Laura Hof
Appearances
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
That's the type of auntie I am. She's amazing auntie. Every time when I come here, I'm very present. She lives above me. She's got an apartment above me. It's a mess here. So that's perfect for the child too.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
He's like my partner. My partner is all of, I live and the child needs to follow me. I love Uncle Jerry. I think both are important, of course. But what I do think that a lot of time we give children a little bit too many rules. And we know about this creative genius of four-year-olds. They measured four-year-olds. Most of them, they're creative geniuses. And what is that?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Of course, the brain is developing, but it's also this playfulness and this imagination that we can still have that if we don't stifle it too much. And I really believe that we can do it through play, through openness, through see whichever choice you make some mistakes here and there. That's actually very important.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And that's what I also find it very important to let the child as well make the choices. Make sometimes a mistake. But of course, you're the one advising them. In the long run, it can happen that these are the consequences at a certain age, depending on, of course, the age where they are in. But let them make the mistakes as well.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So I do think that, yeah, give them just a sense of control, the sense of agency as well in that sense. And then sometimes it ends up a little bit different than they want it. But if it's manageable, if they can become then more resilient, for example, I think it's a very good thing to do. You know, the Spartans, I like this story. That's so much the Spartans.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
I like it. But they threw their children out into the forest at age seven. That's when their brains, their unconscious part of the brain have been fully developed. And I thought, oh, that's interesting. At that moment, They threw them out into the forest and then they had to survive for a whole year alone. And only when they survived that year, they could come back to the clan.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
What do you mean? As lovers? No. And up in the forest being not alive. Part of the wolves.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It's very early, but I like that concept of building a little bit more resilience building towards our kids because nowadays really kids have been, they're raised in too much comfort. And that also means that later on in life, they cannot deal with the stresses of life. So it is very important to have that fine balance and, Of course, don't throw them out into the forest for a year at age seven.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
But give them a little bit of agency. Give them a little bit of challenge in their life. Don't shield them from the challenges of life. They need to learn. And you can do that in a protective space as a parent. Yeah, that I agree totally. I'm not sure how it is in the U.S., but in the Netherlands...
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
We had an issue here with these generations of children that because the parents always wanted to do the best for the child and always were thinking ahead of, oh, this can damage the child in a short run. So they didn't became resilient anymore. So if there was something at the football field and something that happens that was a bit innocent, but hurt the feelings.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
they couldn't handle with their feelings. So they were actually less resilient in their feelings. And it was actually an issue over here. So they were saying like, how can we make our children, again, educate our children so they can handle better with obstacles in life? And then, so the parents, I think as well, parents need to redirect a little bit how they are teaching the children
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
overcoming obstacles or facing dilemmas, facing problems, issues in life and not trying to want it or not wanting to solve everything for them. Because it's actually an opportunity to grow as well. It's also, of course, the way that children learn their sponges. So they will observe their caregiver.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So if the caregiver is acting in a way that is stress resilient, I bet that the kid also becomes more stress resilient. Oh, for sure. Yes.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Absolutely. There, of course, especially when they are children, what Laura already said, they are sponges. And all the experiences they are facing, they are experiencing, they are kept somewhere in the brain as well. And then if they are dealing it in the right way, or in the end, they find the solution, they...
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
have that in their brain so it's kept so for the next time it's easier to overcome that issue in their lives yeah and we know about epigenetics right so we already know that it really with regards to stress signature that's the signature that you have it's a blueprint it can change but we can literally give it to our children it's three generations long and that's what they have tested in studies
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
but i find it interesting i think that stress signature if it's not dealt with if it's not changed its epigenetic signature that's the way that i see it you can change it through new experiences then you will give the way you deal with challenges in your life if it becomes very stressful and overwhelming the way that you respond you give that to your children your children gives it to their children
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And the children, they gave it to their children. That's how far reaching this goes. And exactly like you said, we can build up a little bit more resilience by making these mistakes early on through experiences and to doing it in the comfort of the parent, which is also a master regulator of the mood of the child. You can suit them whenever they're making a mistake.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You can explain them that there's always a next time. That's the little cognitive thing. part that also plays a role in understanding and placing that experiences in their brain and in the correct manner. And so through these mistakes early on, we build up resilience and we build up a database by which they later on in life can fall back on.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
They already went through these emotions maybe a couple of times. So whenever a stressful moment enters their life and whenever they're making a mistake, the emotion the emotional trigger will just be less and that's, they become less stress sensitive. And so mistakes are absolutely beautiful and necessary in life to get to where you are. We're not going in straight lines.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
That doesn't happen in life. I wish it worked, but that doesn't happen. No, we go in fluctuations and we have little downer times and up times and To manage ourselves emotionally, regulating ourselves emotionally, it already happens when we are children. And that's the job of the parent. I'm not a parent, but it must be very difficult to find the balance, right?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Between some involvement, but not too much involvement. Some freedom, but not too much freedom. order, but not too much order. And so this is the beautiful exercise as a parent, which is also one beautiful journey that you go through in life, really teaching your child this, right? Because you are going through a transition.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You are going through many of these life lessons because you also have to question yourself and have these conversations yourself. And Yeah, I must be beautiful. I have no idea. I'm not talking by experience, but I can imagine. She's got a lot of ideas. She drops in every day. Well, what I saw struggles. She's so loud.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, what I see and which is what I observe my little nephew, it's absolutely beautiful because I come in sometimes months later, right? They go on a vacation. I see my nephew again after a couple of months. I'm not having seen him. And what is that he goes through major shifts.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
But what I've also observed by just watching him, and it's a major life lesson for me, is that little children have these little days where they have total crises. They're crying, they are unsuitable, and everything is wrong. And it's, what is going on? And the way that I see it, every time when that happens, when I saw it with my nephew, right after these periods,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
they have a major cognitive shift or improvement. And so he becomes better after these moments or periods of chaos. What does that mean? It's a rearranging of this neural circuitry that is going on with children very rapidly. And I see it with him every time. And again, in very short periods of time, but this happens all of our lives. And we don't think like this.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
We think that it stops when we become adults or, you know, we are children until the last day when we die, because we also have this neural rearranging going on after these major, what we perceive as humans, crises. And so these are opportunities to really improve ourselves, to really make a shift and make that leap. Improving ourselves, going to the next level.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
do things right act to almost soothe this hurt that he was feeling it was a way for him to escape but then it became a way of healing but it was also the reason that he went into these extremes like sitting in a bucket for two hours who does that well a person maybe that is super driven it made my father driven to the point that he went into these extremes doing marathon bare feet
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And that's why I say there is not a straight line in growing, improving. No, this goes in fluctuations.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yes, absolutely. For those that don't know the history of our mother as well and our father. So our mother died already 30 years ago because she committed suicide. She had schizophrenia and she had a lot of mental issues there. So she couldn't really take the care of us. Our father was the constant person in our lives. And our mother was there a few months with us.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then she had to go back to Spain to family, to collaborate because yeah, it's hard with mental issues and. educating or raising children. So our father was always there as the person being involved, but still loving our mother a lot. So we saw a lot of love in our childhood from him towards her and of course vice versa, but she had more issues.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So 30 years ago, she committed suicide after she already had, yeah, had different attempts to commit actually suicide. The voices in her head kept on being bigger, told her, yeah, do this, do that. And eventually she jumped from the balcony of where our grandmother lived. And it was really there that he had to deal with this grief, with this pain. And we were there as four little ducks with him.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
and so he had to take care of us so he couldn't really mourn he did mourn of course but he had to care of the children because hey that's your priority and our father already did the cold exposure the breathing the mind select but this was his practice so we saw him every day doing it in the winter always going into the cold but it was actually when our mother committed suicide after that he dived way deeper into this practice
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And what he also say is that my children helped me survive, but the cold healed me. And now we understand as well more about this practice because we are, we dived into it as well. Years later, years later, but now we understand as well the impact it has on our mental being, our physical being, our mental being. And because of that, we practice it as well.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
When we were children, we did maybe here and there some things, but later on, we really as well practice because we, yeah, we saw him, he was explaining the method further. And there's where we started to practice as well, this method, and to really understand, wow, what the impact it has on our psyche. again, a physical being, and it's huge. And it's really, it has a very deep imprint.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
When my mother died, it was one of the most dramatic, impactful moments in our lives as a family and also my father, because it really made him want to go out into the world and just
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So from there, we started to practice. At a certain moment, we started to work as well with our father because like I studied psychology, but I really see this as one of the best practices to change your psychology yourself without going to a psychologist. Like a psychologist can be great, of course,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
but it's mentally, this is changing your physiology and wet by changing your physiology or changing your brain as well, your mental condition. So everything, all the system in our, in all the systems in our bodies, they are connected, interconnected. So the impact is huge and yeah, I just saw like the huge impact and I thought I want to work more with that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And from there we started really diving into the practice.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
as well starting to organize the ice woman community but next to that as well had doing our workshops with many women and there we saw as well a lot of different questions about can i do it for my menstruation i'm in my period can i do it i but as well best practices of women with very menopause so many parts is like wow after doing the methods my hot flashes goes down so there we thought wow this would be a great entry to write about it do more research about it and as well like
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
How can it impact a woman? What are the best practices? How can it impact a woman positively? But as well, about which topics does a woman need to be a bit more considerate? So this is actually the birth as well of the book. Yeah, and I think really, if you think about pain and purpose, this is really finding your purpose.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Often it happens in those moments when you experience the greatest loss, experience the greatest pain. And I think really when my mother died, it was one of the most dramatic, I think, impactful moments in our lives as a family and also my father, because it really made him want to go out into the world and just do things, right? Act to almost soothe this, this hurt that he was feeling.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So it was a way for him to in some way also a little bit escape, but then it became a way of healing. But it was also the reason that he went into these extremes, like sitting in a bucket for two hours. Who does that? Well, a person maybe that is super driven. And it made my father driven to the point that he went into these extremes, doing marathon bare feet, climbing a mountain,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
even the Mount Everest up until the death zone, 7,800 meters. And of course I know people that have climbed the Mount Everest, but did you do it in shorts and do it without any oxygen? I don't think so. And so these kinds of crazy feats, you have to go crazy sometimes when you are in that moment to really pull yourself out of that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And so I don't think that we would have been here, wouldn't have been without the loss of my mother. And now this practice that my father used to heal himself, later on, we love to practice for different reasons. But we see it as one of the best modalities to really regulate yourself, to really come to a center point of yourself where you can go through life in a balanced way.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And for him, it was a way that It healed him, but then he brought it out into the world and he really believed that what he could do with it, which was influence his autonomic nervous system. He saw people healing from depression and he gave it already when he was doing these practices. Well, it was not a method yet. He did it his whole life. That was why people were so drawn to him.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
He has a purity of heart, of mind, of being. That is my thought. That's a childlike purity. And he gave it to anybody who was willing to listen. Anybody who needed it, he gave it to them. But it wasn't yet applicable in scientific studies. It wasn't studied yet. It was really because he was doing these crazy feats. Science became interested in him and that really started rolling the ball.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
That was really when everything lanced off because then you could see what an impact these simple exercises had. And now it has become a method that is worldwide. I love to travel. I can't travel anywhere anymore. without people not knowing the Wim Hof Method. I'm now trying to see if I can go there incognito, like now my name is Silvana or something like this. Why? Because everybody knows it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Everybody. At a certain moment, I thought I'm not going to call it Wim Hof Method because that's also a bridge to say, yeah, that's my dad. I'm going to call it cold presses and breathing exercises. And even then... Women are always saying, oh, with love. So it's impossible. But what it does show is that the impact that it has had, and it all came from a very pure point.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It really came from a pure emotional impact, which my mother's death really was the catalyst for. And that's why I really, and we really wanted to dedicate this book to my mother, who had a lot of mental health issues. And I am really convinced that if she would have done the method, then that she would still be here.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And for my father as well, that's also a good one to mention, is because the mental issues she had, and now he understood as well that this method is so good for the mental health. For my father, actually, For him, the most important group that he can reach is people with physical or mental issues. That is what he wants to change. Because the impact is direct. It's immediate.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
There's not a waiting of six weeks or months. It's immediate. And that's why it's so beautiful and effective. And the graver your condition, this is how I see it, but the bigger the impact there is to see. And so even in one session of four hours, People come, they leave transformed from a workshop. It's four hours only. Of course, it's an integration afterwards.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You have to keep continuing because if you're depressed or if you're bipolar, it's not the cure in one session. But it's definitely in one session, you can feel the deep impact on an emotional level and as well on a physical level, even spiritual level. Yeah, and it's chemistry, but you're also giving them hope. That things can change. And it's a big changer.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
The chemistry changes, so your biochemistry changes. A lot of times these conditions, and especially with mental health issues, it has a lot to do with the biochemistry not being right. And it's almost like a huge reset. And of course, it can take some time. If your condition has been going on for a long time, it won't be maybe a quick fix. But the impact is immediate.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
I remember with, I love that one that you say it's increases the hope again, especially if you had a mental issue and it was going on for a long time and nothing helped. Then if you have something, if you found something that gives you a direct impact, then you want to continue. And I just remember now as well, somebody coming to me with lung COVID. She has, well, a family of three children.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
She was a doctor, three children, but her nervous system was disbalanced. You saw it a lot with people who had COVID. And she said, I'm coming home and I just want to go directly to my bed. I can't even play with my children anymore or be with them. And I feel guilty to my partner. And then she came and then she did the exercises and then she
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
She felt the tremendous impact it has on her body, on her mental being. And later on, she still said, whoa, this was the entry point where I felt the hope again. And then she continued the practice. Yeah, the way that I always explain it, it's one of the best tools to gain more sovereignty. It's sovereignty. This is how I see it. Because I think Wim Hof Method, it's as strong as medicine.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
This is what I believe. And it just gives you more sovereignty over your happiness, health, and strength. And that's really what it is. And we have these self-healing capabilities of ourselves. It's our inner body. It's already there. We just need a little bit of help to ignite those. And when they're ignited, it just goes on by itself. And this is really what it does.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So mentally giving you more reins, more control over your own health. Yeah, that is impact. And as I said, it's hope. Mentally, you're giving them some hope, but it's also physical. You feel it immediately. It's a tool. You're always carrying your backpack called life. So you can, if you're feeling down, if you're not feeling well, then you can always start doing the breathing exercises.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
This is just like laying on the ground. So you don't have to go anywhere. You just can lay on the ground, sitting on a couch and start doing the breathing exercises and it will transform your being immediately. It is a little, but it will transform. Yes.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Good question. Love the question. Yeah, so we did a follow up. So it started with Wim. And it's one, they saw this effect on the, these are not the real E. coli bacteria, but these are parts of a dead bacteria, the E. coli bacteria, because I think that E. coli could even kill you. But there's a part of that bacteria, E. coli, that they injected in these people.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And normally you see a fever, a lot of headaches, etc. And with Wim, you didn't saw it, but you saw it as well that he had a low inflammation in his blood. And even after six days, when they withdraw the white blood cells or when they analyzed the white blood cells, it still had an increase. So Wim was just one person.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So they wanted to first see if others as well had the same effects after practicing the methods. So they took 28 people and the half of them went to Poland, trained with my father, did four days. They went, they did the breathing exercises, cold exposure, and they climbed up a mountain in their shorts, okay, freezing their butts off.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And what they saw when they went to the hospital, that was 10 days later. So after four days, they came to Holland, they trained six days, six more days, and then they went to the hospital. So they injected them again with the bacteria and they saw the same results as my father. So that was the first thing that they saw that other people could as well influence their autonomic nervous system.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
and their immune response. So it's a huge finding because it was actually the first time in history that they saw that your autonomic nervous system can be influenced. And normally they say you can't influence your autonomic nervous system. That's why it's called autonomic. Okay. So that was a huge break through later on that about university. They wanted to
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
as well, see which components actually had that effect. And so they break it. I said that broke it down. Mindset is a bit different to measure, although we find it very important. I think without the mindset, it's very important. So they left that out. So they did the breathing exercises and they did the cold exposure. So in the end, they were
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Four groups, one only doing the breathing exercises, the other one the cold exposure, one group breathing and cold, and there was a control. So what they saw is that the group with the breathing exercise, who did the breathing exercises, you saw again a lowering of the inflammation.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
with the group of the cold exposure as well, but not so much as the breathing, but the best results were in the group of the breathing and the cold. So yes, both components have an effect on the inflammation, but the breathing and the cold were the most potent ones. And then they didn't add on the mindset, but we know that, yeah, mindset
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
how you're approaching the cold, how you're approaching the breathing exercises, it has a very big effect. So there is a synergetic effect between the components themselves. And it seems that combined, they make each other stronger. So it is the reason also, I think, that my father, naturally speaking, he's a prophet, he goes out into the nature, comes back with the answers.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
He already found out just by his practice why these three components work so well, right? And so we know about the power of the mind through placebo, nocebo, right? How important the mind is. Just by visualization, you can increase your muscles. What is that? People can improve on their tennis just by watching Tennis matches. That's actually what I did when I was younger and playing tennis.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Because I knew it would improve my play. As a kid, I was doing that. And so next to the practice, that is. You need to practice. And then as well with visualization, with the help of the visualization, you can actually as well enforce that neurological pathways and the circuitry that enforces you do the next time a better hit. For example, practice that you're doing.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So this 2010, and then it was also the follow-up study with 12 others where a hundred percent proven everybody could do it exactly the same as Wim did, which was to influence their autonomic nervous system and their immune system at will, whenever you want. And that was simply just four days of really going deep into the breathing, the mindset, cold exposure, and then
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
six days of practice at home, all by themselves in 10 days, they were able to replicate the exact results. And that's revolutionary. And usually in science, it can take weeks, months. I don't know how long it takes before you have these really drastic results. And so it's almost that this, it shows how impactful it can work like a medicine.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
These inflammatory markers, they just went down immediate after one breathing session and some conditioning with training, of course. But after that breathing session in bed, and you even saw this master regulator of inflammation. And I like this one, the TNF alpha, X alpha. It was reduced by 53%. Now for me, that is major. Through a natural, it's a natural method.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You're doing it with your own breath. For me, that's crazy if I think about it that way, right? So I always like to think like a normal person walking down the street. I'm not a medic, but when I hear these numbers, I go berserk because you have medicine. They promise like one third of improvement of inflammatory markers. And that one after six weeks, maybe, or. months of being on the medicine.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then you don't know if they work. And so for me, this was one of the groundbreaking studies that I see that it really changed the way that we have to look at healthcare, that we have to look at what we as humans are capable of. And of course, how much influence we do have, how much autonomy, how much sovereignty we do have. And we get to play in that just by tapping into
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
these healing capabilities, again, of our own being. And we have those. We just need those keys to ignite them.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
First of all, I do want to note that if you have a gun pointed to your face, you can as well get a PTSD. That's an entry for post-traumatic stress disorder. So hope you're good. You look good. So in that sense, but it can be the difference between stress response, which we really want to point out is that you have this acute stress. The acute stress is indeed if at that moment,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
you're facing a gun to your head and you know perfectly how to handle. You run, for example, you can run, the enemy goes up, you are in a flight of flight mode, and if you successfully run or successfully fight the guy, if that is possible,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
and you manage to overcome that situation, and afterwards, in the long run, you feel psychologically okay, that's a perfect way that a stress response can influence our bodies and our minds and being. That's something that we want. The same as with a deadline, or same as if you're avoiding something in the street that can be very dangerous, you want to have this quick stress response.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And we actually don't have to think about the stress response. This is going automatically and in many cases it can help us. But the thing is in our society, these big triggers are not the main stress responses we are facing. Actually, what now happens is that you have a lot of little stresses here and there. It's psychologically, it's physiologically, it's from the environment.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
There are many things coming to our door, little stressors that eventually it can turn to long-grade stress and lower-grade stress. And this lower-grade stress has an impact on our bodies. So in the beginning, your adrenaline, when something happens, your adrenaline goes up. And if the stress or the stressor in this case is not going away,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
then the adrenaline and other stress hormone takes over because adrenaline cortisol is taking over because cortisol is a more longer lingering response of the body. So cortisol for a week is okay for two weeks is also okay. But if it's turns to longer than months, months or years, then that leads to low grade inflammation.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And your body is actually saying, hey, there is something happening outside. We have to be in an alarming state of being. So there is inflammation, constant inflammation in the body. And that constant inflammation that can lead to diseases because you are deregulating the immune system.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And this can lead to diseases as autoimmune diseases, like a thyroid, for example, thyroid issues, or, but even as well in our opinion, mental diseases, because your brain can't heal himself anymore. We are either in a restorative state or in a stress state. So stress is good. If it's getting balanced with the restoration. If you're long-term in a stress state, your body can't restore.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And this eventually leads to deregulation. And that is the danger in our society because nowadays we have way too much stressors around us, which in the long run can lead to diseases. If you think about it, we wake up and we have this upsurge of cortisol, which really is an activating hormone, but it's also a stress hormone. And it goes up and in a very healthy line of a day.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It goes up when you wake up because you need to be active. You need to go out into the world, right? Meet your deadlines now or facing a lion or whatever what it is. And then it really, in a natural state, you go home and then cortisol goes down and then the melatonin goes up so that you can go to sleep. Nowadays, actually, we have a constant mode of little stressors all around. It's our phone.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It's the boss that's sending you a late email in the night, and that creates stress in the night when you actually should be socializing, relaxing, metabolizing your food, and then going to bed. But with these constant stressors, this constant cortisol flooded in our bloodstream, yeah, that means that we're on high alert. We're running from a tiger the whole day long, even when we're in bed.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then we wake up again. And if that happens for a long time, these constant stressors, modern day stressors, that creates a lot of problems in the long run because cortisol, if there's no clean, it also makes sure that we have a little bit of inflammation, which is absolutely okay. When we come into the restorative phase of our day, which is in the night, and then we need to go to sleep.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It's a restorative phase. That's when the inflammation. gets cleaned up. That's when the rearranging in our brain is being done. And so when this doesn't happen, you get a built up of this inflammation because you're stressed all the time, no restoration going on. And that built up, that creates all of these different problems that we have. And we know inflammation
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Well, which one are you missing? I think Africa. Maybe you can do Africa. That would be an interesting one.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
is pretty much the basis of all modern conditions. And this is my statement. We had to look at, okay, what, where does it say? Well, there are a lot of physicians and at least 95% of chronic conditions, for example, there are based on inflammation. But for me, it really comes down to inflammation. If we deal with that, and what is it?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Just being in the restorative state of our body, which is our natural state of being. We shouldn't be. in a stress state all of the time. That's not how our body has been built.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
We have been built to deal with short-term stressors and then to go home, relax, so that we kick in the restorative part of our bodies, our self-healing capabilities, so that we can, again, restore and deal with the next stressors coming in. And that's when we also built up some resilience. The resilience is being built up after the stressor. And it's even on cell level.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
This is why, for example, eustress. We, what we do with the Wim Hof method is eustress. So it's a short burst of stress and that's actually how our bodies have been built. We like a little bit of stress, but then it has to stop. So we like to run from the tiger and then to hide from it, or we're being eaten. It's one of the two, but when we are hiding and then the tiger goes away.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
okay everything comes down again the system comes down we can clean up the mess the inflammation but also on cell level the cell understands oh my god what was that okay for the next time we need to be a little bit stronger and so it begins a little bit of a house cleaning inside of the cell it begins to wrap itself around a little layer, a protective layer.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And Oceania, I think.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And so we become stronger for the next bout of stress. And that is building stress resilience. We're not built as modern human beings to deal with this constant short-term stressors. We're not built yet. And this is why this method is so great as well as regulating stress.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Oceana, yeah. We are happy to present Amsterdam now.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So at one hand, Laura said it very beautifully, eustress, hormetic stress, it gives a big stress point, the artery goes up and it goes down. And then like emotions, et cetera, when you're facing an issue, your cell has that as well.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
afterward it becomes more resilient okay more resilient so that is just one entry and the other one of the Wim Hof method what we are doing actually with inducing controlled stressors because these are controlled stressors is that yeah you get a big bounce of stress and then you're relaxed and then as well what we have seen in research while doing the method so they put some people in fmris
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
They checked the brains, did some research, brain research. And then they saw actually that this endocannabinoids, the ECB1 receptors, endocannabinoids says receptors one, increased. And what it means actually, these are widespread in the brain. 10%, 10% of the cells are, you have these receptors on the brain. When you have more of these cells, you actually are
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
increasing your stress response because these receptors, if you have more of these receptors, they act as a stress buffer. So for a next time, if you're practicing it for a long run, they did this measurements for during six weeks. So they measured just one week before the methods and one week after, but there they saw an increase of these receptors and it means a better stress response.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So that means actually when stress comes in, you are less reactive. You're more responding. So stress hits you less harder. It's also the endocannabinoid system, opioid system. It's the same system that we actually also give a boost when we use painkillers. So actually Wim Hof method, it's a natural painkiller.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Wow. Well, for that, I really think you need to have this deep connection with your inner self. And if you lost that, then you can not understand what actually your road is or what you want to be, or what you believe in, what is important for you. If you don't know those things that are important for you, how can you act on it? And that deeper self is for me intuition as well.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So connecting within the self. And what we have seen and noticed a lot with practitioners is that they really can connect with a deeper layer of themselves. What is important? Well, you have to know that. And with the breathing exercises, I don't know if you have done it, John, but with the breathing exercises, with one good session, you go deep in that system.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, that's a good question. That's a beautiful question as well. There are many divining moments for me personally, but one of the last ones is actually becoming a mother. And you can't think about these things, about you get a baby, you get a child. How is it going to change it? You can't think about it. You can maybe fantasize it or have it in your mind.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And what is important for that moment, what is important, like it comes out. You feel, first of all, very connected to the body, a lot of love and a clear sense of, direction as well. So the noise that can be created by the external arts, like all these demands in society, that falls off. Those layers are gone. So you can really connect with that deeper self of you.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Once you're very good connected with that deeper self of you, what are your values? What is important for me in life? You don't have to have always a clear plan, I think, but you do need to have that connection. That's that connection. And then once you're connected to that, you know the direction better.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
and that gives the purpose you don't have to be the president of the world sometimes people want to be very big but what impact from you in life what is the impact from you for yourself for you the people around you yeah the circle around you and then if that is completed, if that is more clear, then you can think, oh, actually this is already, it matters.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then you can see as well, what more impact do you want to have? But first start with yourself and then what as well with the people around you. Yeah. There's such a thing that is called interoceptive focus. And that is really the deeper connection within that we get to sense what is happening within our body, that we have an internal world, which you cannot see from the outside, right?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And we get constantly triggered from the outside. And that means that our brain is going on. Yeah. Repeat start that it's like a monkey mind that cannot be still. And actually with this method, what you really do, well, try to sit in an ice bath and think about your problems. It's impossible, right?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You really have to really connect with the body, mind body in that moment to really center yourself and go through that transition in the ice bath, coming out unscathed and preferably with a feeling of bliss. That's what I have. I think an ice bath for me, It's a complete feeling of Zen. And so it stops you thinking about the past. It stops you thinking about the future.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It puts you in the here and now. And I think that is an instant meditative practice. You can do that through meditation, but it's very difficult for a modern human being to sit still. And meditate for 15 minutes. It's very difficult. But this is what we do also with an ice bath. You go into the ice bath. You sit in it for two minutes. And there is no way. You either connect with yourself.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
A deeper connection. Or you disconnect. And you go out. There's no cheating there. And that's why I find it so beautiful. Because it's like forcing. But once you get there. It's a deeper connection. Deeper that I cannot explain. You can only experience. You can only feel and sense it while you're doing it. You can explain all you want, but just do it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And you feel a deeper connection that it goes through all of these conditioned layers. The conditioned layers also this rumination. And so we put ourselves in the here and now. And in the here and now, that's where you find acceptance. That's where you find peace. That's where you find clarity. That's where you find a deeper connection with yourself and a deeper knowing.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And there, there are no outside voices. It's only you and not even your persona. I think it's even you and your soul. I cannot explain it any other way. Yeah. You and your soul. And that means that anything that is unimportant, it just falls away. And of course, when you have that deeper connection with yourself,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And you bring that out and you are in a state of bliss after, then it's so much easier to connect with the world. You just are relaxed. There is nothing to gain. There's nothing that you need. You're at ease. You're at ease. I love that explanation. And it's that connection with one of us. I also believe that we are creative beings. We are people who strive for growth.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
But you can think about how, what an impact it has on your life. And for me is that before I had a very structured life, like next to the structured, I as well, some freedoms have freedom moments in that structure, but it was more disciplined. Okay. This morning I'm going to wake up early. I am going to read and doing math, doing some sports. And then yeah, I had it all together in a sense.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So that is by doing the things that are important for us. Where do you want to create in? Creative is not just painting. It's as well solving an issue or... excelling in another area that is important. But first you need to understand what is important, whether you want to create it and where do you want to go then, and then have the discipline as well to make the proper steps.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Because by that creating, it gives that a sense of wonder as well, and that sense of purpose and a sense of accomplishment. And then you want to continue. Once you're in the flow, I think that there you find the very big passion. and that you also understand and have the confidence to follow that path. That's actually, I have to remind, we have women that come to the workshop.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
I have the funniest stories, actually. Sometimes they're anxiety-ridden, right? They come in the workshop, they have no idea if they want to do the ice bath. They're like, is it okay if I just sit in the workshop? But the ice bath? No, not the ice bath. Is that okay? Yeah, no worries. At the end, I make sure that everybody goes into the ice bath and they love it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
But I remember a woman that came to our workshop and she was very shy, didn't really talk a lot, but she had a major breakthrough. This was a woman that was doubting so much in her life, actually busy with so many rumoration. And she wrote us a letter afterwards that this workshop, this couple of hours, gave her the resolve, the empowerment to go after her dreams.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
She quit her job and started her own company. And these type of stories we hear all of the time. And why? Because it gives you just that clarity and that empowerment to really go after what you want. It is with this clarity and And this empowerment together, coupled together, then you go on your purpose. The shedding of these layers, this conditioning, that's what we're talking about.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then that's where your purpose lies.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
For me, this book, and this is how I see it. It's our way of really helping these balance of male and females out into the world. We know that women struggle much more than men with all kinds of different stressors. There are different societal expectations.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And I just wanted to give women these tools that make them aware of what it means, what is stress and how does it affect women and what they can do with it and how the woman feels. the method can support their hormonal balance, which is a major one. And that all ties in the way that I see it with stress.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And so when you give a woman these tools, it just makes sure that they get more sovereignty over their happiness, health and strength. And we know that there's so little research with regards to women and health, while it is absolutely necessary, just because we have a different hormonal profile. And so medicine will have a different effect.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
This book was really to actually explain what we are already seeing in our communities with regards to the Wim Hof Method, women that have more regular periods, women that all of a sudden can get babies, women that are using it for the... symptoms of their menopause.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And so this book was a culmination of all of these questions of which we just had to deduct the reasoning based on information out there and what we have experienced as experts. And so I think this book is going to help so many women around the world. And that is why it was so important for me to give them really tools to deal with whatever they're dealing in their life. That is first.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then you get a child. So a child just changes everything because it's a bulk of energy that is not regulated. So you are the one who needs to regulate it. So next to yourself, you need to regulate a child and regulate it in a sense of, he doesn't hurt himself. Like you, you guide it. You're the big guy there.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
very practical, hand-on tools, give them more sovereignty over their stress management and going after their goals. That's also one thing that I think is very important. This empowerment of women from a very beautiful, feminine place, but that they can do anything that they set their mind to.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
That is important for me because we need strong men, we need strong women, because both will build up communities and really raise this consciousness of this feminine masculine divide that I see. up into the world. And I want to make sure that this happens with all women around the world. And then for next generations, all of the little girls out there that all have mothers.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So that was why it was so important for me. Yeah, that's beautiful. Okay. Beautiful set.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
and for us yeah both is to bring more women to this practice because we can imagine that when you see Wim as a role model you think ah there's nothing for me the cold and then adding on the cold is nothing for me but it brings so much power and with that power as well the intuition but as well the vulnerability it goes all hand in hand
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And by really practicing this method and try it out for yourself and then see what it does for you. So for us, this book is really to empower women and to answer the questions we have seen many times. So the book is out there. It is April 29th. And yeah, we think it's a very valuable book for a lot of women who are curious about the methods, but as well about women's health in general.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So there is a lot of things that we still need to understand And we, yeah, we did quite some research as well in woman's physiology, the hormonal influence on our state of being and how you can be stronger, become stronger, more resilient and more feeling more empowered. Yeah, this is, I think it's really a fantastic book and it should be in the hands of every woman.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And if you are a man, give it to your partner, give it to your sister, give it to your mother, give it to your neighbors. I don't know. And read it yourself as well, because it's, I think it's a really beautiful book with so much information. Science backed where possible and a lot of expertise of decades long.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So we condensed it all into the book and yeah, April 29th and it's, can we got through Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, major outlets. So. Please get the book and make sure that we can continue with this revolution and this beautiful movement that we try to ignite and support in many ways in this world.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Amazing. A Navy sealer. I actually trained the Navy seals as well. I was there.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And so one of the things is that you are working with a certain energy headed to your child who has needs, who wants things, who needs to do as well, who needs to go somewhere. So a lot of energy is redirected to the child. But at the same time, of course, you are a person. So both still needs to find the balance
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
You have to win the war within guys. Very tough guys. The Navy seals. Isn't that the four square box breathing? Yes. Beautiful. Beautiful. I thought so. I thought so. That's amazing. Breathwork is just because we have this tool within and by tweaking that it changes your whole physiology. And that's beautiful. It's revolutionary. Well, something so natural, so simple. can have such a big effect.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So it's beautiful. And we hope that with this book, yeah, many more women will do cold exposure work and learn to use their minds.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
climbing a mountain, even the Mount Everest up until the death zone, 7,800 meters in shorts. This practice that my father used to heal himself Later on, we also, we love to practice for different reasons. We see it as one of the best modalities to regulate yourself, to really come to a center point of yourself where you can go through life in a balanced way.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
between your giving that energy, the attention that it needs and the love it needs to the child, but as well to yourself. So the first things when a child enters your life, it's overwhelming. It's like everything goes to the child. So you need to find really a new balance between how are you living your life as a mother, but as well as an individual, as a person.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And then as well, how to be the best version of yourself for the child. So you really need to re... Calibrate. Yeah, recalibrate. I like that word. Everything in your life. Also yourself, probably. She explained it to me as being in love with her son. Being in love. Being more in love with her son than her partner.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, that's the kind of love that will definitely change your life in all aspects. Yeah, a different kind of love. But yeah, it's just the impact is huge. It's just huge. And so it's there, but you have to, yeah, I like the word recalibrate. It's a very divining moment, changes everything. That puts everything in a different order. And then you have to redefine yourself. Wow. I love that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Beautiful.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It doesn't stop when they're 18.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, it continues on. It's a never-ending process, I can imagine.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And you're still the guidance, of course, the guidance.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, absolutely. This is always how I describe him because he was the one that was always ready to play, ready to invent a new game, doing that with us as children. And he played outside more than we did. So we always went outside playing. He was the kid even in the neighborhood. So everybody absolutely loved him.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
because he used to put ropes around trees in the backyard and everybody could swing like monkeys there. So he just created sort of an atmosphere, a vibe where people just came in and out of the house uninvited. The door was wide open. There was no lock in the door. So this is, I would almost say, a little bit of a hippie vibe that my father definitely brings with himself.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
The first thing that he will do when there is a group of people, he will take the guitar and we're going to have a little party together. He's very much into the play, into the imagination, into, yeah, being a child is really playing, being free, not being tight, not being orderly. And that my father exemplifies like no other.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And of course, you could think, hey, but shouldn't a parent be very strict and full of rules and you need to make up the bed? Of course, it's also part of that. And I think we had less rules growing up than any other child. We really did. We really did. I don't think we really had any rules growing up. We really didn't. I think it goes both ways.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Sometimes order is very important for a child, but it's also beautiful the way that I see it. It has been a gift in that it has really given me, if I think from a personal level, the deconditioning of the mind. And that means that I really had to find out where are my own boundaries and what is really important for me in my life. And I am very comfortable with saying what I think.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
It healed him, but then he brought it out into the world. He has a purity of heart, of mind, of being. That is my thought. That's a childlike purity. And he gave it to anybody who was willing to listen, anybody who needed it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
I'm very comfortable with just going and following my feeling in life. That passion struck. I'm very much like that. My father, when I feel it, I just go and I don't think about it. I don't rationalize too much about it. And that's really the gift that my father gave us and gave me. And I really absolutely love it because I,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
In my life, during these very important moments when you are choosing a different study, when you are choosing if you want to go travel or When you're choosing a partner, anything, are you really choosing from a very deep seated feeling of who you are, a core of being that is just unaffected by the whole world? That's the way that I choose.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And that means that I make very different decisions most of the time than other people would make. And I understand that and I accept that. And in the beginning, I always thought that I was a normal child, that I had a normal personality. Childhood, but actually later on, I found out, okay, the way that I am.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
Yeah, there, there are some differences and I can point it back to the childhood that we had, which my father really full of passion. And it's full on passion. Whenever he gets into an idea, he goes a hundred percent. There's no doubting. There's no thinking about it. He just goes. And that's almost like the child, like.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
passion that you have can you really do that in life a lot of times that with people everybody is unique and everybody has passions to explore to develop but when we get into society the schooling system maybe even your parents your friends you get these sort of rules placed on you
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And that makes sure that maybe you are not following your passion, but because everybody says that this is the type of job you should have to become happy or successful or et cetera, et cetera. And so you actually abandon your true calling, your true gift that you have, that everybody has. Everybody, that's really what I believe, everybody holds a unique gift.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And if we can really connect with that, It would make the world so much better because you act in the world and you go out into the world based on passion, on love, based on love. And that's on some kind of game that there is. And at the end, I believe that when you follow what you want in life, your love, you follow it with love from the heart, you will be successful.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And success, we have to redefine what success is. It's being able to do what you want to do in the way that you want to do it. And really, every day, you're doing it with love. That's the way that we should live. Yeah, I'm a talker. I can go on forever.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
I'm definitely a Spartan, probably a Spartan mom. We both had the same beautiful dads that gave us great gifts, as what Laura said as well, had a deep conditioning. It's like, there are no rules, but we also were very responsible. So in that sense, I think he sensed it already. These are responsible children. So I can give them more freedom than others might allow them.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
So in that sense, he did really sensed us as children. And there I saw as well, like a lot of freedom is good. But at the same time, I also do think that a little bit of a framework for the child sometimes can be as well good. What are the boundaries? And I found them for myself with no problemo. But at the same time, I think that, yes, certain boundaries are as well good.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Isabelle Hof and Laura Hof on the Secrets of the Icewomen | EP 598
And within that boundaries, you can play, you can have your freedom. And to internalize it for a child, you have to see as well, where are they and how much boundaries do they need? And how much freedom can you give? And to have that interplay. But as well, as a mother as well, I do like structure, but as well, I give our child a lot of freedom. I'm the auntie that is, he can do whatever he wants.