Dutch adventurer Wim Hof will present a special seminar "On the Conscious Control of the Body's Autonomous Systems" at 4 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Margherio Family Conference Center at 320 E. Canfield St., in Detroit.

The lecture is open to the WSU community. A question-and-answer session will follow his presentation.

Hof, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, holds multiple records for endurance and resilience, including withstanding extreme temperatures with minimal protection, and is known as "The Iceman" for his abilities. He has demonstrated prolonged exposure to ice baths in experimentally-controlled settings. His ability to exercise conscious control of his body's autonomous systems is based on a combination of breathing and meditative techniques that allow him to voluntarily alter his physiology to adapt to environmental stress. His physiology and the effects of his techniques in increasing anti-inflammatory mediators in trained volunteers have been extensively studied.

His visit to the School of Medicine is sponsored by Otto Muzik, Ph.D., professor of Neurology, of Radiology and of Pediatrics, and Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, and co-director of the Brain Imaging Research Division, with whom Hof is collaborating on functional magnetic resonance imaging and Positron Emission Tomography studies of thermoregulatory defense, specifically looking at Hof's brain activity.

For more information on Hof, visit www.wimhofmethod.com.