Longest ice immersion -world record set
by Wim Hof
[Jan
28]NEW YORK, USA--A man who calls himself a tantric master broke
his own world record by standing engulfed in 1,550 lbs. of ice for
72 minutes.
Wim Hof, 48, stood on a Manhattan street in a
clear container filled with ice for an hour and 12 minutes Saturday.
Photo:
In this photo provided by Rubin Museum of Art, Wim Hof, of the Netherlands,
stands up to his neck in ice for an hour and twelve minutes, Saturday,
Jan. 26, 2008, outside the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, during
a successful attempt to break his previous world record for immersion
in an outdoor ice bath.
(enlarge photo)
Known as "The Iceman," Mr. Hof controls his body temperature
by the tantric practice of tumo and is the only non-Tibetan in the
world to have mastered this art. (AP Photo/Rubin Museum of Art,
Diane Bondareff )
Hof said he survives by controlling his body temperature
through tantric meditation. Tantra is an Eastern tradition of ritual
and meditation said to bring followers closer to their chosen deities.
Hof set the world record for full body ice contact
endurance in 2004, when he immersed himself in ice for an hour and
eight minutes.
He says he owns six recognized world records for
a variety of extreme feats, including the fastest barefoot half-marathon
in history (2 hours, 16 minutes) and the longest swim while holding
one's breath under ice (188 feet, 6 inches).
Wim is a 48-year-old married father of five,
who makes his living as a nature guide.
Hof's feat kicked off BRAINWAVE,
a five-month series of events in New York exploring how art, music,
and meditation affect the brain.
Presenting more than 100 events in New York City
through June 2008, the BRAINWAVE
series is the brainchild of six non-profit organizations: Rubin
Museum of Art, Exit Art, Graduate Center of the City University
of New York (CUNY), The Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary
Study of Imagination, and the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in association
with the American Museum of Natural History.