The Goop Lab (2020) s01e02 Episode Script
Cold Comfort
1 When I started goop in 2008, I was like, "My calling is something else besides, you know, making out with Matt Damon on screen or whatever.
" [laughs.]
And now, it's this modern lifestyle brand.
To me, it's all laddering up to one thing, which is optimization of self.
Like, we're here one time, one life Like, how can we really, like, milk the shit out of this? [laughing.]
You have 100 needles in your face, Elise.
Just another day at the office.
The opportunity that we have with the goop lab is that, as a company, we can go out in different groups and go on a much deeper dive into some of these topics that our readers are curious about.
- [laughing.]
- This is gonna be my first experience - with mushrooms.
- [Gillian.]
Oh! - [exhales.]
- [woman.]
You have to let go of your ego.
[Gwyneth.]
So what happens in a workshop? - Everyone gets off.
- [woman moaning.]
What the fuck are you doing to people? [Wim vocalizing.]
We get to explore, like, is this real? Do we feel better? And grapple with some topics that are hard and embarrassing or shameful.
Isn't that beautiful? - [exhales.]
- [woman 2.]
Relax.
That was, like, next level shit.
So, are you guys ready to go out in the field and make a ruckus? - [Elise.]
Yeah.
- You can handle it, right? [laughing.]
[theme music playing.]
[Wim Hof.]
Seven degrees Celsius, 44 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thermo shockingly cold for a human to go into the water.
You cannot just jump in.
This is dangerous.
Right over here.
I started to feel, like, a panic attack coming on.
A human wouldn't last too long, and he would go into involuntary gasping.
[gasps.]
But cold water is a great way to learn to deal with stress.
- If you learn how to breathe deep - [inhales.]
Fully in.
Breathe in.
Letting go.
[exhales.]
I'm gonna pass out.
You can go into the cold water and adapt.
And with that, you become the alchemist of life itself.
Kate, it's your moment.
- [Wim.]
There's the lady.
Hello.
- Hi.
I've just been watching YouTube videos of you.
- All right.
Can I hug you? - Of course.
- Hi, you lovely lady.
- Thank you.
- It's so nice to meet you.
Amazing.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
- I can't believe you're real.
You're the living example of mind over matter.
Yes.
They call me "The Ice Man" because I do all kinds of extremes in the cold, and I show through evidence-based studies that our autonomic nervous system can be influenced just by the mind.
I think what you're trying to prove or are in the process of proving is that this prevailing belief that we cannot control our autonomic nervous system is a fallacy and that we can directly impact and affect our immune system, our mood, the way that we respond to life.
Yeah.
Yes.
And now, I work with scientists all over the world.
So, we provoked a reaction already.
The study I did showed that just by using the mind, I was able to make the skin temperature not go down after exposure of cold water.
That's crazy.
That led to the interest of scientists.
They injected E.
coli bacteria, and I did not become sick.
I was able to defy the reaction of the bacteria injected.
I read about that.
And you've taught people how to do it.
Within four days, they were able to do what medical history has stated is not possible.
We changed science over there.
It would have been amazing to take the goop staff and shoot them full of endotoxins, - but Netflix legal said no.
- [laughing.]
Yes.
I tell you, we found natural ways to get people back in control over their own mood and to influence their inflammation, which is disease, using three pillars: Breathing techniques, gradual cold exposure, and mindset, or the Wim Hof Method.
Do you ever think about why you are the chosen person to discover this and brought it to the world? [Wim Hof.]
I see my function now: to help millions and millions of people when they are having inflammation or psychosis or depression or anxiety or fear or anything.
Now, what I did with these guys at Lake Tahoe.
- [Kate.]
Yeah.
- [Wim.]
The goop team - Tell your story.
- Yeah, tell your story.
- [Kate.]
I mean - [Wim.]
It's beautiful.
[Gwyneth.]
Tell the whole thing.
Like, I think about it, and I still can't believe that it really happened.
[Wim.]
Hey, guys.
[woman.]
Hi.
- [Wim.]
How's it going? - [Ana.]
Hi.
[Wim laughs, exhales.]
We're gonna have two days, great days together, yeah? We come here together to share natural wisdom through breathing.
After thousands of years of traditions of breathing techniques, both in yoga and in China, in Japan It has shown its power, but it took, like, 20 years of training, and I want you to learn it within ten minutes.
- Wow.
- [Wim.]
Breathing makes the body alkaline.
What do you need to go into the elements of nature and to oppose it? You need an alkaline body.
Alkaline body is the right biochemistry for the nervous system to adapt to the environment.
And this weekend, you're gonna prime the body to go and meet the cold and become like peaceful warriors.
- Okay, I'm sort of a crazy Dutchman.
- [laughs.]
- Who are you? - My name's David.
I've never done any cold exposure therapy before, so, yeah, I'm very excited to learn more about that.
After this weekend, you will be an expert.
- [David.]
Yeah.
- Nice.
- Hey, beautiful.
- I'm Megan, and I'm the coldest person in the world.
- [Wim.]
Oh, wow.
That's great.
- Yeah.
- So we got a challenge coming.
- Yeah.
I'm skeptical, but I'd love it.
- Deal.
- Deal.
- [laughing.]
- Yes, baby.
My name's Heaven.
Um, my boyfriend takes a cold shower every single morning.
He's never sick.
He always has his, like, mind clear, and I'm sort of thinking, "Should I be taking cold showers every morning?" A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.
[laughing.]
My name is Kate.
I'm the executive editor at goop.
After having my baby, I was diagnosed with a panic disorder.
I've always had terrible anxiety, but after having a child, it all just kind of spiraled out of control.
I will teach you how to feel the sense of control over the hormonal imbalance that creates the panic.
I would love nothing more.
[chuckles.]
Yes.
It's going to happen.
Thank you.
I'm Sara.
I read a few of the studies you participated in, and it was really interesting that you were able to show that this is not just a placebo effect, uh, both in you and other control subjects, and I wanted to see for myself.
I'm Ana.
I'm one of the food editors at goop.
And I'm here because I think I just need to learn how to breathe.
I end up getting so anxious or stressed in ways that I know I could just breathe through it.
Breathing is really what I think is, like, mostly my focus.
- Yes.
Great! - [Ana.]
Let's do it.
[laughing.]
[Wim.]
All right, beautiful people.
We're gonna go into the depth today.
We follow the breath, the breath is the guide.
Don't force the guide.
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Letting go.
- [exhaling.]
These breathing techniques, they go very deep.
Don't do them in the car while driving, don't do them in a swimming pool.
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Letting go.
- [exhaling.]
Let the thoughts go.
Follow the breath.
The breath is able to go anywhere in the body.
To all cells.
The body is becoming alkaline.
- A total reset in the depths.
- [exhales.]
- Here it comes.
Fully in! - [inhaling.]
- Let it go.
- [exhaling.]
- And stop after the exhalation.
- [exhales.]
[Wim.]
Excellent.
Enjoy the peace.
- [wind howling.]
- [bird squawks.]
[Wim.]
We go a little faster.
- Fully in.
[grunting.]
- [inhaling and exhaling.]
[Wim.]
Fully in! Don't hold back! [Wim grunting.]
Go, go! [continues grunting.]
Go! [grunting.]
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Fully out.
- [exhaling.]
Fully in and hold.
Free all the blockages.
The soul knows no fear.
No agony, no anxiety.
All there.
You are in control.
You are in control.
I can feel the tears.
I can feel the emotion.
That feeling makes you able to go on your journey being confronted with anything that comes between you and your goal.
We are ready for the next step.
The soul has come home.
I felt a little emotional, or a lot emotional.
I was not expecting that type of reaction out of it.
The fast breathing and, like, my whole body feeling tingly and stuff I don't know, I just wanted to cry, I still feel like crying right now.
I don't know why, but, like, I couldn't stop crying.
I don't know, I just felt like he was talking to me and I like Yeah, I just got really [sighs.]
emotional about it.
[Wim.]
What is happening, Kate? I went completely numb and tingly in my hands, - which is all panic attack symptoms.
- Yes.
My hands go into, like, claws.
It was basically all the physical symptoms of a panic attack.
- It was like exposure therapy - Yeah.
because it almost triggered a panic attack.
Yeah.
I saw you shiver.
- All of the physical symptoms.
- That's not of the cold.
Yeah, it's not.
Like, my teeth were chattering and that's all everything that happens to me during a panic attack.
I shake, my teeth chatter, everything goes numb.
A panic attack is very much like fear driven.
You start to feel the symptoms, and you're like, "Oh, shit, I'm having a panic attack.
" And then the fear of that kind of fuels it until you're like, "Okay, I need to go to the ER now.
" But if I had to kind of articulate what the difference was, is that the fear element wasn't there.
The way Wim kind of talked us through the breathing, the symptoms would dissipate.
Yeah.
Well done.
[Kate.]
It was insane.
I have such severe anxiety that normally, and Elise knows this, because she's gotten those panicked phone calls from me before I have to get on a plane.
I have to drug myself.
I have to take Klonopin or any kind of medication - Right.
- to get through, just to be in the car to the airport.
That is something a lot of people can identify with.
My first wife had anxiety, trauma, fear, depression and going through the system, psychiatry, pills, medicines only got worse.
So it got completely out of hand, and the terror was too big.
In '95, she jumped from the eighth story just after giving kisses of goodbye to young children.
[woman moans sadly.]
Beautiful woman decides to jump - from the eighth story down.
- Oh, my God.
- That's so terrible.
- There I am with four children, very little money, brokenhearted.
But there the soul-search began.
I always say my children made me survive, but the cold water healed me.
Because I went into nature, I swim under thick caps of ice.
In nature, your mind becomes strong.
I learned about stillness therein.
Through breath, cold, and mindset.
Yes.
[Wim.]
I think this is a transformational technique that will change mental healthcare.
My work is extremely intense.
I'm a physician/oncologist, so my life is full of stress.
I treat leukemias, lymphomas, and I also do bone marrow transplants.
It's a tough field because some of my patients unfortunately die, and I have to deal with this consistently.
A number of times I tended to get, I would say, depressed.
I tended to have more trouble dealing with my anxieties.
I did a little bit of research on Wim Hof, and I started to practice his breathing technique and cold exposure, and I do feel a dramatic effect on my ability to cope.
I have to give to my patients, and I have to give them the strength, and I have to give them hope.
And his method is definitely helping me with that.
I also think that women are connected to this power of breath because of childbirth and the idea of sort of removing pain from your body with breath.
If you do conscious breathing, you'll consciously go into the biochemistry, and the amount of stress coming upon your body is less.
- Wow.
- You are the master over the situation.
So.
you train them in your breath work, and then the minute you're done, you're ready for cold exposure? - Yes.
- We did "snowga," which was basically yoga in the snow in our bikinis.
- How long? - Twenty-five minutes.
- Out in the snow.
- Twenty-five minutes outside.
And these are people who live in LA who have, like, zero business being out in the snow in their bikinis.
Before you go into the lake, you go into the cold.
So, you are able to exercise the vascular system.
It's like beginning with a weight.
Begin with three kilos.
Then to five, seven Follow your feeling.
Your feeling is the guide.
Don't force the guides.
[suspenseful music playing.]
- [Heaven.]
We're going.
- [Wim.]
There we go! [David.]
All right, where are the shoes coming off? Right here? - [Megan.]
I feel like I've wet my pants.
- [laughs.]
[Kate.]
To go out into the cold in nothing but a bathing suit is I think it would be weird if I wasn't scared of it.
- [Wim.]
Here we go.
- [David.]
Oh, fuck.
[Wim.]
Come on! Make a stance and there we go.
[grunting.]
[grunts.]
Give it noise! I don't know if I could have done that.
I'm actually honestly I'm surprised - all of us were able to do it.
- [Elise.]
Yeah.
[Megan.]
Going into snowga, I felt really skeptical, especially 'cause you're standing on the snow.
That seems kinda crazy, considering that I have a hard time with air conditioning, but it was so fun, and my body just felt warm.
- [Wim grunting.]
- [Megan shouts, laughs.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Give each other a high-five.
Our original state of our mind is able to take on stress, but not the way we live.
[vocalizes.]
Lake Tah We have gone into cities.
We never feel the elements of nature within us.
Thus, our bodies are in a different state, like a muscle if you don't train it, becomes weak.
Partners, warrior.
There we go! The vascular system is three times the length of the world inside with millions of little muscles.
If you take a cold shower, those little muscles begin to bring the blood flow a lot better to the cells.
Let's go.
In the circle.
- The butt in the snow.
- [Megan.]
Aw, shit.
- [David.]
Oh, gosh.
- [Megan.]
Okay, try it.
- [Wim.]
Let's go for the feet.
- [Heaven.]
All right.
[Ana shudders.]
Okay.
- [Wim.]
Yeah.
- [Ana.]
Ooh! [Wim speaks indistinctly.]
- [Heaven.]
Come on.
Come on.
- [Wim.]
Come on.
There you are.
[Ana laughs.]
I felt energized, and I still feel that way.
- [Wim.]
Come on, hey, the split! - [shouts.]
[Ana.]
I think that the water portion is gonna be more tough.
I hope I can get all the way in.
- [Wim.]
Snowball fight.
Hey! - [laughing.]
- [screaming.]
- [laughing.]
[Wim shouts.]
The cold works.
We got a lot of anecdotal evidence of people who are cured in all kinds of diseases.
My favorite way to embarrass my kids in public is to remind them that I'm not paralyzed anymore.
I had contracted an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre, and the diagnosis was, "We need to warn you that you may not make it.
But if you do make it, you have a 50/50 chance of permanent paralysis.
A couple days later, they let my daughter into the room and of course, she's 11, and she's my little angel.
Big tears in her eyes and she comes in, "Oh, my God, Daddy, are you gonna be okay?" And I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna be okay, sweetheart.
" And she came over and she held my hand and she looked me straight in the eye with big tears, and she said [sniffles.]
Excuse me.
"But, Daddy, you have to promise me.
Because I know you'll never break a promise.
" Excuse me.
I'm so sorry.
And I did.
I promised her.
My son, who's 15 comes out, and he says, "Hey, Dad, there's this guy, and his immune system's so strong he can't get sick.
" It was Wim Hof.
So, I started training with him.
They helped me in the shower and turned the cold water on, and I'm like [gasping.]
And in three months, I was completely symptom free.
Out, gone, done.
And that was four years ago.
I've done it every single day of my life since then.
[inhales.]
Fully in.
[exhales.]
Let it go.
I can even hear his voice.
"Go, Doug, you can do it.
" [laughs.]
The mindset is important.
I go into the cold.
Your mind becomes strong.
And I tell you, everybody is able to do this.
Only, we have never been schooled how to deal with stress just by thought.
My son can sit in one of your ice baths for two minutes.
[laughs.]
He started when he was 11 years old.
- Eleven years old.
Amazing! - Yes.
Now he's 13 and he can Yeah, he does it a lot.
This is the best investment you can have.
Wim Hof has had impact in our lives by showing that he is not superhuman, that his kind of ability to do what he does is within everyone's reach.
I believe I started practicing Wim Hof when I was 13 years old, and my mother introduced it to me.
It's something I do before I have a test at school or before I run.
I do a couple rounds of Wim Hof.
I take a cold shower, and I go to school feeling really ready.
I really found a lot of benefit from it.
I feel like it gives me mental clarity.
I love that we do have it as a family.
We usually all just go down to the beach and just ocean plunge for ten or 15 minutes.
And then you stand up and you do your - My horse stance.
You like that.
- Yeah.
He's like, "Don't do that when my friends are out.
" - I'm kidding.
- [laughs.]
Horse stance is, like, a very structured movement, and it kind of gets you in that place of "I'm about to plunge my body into very cold water.
" [inhaling, exhaling.]
[Wim.]
Roll in like the seashore.
[inhaling, exhaling.]
The wave comes.
Letting go.
Follow the flow.
We're gonna go immerse into very stressful cold water.
Just be as nature is calling upon us.
Follow the life force.
We are her children.
Today, we will meet nature.
This is it.
We will jump into the depth.
Horse stance.
[loud grunting.]
- [Wim screams.]
- [all yelling.]
Thirty-eight Fahrenheit.
Really cold.
This is probably the most insane thing I've been asked to do for goop is to jump in the most cold water in a bathing suit in the middle of winter.
So, yeah.
Here I am.
- Come on.
- [Heaven.]
Ana! Come on, Ana! - [Megan.]
You got it, Ana.
- Take your shoes off.
- [David.]
So jump - [Wim.]
Yes! - [Megan catcalls.]
- Ready? Breath in, go in, go out, breathe out.
- [Megan.]
Oh! - [all shouting.]
[Heaven.]
Yeah, Ana! [shouting continuing.]
It was so freaking cold.
Like, if I didn't have the breathing techniques and didn't breath the whole time, I would have not been able to move.
Breathe in, go in, come out, breathe out.
Okay.
One, two [inhales.]
[Wim.]
Long breaths.
Long breaths! [Sara.]
Once I got in, I just felt like I was drowning, honestly.
It was just like it's so jarring and shocking, but I was like, "Okay, I can move, I can swim.
So, if I can swim, that means I can keep going.
" - [Wim.]
You got it.
Go! - And use mind over matter - to get through it.
- [Wim.]
Give it a smile.
Come on! - Yes.
Beautiful.
- [Megan.]
You got it.
[Wim.]
Right over here.
Make your jump.
Okay, I'm just gonna go right here.
- [Megan.]
You got this, Heaven.
- All right.
- [David.]
You got this, Heaven.
- There you go.
Last breath in.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Whenever you're ready, breathe in, go.
Come out, breathe out.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Feel that force.
Control! Beautiful! Horse stance over there.
Horse stance.
Good, good! [Wim grunting.]
- [Wim shouts.]
- [all cheering.]
[Megan.]
Right here.
I'm right here! - Yeah, come on.
Yes.
Well done.
- [Megan.]
You got it, Kate.
- [Heaven.]
Come on, girl.
- Yes, you got it.
- You got it.
- [David.]
Come on, Kate.
- [Wim.]
You got it.
- [Heaven.]
You got this.
Looking at the lake, it was like, a pretty massive "Oh, fuck" moment.
Like, disbelief that I'm actually doing this.
Kate, it's your moment.
Take a minute.
- [shouting.]
- [cheering.]
- [Wim.]
Kate, good job! - [David.]
Yeah, Kate! [Wim.]
Good job, Kate.
Beautiful! I started to kind of feel like, a panic attack coming on, but I tried to breath through it, and I just kind of controlled myself and powered through it.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Long breaths.
Long breaths.
What did the water feel like to you? I mean, it feels like jumping into a fucking cold lake.
I mean [laughing.]
It's exactly what you think it would feel like.
And then, you actually do it, and you live through it, and you survive it, and you feel really, really good after.
[cheering.]
That's dedication, that's teamwork, tribal, like a family, very strong together, helping each other, synergy.
Power! [shouting.]
[cheering.]
It's freezing outside, and I I wasn't cold.
And it just sort of makes me think that a lot is in my head.
It's crazy that I have control, basically.
- [Wim shouting.]
- [cheering.]
Get back in business.
Love for the day, lust for life.
[both chuckle.]
Sold.
- That was, like, next level shit.
- Yeah.
That was incredible.
You guys did great.
Bloody great.
- Awesome.
- [Heaven.]
Oh, thank you so much.
- Oh, man.
- Yeah, thanks, great.
You have been showing that you are a master over your anxiety.
- [Heaven.]
Yeah.
- Especially Kate.
- You killed it.
You killed it.
- You weren't even anxious.
- You can be a proud mother now.
- I feel like that was like Like a change Not to, like, sound dramatic, but I feel like that was, like, a changing point in my life.
- Like, that jump was like a - How about that? A jump into the depth of yourself.
- Yeah.
I really hope so.
- And controlled it.
- I hope that is.
- No, you did.
- You did, and you will see.
You will see.
- I hope that it, like, stays.
I don't know if my panic disorder's gonna go away.
I don't know if my anxiety's gonna go away, but it was definitely, um, a turning point.
I haven't had a panic attack since that experience.
- I say yes to that.
- [giggles.]
- [Gwyneth.]
That's amazing.
- Yeah.
I started tapering off my medication.
- Your psychiatrist is working with you - Yeah, I'm working with my psychiatrist - to slowly taper off.
- Are you doing the breath work still? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
And then I finish with 30, 45 seconds of a cold shower.
It's become like a ritual, and it feels very empowering.
[Gwyneth, Elise.]
Hmm.
I want to start doing that.
I love taking cold showers sometimes.
I think a lot of our anxiety comes from, it's a control thing.
And this was taking the control back.
And now you understand that you can control your body.
- Even the ritual of a cold shower, - [Kate.]
Yes, exactly.
you tell yourself - "I'm in control of this.
" - Exactly.
- That's amazing.
- [Wim.]
Amazing, is that? The right breathing techniques are able to bring us very deep insight with much more control over our mood regulation and our performance.
Would you come with me - Yeah.
- to do push-ups? I can't do a push-up.
On this fast? I can barely walk from point A to point B.
All I can say is I know she's fasting, and she says she can't do push-ups.
She's still gonna do more push-ups than I - She's stronger than I am.
- No, I'm not.
- [Elise.]
Yes, you are.
- [laughs.]
Let's do this breathing and see how many push-ups you guys can do.
- Oh, my God.
- Okay.
[Wim.]
We are going to do push-ups - Okay.
- and then we are going to do the breathing exercises, which makes the muscle tissue alkaline and therefore, is suddenly able to do more push-ups, even without air in your lungs.
Okay.
How many do we do? - As many as we can? - [Wim.]
Yes.
Just go.
Go as much as you feel.
[Elise laughs.]
Aren't you tired yet? - Doing good, ladies.
Yes.
All right.
- [Elise grunts, laughing.]
I think I did maybe 14 or 15.
All right, Gwyneth.
- She is strong as fuck.
- Okay, 20.
There.
That's And she is fasting.
- That's why I said this is embarrassing.
- That's strong.
- All right, 20.
- [chuckling.]
[Wim.]
Twenty and 14.
Those are the numbers.
- I don't think I can do any more push-ups.
- [laughs.]
You give the best, you get the best.
Just do that.
You give the best, you get the best.
Okay.
Fully in.
- [inhaling, exhaling.]
- Letting go.
Fully in.
Letting go.
Fully in! Letting go.
Don't hold back.
- I'm gonna pass out.
- You can become a little bit light-headed, lose in the body, tingly, it's all good.
Last one.
Fully in.
Let it go.
Stop after the exhalation.
Stop breathing and push-ups.
Just go.
Don't mind.
Feel.
Four, five, six Whenever you feel the urge to breathe, you can take an inhale and keep on going.
[inhaling.]
Over the 20.
Twenty-two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
- Thirty done.
- [sighs.]
Good.
Oh, my God.
How do you feel? I feel good.
My arms are tired, but I'm not even out of breath.
I'm not out of breath, either, I don't think.
I thought I was gonna pass out for a minute - when we were doing the breathing - [Wim.]
Yeah.
and then it kind of passed.
You know? So, it's like you're just focused on the breath - and not fainting.
[laughs.]
- [Wim.]
Yes.
Yeah, I felt high.
- Hi.
- Hi.
[laughing.]
Well done, ladies.
- Thank you very much for showing.
- Thank you.
- That was pretty cool.
- [Wim.]
Amazing.
[Wim.]
Today, it was a great day.
[Ana.]
You think so? No, I feel so.
We are here in the present, feeling strong.
I don't think I would have been able to do what I did today without this village, this community.
[Wim.]
Family is nature.
Trees are nature.
We are one.
[guitar strumming.]
- Such a lovable energy running 'round - [Wim shouting.]
Give it sound Give it words from the heart - That's the start, hey, hey, hey - [exhales.]
Ha! - Do you remember how to play? - Ha! [laughing.]
[exhales.]
- [laughing.]
- A new revolution starts right here You saw you got it all It's nature's call to do it all [Wim shouts.]
Hey, hey! Doing it all, let us play - [Wim.]
Nice! - [cheering, applauding.]
[Wim.]
Remind yourself every morning: Are you happy? Are you strong? Are you healthy? If not, then breathe, motherfucker! [laughing.]
[theme music playing.]
" [laughs.]
And now, it's this modern lifestyle brand.
To me, it's all laddering up to one thing, which is optimization of self.
Like, we're here one time, one life Like, how can we really, like, milk the shit out of this? [laughing.]
You have 100 needles in your face, Elise.
Just another day at the office.
The opportunity that we have with the goop lab is that, as a company, we can go out in different groups and go on a much deeper dive into some of these topics that our readers are curious about.
- [laughing.]
- This is gonna be my first experience - with mushrooms.
- [Gillian.]
Oh! - [exhales.]
- [woman.]
You have to let go of your ego.
[Gwyneth.]
So what happens in a workshop? - Everyone gets off.
- [woman moaning.]
What the fuck are you doing to people? [Wim vocalizing.]
We get to explore, like, is this real? Do we feel better? And grapple with some topics that are hard and embarrassing or shameful.
Isn't that beautiful? - [exhales.]
- [woman 2.]
Relax.
That was, like, next level shit.
So, are you guys ready to go out in the field and make a ruckus? - [Elise.]
Yeah.
- You can handle it, right? [laughing.]
[theme music playing.]
[Wim Hof.]
Seven degrees Celsius, 44 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thermo shockingly cold for a human to go into the water.
You cannot just jump in.
This is dangerous.
Right over here.
I started to feel, like, a panic attack coming on.
A human wouldn't last too long, and he would go into involuntary gasping.
[gasps.]
But cold water is a great way to learn to deal with stress.
- If you learn how to breathe deep - [inhales.]
Fully in.
Breathe in.
Letting go.
[exhales.]
I'm gonna pass out.
You can go into the cold water and adapt.
And with that, you become the alchemist of life itself.
Kate, it's your moment.
- [Wim.]
There's the lady.
Hello.
- Hi.
I've just been watching YouTube videos of you.
- All right.
Can I hug you? - Of course.
- Hi, you lovely lady.
- Thank you.
- It's so nice to meet you.
Amazing.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
- I can't believe you're real.
You're the living example of mind over matter.
Yes.
They call me "The Ice Man" because I do all kinds of extremes in the cold, and I show through evidence-based studies that our autonomic nervous system can be influenced just by the mind.
I think what you're trying to prove or are in the process of proving is that this prevailing belief that we cannot control our autonomic nervous system is a fallacy and that we can directly impact and affect our immune system, our mood, the way that we respond to life.
Yeah.
Yes.
And now, I work with scientists all over the world.
So, we provoked a reaction already.
The study I did showed that just by using the mind, I was able to make the skin temperature not go down after exposure of cold water.
That's crazy.
That led to the interest of scientists.
They injected E.
coli bacteria, and I did not become sick.
I was able to defy the reaction of the bacteria injected.
I read about that.
And you've taught people how to do it.
Within four days, they were able to do what medical history has stated is not possible.
We changed science over there.
It would have been amazing to take the goop staff and shoot them full of endotoxins, - but Netflix legal said no.
- [laughing.]
Yes.
I tell you, we found natural ways to get people back in control over their own mood and to influence their inflammation, which is disease, using three pillars: Breathing techniques, gradual cold exposure, and mindset, or the Wim Hof Method.
Do you ever think about why you are the chosen person to discover this and brought it to the world? [Wim Hof.]
I see my function now: to help millions and millions of people when they are having inflammation or psychosis or depression or anxiety or fear or anything.
Now, what I did with these guys at Lake Tahoe.
- [Kate.]
Yeah.
- [Wim.]
The goop team - Tell your story.
- Yeah, tell your story.
- [Kate.]
I mean - [Wim.]
It's beautiful.
[Gwyneth.]
Tell the whole thing.
Like, I think about it, and I still can't believe that it really happened.
[Wim.]
Hey, guys.
[woman.]
Hi.
- [Wim.]
How's it going? - [Ana.]
Hi.
[Wim laughs, exhales.]
We're gonna have two days, great days together, yeah? We come here together to share natural wisdom through breathing.
After thousands of years of traditions of breathing techniques, both in yoga and in China, in Japan It has shown its power, but it took, like, 20 years of training, and I want you to learn it within ten minutes.
- Wow.
- [Wim.]
Breathing makes the body alkaline.
What do you need to go into the elements of nature and to oppose it? You need an alkaline body.
Alkaline body is the right biochemistry for the nervous system to adapt to the environment.
And this weekend, you're gonna prime the body to go and meet the cold and become like peaceful warriors.
- Okay, I'm sort of a crazy Dutchman.
- [laughs.]
- Who are you? - My name's David.
I've never done any cold exposure therapy before, so, yeah, I'm very excited to learn more about that.
After this weekend, you will be an expert.
- [David.]
Yeah.
- Nice.
- Hey, beautiful.
- I'm Megan, and I'm the coldest person in the world.
- [Wim.]
Oh, wow.
That's great.
- Yeah.
- So we got a challenge coming.
- Yeah.
I'm skeptical, but I'd love it.
- Deal.
- Deal.
- [laughing.]
- Yes, baby.
My name's Heaven.
Um, my boyfriend takes a cold shower every single morning.
He's never sick.
He always has his, like, mind clear, and I'm sort of thinking, "Should I be taking cold showers every morning?" A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.
[laughing.]
My name is Kate.
I'm the executive editor at goop.
After having my baby, I was diagnosed with a panic disorder.
I've always had terrible anxiety, but after having a child, it all just kind of spiraled out of control.
I will teach you how to feel the sense of control over the hormonal imbalance that creates the panic.
I would love nothing more.
[chuckles.]
Yes.
It's going to happen.
Thank you.
I'm Sara.
I read a few of the studies you participated in, and it was really interesting that you were able to show that this is not just a placebo effect, uh, both in you and other control subjects, and I wanted to see for myself.
I'm Ana.
I'm one of the food editors at goop.
And I'm here because I think I just need to learn how to breathe.
I end up getting so anxious or stressed in ways that I know I could just breathe through it.
Breathing is really what I think is, like, mostly my focus.
- Yes.
Great! - [Ana.]
Let's do it.
[laughing.]
[Wim.]
All right, beautiful people.
We're gonna go into the depth today.
We follow the breath, the breath is the guide.
Don't force the guide.
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Letting go.
- [exhaling.]
These breathing techniques, they go very deep.
Don't do them in the car while driving, don't do them in a swimming pool.
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Letting go.
- [exhaling.]
Let the thoughts go.
Follow the breath.
The breath is able to go anywhere in the body.
To all cells.
The body is becoming alkaline.
- A total reset in the depths.
- [exhales.]
- Here it comes.
Fully in! - [inhaling.]
- Let it go.
- [exhaling.]
- And stop after the exhalation.
- [exhales.]
[Wim.]
Excellent.
Enjoy the peace.
- [wind howling.]
- [bird squawks.]
[Wim.]
We go a little faster.
- Fully in.
[grunting.]
- [inhaling and exhaling.]
[Wim.]
Fully in! Don't hold back! [Wim grunting.]
Go, go! [continues grunting.]
Go! [grunting.]
- Fully in.
- [inhaling.]
- Fully out.
- [exhaling.]
Fully in and hold.
Free all the blockages.
The soul knows no fear.
No agony, no anxiety.
All there.
You are in control.
You are in control.
I can feel the tears.
I can feel the emotion.
That feeling makes you able to go on your journey being confronted with anything that comes between you and your goal.
We are ready for the next step.
The soul has come home.
I felt a little emotional, or a lot emotional.
I was not expecting that type of reaction out of it.
The fast breathing and, like, my whole body feeling tingly and stuff I don't know, I just wanted to cry, I still feel like crying right now.
I don't know why, but, like, I couldn't stop crying.
I don't know, I just felt like he was talking to me and I like Yeah, I just got really [sighs.]
emotional about it.
[Wim.]
What is happening, Kate? I went completely numb and tingly in my hands, - which is all panic attack symptoms.
- Yes.
My hands go into, like, claws.
It was basically all the physical symptoms of a panic attack.
- It was like exposure therapy - Yeah.
because it almost triggered a panic attack.
Yeah.
I saw you shiver.
- All of the physical symptoms.
- That's not of the cold.
Yeah, it's not.
Like, my teeth were chattering and that's all everything that happens to me during a panic attack.
I shake, my teeth chatter, everything goes numb.
A panic attack is very much like fear driven.
You start to feel the symptoms, and you're like, "Oh, shit, I'm having a panic attack.
" And then the fear of that kind of fuels it until you're like, "Okay, I need to go to the ER now.
" But if I had to kind of articulate what the difference was, is that the fear element wasn't there.
The way Wim kind of talked us through the breathing, the symptoms would dissipate.
Yeah.
Well done.
[Kate.]
It was insane.
I have such severe anxiety that normally, and Elise knows this, because she's gotten those panicked phone calls from me before I have to get on a plane.
I have to drug myself.
I have to take Klonopin or any kind of medication - Right.
- to get through, just to be in the car to the airport.
That is something a lot of people can identify with.
My first wife had anxiety, trauma, fear, depression and going through the system, psychiatry, pills, medicines only got worse.
So it got completely out of hand, and the terror was too big.
In '95, she jumped from the eighth story just after giving kisses of goodbye to young children.
[woman moans sadly.]
Beautiful woman decides to jump - from the eighth story down.
- Oh, my God.
- That's so terrible.
- There I am with four children, very little money, brokenhearted.
But there the soul-search began.
I always say my children made me survive, but the cold water healed me.
Because I went into nature, I swim under thick caps of ice.
In nature, your mind becomes strong.
I learned about stillness therein.
Through breath, cold, and mindset.
Yes.
[Wim.]
I think this is a transformational technique that will change mental healthcare.
My work is extremely intense.
I'm a physician/oncologist, so my life is full of stress.
I treat leukemias, lymphomas, and I also do bone marrow transplants.
It's a tough field because some of my patients unfortunately die, and I have to deal with this consistently.
A number of times I tended to get, I would say, depressed.
I tended to have more trouble dealing with my anxieties.
I did a little bit of research on Wim Hof, and I started to practice his breathing technique and cold exposure, and I do feel a dramatic effect on my ability to cope.
I have to give to my patients, and I have to give them the strength, and I have to give them hope.
And his method is definitely helping me with that.
I also think that women are connected to this power of breath because of childbirth and the idea of sort of removing pain from your body with breath.
If you do conscious breathing, you'll consciously go into the biochemistry, and the amount of stress coming upon your body is less.
- Wow.
- You are the master over the situation.
So.
you train them in your breath work, and then the minute you're done, you're ready for cold exposure? - Yes.
- We did "snowga," which was basically yoga in the snow in our bikinis.
- How long? - Twenty-five minutes.
- Out in the snow.
- Twenty-five minutes outside.
And these are people who live in LA who have, like, zero business being out in the snow in their bikinis.
Before you go into the lake, you go into the cold.
So, you are able to exercise the vascular system.
It's like beginning with a weight.
Begin with three kilos.
Then to five, seven Follow your feeling.
Your feeling is the guide.
Don't force the guides.
[suspenseful music playing.]
- [Heaven.]
We're going.
- [Wim.]
There we go! [David.]
All right, where are the shoes coming off? Right here? - [Megan.]
I feel like I've wet my pants.
- [laughs.]
[Kate.]
To go out into the cold in nothing but a bathing suit is I think it would be weird if I wasn't scared of it.
- [Wim.]
Here we go.
- [David.]
Oh, fuck.
[Wim.]
Come on! Make a stance and there we go.
[grunting.]
[grunts.]
Give it noise! I don't know if I could have done that.
I'm actually honestly I'm surprised - all of us were able to do it.
- [Elise.]
Yeah.
[Megan.]
Going into snowga, I felt really skeptical, especially 'cause you're standing on the snow.
That seems kinda crazy, considering that I have a hard time with air conditioning, but it was so fun, and my body just felt warm.
- [Wim grunting.]
- [Megan shouts, laughs.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Give each other a high-five.
Our original state of our mind is able to take on stress, but not the way we live.
[vocalizes.]
Lake Tah We have gone into cities.
We never feel the elements of nature within us.
Thus, our bodies are in a different state, like a muscle if you don't train it, becomes weak.
Partners, warrior.
There we go! The vascular system is three times the length of the world inside with millions of little muscles.
If you take a cold shower, those little muscles begin to bring the blood flow a lot better to the cells.
Let's go.
In the circle.
- The butt in the snow.
- [Megan.]
Aw, shit.
- [David.]
Oh, gosh.
- [Megan.]
Okay, try it.
- [Wim.]
Let's go for the feet.
- [Heaven.]
All right.
[Ana shudders.]
Okay.
- [Wim.]
Yeah.
- [Ana.]
Ooh! [Wim speaks indistinctly.]
- [Heaven.]
Come on.
Come on.
- [Wim.]
Come on.
There you are.
[Ana laughs.]
I felt energized, and I still feel that way.
- [Wim.]
Come on, hey, the split! - [shouts.]
[Ana.]
I think that the water portion is gonna be more tough.
I hope I can get all the way in.
- [Wim.]
Snowball fight.
Hey! - [laughing.]
- [screaming.]
- [laughing.]
[Wim shouts.]
The cold works.
We got a lot of anecdotal evidence of people who are cured in all kinds of diseases.
My favorite way to embarrass my kids in public is to remind them that I'm not paralyzed anymore.
I had contracted an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre, and the diagnosis was, "We need to warn you that you may not make it.
But if you do make it, you have a 50/50 chance of permanent paralysis.
A couple days later, they let my daughter into the room and of course, she's 11, and she's my little angel.
Big tears in her eyes and she comes in, "Oh, my God, Daddy, are you gonna be okay?" And I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna be okay, sweetheart.
" And she came over and she held my hand and she looked me straight in the eye with big tears, and she said [sniffles.]
Excuse me.
"But, Daddy, you have to promise me.
Because I know you'll never break a promise.
" Excuse me.
I'm so sorry.
And I did.
I promised her.
My son, who's 15 comes out, and he says, "Hey, Dad, there's this guy, and his immune system's so strong he can't get sick.
" It was Wim Hof.
So, I started training with him.
They helped me in the shower and turned the cold water on, and I'm like [gasping.]
And in three months, I was completely symptom free.
Out, gone, done.
And that was four years ago.
I've done it every single day of my life since then.
[inhales.]
Fully in.
[exhales.]
Let it go.
I can even hear his voice.
"Go, Doug, you can do it.
" [laughs.]
The mindset is important.
I go into the cold.
Your mind becomes strong.
And I tell you, everybody is able to do this.
Only, we have never been schooled how to deal with stress just by thought.
My son can sit in one of your ice baths for two minutes.
[laughs.]
He started when he was 11 years old.
- Eleven years old.
Amazing! - Yes.
Now he's 13 and he can Yeah, he does it a lot.
This is the best investment you can have.
Wim Hof has had impact in our lives by showing that he is not superhuman, that his kind of ability to do what he does is within everyone's reach.
I believe I started practicing Wim Hof when I was 13 years old, and my mother introduced it to me.
It's something I do before I have a test at school or before I run.
I do a couple rounds of Wim Hof.
I take a cold shower, and I go to school feeling really ready.
I really found a lot of benefit from it.
I feel like it gives me mental clarity.
I love that we do have it as a family.
We usually all just go down to the beach and just ocean plunge for ten or 15 minutes.
And then you stand up and you do your - My horse stance.
You like that.
- Yeah.
He's like, "Don't do that when my friends are out.
" - I'm kidding.
- [laughs.]
Horse stance is, like, a very structured movement, and it kind of gets you in that place of "I'm about to plunge my body into very cold water.
" [inhaling, exhaling.]
[Wim.]
Roll in like the seashore.
[inhaling, exhaling.]
The wave comes.
Letting go.
Follow the flow.
We're gonna go immerse into very stressful cold water.
Just be as nature is calling upon us.
Follow the life force.
We are her children.
Today, we will meet nature.
This is it.
We will jump into the depth.
Horse stance.
[loud grunting.]
- [Wim screams.]
- [all yelling.]
Thirty-eight Fahrenheit.
Really cold.
This is probably the most insane thing I've been asked to do for goop is to jump in the most cold water in a bathing suit in the middle of winter.
So, yeah.
Here I am.
- Come on.
- [Heaven.]
Ana! Come on, Ana! - [Megan.]
You got it, Ana.
- Take your shoes off.
- [David.]
So jump - [Wim.]
Yes! - [Megan catcalls.]
- Ready? Breath in, go in, go out, breathe out.
- [Megan.]
Oh! - [all shouting.]
[Heaven.]
Yeah, Ana! [shouting continuing.]
It was so freaking cold.
Like, if I didn't have the breathing techniques and didn't breath the whole time, I would have not been able to move.
Breathe in, go in, come out, breathe out.
Okay.
One, two [inhales.]
[Wim.]
Long breaths.
Long breaths! [Sara.]
Once I got in, I just felt like I was drowning, honestly.
It was just like it's so jarring and shocking, but I was like, "Okay, I can move, I can swim.
So, if I can swim, that means I can keep going.
" - [Wim.]
You got it.
Go! - And use mind over matter - to get through it.
- [Wim.]
Give it a smile.
Come on! - Yes.
Beautiful.
- [Megan.]
You got it.
[Wim.]
Right over here.
Make your jump.
Okay, I'm just gonna go right here.
- [Megan.]
You got this, Heaven.
- All right.
- [David.]
You got this, Heaven.
- There you go.
Last breath in.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Whenever you're ready, breathe in, go.
Come out, breathe out.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Yeah! Feel that force.
Control! Beautiful! Horse stance over there.
Horse stance.
Good, good! [Wim grunting.]
- [Wim shouts.]
- [all cheering.]
[Megan.]
Right here.
I'm right here! - Yeah, come on.
Yes.
Well done.
- [Megan.]
You got it, Kate.
- [Heaven.]
Come on, girl.
- Yes, you got it.
- You got it.
- [David.]
Come on, Kate.
- [Wim.]
You got it.
- [Heaven.]
You got this.
Looking at the lake, it was like, a pretty massive "Oh, fuck" moment.
Like, disbelief that I'm actually doing this.
Kate, it's your moment.
Take a minute.
- [shouting.]
- [cheering.]
- [Wim.]
Kate, good job! - [David.]
Yeah, Kate! [Wim.]
Good job, Kate.
Beautiful! I started to kind of feel like, a panic attack coming on, but I tried to breath through it, and I just kind of controlled myself and powered through it.
[cheering.]
[Wim.]
Long breaths.
Long breaths.
What did the water feel like to you? I mean, it feels like jumping into a fucking cold lake.
I mean [laughing.]
It's exactly what you think it would feel like.
And then, you actually do it, and you live through it, and you survive it, and you feel really, really good after.
[cheering.]
That's dedication, that's teamwork, tribal, like a family, very strong together, helping each other, synergy.
Power! [shouting.]
[cheering.]
It's freezing outside, and I I wasn't cold.
And it just sort of makes me think that a lot is in my head.
It's crazy that I have control, basically.
- [Wim shouting.]
- [cheering.]
Get back in business.
Love for the day, lust for life.
[both chuckle.]
Sold.
- That was, like, next level shit.
- Yeah.
That was incredible.
You guys did great.
Bloody great.
- Awesome.
- [Heaven.]
Oh, thank you so much.
- Oh, man.
- Yeah, thanks, great.
You have been showing that you are a master over your anxiety.
- [Heaven.]
Yeah.
- Especially Kate.
- You killed it.
You killed it.
- You weren't even anxious.
- You can be a proud mother now.
- I feel like that was like Like a change Not to, like, sound dramatic, but I feel like that was, like, a changing point in my life.
- Like, that jump was like a - How about that? A jump into the depth of yourself.
- Yeah.
I really hope so.
- And controlled it.
- I hope that is.
- No, you did.
- You did, and you will see.
You will see.
- I hope that it, like, stays.
I don't know if my panic disorder's gonna go away.
I don't know if my anxiety's gonna go away, but it was definitely, um, a turning point.
I haven't had a panic attack since that experience.
- I say yes to that.
- [giggles.]
- [Gwyneth.]
That's amazing.
- Yeah.
I started tapering off my medication.
- Your psychiatrist is working with you - Yeah, I'm working with my psychiatrist - to slowly taper off.
- Are you doing the breath work still? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
And then I finish with 30, 45 seconds of a cold shower.
It's become like a ritual, and it feels very empowering.
[Gwyneth, Elise.]
Hmm.
I want to start doing that.
I love taking cold showers sometimes.
I think a lot of our anxiety comes from, it's a control thing.
And this was taking the control back.
And now you understand that you can control your body.
- Even the ritual of a cold shower, - [Kate.]
Yes, exactly.
you tell yourself - "I'm in control of this.
" - Exactly.
- That's amazing.
- [Wim.]
Amazing, is that? The right breathing techniques are able to bring us very deep insight with much more control over our mood regulation and our performance.
Would you come with me - Yeah.
- to do push-ups? I can't do a push-up.
On this fast? I can barely walk from point A to point B.
All I can say is I know she's fasting, and she says she can't do push-ups.
She's still gonna do more push-ups than I - She's stronger than I am.
- No, I'm not.
- [Elise.]
Yes, you are.
- [laughs.]
Let's do this breathing and see how many push-ups you guys can do.
- Oh, my God.
- Okay.
[Wim.]
We are going to do push-ups - Okay.
- and then we are going to do the breathing exercises, which makes the muscle tissue alkaline and therefore, is suddenly able to do more push-ups, even without air in your lungs.
Okay.
How many do we do? - As many as we can? - [Wim.]
Yes.
Just go.
Go as much as you feel.
[Elise laughs.]
Aren't you tired yet? - Doing good, ladies.
Yes.
All right.
- [Elise grunts, laughing.]
I think I did maybe 14 or 15.
All right, Gwyneth.
- She is strong as fuck.
- Okay, 20.
There.
That's And she is fasting.
- That's why I said this is embarrassing.
- That's strong.
- All right, 20.
- [chuckling.]
[Wim.]
Twenty and 14.
Those are the numbers.
- I don't think I can do any more push-ups.
- [laughs.]
You give the best, you get the best.
Just do that.
You give the best, you get the best.
Okay.
Fully in.
- [inhaling, exhaling.]
- Letting go.
Fully in.
Letting go.
Fully in! Letting go.
Don't hold back.
- I'm gonna pass out.
- You can become a little bit light-headed, lose in the body, tingly, it's all good.
Last one.
Fully in.
Let it go.
Stop after the exhalation.
Stop breathing and push-ups.
Just go.
Don't mind.
Feel.
Four, five, six Whenever you feel the urge to breathe, you can take an inhale and keep on going.
[inhaling.]
Over the 20.
Twenty-two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
- Thirty done.
- [sighs.]
Good.
Oh, my God.
How do you feel? I feel good.
My arms are tired, but I'm not even out of breath.
I'm not out of breath, either, I don't think.
I thought I was gonna pass out for a minute - when we were doing the breathing - [Wim.]
Yeah.
and then it kind of passed.
You know? So, it's like you're just focused on the breath - and not fainting.
[laughs.]
- [Wim.]
Yes.
Yeah, I felt high.
- Hi.
- Hi.
[laughing.]
Well done, ladies.
- Thank you very much for showing.
- Thank you.
- That was pretty cool.
- [Wim.]
Amazing.
[Wim.]
Today, it was a great day.
[Ana.]
You think so? No, I feel so.
We are here in the present, feeling strong.
I don't think I would have been able to do what I did today without this village, this community.
[Wim.]
Family is nature.
Trees are nature.
We are one.
[guitar strumming.]
- Such a lovable energy running 'round - [Wim shouting.]
Give it sound Give it words from the heart - That's the start, hey, hey, hey - [exhales.]
Ha! - Do you remember how to play? - Ha! [laughing.]
[exhales.]
- [laughing.]
- A new revolution starts right here You saw you got it all It's nature's call to do it all [Wim shouts.]
Hey, hey! Doing it all, let us play - [Wim.]
Nice! - [cheering, applauding.]
[Wim.]
Remind yourself every morning: Are you happy? Are you strong? Are you healthy? If not, then breathe, motherfucker! [laughing.]
[theme music playing.]