You may have heard of Wim Hoff, formally known as ‘The Ice Man’ and his slightly farfetched approach to breathwork followed by jumping in ice-cold water. 

When I was first introduced to his work I palmed it off as mildly insane and went about my green smoothies and mediation.

 

It is only on a recent trip to Bali that I realized the impact this very simple technique can have on the mind-body and soul.

Just like in ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ I embarked on a trip to heal some particularly deep wounds from a recent breakup, not with a partner, but with my best friend. 

If you have ever experienced this kind of separation of souls, you know the effects are far more intense than that of a partner. 

I swallowed my pain and it f*cking choked me.

 

I jumped on the back of a bike and took myself to a retreat in Canggu for the day where I participated in a sound healing session, floating meditation followed by a session in the steam room and jumping into a plunge pool.

During the sound healing, all the anxiety and heavy heartedness I’d been carrying around for months seemed to lift from my body and float up around me.

As I floated in the meditation sound pool with my ears underwater the music soothed me into a lullaby and my problems seemed to drift away.

It was when I got to the steam room that I fell to the ground and uncontrollably sobbed (alone, thank god.) 

I walked out and plummeted myself into the plunge pool and magically, all my anxiety, feelings, emotions and heartache came to a standstill.

 

After 30 seconds in ice-cold water, I got out and suddenly…. I felt nothing.

In fact, I felt incredibly elated. It was as if every cell in my body got snapped awake and I became myself again.

 

I raced back to my bungalow to research, and every day since I have been blasting myself under a cold shower morning and night to shock my nervous system.

It has become my ‘none negotiable’ 

 

Here is what I personally encountered.

 

• Decreased stress levels
• Ability to deal with discomforts throughout my day
• Better sleep
• Softer skin

 

Other benefits of cold showers

 

• Higher level of alertness.
• More robust immune response
• Increased willpower
• Weight loss

 

Yes, that’s right, cold water can increase your metabolism and assist in losing weight, it can make you perform better at work AND by shocking the living daylights out of yourself first thing in the morning, discomforts are far easier to deal with.

 

If you do one thing for yourself every morning. Let it be this.