Wim Hof: The Real Life Demon Slayer
Wim Hof, otherwise known as “The Iceman,” is a Dutch extreme athlete, writer, and is, quite frankly, superhuman. He has claimed 26 world records for his accomplishments pertaining to enduring extremely cold temperatures including:
- Furthest swim under ice (57.5 meters)
- Fastest half marathon on ice and snow (2 hours, 16 minutes, and 34 seconds)
- Longest time in direct, full-body contact with ice (set 16 different times, with the longest being 1 hour, 53 minutes, and 2 seconds)
Though all of these records have been broken, Wim Hof holds worldwide recognition as the original “Iceman” by accomplishing feats that scientists definitively believed were impossible beforehand.
Wim explains how he accomplished his seemingly impossible tasks with his regimen known as the Wim Hof Method (WHM). The WHM involves three pillars: (1) Breathing, (2) Cold therapy, and (3) Commitment, the latter of which is a less concrete concept and serves as the foundation of the other two.
For its uncanny correlation to the central part of a certain extremely popular anime, I’ll be focusing on the first pillar of the Wim Hof Method. We’ll see if we can identify the pragmatic similarities between the breathing of Wim Hof and the breathing of Demon Slayer and just how empowering the simple action of breathing can be.
Total Concentration Breathing: Unlocking Human Potential
Breathing is the archetypal action that represents life — even plants and microscopic cells breathe in some sense. Our cells breathe with us; the supply of oxygen that we breathe in directly correlates to the oxygen that our cells can receive. Fortunately, breathing is regulated by the autonomic nervous system, so it is done automatically by our bodies. Imagine if we were breathing manually all of the time! As the Wim Hof Method website explains:
The amount of oxygen that we inhale through our breathing, influences the amount of energy that is released into our body cells. On a molecular level, this progresses via various chemical and physiological processes. Breathing is the easiest and most instrumental part of the autonomic nervous system to control and navigate. In fact, the way you breathe strongly affects the chemical and physiological activities in your body.
The idea is certainly empowering, but how true is it? Well I’m here to say that it is very true. The breathing aspect of the Wim Hof Method is NOT pseudoscience. Increasing oxygenation can increase raw physical performance as it causes blood vessels around the muscles to increase blood flow via vasodilation and capillarization. Vasodilation is when blood vessels dilate, allowing an increase in blood to travel through them and capillarization is when the quantity of capillaries surrounding the muscles increases. Both of these occur with the increase of oxygen in the body, and increasing the availability of oxygen through blood flow ultimately increases the energy available for muscles to use.
Wim Hof’s breathwork technique is fairly simple, but it should be forewarned that this is a serious exercise and blackout is entirely possible (of course, if you do it with reason and without excessive force, blackout is highly unlikely).
- Assume a comfortable position: Whether that is sitting on the ground, in a chair, or even lying down, make sure you get comfortable and face no environmental risks in the case of blacking out. It is strongly advised to avoid this intense breathing technique while in or near a body of water. The main parameter for this step is that your lungs can expand freely without constriction.
- 30–40 deep breaths: By inhaling through the nose or mouth and exhaling through the mouth, make sure to consciously fill your belly, chest, and head with each inhale and fully let go with each exhale. This step will often induce feelings of light-headedness and tingling sensations in your limbs.
- Retention: On/after the last inhale of the deep breaths, exhale and hold until you feel the urge to breathe again. Holding for 1 minute is reasonable for most people. Going longer is also reasonable.
- Recovery breath: When you need to breathe during the breath retention, inhale fully and hold that inhalation for 15 seconds. Let go. There is no need to go any longer than 15 seconds, unlike the retention in which you can try for longer times.
This series of steps can be repeated for 3–4 times every breathwork session, or for however many rounds you would like to perform.
So what does Wim Hof Breathing really do for the body? Though breathing in is usually associated with the intake of oxygen, it should also be noted that breathing in naturally releases carbon dioxide from our blood as well. Our blood is usually saturated with oxygen (around 95–99%) and breathing deeply does not actually raise that saturation. It does release a lot of carbon dioxide, however, and this lowers the “urge to breathe,” as deep breathing expels more carbon dioxide.
By systematically deeply breathing in and out, the pH of our blood also increases. On average, the pH of blood is 7.4, but by performing such breathing exercises, it can go higher, even up to 7.75. “Becoming alkaline” causes 3 important physiological changes: (1) Experiencing lightheadedness is a sign of blood alkalizing and your arteries and veins closing slightly in reaction. (2) Your limbs tingle as free calcium ions are removed from the blood. (3) Having fewer free calcium ions increases muscle excitability.
The third point is where Wim Hof Breathing meets Demon Slayer: In the world of Demon Slayer (or Kimetsu no Yaiba; I’m uncultured), humans are unfairly pitted against immortal demons — former humans exposed to powerful demon blood, converting them to immortal, physically-enhanced monsters that have an innate and insatiable desire to kill and devour humans. Demons maintain human levels of intelligence, but in almost all cases, retain no memories of their human emotions/memories.
The one main weakness of demons is sunlight. The two ways to kill a demon are (1) to force it to maintain exposure to sunlight and (2) cutting its head off with a Nichirin Blade (a sword forged with the special property of absorbing sunlight). Though demons burn and die in sunlight, they are physically superior to humans in every other way:
- Live for centuries or even longer
- Can heal injuries rapidly, including regenerating limbs and organs within minutes or even seconds
- Enhanced strength, speed, and stamina
The humans in the world of Demon Slayer pale in comparison to even the weakest demons, simply due to their enhanced physical attributes alone. That’s where breathing styles come into play.
Breathing styles are swordsmanship styles practices and taught by the Demon Slayer Corps, which enable their users to match their strength with that of demons by increasing lung capacity and the amount of oxygen in their blood. These breathing styles ultimately allow the user to enhance his/her physical capabilities and mental concentration and fight on par with demons.
There are several different aspects of these breathing styles, including Focused Breathing, which is capable of clotting wounds and slowing down the circulation of poison in the bloodstream, as well as Total Concentration Breathing, in which the user inhales the maximum amount of oxygen to raise his/her physical and mental capabilities to their utmost limits.
This last aspect of Demon Slayer’s breathing styles is the one I find to be the most interesting. Here’s my experience emulating them.
On November 19, 2019, I fractured my left humerus in an arm wrestling match. It was a clean spiral fracture that left me unable to lift my left arm.
Interestingly enough, I felt absolutely zero pain when it happened, and after reading a few accounts of clean humerus fractures, I found out that it was pretty normal. With such a large bone breaking cleanly, there was virtually no pain to be experienced (until later). I ended up going to the ER, where they took an x-ray to confirm what my injury was. A nurse also tested the difference in grip strength that I had in my left hand by asking me to squeeze her index and middle fingers together, and since the fracture didn’t directly impair my forearm and hand muscles, I ended up gripping at no less than 90% of my full grip strength prior to the injury occurring. She promptly pulled her hand away in pain. Sorry!
They then conducted a procedure to realign the two pieces of bone of my humerus to heal properly. It involved several people holding my arm and twisting the bones around while watching a monitor with a live x-ray. Evidently, this process is supposed to hurt a lot, and I was put on some painkillers for it. When they started to quite literally shift my fractured bone pieces around, I remembered my many years of training as a demon slayer. I breathed deeply throughout the whole process, and as far as I remember, just felt slightly uncomfortable at certain points. Of course, I can’t discredit the painkillers, but when I focused on my breathing, it left much less room to feel pain — something that Wim Hof applies to cold therapy as well (focusing on breathing helps you endure extreme cold like an ice bath). I was equipped with an enormous cast that covered my entire left shoulder and upper arm and went off to heal for 6 months.
With the power of friendship, calcium supplements, proper braces/casts, and physical therapy, I made a full recovery within just half a year. The bone healed well and is likely even stronger than it was before the fracture. Of course, that’s not the end of the story.
Throughout my period of physical therapy and even now, I’ve been training my grip strength (which I definitely lost some of due to the injury) using metal hand grippers:
The ones I had were 100 lbs, 150 lbs, and 200 lbs, meaning that the 100 lbs gripper would require 100 lbs of pressure to fully close. I started off with the 100, finding it relatively easy to close, but somewhat difficult to complete many repetitions of. I trained whenever I could, taking them to school, often doing reps while reading or just listening to a lecture. A few weeks after training with the 100 while my bone was still healing, I decided to try the 150 for the first time, which, to my own surprise, I was able to close. I could tell that it was tougher to close than the 100, but not by any significant margin. Elated by my accidental accomplishment, I decided to also unbox the 200 lbs gripper and found it impossible to close. In fact, when I tried to close it with my right (stronger) hand, I felt like I barely budged it. Already capable of closing the 150, I subconsciously made closing the 200 my goal. I also occasionally asked people if they could try to close it. Though none of my friends were able to close it, my physical therapist got very close. This was somewhat concerning, since he looked like he had maxed out his strength stat in RuneScape, plus some.
Fast forward to 5/13/2021, just a few days prior to me writing this, and just around one and a half years following my humerus fracture, I decided to apply my many years of demon slayer training (AKA some Wim Hof Breathing) with the 200 lbs gripper. I had made many more attempts to close it, with every single one ending in failure. Several times, I almost got it to close, but a true rep requires the two grips to contact one another — something I hadn’t yet accomplished. Breathing in and out deeply while holding the 200 lbs gripper in my right hand, I steeled my mental concentration to occupy nothing except for closing the gripper.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
I lost count of the breathing reps. I forgot where I was.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
I exhaled, and squeezed… The gripper instantly closed.
Feeling the 200 lbs gripper closing for the first time in my hand after making attempts for over a year was indescribable. I let go of my grip, and dashed the gripper to the ground in celebration. Being the rational person that I am, I immediately picked it up to check for damage, which it, fortunately had not underwent. The rush of dopamine I got from closing that gripper was unlike anything I had felt before, and now, I’m fully convinced that Demon Slayer has some practical teachings about unlocking human potential.
I’ve read that proper breathing can increase an athlete’s performance by as much as 15%, but then again, 73.6% of all statistics are made up. Perhaps that 15% increase is not only the upper limit, but is also in comparison to already having oxygen deficiency in one’s bloodstream. Regardless of the ambiguity of this performance increase percentage, I’ve found several other health benefits with my breathing and cold therapy exercises that have drastically improved my overall quality of life.
My Current Wim Hof Routine: The Road to Hashira?
I wake up at 6 AM (later if I stayed up late taking care of Apollo) and grab a towel and my clothes for the day. Opening up the stopwatch on my phone, I lie back down and take a few seconds to relax. Then I start my rounds of breathing. I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth deeply about 30 reps, and perform a final rep for retention by inhaling one last time and fully letting go of the breath. I start the stopwatch on my phone. I hold for anywhere from 1 minute to 2 minutes (I’ve gotten longer and longer retention times as I’ve practiced) and when I feel the urge to breathe, I stop the stopwatch and perform a recovery breath by inhaling and holding that breath for 15 seconds. I let go, and prepare for the next round of breathing. I do 2–3 rounds of breathing before taking my cold shower.
Hesitation is often a large obstacle when it comes to any cold therapy, and one way I’ve found that helps to overcome any “stalling” is to (once again) use the stopwatch on my phone. I start the stopwatch on my phone, which prompts me to immediately hop into the freezing cold water of the shower. For the first few days or so, I would shiver uncontrollably when getting into the cold shower, only holding out for 30 seconds. I realized that I wasn’t focusing enough on my breathing, so I decided to start intentionally hyperventilating at the start of my cold showers (only for 5–10 breaths or so). I also took fairly deep breaths to hyperventilate, which is far safer than taking shallow ones, which can easily make you faint. By focusing on my breathing during the most intense exposure to the cold water, I stopped shivering uncontrollably and found the cold much more bearable. Within another week, I no longer had to focus on my breathing to get used to the cold water; it just happened automatically.
Another benefit of the stopwatch is its aid for helping me remain consistent. I don’t want to just hop into the shower and jump out within 30 seconds (although I doubt that occurring now even without the stopwatch). At the same time, I don’t want to take unreasonably long cold showers just as a challenge for myself. Besides, I feel that such a challenge should be left to an ice bath.
Later in the day, I do some Wim Hof push-ups. They’re very simple:
- Do a round of Wim Hof Breathing up until the retention.
- On the last exhale, perform as many push-ups as you can without inhaling.
- Once you feel the urge to breathe, perform a recovery breath.
When I first started out, I was only able to perform 40 push-ups, just 10 shy of what I usually do without any breathing restrictions, but within a week, I quickly worked my way up to 50. You can do any type of push-up you would like, but I’ve personally limited myself to focusing on my triceps by keeping my arms close to the sides of my body.
That’s pretty much my entire daily routine. I also used to do another round of breathing alongside a cold shower at night, but I’ve found that doing the breathing alone is enough. I really just did the second cold shower at night just to get used to cold water within a shorter timeframe, but it’s important to go at your own pace. As Wim says: “No force.”
Here are just some of the benefits that this routine has brought me:
- Lower blood pressure: I have a short history of slight hypertension, and the breathing coupled with the cold showers are proven as combatants against high blood pressure.
- No “morning throat”: I used to wake up in the mornings with a horrible feeling in my throat; I felt as if I was sick. This “morning throat” would go away in a couple of hours after waking up, but it was quite a nuisance, having it every few days or so. I can attribute this one to the nasal breathing that I do, as well as my increased tolerance to the cold.
- Clearer sinuses in the morning: Unlike my “morning throat,” I did not just get stuffy sinuses every few days; it happened pretty much every day. After just a few days of focusing on nasal breathing for the majority of my rounds of Wim Hof Breathing (with the exception of the last inhale before the retention), I began to wake up with much clearer sinuses, which in turn, made my normal breathing much better.
There’s just one last benefit that you might find on your journey to becoming a Hashira with the Wim Hof Method: Placebo. Though there are a myriad of proven health benefits with the Wim Hof Method, one of the strongest benefits you can derive from it is nothing tangible at all. This especially applies to the cold therapy in the method. I’ve heard people simply ask “Why?” to the cold showers. And that’s a valid question. The answer that I give (minus the health benefits) is the placebo behind it. The cold shower is a challenge that you can set for yourself at the start of the day. The “hardest” thing you can do right when you wake up is to expose yourself to discomfort. As a wise man once said:
“Seek discomfort, for there you will find power.” ~Anonymous
So by making a cold shower the first thing you do in the day (don’t forget the Wim Hof Breathing :)), you accomplish the “hardest” challenge of the day. Everything else becomes easy, as it should be.
And though taking a cold shower in the morning might not make everything else in the day easier by comparison for you, someone else can derive that placebic effect from a cold shower at the start of the day. And if he/she can do that, then more power to him/her.
Conclusion
In Kimetsu no Yaiba, there are nine Hashira, the strongest and most skilled swordsmen in the entirety of the Demon Slayer Corps. Without the Hashira, the organization would stand no chance against the biggest and baddest demons. Otherwise known as the Nine Pillars, the Hashira are the core and foundation of demon slaying. At the same time, the Wim Hof Method has its own “pillars.” As Wim declares it, the method is based on three powerful pillars: Breathing, cold therapy, and commitment. They serve as the core and foundation to the Wim Hof Method. Without them, would us demon slayers stand any chance against the burdening weight of locked human potential?
Breathing.
Cold therapy.
Commitment.
These are the pillars to becoming your own Pillar, and as Wim states, mastering these is to:
“Become the alchemist over your own chemistry” ~Wim Hof
But we can’t forget what Rengoku-aniki said either!
“Go ahead and live with your head held high. No matter how devastated you may be by your own weakness or uselessness, set your heart ablaze. Grit your teeth and look straight ahead. Even if you stop and crouch down, time won’t wait for you or snuggle you and grieve along with you.” ~Kyojuro Rengoku
Anyone can become a Hashira.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/wim-hof-says-he-holds-the-key-to-a-healthy-life-but-will-anyone-listen-196647/
https://www.physio.co.uk/treatments/massage/physiological-effects-of-massage/cellular-effects/increased-oxygenation.php#:~:text=Vasodilation%20is%20where%20blood%20vessels,for%20the%20muscle%20to%20use.
