The 2 minute practice that can change your life
Ice Cold Shower
I am all for challenging myself and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. In fact, I am an advocate for a practice that challenges you. Happiness and success are linked to challenging yourself, so when my husband recently told me about the Wim Hoff method which is the practice of taking daily cold showers, I tentatively said that I would give it a go.
I was not thrilled at the idea especially now in the middle of winter but not wanting to pass up a challenge, I agreed to at least try it.
In preparing myself for the morning shower, I considered the times that I had taken lukewarm to cold showers when the water hadn’t heated up for whatever reason. The previous week I had washed my hair in cold water and had noticed how soft and shiny it was and when I looked at the benefits I realised that this was no coincidence. I also investigated the benefits to further motivate me and here they are listed below:
Wakes you up
Improves circulation
Strengthens your immune system
Reduction in sore muscles after working out
Increased metabolism, thereby benefiting weight loss
Encourages you to be more physically active
Improved moods
Improved physical recovery after sports
Reduction in pain
Smoother and more shiny hair
Antidepressant effects
On the first day that I tried it, I woke up secretly dreading having my morning shower, a shower that I usually love and look forward to taking. After all, who looks forward to a cold shower on a Winter’s day? I began the shower as a warm/hot shower and after I had washed, I turned the temperature down slowly to lukewarm and then onto cold. When the cold water hit my body, I shivered and resisted the icy water. I really didn’t enjoy it, but irrespective of how I felt I knew I needed to continue with the practice because I wanted to embrace this new experience and the benefits this would deliver. I told myself that I just needed to stick with it and be consistent because I knew the benefits would be worth it.
The Win Hoff Method recommends that you breathe with the cool water rather than fight the feeling of being cold and thereby embracing the experience. So by day 2, I decided to welcome the cold water and started to breathe through it and actually found the cold water really refreshing. By day 3, I was really looking forward to the cool water and actually found the hot water at the beginning of my shower too much.
As with anything, consistency is key, so I made a decision to not just endure the cold shower but welcome it and enjoy it, which was the real game-changer.
With any new practice that challenges you, it is a lesson in how we can push ourselves by moving out of our comfort zone and progress ourselves in a beneficial way. Sometimes we receive a small benefit but usually, this is when we really begin to win in life and make big progress.
I would highly recommend this daily practice as part of your morning ritual, if all you can handle in the beginning is 10 long seconds then just do it for 10 seconds, but make sure that you slowly increase each day by 5 more seconds until you can handle a full 2 minutes.
Small consistent steps will win the race!
Please contact me to show you how I can help you create positive mindfulness and self-supporting practices.
