Wim Hof is best known for sitting in ice and climbing mountains in shorts. But when he talks about his breathing method, he often ends up talking about the mind. In this clip from his December 2019 London Real interview, Hof tells Brian Rose what he thinks consciousness is, and why he believes breathing can take people to the same deep states they look for in psychedelics.
It’s a three-minute clip, delivered at full Wim Hof speed, so here are the main ideas.
▶ Watch the full episode: Wim Hof – The Iceman: Breathe Motherf*cker!
Consciousness is perception
Hof starts with a simple definition. Consciousness, he says, is awareness, which is perception, and perception is neurology. The more neural pathways you develop in your own brain, the more you are able to see and control. Expanding that, in his view, is the purpose of life.
What’s striking is how broad he makes it. Some people do it by making a beautiful chair, he says, some by learning languages, some by making podcasts, and some by serving others coffee and tea. “It does not matter,” he says, so long as it moves you from a lower, more animal consciousness towards a fuller human one.
“No pill, no drug”
Then he gets to his own contribution. The deeper states, he says, don’t require a substance: “it’s no pill, it’s no drug, it’s you yourself.” His phrase for it is to “get high on your own supply.”
He refers back to the start of the episode, when Brian did one of Hof’s breathing sessions and described the effect. Hof’s claim is that through deliberate breathing exercises and breath-holds that build up pressure, people can reach the deepest parts of the brain, the same parts that are active during deep REM sleep, which he links to DMT. In his telling, that state can help people release trauma, and it feels “like a drug.”
Born to feel great
From there Hof widens out again. People are able to become more than “normal”, he says, even superhuman. We are born to feel great, not necessarily in other people’s eyes, but in ourselves. And when you feel great, he argues, you radiate it, people around you are positively affected, and that is how the world changes.
He’s careful to say this isn’t religion, though he calls it divine. The practical part, as always with Hof, comes first: get the conditions right, the chemistry right, and the circulation of that chemistry through the body, down to the cells. He mentions a new study he was working on at the time.
What to take from it
Hof’s link between breathwork and DMT is his own interpretation and hasn’t been proven in research, so treat it as his view rather than settled science. The more practical takeaway is his framing: that the states people chase with drugs might be partly within reach through practice, and that any skill which grows your awareness counts.
This clip reflects Wim Hof’s own views. It is not medical advice. Breathing techniques that involve breath-holding should never be practised in or near water, or while driving.
Who is Wim Hof?
Wim Hof is a Dutch extreme athlete known as “The Iceman”. He has set numerous world records for withstanding cold, including long ice baths, and has climbed high on Everest and Kilimanjaro wearing shorts. His Wim Hof Method combines breathing, cold exposure and commitment, and has been the subject of scientific studies.
In his full London Real episode from December 2019, he guides Brian Rose through his breathing technique and talks about mastering human potential. You can also watch his first London Real interview: Wim Hof – The Iceman.
See everything Wim Hof has done with London Real on his guest page: Wim Hof on London Real.
More on London Real
Transcript
Transcript: Wim Hof – “Get High On Your Own Supply”: Breathing, Consciousness And DMT
0:00 Wim Hof: Oh, absolutely. You’ve got a lower and a higher consciousness. What is consciousness? Consciousness is awareness, perception. Now, perception is neurology. The more neurological pathways are developed within your own brain, the more you are able to see. That is logical, and that is the purpose of our life.
0:28 Wim Hof: Some do it by making a beautiful chair. Some do it by learning many languages. Some do it through making podcasts. Some do it by serving others with coffee and tea. It does not matter. Whatever it takes to expand your own consciousness, to bring it from a lower consciousness, animalistic, to the human brain consciousness. That is connection, and it’s done inside the brain.
1:03 Wim Hof: And now we’ve found that it’s no pill. It’s no drug. It’s you yourself. By the way, we say: get high on your own supply. You got into this breathing at the beginning of this podcast, and you said, “Yeah, I did this breathing, and there is DMT there.” Yeah. We are able, through these systematic exercises, through the breath and pressurising, to get into the deepest part of the brain, which is also activated during REM sleep, the deep sleep. That’s the DMT.
1:43 Wim Hof: And it’s to release trauma, and it’s so bloody nice. It’s like a drug, and we are able to activate that. So what I say is, we are able to become more than normal, with superhuman means. We are actually born to be great, to feel great. Not maybe in the eyes of others, but once you feel great, you radiate greatness. You radiate love. And people are positively affected. This is going to change the world.
2:23 Wim Hof: And once again, it’s no religion, but divine. That’s who we are. And that is only done by setting the mind. But first, make the right conditions: the chemistry should be right, and the transportation of that chemistry throughout the body, to all the cells, to the DNA, should be done. And that’s where I am right now, with the new study on the DNA.
