On the day after Christmas, Eoghan O’Kelly walked out to a bridge in his hometown of Kilkee, Ireland, and, with a couple dozen friends and family members looking on, jumped into the freezing Atlantic Ocean.
But instead of screaming in terror and rushing back to shore, O’Kelly remained still for five minutes, treading water while focusing on his breathing.
“My feet were a little cold, but it was no problem, really,” he tells The Post. “Besides, with all my family watching, it was too late to turn back.”
The 28-year-old personal trainer, who lives in Inwood, is a disciple of Wim Hof, the Dutch daredevil known as “the Iceman,” who’s famous for his science-defying stunts: In 2011, he took a nearly two-hour-long ice bath, and, in 2009, he ran a marathon above the Arctic Circle — dressed only in shorts.
For $199, the 56-year-old Hof offers a 10-week online program — including cold-immersion therapy, body-temperature regulation and breathing techniques — that promises to aid your immune system “to bulletproof yourself and feel fully charged.”
And Hof’s quickly racked up a following — especially in NYC’s hard-core fitness community — with more than 12,000 Facebook devotees, up from 2,000 in October. His magnetic energy has also piqued the attention of boldfacers, with producer and music mogul Rick Rubin, actor Orlando Bloom and pro surfer Laird Hamilton all fans of the Iceman’s philosophy.
The basic tenet of Hof’s technique involves “controlled hyperventilation” — breathing until you feel lightheaded, then holding your breath for as long as you’re comfortable. The practice is supposed to increase adrenaline, the immune-suppressing stress hormone normally produced in “fight or flight” situations, which allows the body to withstand extreme temperatures.
And, according to Hof, suppress inflammatory responses in the body.
“I had a flare-up of eczema before I started the program,” says O’Kelly. “It had been with me for six to 12 months. But after Week 2 of the program, it was gone.”
It may not all be in O’Kelly’s head.
In 2011, doctors injected Hof with toxins in a controlled experiment that should have resulted in him experiencing chills and fever. But the production of adrenaline from his breathing exercises resulted in almost no such symptoms, and when doctors replicated the experiment with 12 of his followers in Poland, the results — published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014 — were the same.
But Hof’s not without his critics, who find his measures irresponsible — and potentially even dangerous. “Going to extreme lengths such as snow-hiking or swimming in frigid waters is not necessary to [manage stress],” says Samantha Heller, a New York City-based dietitian and exercise physiologist.
Still, while turning off the immune system “can be dangerous,” according to Dr. David B. Samadi of Lenox Hill Hospital, fine-tuning it may be beneficial to sufferers of chronic stress, whose “immune system is constantly turned on and fighting something that isn’t actually there.”
Hof’s followers insist that focus and energy levels are improved noticeably simply by adopting his meditative breathing techniques. “The days I do the exercises are when I’m most productive,” says O’Kelly.
Euphoria is another common side effect of the regimen. After additional practice, O’Kelly even reported seeing bolts of light and losing his sense of time. “One time it happened, it felt like a few seconds,” he recalls, “but I looked at my watch, and 25 minutes had gone by.”
And in the high-stress environment of New York City, Hof’s unorthodox methods may offer an alternative way to cope.
“You see an ad for a drug that spends 10 seconds listing the benefits, but 20 seconds listing the side effects,” says Hof acolyte Kristian Flores, a 39-year-old strength-and-conditioning coach based on the Upper East Side. “People want to return to a less synthetic existence, especially in New York, where we’re constantly surrounded by concrete and glass.”
“You feel more mental clarity and strength, and you won’t be as lethargic,” adds Marcos Rodriguez, a 34-year-old East Villager who works as a sports performance coach and plans to train with Hof at a workshop in Poland later this year.
“I’d love to see what would happen if we get kids to do these breathing exercises for 10 minutes at school instead of popping Ritalin.”