Life & Work with Steven Roccazzella

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Roccazzella. 

Hi Steven, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Hello, my name is Steven Roccazzella and I am certified as an instructor in the Wim Hof Method. The Wim Hof Method is a wellness practice that consists of three pillars: breathwork, cold exposure, and mindset/commitment. I found the Method in 2016 while living in Utah, owning/operating a small business(barbershop). At that time in my life, I was deeply depressed and unhealthy both in my body and mind. I was suffering from depression, PTSD, and several health issues that resulted from personal loss and mental/physical damage sustained during a prior career of 13 years as law enforcement officer. 

I heard about the Wim Hof Method on a podcast. It seemed simple to do on my own, inexpensive, and many of the claimed benefits were rooted in science and had even been studied, peer-reviewed, and published in medical journals. 

After a year of daily practice, I had lost a significant amount of weight, corrected my health issues, and was free from an almost decade-long dependence on antidepressant, anxiety, and anti-inflammatory medications. The practice was empowering and transformative to say the least. In 2018 I set out to meet and train under Wim Hof himself, and in 2019 became a certified instructor and had been leading classes and workshops part-time while still running my barbershop. 

In 2020 I relocated to the Nashville area to be with my 3 children who have lived here since 2015. Since moving here I have been working as a barber but focusing on stepping into a more full-time role as an instructor in breathwork and the Wim Hof Method. Due to the new challenges, the Pandemic has brought and the Wim Hof Methods profound effect on the immune system, I feel Nashville needs a Wim Hof instructor more than another barber. I have been putting on Wim Hof Method workshops all over the Nashville area and in Georgia and North Carolina. I also lead Wim Hof classes at a local treatment center giving clients a set of tools and an understanding of how to use breath, cold exposure, mindset to support them in their recovery journey. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It’s been a beautiful and incredibly difficult journey. Both professionally and personally, the move here to Nashville has brought the hardest challenges of my life. Professionally, leaving a thriving business of 6 years and long-standing clientele was a bit heart and bank-breaking. The Wim Hof Method is not as well known in this part of the country and as far as I know, there are no other certified instructors activity teaching or even living in this area. 

Also, the Pandemic has made it more difficult for a portion of the population to feel safe gathering and practicing breathing techniques with other people so there is a section of the population that I believe wants this but are not ready to receive it yet. Also, being new to the area has made harder to find venues that will accommodate for weather and social distancing. All that aside, I have put on dozens of successful private and a public workshops and classes since arriving here. I have been finding the people and venues and they are finding me. The word is spreading, the work is getting done, and lives are changing! 

Luckily, I have been welcomed with open arms by the barber community and I have found places to work and build an absolutely wonderful and steady clientele. The people of Tennessee have been so generous, loving, and welcoming. Between the people I have met through teaching Wim Hof and cutting hair, I have met some of the most incredible people and made some of the dearest friends. Nashville is stacked with amazing humans! This is a special place and I feel so very honored and lucky to be here. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I instruct/facilitate Wim Hof Method workshops. A Wim Hof Method workshop is a 4-hour experience that consists of lecture/discussion on the theory of the Method. I discuss how breath can be used as tool to voluntarily influence one’s own body chemistry, mental/emotional state, as well as consciously influence autonomous systems in the body such as the immune system. I will lead participants through a guided breathing session, usually accompanied by live music. 

We then talk about the healing power of the cold and how to develop a safe, regular cold exposure practice. That knowledge is applied during a full emersion ice bath experience! 

The ice bath is followed by a warm-up session and food, allowing people to connect, celebrate, and share their experience. Participants leave with a set of tools and an understanding of how to use them in their daily life. 

I also facilitate one on one and small group, private experiences. At the current time, I travel to different venues all over Tennessee and surrounding states to provide these experiences. 

I plan to open a space where people can come and get their regular cold exposure and take guided breathing classes to further deepen their practice under the guidance of a certified instructor. 

The thing that brings me the most joy in doing this work is watching people step into the unknown by facing fears and discomfort to find health, resilience to the stresses of life, and healing. Witnessing someone shift from panic to peace while neck-deep in ice water is so inspiring to me and empowering for them. They take an uncomfortable and stress-inducing stimulus like ice water and turn it into their playground while doing something very good for their bodies. 

When they can practice finding peace and stability in midst of a stressful but controlled stimulus, they can do it in every aspect of life! The breathwork and ice can provide deep healing opportunities for a person’s body and mind. I get to experience that with them! It is so fulfilling and healing for me as well. 

What sets me apart? I am no one special, but to my knowledge, I am currently the only certified Wim Hof instructor activity teaching and holding classes in the State. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I continue to say yes to life and put myself out there. As I do so, I am continually finding myself in all the right places and making all the right connections. I started my life over and moved here to be closer to my children. I feel so lucky that of all the places they could have ended up, it was here in Tennessee! This place is magical! There is so much opportunity here and I truly believe that Nashville is a gathering place, for good, powerful, creative, generous, loving people! I am so honored to be here and serve among true spiritual warriors! 

Pricing:

• Wim Hof Method Workshop $150 per person
• Private sessions $75 and up for breath work and ice bath sessions

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/instructors/stevenroccazzella
• Instagram: @ice_life_tennessee