You’re about to learn:
– How the Wim Hof Method scientifically lowers inflammatory markers
– How Matt has reversed his Psoriatic Arthritis pain using the Wim Hof Method and Paddison Program for Rheumatoid Arthritis
– What is the Wim Hof Method?
– Why cold therapy is so powerful
– Metabolic acidosis is an underlying cause of all disease
– Matt’s symptoms of psoriasis and arthritis and how far he has come with his strength and pain reduction
– Why we all should have the energy to follow our dreams
– Wim’s dreams for the future
– How to learn more and incorporate Wim’s strategies in your own life
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE
[powerpress]
WATCH THE EPISODE HERE
Clint: Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Paddison Podcast. We’ve got two super awesome guests today. One of them, very famous, he’s got titles like the Dutch Daredevil or the Iceman, some people just simply know him by his name, Wim Hof. He has conquered Mount Kilimanjaro. He’s also walked up Mount Everest in very, very unusual conditions wearing only shorts, implying that he is a master of controlling his body temperature and handling very cold conditions. He has 20 Guinness World Records, all involve being able to control his mind, meditation, and his body temperature. And he really is a master of this. He’s got with him today one of his students who’s called Matt, who’s also a great member of our Paddison Program community forum. And Matt actually reached out to me and said, “We’ve got a wonderful opportunity because I’m at a Wim Hof retreat, and it’s amazing and Wim has agreed to join us on this episode.” So with all that background, good day, guys.
Wim: Hey, right on! Right on!
Clint: Now, let’s get stuck into it. So, Wim tell us why do we need to know about the Wim Hof Method, if people are listening and they have an autoimmune condition.
Wim: Yeah, autoimmune condition, that means immune system out of control, overactive. And we have shown in scientific studies that people, being trained just in four days, were able to influence into their immune system and suppress the cytokine release. And the cytokine release, with an overactive immune system, is the cause of any autoimmune disease. And we have shown as the first group in the world to be able to suppress this cytokine production, the inflammatory markers in the blood, which causes the autoimmune disease. By regulating the immune system, by tapping into the physiology, going into the layers of the immune system effectively, consciously by breathing and focus. And we have shown this scientifically, got in the best of the papers of the world, with that, and also are a new chapter in the university books. And that’s…yeah. You go into nature and you find the real knowledge about our inner nature, which was not in the books. Now, it is in the books, and that’s why you guys with rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease, should know about this.
Clint: Absolutely.
Wim: And that just get into it and see what you can do, because you can do a whole lot more than you think possible.
Clint: Okay, fantastic. Tell us, Wim, what is the Wim Hof Method to someone who has no idea about it at all? So give us a bit of a rundown.
Wim: The Wim Hof Method is well-explained on the website, and there is also a free-course over there. So all the physiology behind it is explained. What it is all about is three things, very easy: focus, breathing, cold exposure. And because we go through science, right now we got scientific papers to explain all about the physiology, but in the end is it’s actually easy. It is simple. And in the case of autoimmune diseases, it helps the inflammatory markers to go down. That’s what you want to know if you are having this condition, autoimmune condition. They want to know how to bring down the inflammatory markers in the blood. Are we able to do that? Yes. With this method? Yes. Is it simple? Yes. Just do it.
Clint: Fantastic. Well, you’re sitting next to someone right now who’s been using your methods over the past several days. Now, Matt and I have spoken in the past of being involved with helping him with his autoimmune condition. Now, just before you joined us on the recording, Wim, Matt was saying that he’s currently pain-free using your techniques and the dietary principles that I’ve helped him with in the past, which is absolutely, absolutely phenomenal.
Wim: Beautiful.
Clint: So, Matt, can you talk us through your…
Matt: Yeah.
Clint: Yeah, go ahead, Matt. Tell us what your experience has been so far over the last few days.
Matt: Yeah. So, before coming to the retreat I was only doing about five push-ups, and I was really struggling. My wrist were really sore the next day. But now I’m smashing about 25 to 30 push-ups. Before, we were doing some yoga poses throughout the week fairly intense on. I never have done a headstand before. So yeah, just putting my arms over the top and doing a headstand, like crazy things. Yesterday we went about for about a 15-kilometer walk…18-kilometer walk and a few of us just decided… We’re just like, “Let’s just run.” We were just in that moment, we were just like, “Let’s just do it.” As Wim likes to say, “Let’s just do it.” So yeah, we just ran about three Ks, and to be honest I haven’t ran in about eight months. And the last time I ran it was…I ran for about half an hour, the next morning I woke up and my knees were just so sore. And I was like, “Oh, I’m just gonna have to wait until I get to a point where I’m better, and so I can start running.” So yeah, you know, I’m just blown away.
We’ve been jumping in ice buckets, using the cold water therapy. And when you’re in the ice, you just come face to face with your thoughts and your feelings, and you just gotta tap in and just really focus and use Wim’s breathing technique, and just go deeper and just control. It’s normal to have the shivers, but yeah, like I said, just really focusing, and there’s a couple of techniques that Wim teaches, and you actually feel warm. It’s crazy. I’ve never felt more in control and powerful. This autoimmune disease that I have, I’m gonna bust it this year. I’m gonna be done. I’m gonna bee autoimmune-free, disease-free.
Clint: Matt, last time we spoke, we were talking about all sorts of challenges that you were facing, and you were sort of at the beginning of your journey. Before we get into some of the “How do you do this?” which we will get to for listeners in just a second, can you just gives a real quick snapshot, Matt, of the name of your autoimmune disease diagnosis was? How you were, say before we spoke on our chat several months ago, and then now how you’re feeling, and just a quick one or two minutes on how far you’ve come with your condition.
Matt: Yep. So maybe about 10 months ago I was finally diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, which stems from psoriasis. And yeah, it’s very similar to the autoimmune disease. And yeah, pretty much like when I was diagnosed the doctor told me, “Yeah, you’re gonna have this disease. You’re gonna have to just treat the symptoms.” And I started to go on my journey about… I was like, “There’s no way. I’m 23 years old. Why do I have this disease, the healthy guy before? It’s absurd. It was rude.” So yeah, I went on this journey and probably about three, four months ago I started the Clint Paddison Program, which focuses a lot on the diet and eating a vegan…like oil-free, gluten-free, and you slowly start to bring more foods in.
And I’m now at a point where I can eat pretty much…yeah, a good variety of diet. But yeah, my CRP was originally about over 20, 20.8. Maybe three, four months ago it blew out to about 11. I was trying to eat a lot of fish oil and a lot of fish and it just wasn’t working. And then I’ve slowly got it down. My CRP, which I got down about a few weeks ago, was less than 0.4. To be honest, if I reckon, if someone did my blood test right now, I’d be less than 0.1 because I’m just feeling amazing. So, I’ve got so much more energy. I guess the big thing to me is the mental clarity that I’ve got. I feel like I’m in control. You can jump in ice, you can do all these things. I’ve got this sense of… Like, the really cold showers of the morning, I just smash the shower on and I’m just like…I do the breathing and I’m in there… I don’t know. It’s crazy. There’s a fire inside and it’s not going out, so this disease is done, truly.
Clint: Now, Wim, how often do you come across stories like Matt, which are completely unheard of in the medical community?
Wim: Yes, many, many. We got a community of 20,000 people with all kinds of conditions, but also athletes. I mean, the variety is as much as people are…like 20,000 types. Many people have also autoimmune conditions, and I see many so-called wonders. It’s learning how to get back to the core. The thing is, the principal, we are able to do some much more. We bring it to science. I bring it to science because I’m very convinced of this. And he is talking about pain, Matt is talking about pain, and we just completed a new study with the university on pain. And it show that just by using focus and breathing, we are able to tolerate much more pain, or to change the chemistry, which causes the pain signal to go.
We change the chemistry, and therefore there is no functionality for the pain signal to be there anymore. So that’s what we do. And how? Breathing, focus, a little bit cold. That together brings about suddenly a sense of control within much more than we ever thought possible. And the medical community is still not convinced, not aware of this effect. But I’m into science, no speculation, just numbers and ciphers, [SP] and showing anybody can do this. And there is so much more, and yeah, that’s what we do. We bring it out, and now we bring it out together. What this community of yours, who suffer from autoimmune diseases, they have to know about this. Yes, of course, about the diet, make it more alkaline. And what we do is also getting into the chemistry and make the changes needed to get rid of the cause of any autoimmune disease, which is actually acidosis to begin with. So, that’s what we do.
Matt: We just do it.
Wim: This is what we do.
Clint: I love it. I completely agree with you. Metabolic acidosis is something that not just people with autoimmune diseases are suffering with, but I think anyone in the western community. It’s hard to avoid when just about every food that you eat causes an acid-forming effect on the body after it’s consumed. So I’m all on board, Wim. I’ve been following your work for several years. You keep coming up in discussions when people say how they’ve made progress. People have said that they follow your method. And the reason that sticks in my mind is because you don’t hear many techniques that actually, genuinely improve autoimmune conditions, and many people believe that you can’t at all. Doctors still say that you can’t improve autoimmune conditions with diet, which is obviously something that’s just simply very untrue. And so when people get results, they talk about them. Now, I would like your thoughts on whether or not we can communicate some of the basics to our listeners on this call or whether or not you feel it’s something that’s best deferred to your website. Or, is there some things you could over right now that people could do at home, after listening to this, to try? Just very introductory stuff. How do you feel about that?
Wim: Yes, introductory stuff is very simple. Take cold showers after a hot one. You gotta go in and shower anyway and learn to breath more consciously. And then the belief, the belief is that you are able to tap into your chemistry with your mind much… You know the placebo effect?
Clint: Sure.
Wim: That’s your mind. And your mind is… When I stand in front of an ice tank without moving, I show 300% more metabolic activity in the self because I know I go into the ice. That’s our mind. So our minds, conscious breathing. Deeper breathing takes away they acidosis, the metabolic acidosis. We are right now in new research programs showing that the mitochondrial oxygen tension, that means the oxygen levels in the tissue, is being raised and therefore the right pH levels. The acidosis is going away, which is the cause. So, conscious deeper breathing brings about taking away the acidosis. The food thing, food should be food. That’s it, and not in some kind of chemical shit added to it, and refined, and processed. That’s not food, that’s bullshit.
So, we gotta breath deeply, consciously, and believe that we are able to make change within ourselves, and not depend too much on the doctor and pills and this and that. Use your power, your mind power, your placebo because it goes directly to the cell, and then deeper breathing and cold showers. And there you got it. If you want to know more, then get into the website and you’ll see all about the physiology. There is a free course, basic course, and you just get into it. In the end, I just keep on going with the signs and show that this is the key, the key to the core of ours, which is a natural way that nature meant us to be, to be able to tap in the chemistry of ours, in the depth, any time.
Clint: So I was able to follow along with most of that, which was nice, especially with regards to the mitochondria. Now that provides the energy to the cells, doesn’t it? So you’re actually able to provide more energy to the body at a cellular level.
Wim: Right.
Clint: Now, tell me, Wim, how did…? I think that people should…if they are wondering now, well, they’d like more information, I think the best thing is to start with your website. What is your website? Is it icemanwimhof.com?
Wim: No, I do not know exactly, sorry. I just show up, I do things. Let me say, if you go myinnerfire.nl, then you get there. Probably, it’s about… Thank you, thank you. Probably it’s about wimhofmethod.com ? I don’t know. But www.innerfire.nl, you will get the info.
Clint: Okay, okay, great. And I love the fact that you’re from the Netherlands. [foreign language 00:18:01]
Wim: [foreign language 00:18:09]
Clint: [foreign language 00:18:16]
Wim: Oh, boy.
Clint: Yeah, I just said to Wim that I can speak a little bit of Netherlands, a little bit of the Dutch language, but I’m not very good. I had a Dutch girlfriend for a period of time, and she taught me some basics. So now, Wim, how did you get into this? How did it begin for you? What was the trigger to begin what is a phenomenal career?
Wim: Yeah, there’s is just more between heaven and earth. It simply is that. And I don’t believe in more, I don’t believe in unhappiness, non-healthiness, and I believe everybody should have all the energy to do anything their dreams will tell them to do. We are here to realize our dreams. If we do that, we become happy, strong, and healthy. So, it was not there. That was my trigger point to start the search. And then finally after reading many, many books, learning many, many languages, traditions, cultures, disciplines, etc., I came across the cold water. And yes, the cold water, directly gave me a sense of this is it. This is the way to tap into the depth of my physiology, the way nature meant it to be. Not society, nature. So I went back to nature, and now nature goes through laboratory settings with my experience and it shows that we are able to tap into the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine systems, the immune systems, and anybody can do it. So, anything that while I was in the journey to do that, it just made sense. And if something makes sense, you know, then you follow it. So it made more sense than all the books and what all people were telling me. And that’s my career. It makes sense.
Clint: Now, did you have a particular health condition of your own that you were motivated by to try and eliminate? Or, is this just purely because you just wanted to realize other dreams and achieve other things?
Wim: Yeah, I think mine at first was more a mental, spiritual quest.
Clint: Right.
Wim: Then I lost my wife in ’95 because of schizophrenia, she suicided.
Clint: I’m sorry.
Wim: That caused a lot of grief and depression. So I had to overcome that, too, and it all did. It all did. It brought me back into the depth. And while doing that, I saw the possibilities. I found the possibilities for anybody in the world. And now it shows that it is a way not only to get your depression, grief, and/or spirituality back in your gut, in your being. [inaudible 00:21:45] causes for disease, any type of disease. Because we live in a society full of stress, and it doesn’t make sense anymore at a certain moment. So getting back to the sense is learning how to deal with the stress. And we have now we have shown in the university how to deal with the stress among control. We produce more adrenaline lying in bed than somebody going into its first bungee jump. At ease, totally controlled, and therefore this needs to go to people who are suffering from stress-caused conditions like autoimmune diseases, and finally it goes into the DNA, the stress and the oxidation, and the mitochondrial lack of oxygen going into anaerobe dissimilation and all that.
All the things is the same, it’s stress, and we have no control over that in our system anymore. And at a certain point it collapses. So, what we do is bring it back to the core, bring it back to the way nature meant it to be, not the way we think has being healthy and normal functioning. No. In nature, it goes deeper. We alienated from nature, but I got it back from nature. And this is the way my triggers of depression and all this, and grief, and spirituality, yeah, it brought me simply back to what makes real sense from the gut, intuition, life itself. I took nature as my teacher therein, and it brought me back. And now it shows that everybody is able to do that. So that’s my mission. My mission is to relieve anxiety, suffering, depression, disease from humanity, and show it by science, scientific scrutiny. Yes, sir?
Clint: What do you feel is the one thing that’s holding people back from embracing your techniques? What is the most common thing that people use as an excuse when they hear all of these wonderful things that they can gain from it? And Matt’s not the only example of people in our community who’ve used your techniques and got pain relief, they feel more confident, they’re more excited about their future, just by doing some of the more elementary components of your techniques. But on the other side, what are people’s biggest obstacles? When I think and try to imagine what one might say, it actually almost sounds so simple that it can’t be that effective. You kind of think, “Oh, it can’t be that simple.” You must hear that a lot. What would you say to someone to get them to take action?
Wim: Yeah, I think you already answered the question. It’s belief. People believe some things that simple is not able to be so effective. But for that, I take science. I take science and say, “Okay, here you got it, man. Those are the numbers deciphered. There’s no speculation and it’s no [inaudible 00:25:18]. It’s your choice. You wanna take it up? Yes or no, it’s up to you. You wanna be healthy or you wanna stay in your condition? It’s up to you, man. It’s free, it’s a choice. That’s what we do.” So, I’m not doing too much than only convincing people by showing data, and showing, “Hey, man, I believe there is more between heaven and earth than what they tell us. They only tell us that medicines and pills is the thing for the remainder of your life. I don’t think so. But that’s my beliefs. And now, I found in nature the psychological relief of that, the proof of that by sensing it. I feel strong, now it got through laboratory study and now we got the numbers, and it shows in the blood, in the brain, in the immune systems that we are doing amazing things. And that it is. So, you take it up, yes or no, it’s up to you.”
Clint: Absolutely. The old “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” analogy, isn’t it? It’s the same..
Wim: That’s a nice one. I like that one.
Clint: I didn’t come up with that one. So it’s the same with our program. We’ve got some phenomenal results with folks who follow our program, and you’ve got one sitting right next to you. And we’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of others, but people have challenges in their mind to overcome, the hurdle which is starting. Once you start and you see results, the results motivate you and you go from there. Matt, mate, before we wrap this up, because I know you guys are on a retreat and you’ve got things that are going on, what are your comments just to wrap this up from your point of view? Anyone thinking about trying these methods, perhaps some of the personal thought objections you had, and now how you feel having commenced these changes?
Matt: Yeah, to anyone out there that’s suffering from an autoimmune disease, anxiety, depression, feeling down, you’ve really gotta give it all. You’ve gotta give it a diet. You’ve gotta give it the exercise. You gotta use Wim Hof’s method to really just… Yeah, just get your mind and get that power on board. So, yeah, I understand people may think it’s crazy or you can’t do it, but literally give it a go. Do the breathing. Do the cold water, everyday if you can, whenever you can as possible. And yeah, what’s there to lose? You’ve got one option to stay on the medication, to keep being told by people that you trust, like the rheumatologist, that you gotta have this condition forever. That’s one choice and yeah, there’s not much responsibility there. Or, you can take it on your complete self and just give it 110% and throw everything at this disease. I’m truly feeling like I’m on top of the world. We’re doing a 10-minute ice challenge later today and I can’t wait. I want to practice more and more. When my body comes and these thoughts come back and I’m like, “I should get out,” I just again tap right into that control, and I’m good. I’m not shivering, I’m warm in the ice. It’s crazy, crazy stuff. And the science, again… Yeah, understanding is feeling, like Wim says, and that’s what you’re doing. You’re really getting connected with your body and… Crazy, crazy stuff.
Clint: Well…
Wim: Yeah, they tell me I’m crazy, yeah. I’m crazy about life, yeah. Count me in. I mean, it’s so simple.
Clint: We’re all a little bit…
Wim: Yeah, and this is what we wanted to say to everybody out there, is it?
Matt: Yes, absolutely.
Wim: We love everybody. We believe in strength, happiness, and health for everybody. And it’s not about believing, just believing. It’s all biochemically proven, so let’s get it on.
Clint: That’s it. So Wim, how can I get my hands on one or two of these studies or a collection of these studies so I can share them to everyone who I can reach on my mailing list and on Facebook?
Wim: Matt will do that.
Clint: Matt, can you get me some of the data because I want to get this out there? And Wim, you’ve got on one of your websites, there is an event happening in August in Melbourne. Is that correct? Have I read that correct?
Wim: Right.
Clint: Okay. Presumably, you’ve got events around the world because we have listener bases all over the world. Are you on a bit of a tour at the moment around the world?
Wim: Actually yeah, you could say it is a tour. Next week I’m in Montana, and then one and half week I’m in Spain, and then I’m back in Australia, then I’m going to Malibu again, and then to the Netherlands again. Yeah, it’s ongoing. So, yes.
Clint: Okay.
Wim: But I’d like to do a whole lot more here in Australia.
Clint: Yeah, well, we love the…
Wim: Yeah, I love the country.
Clint: Wonderful. I think that’s…
Wim: I like the country.
Clint: Thank you. We love you. We love the Netherlands. I think there’s a lot of similarities between our two countries, and we’ve got a lot of affection as a country for the Netherlands. And I think, as you say, that’s reciprocated. So I’m just going to wrap this up and encourage anyone who is listening to this and who can feel the energy of this discussion… I mean, you guys are operating on a whole new level. The energy is just phenomenal. Wim, I don’t think I’ve had anyone on the podcast who has quite the philosophies and the outlook on life to come on and to say that we’re all here to realize our dreams as human beings. It reaches a whole different part of the human psyche than just saying, “Oh, we need to change this food,” or, “Do this exercise.”
You’re operating on a whole different level, and it does take a few moments to come on board with realizing that the level at which you’re playing at as a human being. And I’m just so thrilled that you came on this podcast for us and that we’re able to share your message to our listeners. And I wanna thank you, Matt, for making this happen. And Wim, I’m going to, as I say, encourage everyone who I can reach to attend your August event if they’re in Australia. And we’re gonna dig up the website which has your dates on it, and I encourage anyone to attend your events down the track. You’ve mentioned you’ve got a community of 20,000 people now. Is that a community online we can join or is that people who are subscribed to your information? How can people become more connected with you?
Wim: If you get on this innerfire.nl thing, to the website, they know. I don’t know exactly. I only know it’s about 20,000 people. They talk to each other on a daily basis. I think everybody’s welcome. And as they say, the more the merrier.
Clint: Absolutely. Well, couldn’t agree more. So, thank you very much, guys. We’re just sending you all the best for the next few days, and good luck with your 10-minute water challenge, ice challenge I should say, this afternoon, Matt. You’re looking forward to it, you said.
Matt: We’ve got a Jacuzzi next to the ice buckets as well. So it’s a good little reward. But sometimes it’s actually harder to get out of the Jacuzzi and back into the cold than getting out of the ice. Crazy, but it’s true.
Wim: Good.
Clint: Awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, guys.
Wim: Right on.
Clint: Okay.
Wim: Good.
Clint: Thank you. Thank you very much.