Steven Roccazzella answers four questions about how the “Ice Man” method can be integrated into every area of life.

California native Steven Roccazzella was just a normal dude dealing with depression following his divorce when he stumbled onto the Wim Hof philosophy. Roccazzella, 47, says it wasn’t the Dutchman Hof’s feats of endurance, like a Guinness record for swimming under ice or climbing above 24,000 feet on Everest in nothing but shorts and shoes. “I didn’t know anything about that stuff,” he says. “It was more his story around using the cold as a way to heal his broken heart.”

What began in 2014 with a cold shower has since led Roccazzella through a dramatic change in his life. He credits Wim Hof’s method for helping him eliminate anti-anxiety and -depression medications, lose weight, improve blood work levels, and grow a confidence in his body he’d never experienced. It also led to a change in careers, and since 2019, he’s coached others in the Wim Hof methodology through Ice Life TN. Through cold exposure and breathing techniques, clients, many of whom are in their own battles with trauma and addiction, are growing resilience and finding peace. He sat down with Framework to discuss the basics of the practice and its application in everyday life.

01

So at its most basic, what is the Wim Hof Method?

Breathwork exercises, cold showers, and one ice bath a week. It’s that simple. At its most basic, it’s about exposure: I’m going to choose my stress so that I have power over how it affects me. If you can learn to regulate yourself in an ice bath and make the decision to get in when you don’t have to, it makes dealing with stress a lot easier.

02

For someone already exploring cold exposure at Framework, how does the Wim Hof method benefit the practice?

Incorporating breath work first does a lot of things, but its main purpose is to prime the body for cold exposure. And there’s science behind it: It shifts body chemistry quickly to alkalize blood and produce adrenaline. The two change perception of pain, allowing you to make it through that initial shock of that first 30 to 60 seconds and settle into a more regulated state. And then there’s the mindset it cultivates. It’s choosing to do the hard thing and having fun. Making it playful—that’s a really important part of the Wim Hof method.

03

What do practitioners of Wim Hof say about how it affects their everyday lives?

It comes down to a transition from panic to peace. We can use the same principles that we practice in the ice bath to regulate in those other spaces. That practice plays into every aspect of life, from something as basic as driving to complex interactions with other people. There’s also the health benefits [of cold exposure], which you’ll receive better if you’re not fighting it the whole time. The way to win in an ice bath is not to tough out the clock, gritting. It’s about opening up, breathing through the front, letting the shoulders drop, allowing the body to be soft. That’s how you do your time in the ice bath, and that is how we could handle a lot of the stress we deal with in life. Many of my clients are in the recovery community, and dopamine, which the body produces following cold exposure, is the molecule most related to addiction—it’s on the same level as cocaine. Leading people in recovery to access to higher levels of dopamine naturally, without substances, has been highly beneficial for their sobriety. [Psychiatrist] Anna Lembke, in her book Dopamine Nation, likens it to a scale, with one side pleasure, the other, pain. When we drop something on the pleasure side, the brain works to bring pain in for homeostasis. If you hit pleasure hard and fast with drugs, when the substance wears off, the brain overcompensates, and depression, sadness, and physical pain all manifest. It takes hours to rebalance. With cold exposure, like an ice bath, the pain is quick but intense. Then the brain works in reverse, increasing the level of dopamine to prolong elevated mood and pleasure. For many, the Wim Hof method becomes key to their continued sobriety.

04

For someone interested in learning more about the Wim Hof method, where would you point them?

Locally, I’d point them to my website and Instagram. I teach workshops onsite at Framework and around the city, which are excellent introductions to the philosophy. My introduction to Wim Hof was through the podcast Joe Rogan Experience. It’s a great place to go long on Hof and his background. The Huberman Lab podcast also has a great episode that addresses some of the science behind the Wim Hof method. There are some great books on subject, from Scott Carney’s What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength, to A Practical Guide to Breathwork: A Remedy for the Modern Human Conditionby Jesse Coomer. Hof has also written a book called The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential. Finally, Vice made a great documentary about Hof and his teaching in Inside the Superhuman World of the Iceman.

Strengthening the foundations of our health, one exposure workout and practice addition at a time. Book a session or sign up for a Framework Fitness class today. Teach a cool class and want to offer it at Framework? We’d love to hear from you.

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