Cold Immersion.

Cold Immersion

Every year, it’s the same thing. We rotate around the sun, spinning and tilting this way and that. The ground softens and hardens. It rains and snows. 

This pattern is what makes it cold here, right now. It’s partly an effect of the inevitable tilting away from the sun. It’s a predictable rhythm and cycle.

As such, every year we are faced with a choice of how to react. Do we like the cold? Do we fear it? Should we avoid it?

To some extent, yes, we should fear it. It’s dangerous. It can even kill us.

All extremes are dangerous, though. Heat. Water. Heck, you can even have too much oxygen. 

The extreme of avoidance is no less concerning, though. In a way, it may even be the most dangerous. For seemingly thousands of years, we have have had to figure out in a unique way how to be with the cold. The bottom line is, despite our best efforts, we have to deal with it. The question is, do we embrace it, or not? Do we choose to welcome it, or to avoid it?

No matter what your answer is, that is the key: CHOICE. Just like there is no avoiding gravity and its effects, we have to have a relationship with the cold.

What I’ve seen over the years is that we all similar capabilities and capacities. That is to say, we all can choose, or at least develop the ability to choose. To see the cold as an enemy, or as a teacher. It can be dangerous, but it also can be enlivening. It can, again, kill you, but it may show you something necessary. Regardless, it’s a choice.

I’ve personally been making this choice since 2009. I can attest to the many physiological benefits. On that note, the most “google-able” ones are, in short, circulation/blood-flow and mental health, the vagus nerve/polyvagal theory, and the mammalian dive reflex. There’s also intriguing information about the effect of cold immersion on mitochondria, and managing certain autoimmune disorders. 

After over 12 years of experience, though, what I mostly encourage you to embrace is the possibility for a certain kind of freedom. Again, you have to make a choice, and embracing the cold has proven to be the most consistently rewarding one in my journey.

On that note, knowing this is a process for all of us, what do we do? How do we start?

1st, as I just suggested, consider the fact that your relationship with the cold is in part psychological. Yes, we do feel the cold, but the meaning we project upon it is, somewhat, a choice.

2nd, if you’re needing to modify your beliefs in this regard, then just start by going outside on a regular basis with, yes, less clothing. No, not naked; you don’t need to embarrass your family and/or neighbors. Just find a private moment, perhaps at night, and give it a go.

3rd, if that’s easy enough, yes, take a cold shower. You can either add cold water at the beginning and/or end of your normal shower, or you can just take a cold shower. Yup, that’s a thing. It’s an option. You do not need the hot shower

4th, lastly, it’s ice bath time! How do you do that? And where? Well, at KORU, of course! Why at KORU? Least of all because right next to the baths we have a 200 degree sauna to warm you back up, but mostly because we’ll safely guide you.

If you can’t tell, at KORU the focus is context. Although they do seem to be legitimate, we are not as focused on the physiological benefits. We are focused on the WHY. Why does this matter, and what does it mean for us as animals on this planet? 

Again, we are all experiencing the same predictable cycles, rhythms and patterns. We experience them in our own unique way, yes. They are, though, essentially the same, as we’re on the same rock, experiencing the same shifts and tilts.

We have the same needs, and, to be blunt, the same basic capacities. Again, we can choose. 

No matter, start with what’s simple. Don’t force yourself; force almost never works for creating a sustainable shift. If you truly want to embrace the cold, and to create an empowering—not forceful—relationship with it, even though you may resist it and it may be challenging, just start with what’s easy. 

Slow and deepen your breath. Relax your shoulders and your jaw. And your brow. Trust you that can do it, in your way. Then, when you feel ready, take a step, and go play in the cold!

Eventually, it may even be fun.