It’s the first week of spring and I wanted to share a little about my experience with the powerful practice of cold lake plunges throughout this past winter.
I discovered Mindfulness meditation around 12 years ago in my own journey of seeking of deeper meaning in life, inner peace and healing. Over time, my practice evolved, opening up a greater level of self reflection and self awareness. I’m absolutely obsessed with the power of the mind and how we can intentionally rewire our reality.
I’ve always admired and been inspired by Wim Hof. I Absolutely love him. I read his books, took his courses and incorporated his breathing techniques into my own practice. As a mindfulness coach, I’ve helped many other people manage stress and upgrade their health and happiness by combining his method with various Mindfulness meditation practices.
The cold has been the most recent habit that I have adopted to create a wedge into the present moment and to connect deeply to myself and nature. It started out with cold showers, which I do exclusively now. But it was only this past winter that I began doing regular lake plunges. I was out there every week despite the snow, ice, wind or minus double digit temps and it was an absolutely beautiful (and challenging) experience!
The cold has been a powerful outlet during covid and something that I truly looked forward to each week. Finding comfort in being uncomfortable.
While I wasn’t fighting any crowded beaches this winter, it was encouraging to see many others in my city and around the world adopting this powerful habit into their lives during the covid. (Does this mean I will miss winter?)
Most people are fascinated, but respond by saying they hate the cold and they could never do that. That’s a self limiting thought. You can change your your relationship to the cold by changing your mindset. Learn to embrace it for how it will make you feel along with the powerful benefits (mind, body and spirit).
And when you overcome that stress response over and over you become much more resilient in the moment and in your day to day life.
For me, the cold is a meditation. It brings me to center and reminds me to weave Love, Kindness and Gratitude into everything I do, and will be doing IT for the rest of my life.