Athletes, CEOs and Navy SEALs are among those using ice baths and cold water exposure to operate at the top of their game. Quicktake's Rosalie e'Silva tests out the Wim Hof Method. It combines breathing, mindset and cold therapy and is said to help you become healthier, happier and stronger.

Brian Lai is Asia's first certified Wim Hof Method instructor.

“They use the first pillar, which is breathwork, to get the body ready, to charge it up, to get it ready. And then we get into the ice bath or cold exposure afterwards. And then during those practices, we also incorporate a lot of mindfulness exercises, meditation exercises just to cultivate a stronger mindset to tie all those pillars together.”

Brain says every time you get into an ice bath, you step outside your comfort zone.

“And every time you step outside your comfort zone and you do something that you don't particularly like, you begin to develop an ability to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. And from there, that develops resilience. And you’re able to more and more be able to do things that are outside your comfort zone and handle more and more stress as much as you do more cold exposure.”

The Wim Hof Method was created by Dutchman Wim Hof, also known as the Iceman. He holds 21 official Guinness World Records, all related to cold water exposure. He’s swam 216 ft under ice, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts and stood in containers covered in ice for extended periods of time.

Brian says there's a lot of benefits of going into ice.

“There’s the body releasing cold shock proteins and the body releasing feel-good hormones and chemicals into the body. It also helps with things like anti-inflammatory, it helps with recovery. It helps with better sleep. It helps with just resetting, rejuvenating the body. But also helps develop resilience towards stress. So, every time we get into the ice, it allows us to use the breath, change the way we breathe to be able to handle that stress from the cold exposure better and better each time and be able to adapt to it.”

Lawrence Miller was sceptical at first, but changed his mind after trying it at Brian’s workshop in Hong Kong.

“I had this view that it was all kind of nonsense about a few breaths that can make you feel warm and can change your emotions. But, it really works. It’s like all those breathing exercises on the mat, it’s pretty eye-opening what you can experience just with your own breath and then the ice bath as well is a good bit of fun.”

Brian explains it can be done in stages.

“So, cold exposure is really for almost anyone. But cold exposure can also be done in different stages. What you can do is you can start with just, you know, a very short 15-second cold shower and just begin to move up from there. And if you do take it to that next level, it is advisable as a beginner to have someone more experienced to be able to help guide you through that.”

Brian discovered the practice through his struggles with mental health.

"So, I was going through a very difficult time in my life and I was burnt out. And I think I was going through some sort of depression at that time. And it was these practices that allowed me to really kind of change that story, to really rewrite that story and just kind of snap out of that state."


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