About Sven

Sven is a highly intuitive, warm-hearted, curious and nature-centered adventurist who has spent years traversing the world and challenging himself.

He is actively working as a Breathwork Facilitator, Wim Hof Method Instructor & Psychedelic Guide.

After obtaining his degree in Psychobiology, he went on a path of exploring evidence-based methods for self-healing.

Having had many deep dives into the cold and his inner landscapes, and combining the best practices from working with the breath, cold exposure, meditation & psychedelics, he now guides and supports others on their journeys.

Sven Kimenai - Wim Hof Method Instructor & Breathwork Facilitator
Sven Kimenai - Wim Hof Method Instructor, Breathwork Facilitator & Nature Guide

Mission

Sven is continiously researching, experimenting and applying novel science-based methods as catalysts for self-exploration and transformation.

He empathically empowers others to step out of their comfort zones and supports them in exploring their inner landscapes.

He aims to find, combine and apply novel tools to catalyze growth and healing, and to reintroduce human & nature connection. Through all his field experience and scientific background, he intends to solidify and bridge the fundamental science looking at existential transformation.

Roles

As a licensed Wim Hof Method Instructor, one of his greatest passions is guiding others through breathwork and cold exposure and to reconnect them with their inner healing capacity.

Through the Wim Hof Method, he helps others to reconnect with nature, to find their inner fire and to unleash their tremendous potential. Sven constructively supports others to step out of their comfort zones and to face their fears.

He has worked with athletes, biohackers, freedivers, those seeking relief from auto-immune diseases, chronic pain and mental disorders, and many more.

Continuing to be amazed by the cathartic power of the breath, its ability to catalyze insights and its unique application for health and body-mind regulation, Sven extensively works with the breath for various applications.

Breathwork, being an amazingly fluent endogenous healing modality and a natural bridge to profound altered states of consciousness, is used by Sven as a tremendous force, to reconnect us with our innate-healing capacity.

Having experience with various breathwork practices and techniques, such as Wim Hof Method, Transformational Breathwork and Buteyko, he uses the breath in physical training activities, as a preparation and integration tool for psychedelic ceremonies, for emotional release, as a tool to relieve anxiety, as an anchor in extreme cold exposure and to provide relief for those with chronic pain and auto-immune diseases. He has worked at a highschool, using the breath as a tool for children with performance anxiety, and worked with clinical psychologists and psychiatrists and their clients in various countries, to support them in managing their anxiety.

Sven has done extensive reading in the scientific literature around breathwork, its relation to health, safety and biophysiology.

Currently, Sven also works at Synthesis as a breathwork facilitator.

Traveling to Central-America, Sven went through multiple plant medicine ceremonies in the Costa Rican Jungle, where he discovered the astounding and mind-boggling healing potential of psychedelics for the first time.

He now works at Synthesis, one of the foremost psychedelic retreats, using a legal and modern framework, in the Netherlands. Working at Synthesis, he has had the opportunity to contribute to novel psychedelic research, to assist many in their psychedelic journey and to witness countless participants going through mindblowing transformations.

Being deeply inspired by the healing capacity of psychedelics and their potential use in modern mental healthcare, and blown away by the rapidly growing societal and scientific validation of its use, Sven holds psychedelics as one of the most powerful and awe-inspiring healing modalities currently available to us.

Will be added soon.

Wim Hof Winter Expedition - Sven Kimenai - Wim Hof Method Instructor & Breathwork Facilitator2
Wim Hof Winter Expedition - Sven Kimenai - Wim Hof Method Instructor & Breathwork Facilitator

Core Elements

Having a strong scientific foundation, Sven dives deep into the science behind the modalities he uses, and works with science-backed tools for improved well-being. Many of the cutting-edge modalities he works with require a very experiential, emotional, aswell as a scientific understanding. He loves to combine experiential wisdom and emotional intelligence with scientific rationale, and weave the different perspectives and levels of understanding together to create a wholesome grasp of the experience and practice.

Working towards a new understanding of these different aspects, he empowers others to continue their practice and journey independently.

Leading groups through the extremes of nature’s elements, or supporting them through the depths of their psyche, Sven believes it is vital to teach and guide from experience within safe boundaries. 

The aim is always to cultivate an authentic, warm-hearted, & open atmosphere that is combined with a strongly client-centered, adaptive, trauma-informed and transparent framework.

Through his genuine love for the nature of this work with these groups of people, and the rich group dynamics that arise, Sven offers highly personal and unique experiences that leave a lasting imprint for years to come.

Human connection, community and sharing are enormously impactful to our well-being and our ability to heal from wounds of the past. Having experienced this himself, and understanding how vital and powerful human connection and acceptance is, Sven aims to create safe and open social environments that allow for organic connecting, radical honesty and emotional sharing with fellow souls. Not only through talking, but also through music, dancing and laughter!

He loves to involve active listening, group sharing, music , dance and other interpersonal exercises during his events. 

Few things are as good, as profound, and as healing, as being submerged in a genuinely heart-warming and accepting group made of authentic individuals. That is always the aim.

During these events, through human connection, we will come together in humility and share with and learn from one another. Often leaving lasting connections and a sense of community after returning home.

Besides being naturally empathic and a very intuitive communicator, Sven is trained and certified in detecting micro-expressions, Emotional Skills & Competencies (ESaC) and responding effectively to emotions by the Paul Ekman Group. The training tools of which, have been developed by Paul Ekman, the world’s leading expert in lie detection & one of the foremost researchers of emotions.

Having a deep passion for music, and playing various instruments for over 10 years, Sven understands the importance of music to facilitate deep inner work experiences. Within the psychedelic bubble, music is sometimes called the ‘hidden therapist’. Sven puts a lot of care and attention in his music selection, and often supports his in-person breathwork sessions by live-playing and improvising on his guitar, drums or piano.

Also, it wouldn’t be the first time that an evening hangout during an expedition turns into a collective jam session.

Coming soon

Sven holds a degree in Psychobiology from the University of Amsterdam. Here he studied the interactions between  neurobiology, physiology and the psyche. He has done extensive literary research on the biophysiology of sleep, cold exposure, stress and arousal systems, psychedelics and health supplementation.

This not only informs him on the impact of and safety precautions required to practice these new methods safely, but he also involves the newest breakthrough’s in science within his work as a Wim Hof Method Instructor, as a Breathwork Facilitator & Psychedelic Guide. For example, informed by recent scientific findings, he applies breathwork to engage and increase neuroplasticity in the brain, lower day-to-day stress & anxiety levels and increase vagas nerve activity.