I Love The Cold Water – what an unexpected surprise in my life!!!
The Total Buzz of Being in Cold Water & an Ice Bath!
Before I moved down to North Devon in 2020, I didn’t interact much with cold water, or swimming or the sea for that matter. I am not the hugest fan of my body in a swimsuit either, so perhaps that may have stopped me too!
Moving to the coast in North Devon, I found that I was surrounded by beautiful beaches, sea pools and gorgeous women who love cold water swimming, or dipping in my case! Nobody cared what you looked like in your swimsuit, it is all about the fun and the camaraderie.
Wim Hof has recently been on TV with his challenge so everyone is getting to know him. In January 2022 three of us decided that we wanted to do a one day challenge with Wim Hof (not him personally but one of his trainers) so we searched for places to do this and found one in Cornwall which was a 2 hour drive for us.
We learnt so much about breathing techniques, how to create an altered state and get into a trance like state to endure the cold water. You literally switch your body from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system – a great way to activate your immune system. You also get such a natural high it lasts throughout the day, along with increased energy and loss of mental fog. To get ready for the challenge, you have a 3 week challenge before hand to turn your shower each morning down to cold and gradually increase the time you are able to stand there! It certainly wakes you up and again creates that amazing mental high and the feel good factor.
We stayed in the ice bath for 2 minutes, then I put my head under for about 30 seconds, the feeling being submerged under the ice with the light from the sky streaming through was surreal. This was followed by the most delicious sauna ever with the others on the day. We were like children all giggling about what we had just achieved. So easy to make friends in the cold water world!
If you haven’t tried getting into cold water, I would highly recommend it. My next thing to try is a lake, or a river.