"When you're doing a breathing class with Wim Hof on #FridayThe13th under a #NewMoon and Mercury is heavily in #Retrograde and you pass out..."
It might not be so trendy, today, but a few years back ice bath plunges and wild holding breath business was entirely all the rage. Cold was the key to eternal youth. Lack of breathing, or some derivation thereof, the secret to perfect health. And Wim Hof, a 65-year-old Dutchman, was at the very forefront of it all.
Hof, known as “The Iceman” wowed the fitness-conscious by breaking the Guinness Book of World Records records for swimming under ice, laying upon ice and running a half marathon, barefoot, upon, you guessed it, ice. Hof developed a whole system around cold, lack of breathing and perpetual adolescents, naming it the Wim Hof Method that was practiced enthusiastically by professional surf icons like Laird Hamilton and Kelly Slater.
The best of the best.
Eight years ago, you may recall when the 11x world champ became knocked right out doing a Wim Hof Method. Afterward, Slater penned, “When you’re doing a breathing class with #WimHof (@iceman_hof) on #FridayThe13th under a #NewMoon and Mercury is heavily in #Retrograde and you pass out and fall on your face, start dreaming and wake up wondering where tf you are and why does your face feel like you just got tackled on the football field and somebody was filming it all…but you think it’s funny.”
“You knocked yourself out,” Hof responded.
Well, in a turn nobody saw coming, The Iceman has just come under heavy fire for alleged abuse. A report published in the Netherlands’ de Volkskrant newspaper over the weekend claimed Hof had “subjected his former partner, their son and her two children from a previous marriage to physical and verbal abuse over a period of 13 years.”
Hof vociferously denies the charges and vows to fight them in the court of Dutch law, but a possible casualty is his biopic which is currently in the works and starring Shakespeare in Love heartthrob Joseph Fiennes.
The production company for the film released a statement declaring, “Genesius Pictures can confirm that due to the severity of the allegations, this production, which was in development only and had not begun filming, is on hold.”
Big bummer for those who enjoy their films as cold as their beverages.
There will, certainly, be more as this story develops.