Wim Hof Retreat Experience: What Really Happens

Five minutes in. Turns out the hardest part wasn't the cold.

The Wim Hof immersive weekend is a few days of breathwork and cold water immersion in the Netherlands, run by Wim Hof and his team. It was totally out of my comfort zone: Scary, frightening, and totally right up my street, all at the same time. And I'd recommend it!

‍It's also so much more than the cold and the breathing. It's connection, fun, laughter, emotion, learning and inspiration from the main man himself. If you want to be challenged in more ways than you could possibly imagine, and come away having had a genuinely life-changing experience, this is for you.

‍Back at the start of the year, during the dark winter evenings, I knew I needed something that was going to challenge me — physically, but more importantly mentally. This was it. Finding something that would give me all of that, plus a heap of connection with like-minded people, was the key. Finding my tribe. Sharing powerful, emotive experiences with people who get it. That turned out to be one of the most important parts of the whole weekend. ‍

What is the Wim Hof Method?

‍Wim Hof is probably the "master" of breathwork and cold water immersion. He's been practising this for several decades — more than 40 years — but has only become widely known in the last few. His powerful conscious connected breathwork, linking the inhale and exhale with extended breath holds, changes the chemistry in your body and bypasses the thinking mind, allowing you to go deep into the subconscious. It's a powerful combination.

‍What actually happened over the weekend

Arriving at Wim Hof Basecamp in the Netherlands in 30-plus degree heat was probably not quite what I'd imagined for a weekend involving a lot of ice.

‍Basecamp itself is a small, quite magical place, surrounded by trees and greenery, with ice pools, baths and a sauna. The main area where we did the breathwork was essentially a huge greenhouse which, as you can imagine, was roasting.

Deep, powerful breathwork — followed by another round in the ice

‍Normally, ice immersion comes after several rounds of Wim Hof breathing. The breathwork prepares you for the cold, and in my head that was very much how this was going to work. Except Wim had other ideas. Because it was so hot, he suggested we went pretty much straight into the ice for five minutes.

‍My immediate thought was basically: you have got to be joking.

‍Everything in my head was telling me I needed the breathwork first. I needed to prepare. I needed to be ready. But that was also my mind doing exactly what minds do: trying to protect me, trying to keep me firmly inside my comfort zone.

‍So into the ice I went. Five minutes. And it was magical.

‍Yes, it was cold. But very quickly it became about so much more than tolerating the temperature. It was about the mind, staying present, controlling my breathing, not letting that initial I need to get out take over. There was something incredibly empowering about realising I could stay.

Later we went into a deep, powerful breathwork session, followed by another ten minutes in the ice. Ten minutes. Then lunch, and an incredible talk from Wim about the mind, the body and the science behind what we were experiencing.

‍But the weekend wasn't all breathwork and sitting in freezing water. There was dancing in the sunshine, jumping off platforms into cold water, laughing, crying and hugging. There was coffee, lovely nourishing food, and the kind of deep conversation that happens when you put a group of people together who are all there because they're curious about themselves and what might be possible.

‍Day two brought more of the same except this time the ice became fifteen minutes. Again it was roasting hot, and Wim decided we'd do just one round of breathing rather than the usual four or five before getting in. And I did it. Fifteen minutes in the ice.

‍I think what surprised me most over the whole weekend was that the cold itself wasn't actually the hardest part. The interesting part was watching what my mind did before I even got in, the anticipation, the stories, the I can't do this — and then discovering that, actually, I could.

‍There was more breathwork, more conversation, a Q&A and photos with Wim but there was also a huge amount of fun. Breathing, ice, dancing, laughing, crying, hugging. And then doing it all over again.

‍And I bloody loved it.

The science bit‍ ‍

I love all the slightly woo-woo stuff around breathwork, the feeling, the energy, what happens when you get out of your head and properly into your body. But I also love that there's science behind it too.

‍One of the biggest things I took from the weekend was understanding what we're actually doing when we deliberately put the body under a short period of controlled stress, whether that's through the breath or getting into the ice. Your body has an automatic response to cold, everything in you initially wants to brace, gasp and get out. But instead of reacting immediately, you learn to stay with it. You focus on your breathing, soften your body, and realise you can be uncomfortable without needing to panic or escape.

That's the important part for me. It isn't really about being able to sit in a bath full of ice for ten or fifteen minutes. It's about learning how I respond to stress. The breathwork works the same way by deliberately changing how we breathe, we can influence what's happening in the body and nervous system, and there's growing research around the Wim Hof Method looking at stress response, inflammation and the autonomic nervous system.

‍I love that the woo-woo and the science get to sit side by side.‍ ‍

Claire and Wim Hof

How it changed me

‍I remember coming home and saying I was still processing and integrating the whole experience. Honestly, I still am. I don't think weekends like this change you in one big dramatic moment, for me it's been more subtle than that, an ongoing process.

‍One of the biggest things I took away was seeing just how powerful the mind is. Sitting in that ice, noticing my brain telling me I couldn't do it, and doing it anyway — that's powerful. It's made me even more curious about the nervous system, the breath, and our ability to change our state. And it reinforced something I already believed through my running and my own breathwork practice: we're capable of far more than our mind sometimes allows us to believe.

‍So am I now completely zen, able to regulate my nervous system perfectly whatever life throws at me? Absolutely not. I'm still learning, noticing, integrating. I think it'll be an ongoing journey and I can't wait.

Who this is for, and how to try it

Try cold water at home!

You definitely don't need to fly to the Netherlands and sit in an ice bath with Wim Hof for fifteen minutes to experience some of this. For me, this is really about becoming curious about your breath, your body, and how you respond when something takes you outside your comfort zone.

‍That might be finishing your shower with a short burst of cold water. It might be trying breathwork for the first time. Or it might just be noticing what happens to your breathing next time you feel stressed, and consciously slowing it down.

‍If you're curious about breathwork, that's a huge part of the work I do alongside my running coaching, you don't need any experience, and you certainly don't need to be "good" at it. Come as you are, breathe, and see what happens.

Cold exposure and more intense forms of breathwork aren't suitable for everyone, so always check appropriate health guidance first, and never practise Wim Hof-style breathing in water. ‍

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FAQs

What is the Wim Hof Method? The Wim Hof Method combines specific breathing exercises, cold exposure and mindset. The idea is to use these practices to explore how we respond, physically and mentally, to stress.

What happens at a Wim Hof immersive weekend retreat? My weekend included Wim Hof breathing, ice baths and cold-water immersion, talks and Q&As, plus food, conversation, laughter, dancing and connection. My ice immersions progressed from five minutes to ten, then fifteen.

Is ice bath / cold water therapy safe for beginners? Cold exposure can be started gradually, but it isn't suitable for everyone. If you have a health condition or any concerns, get medical advice first, approach cold-water immersion safely rather than simply testing how long you can tolerate it.

How cold is the water in a Wim Hof ice bath, and how long do you stay in? An ice bath is typically very cold, and there's no single time everyone should aim for. At Wim Hof Basecamp I stayed in for five, ten and eventually fifteen minute in a facilitated environment, which isn't something I'd suggest copying as a beginner.

Do you need to be fit or experienced to do a Wim Hof retreat? You don't need to be an athlete to explore breathwork or cold exposure. What matters far more is approaching it safely, listening to your body, and working within your own limits.

What's the connection between breathwork, cold exposure and running performance? As a running coach, this fascinates me. Breathwork builds awareness of your breathing and your stress response, and cold exposure gives you another chance to practise staying calm and present when the body's uncomfortable, something that feels very relevant to endurance running too.

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Come and try Breathwork

‍You don't need to sit in ice for fifteen minutes to start exploring what your breath can do. If this has made you curious about breathwork, and what happens when we get out of our busy minds and back into our bodies, come and experience it with me or book a free discovery call to talk it through first.

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