Not to dismiss the experience of Brazil, but Korea believed you would die if you had an electric fan on with no windows open. Safe to say entire countries are not infallible either.
That said, the process is soaking the beans in water for, at least, 10 hours. You have to change the water four or five times during this period and toss the water at the end.
On the other hand, adding bay leaves are totally a superstition. Saw my mother-in-law trying to hide she forgot to soak the beans overnight by adding bay leaves and my wife had a bad aftermath.