Do you ever have those strange thoughts of greatness spring to mind when going about your day? Wondering what it would be to live like a true champion? When I began drenching my body every morning and evening in freezing cold water, I got a glimpse of this lifestyle. Let me take you back to how I got to this point.
Curiosity¿
We all do crazy, often stupid things for no reason whatsoever. This was another one of those ideas. What sparked this deep curiosity was acknowledging our bodies incredible ability to adapt to different scenarios.
When we exercise, our bodies adapt to the imposed demand. Whether it is long distance running or pumping some iron… our bodies do our best to adapt.
How does the body adapt to freezing cold water?
The body adapts with increasing the amount of Brown Adipose Tissue (BAP). As the weeks passed, the BAP in my body most definitely increased because the cold showers no longer became a miserable task. In fact, it was rather pleasurable.
The build up.
For a week prior to this experiment, I underwent cold showers every evening before bed to acclimatise myself. The night before the first day of double dosing, I tucked myself into bed and burst out in laughter. Why? Because as soon as the alarm hits, the cold shower returns!
First morning of double dosage.
Getting out of bed and strolling into the bathroom. I let out a smile in the mirror, took off my pajama's and entered the shower.
“Why am I doing this?”
Why do we do anything outside our comfort zone? It’s that innate curiosity of untapped growth, right? As the knob turned to the coldest setting and the water came pelting out, any thoughts in my mind dissolved.
Tell me, do you strangely see the beauty of having no thoughts, even for just a minute? From my experience, the cold shower is the easiest, quickest way to access this freedom of the mind.
30 day mark.
As mentioned earlier, with the increase of BAP, the cold no longer felt ‘cold’.
n the evening after a full day of eating & heating, it was a lovely way to finish the day. The morning dose verged on being tolerable but who in their right mind would enjoy waltzing out of bed into a freezing cold shower (sorry Mr. Hof).
Post experiment realisations.
When we do crazy things, we are presented with crazy realizations.
The crazy realization this provided was the following:
The only moment we ever truly have is the present.
The present moment was heightened so intensely during these cold showers and looking back, it was this deep sense of presence I had been crying out for.
My hypothesis is: one minute of cold showers is the equivelant to a fifteen minute generic meditation. In terms of the release of stress held in our bodies. Feel free to challenge this and share your thoughts.
Reason for stopping.
After doing cold showers twice a day, for sixty days. The circulation in my hands and toes became abysmal. It doesn’t help living in a cold climate like the UK with cold weather being a daily occurrence.
Who knows. Maybe when living on an island in Fiji, we will reintroduce the cold showers.
Takeaway.
Seeking out activities that heighten the present moment in our lives is the most powerful thing we can all do. This deep sense of presence is of upmost importance to the quality of the lives we live.
The best part? You don’t need cold showers to achieve this deep presence. Going on a run, lifting some heavy weights or climbing a wall (if that’s your vibe). All of these activities and more, can give us this deep sense of presence and consequently, give us life.
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