (and bizarre) human beings on the planet today. Despite this, Wim is insistent that anybody can learn to do what he does, with his world-famous Wim Hof Method, which has garnered him fans from the likes of Oprah Winfery to Chris Hemsworth.
When I met Wim, he was in his element. Surrounded by media and adoring fans clamouring to get their photo taken with him, he was 100 per cent the jolliest person at Luna Park (and that’s saying something). He was here in Sydney for Human Kind, a three-day festival of ideas and big thinkers that went down at Luna Park on March 16-18, 2023. Wim was one of the biggest names on the line-up – he took to the Big Top’s main stage to spout his motivational wisdom, teach his record-breaking breathing techniques, and, for a lucky few, lead an ice bath immersion experience.
With a mammoth amount of charisma and a ruddy nose, Wim looked like Santa – if Santa was into psychedelics and extreme sports. Cracking jokes and gesticulating wildly, he made us all stand in a circle around one of the eight massive inflatable paddling pools that had been specially set up next to the Harbour at Lavender Bay. Eight tonnes of ice had been brought in for the weekend, and we could hear the frozen water lapping quietly beneath huge, silver protective covers.
The nerves, across the board, were palpable.
In what felt like a revolutionary move, Wim managed to cut through all the initial hysteria and fluffy chatter that generally accompanies big groups of people before a scary activity. In less than five minutes, he made all of us step away from the hub hub of our bustling minds, forcing us to rest deep into our bodies and forget the noise.
With him holding the space, we all stepped into the pool, with one foot, then the other. Telling us to breathe deeply and to take control of our minds, we all made ourselves become very, very calm. It was at this point that Wim told us to sink down to our knees, feeling the cold. After an initial mind explosion where all thoughts were simply “GET OUT NOW NOW YOU FOOL BEFORE YOU GET FROZEN ALIVE” I was surprised to find my body complying anyway. Honestly, with Wim there, there wasn’t any other option.
After roaring at us to smile, he made us immerse ourselves up to our necks, telling us that we would be in the pool for a hefty two and a half minutes. The ice felt like a million tiny, yet not overly sharp needles prickling into me. It was painful, but not unbearable, and there was a certain magic to the sensation of your body being so completely stricken by such an extremity.
I became very numb very quickly, but it was in this numbness that I felt a powerful reconnection with my body, and (dare I say), my spirit. I am fairly confident that if I hadn’t had the literal Wim Hof himself yelling over my shoulder, I would not have been able to last as long as I did – but lo’ and behold, it felt like almost no time had passed before he told us all to get out.
When people jumped out of the ice and into the blazing Sydney sunshine, everyone had mixed reactions. I, for one, couldn’t feel my legs, but the air was filled with an undeniable surge of exhilaration. There wasn’t much chatter, with everyone clearly feeling a little shell-shocked by how cold their bodies had just been, but Wim was doing enough talking for everyone.
When he bellowed: “DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS?”, I managed to put on my big-time journalistic helmet and wobbled right in front of him, asking him just one thing;
“Wim! Why do you keep doing what you do?"
Looking straight at me, he gave me a spine-tingling rant that in equal parts deeply confused and inspired me.
"I do this every day because it makes me feel... feeling good, feeling (roars) GREAT! I got all the energy man, I don't know where it comes from. Electrically, I am electrifieeeed".
"I got an amazing amount of energy, and I've got one goal: I want to change the world. I want to bring the signs of the soul to the court of the law of the universe. It's not yet there, but I am creating it. I am going to put things to just ice. You got that?"
To this, I said, yes.
All I know is that one day, if Wim comes back to Sydney, I'll be there.
And until then, maybe I'll get a bit saucy and do a cold plunge. It's all about living on the edge.