Cold Water Medicine
Cold water is the teacher of resilience, she conquers the mind and heals your body. I say “she” because water is a feminine energy, the element of water relates to our emotional body, she is always moving and carrying a frequency of energy. We are told cold water is meant to be painful, it's meant to be uncomfortable, but if you can find the medicine and the lessons in something that is painful, you are limitless. The water has taught me so much, I am fearless and strong in ice water and I have complete power over my mind and body. It forces me to drop everything, step out of the mind’s wonderings and brings me back into my body in a way that I have never experienced with anything else.
SO WHY COLD WATER:
So you may be thinking, this girl is crazy and yes I probably am. But I can guarantee this, you would be crazy not to try this. We are always told, if you go into the cold, you will get ill. Well that simply isn’t true. Yes it takes training to build your resilience, but humans today are very comfortable and do not utilise the range of endurance to the elements that our bodies are capable of facilitating. We can run for miles hunting prey, all whilst withstanding all kinds of elements. Yet we mostly sit inside with our central heating on, jumpers on and blankets on, our modern lives never ask our bodies to do what they are built to do. Safe to say we have gone a bit soft. Resilience is like a muscle that hasn’t been used, it needs nurturing and strengthening. That’s why you integrate this practise slowly.
WHY I STARTED TO WORK WITH THE COLD:
My body was on fire, I had heaps of inflammation in my gut from Crohn’s Disease, my joints hurt and were often inflamed, my heart would often go into palpitations that would last for hours and I had high levels of stress after just starting university. I also used to hide all of this from people because I didn’t want to be a burden (which I now realise is very silly). I started to hear whispers of cold water therapy and felt instantly drawn to start working with the cold to cool down the crazy heat in my body. Secondly, apart from the physical health aspect I was also fascinated by what our body can do with the influence of a powerful mind, and I was becoming more and more aware of the “I can’t” voice in my head.
FROM PODCAST TO PLUNGE
After listening to a few podcasts I started with cold showers, turning the water cold at the end of the shower for 15 seconds and breathing deeply. I started working up to 30 seconds at the end of a shower and eventually was able in the middle of winter to turn the shower on cold from start to finish in an unheated apartment for a 10 minute shower. Every time I got out I felt like I had climbed Everest, and I thought to myself, if I can start my day with that, I can do anything.
My threshold to the cold grew and I started to seek out places in the wild to get into the cold with unassuming friends (thank you to those who participated). I found frozen lakes, bitter seas, even water which came straight from a glacier, you name it! I broke ice, waded through reads and sludge to get access to this magical medicine.
I have now done ice dips in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Canada. I can comfortably swim in 2 degree centigrade water for around 8 minutes and I can sit and meditate in an ice bath for over 10 minutes.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS:
My inflammation was gone. From the time I got into the water to the time I got out it was gone. Like it someone had pressed a button and it had been drained out of me.
It feels like I have been to a spa for two weeks everytime I get out. My joints feel nourished, my energy is lighter and I feel so energised.
My mind is stricken with clarity and strength, I feel so powerful. All of my worries are washed away, frozen and transmuted. My perspective shifts.
My immune system boosts. My immune system has never been so strong.
My vascular system strengthened and my heart issues calmed.
I feel fearless.
I connect deeply to my body's limits, purpose and potential.
I understand my strength.
I feel soothed and held by nature.
My metabolism improves and so does my digestion of food and my digestion of emotions and the world around me.
You become resilient, not just to cold water but to life. Everytime you deepen your threshold to the cold, you deepen your threshold to life. You become grounded in ways you never imagined, you start to live out of that place in your mind which says “I can”.
HOW TO GO ABOUT IT:
15 second cold at the end of a warm shower.
Work up to 30 seconds, 40 seconds and keep working up to a few mins. Eventually you will be happy to do full cold showers hassle free.
Then try a cold bath, move onto adding ice to your cold bath. Put a timer on starting with a few mins, meditate and breathe.
Then start going into wild water, don’t go alone and keep to the edges.
HOW TO BREATHE:
Your breath is your most important ally with the cold, you must push the breath out. Keep your focus on the out breath, your survival reflexes will always breathe in for you and if you focus on the in-breath you are more likely to hyperventilate. So when starting in the shower, bring all of your focus to pushing the air out of your lungs slowly.
HOW TO MASTER THE MIND:
1.Mantras & affirmations, if you repeat them enough, your subconscious will accept them as your truth. Before you enter the water say:
“This is medicine, I love this medicine."
When you are in the water:
“I am strong, powerful and my body is built to do this.”
2. Smile - smile outwardly and inwardly.
YOU CAN DO THIS!
I am not special for being able to do this. Everyone can. You just have to choose to say yes. Like everything in life, are you going to choose to live your life through the perspective of the past or pave a new way for yourself? Are you going to complain about how much you hate your job or are you going to get a new one which lights you up? Everything in our lives is a product of our choice.
HOW TO SUPER CHARGE YOUR ICE BATH:
Run a hot bath on the full moon.
Place herbs into the bath such as rosemary, sage, rose etc. whatever you feel called to add.
Intend the water.
Put your crystals out in the full moon.
Let the water go completely cold overnight.
Put charged crystals in the bath the next day.
Put ice in the bath.
Set a timer for your desired time.
Get in, breathe.
Enjoy.
SAFETY TIPS FOR WILD SWIMMING:
Do not swim out into the middle of the water, keep to the edges.
Go to a lake such as Hampstead Ponds in London for the first time so you have a trained lifeguard on stand by.
Don’t stay in for more than 1 minute your first time. (It sounds like nothing but you will find out that 1 minute is a great achievement).
Remember to focus on the out breath.
Wear a woolly hat to keep some heat in your head.
You can also get surfing gloves and boots to keep your feet and hands warm.
Bring lots of layers and a hot water bottle for afterwards.