I've been cold showering for a year now and will never look back. No matter what I have to face in the day, it steels me for it. Far more invigorating/life-affirming than coffee (and I love coffee).
I've been cold-showering for years now (usually just a quick finish to a hot shower). I don't think I would feel right without doing it... however, I live in Brisbane, Australia, where the climate is sub-tropical, so even in winter, a cold shower is not that extreme. I did try winter ocean bathing a few years ago, when I lived at the southern Gold Coast (still sub-tropical Queensland, but southern-most part). Got up pre-dawn in June (coldest part of winter here) - it was amazingly invigorating!
Unfortunately, after a few weeks it warmed up to the point where even in the ocean pre-dawn, it was only a mild shock to the system.
I did also try the face immersion in ice water (recommended as a way to get started with this process) but found it very unpleasant.
Now - with winter coming on down here in the Southern Hemisphere - I need to find a place where I can get back into doing this. (The ocean has a few other big advantages for health and mental health - lots of negative ions, and salt ions, and the overall energy is amazing!)
I've been doing the showers for years too. Took some building up to for myself, but now find them a necessity. I also find a better effect on my hair- it is so fine and is less flat after the cold shower....and I notice less water use as another benefit. I'd be in a hot shower longer than a cold one....I don't indulge in those hot ones now- but yes to the cold ones! Lucky you with the ocean. Made me nostalgic about Australia. Coming up on 30 years in November- my husband and I were wed there- on a cliff over the S, Pacific in Manly New South Wales....Shelly Beach. At that time we said we wanted to maybe get back there in 10 years......didn't happen. Now I think it never will. Thank goodness for those memories though. Thank you for triggering them...although likely unknowingly on your part. :)
Unfortunately, I think that travel is becoming less and less likely for all of us - it has always taken effort, and these days there are more and more barriers and difficulties, between pandemics, wars and the general willingness to ramp up restrictions at the drop of a hat!
Manly is an impressive place, so close to a big city - but we have miles and miles of other beautiful beaches and coastline, some of the best in the world (though the California coastline is amazing too - and as with you, a place I am unlikely to visit again.)
Celia, I don't know if you remember me from Curio magazine a long time ago but I'd love to interview you on my podcast, Post-Woke: https://mickeyz.substack.com
Stumbled across Vim Hof online about 6 or 8 years ago. As a practitioner of sweat lodges and cold plunges for the past 40+ years, I'm glad to see someone touting their virtues to the masses. To maximize thermal benefits, gotta work on the diet as well. https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/will-the-next-plandemic-be-food-born?s=w
I grew up in northern Ontario on Georgian Bay... and when I was a teenager, our little cottage didn't have a shower. No shower, no tub, only the cold lake. Only to say that when I finally heard of Wim Hof, I could not stop laughing. I'd always loved the cold but had no idea there were so many benefits. Now I start my day with the breathing and cold showers (I don't have a tub at the moment). If you haven't tried it yet... just do it! Celia thanks so much for sharing your healing journey. It's so encouraging. :-)
Celia, after managing to slowly slowly get in ice cold Lake Geneva (12C) and swimming for 15mn, I came out and shivered for half an hour. That was 4 days ago. Since then the overwhelming pervasive draining permanent sensation I wanted to be dead has disappeared It is truly amazing.
I'm with you 100 percent, ice baths are a profoundly healing systemic reset, deletes pain of all kinds faster than any drug and the only side effect is that you feel great.
Wim is a great guy, but crazier than a bag of cats.
A great book to read about WimHof is "what doesn't kill us" by Scott Carney.
I discovered Wims method when we started doing the Tough Guy race (idea then stolen by Tough Mudder) and one of the obstacles was the cold and hypothermia, meaning that hundreds wouldn't finish at all.
To prepare we began swimming in rivers lakes and the sea, all year round.
The coldest so far was 2 C.
The cold dip is a real mood lifter, though I do now get chilblains every March for my troubles.
I enjoyed the healing and relaxing experience of Korean spas for years however the cold water plunge was the one treatment I only could dip in for mere seconds. Thank you for this. I love Wim’s breath work. I’ll dip into an ice bath this evening! 🥶
Me ruined at the Better Way Comderence this past weekend. The healing remedy of ice baths. Many people swim each day in the sea here in Exmouth, they seem
been cold showering daily for 3 years. outdoors for 1. I'm in California so wintertime is tolerable. never got covid, been very healthy since doing this, along with a few other health-related lifestyle changes like better diet and regular exercise.
PS- Wim Hof is able to do his crazy ice shit because of his genes... his brother can do the same thing and his brother doesn't practice any of it like Wim does.
Thanks.A few summers ago, I combined a wine barrel with a an on demand water heater for a poor mans hot tub. It quickly became a cold dip barrel, although i still luxuriate in a hot steamy one now and then. Winters are best for icy cold except when you have to crack the ice. Still learning to handle the cold.i rarely if ever stay longer than a minute.
Cold baths are definitely better than warm ones. Notice cold climates have few diseases compared to warm and wet climates. They called "tropical" diseases for a reason - they are found in the tropics! Ask anyone who has ventured into any tropical area or jungle.
A friend says "Whenever as a pre-teenager i woke during the night with a wheezy chest i'd go outside and sit in the cold night air without any upper body clothing. By breakfast time the wheeze had gone. Now in my 70s i find it harder to breathe during the colder months. So no iced baths or cold showers for me."
Cecilia, I hadn't heard from you for a while and wonderec if my name got deleted or something. So I was glad to get this post. I had a cold water shower a few years ago, and while it was invigorating, it was very uncomfortable so I have not repeated it. After readind your post and researching Wim Hof, the ice man I've decided to try it again. All the best to you.
I've been cold showering for a year now and will never look back. No matter what I have to face in the day, it steels me for it. Far more invigorating/life-affirming than coffee (and I love coffee).
Same here with the shower vs bath. I find immediate relief for mood- elevation. Immediate energy.
I've been cold-showering for years now (usually just a quick finish to a hot shower). I don't think I would feel right without doing it... however, I live in Brisbane, Australia, where the climate is sub-tropical, so even in winter, a cold shower is not that extreme. I did try winter ocean bathing a few years ago, when I lived at the southern Gold Coast (still sub-tropical Queensland, but southern-most part). Got up pre-dawn in June (coldest part of winter here) - it was amazingly invigorating!
Unfortunately, after a few weeks it warmed up to the point where even in the ocean pre-dawn, it was only a mild shock to the system.
I did also try the face immersion in ice water (recommended as a way to get started with this process) but found it very unpleasant.
Now - with winter coming on down here in the Southern Hemisphere - I need to find a place where I can get back into doing this. (The ocean has a few other big advantages for health and mental health - lots of negative ions, and salt ions, and the overall energy is amazing!)
I've been doing the showers for years too. Took some building up to for myself, but now find them a necessity. I also find a better effect on my hair- it is so fine and is less flat after the cold shower....and I notice less water use as another benefit. I'd be in a hot shower longer than a cold one....I don't indulge in those hot ones now- but yes to the cold ones! Lucky you with the ocean. Made me nostalgic about Australia. Coming up on 30 years in November- my husband and I were wed there- on a cliff over the S, Pacific in Manly New South Wales....Shelly Beach. At that time we said we wanted to maybe get back there in 10 years......didn't happen. Now I think it never will. Thank goodness for those memories though. Thank you for triggering them...although likely unknowingly on your part. :)
Unfortunately, I think that travel is becoming less and less likely for all of us - it has always taken effort, and these days there are more and more barriers and difficulties, between pandemics, wars and the general willingness to ramp up restrictions at the drop of a hat!
Manly is an impressive place, so close to a big city - but we have miles and miles of other beautiful beaches and coastline, some of the best in the world (though the California coastline is amazing too - and as with you, a place I am unlikely to visit again.)
I hear you. Thank goodness for the treasured memories.
Celia, I don't know if you remember me from Curio magazine a long time ago but I'd love to interview you on my podcast, Post-Woke: https://mickeyz.substack.com
Mickey, of course I remember you! My answer is YES. After June 7 would be do-able on my end. Looking forward to it!
🙂 Thank you, Celia! I'll check in with you after June 7. What's the best way to reach you?
Stumbled across Vim Hof online about 6 or 8 years ago. As a practitioner of sweat lodges and cold plunges for the past 40+ years, I'm glad to see someone touting their virtues to the masses. To maximize thermal benefits, gotta work on the diet as well. https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/will-the-next-plandemic-be-food-born?s=w
I grew up in northern Ontario on Georgian Bay... and when I was a teenager, our little cottage didn't have a shower. No shower, no tub, only the cold lake. Only to say that when I finally heard of Wim Hof, I could not stop laughing. I'd always loved the cold but had no idea there were so many benefits. Now I start my day with the breathing and cold showers (I don't have a tub at the moment). If you haven't tried it yet... just do it! Celia thanks so much for sharing your healing journey. It's so encouraging. :-)
Celia, after managing to slowly slowly get in ice cold Lake Geneva (12C) and swimming for 15mn, I came out and shivered for half an hour. That was 4 days ago. Since then the overwhelming pervasive draining permanent sensation I wanted to be dead has disappeared It is truly amazing.
I'm with you 100 percent, ice baths are a profoundly healing systemic reset, deletes pain of all kinds faster than any drug and the only side effect is that you feel great.
Wim is a great guy, but crazier than a bag of cats.
A great book to read about WimHof is "what doesn't kill us" by Scott Carney.
I discovered Wims method when we started doing the Tough Guy race (idea then stolen by Tough Mudder) and one of the obstacles was the cold and hypothermia, meaning that hundreds wouldn't finish at all.
To prepare we began swimming in rivers lakes and the sea, all year round.
The coldest so far was 2 C.
The cold dip is a real mood lifter, though I do now get chilblains every March for my troubles.
I enjoyed the healing and relaxing experience of Korean spas for years however the cold water plunge was the one treatment I only could dip in for mere seconds. Thank you for this. I love Wim’s breath work. I’ll dip into an ice bath this evening! 🥶
Me ruined at the Better Way Comderence this past weekend. The healing remedy of ice baths. Many people swim each day in the sea here in Exmouth, they seem
pretty darn content💕💕
Small world. We were in there on Saturday and Sunday.
If you decide to do it, start in the summer and just keep going a few times a week throughout.
The end of the lifeboat ramp at Maer rocks is ideal at high tide and is currently a comfortable 14 degrees.
been cold showering daily for 3 years. outdoors for 1. I'm in California so wintertime is tolerable. never got covid, been very healthy since doing this, along with a few other health-related lifestyle changes like better diet and regular exercise.
the real benefit is not the ice bath but the pain and discomfort activates a reward system afterwards for dopamine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1ZbJIW1f8
PS- Wim Hof is able to do his crazy ice shit because of his genes... his brother can do the same thing and his brother doesn't practice any of it like Wim does.
Thanks.A few summers ago, I combined a wine barrel with a an on demand water heater for a poor mans hot tub. It quickly became a cold dip barrel, although i still luxuriate in a hot steamy one now and then. Winters are best for icy cold except when you have to crack the ice. Still learning to handle the cold.i rarely if ever stay longer than a minute.
Cold baths are definitely better than warm ones. Notice cold climates have few diseases compared to warm and wet climates. They called "tropical" diseases for a reason - they are found in the tropics! Ask anyone who has ventured into any tropical area or jungle.
I am going to try this. Seems to help a lot of people.
A friend says "Whenever as a pre-teenager i woke during the night with a wheezy chest i'd go outside and sit in the cold night air without any upper body clothing. By breakfast time the wheeze had gone. Now in my 70s i find it harder to breathe during the colder months. So no iced baths or cold showers for me."
Cecilia, I hadn't heard from you for a while and wonderec if my name got deleted or something. So I was glad to get this post. I had a cold water shower a few years ago, and while it was invigorating, it was very uncomfortable so I have not repeated it. After readind your post and researching Wim Hof, the ice man I've decided to try it again. All the best to you.