What Does Ice Therapy Mean to Me?
Dec 7, 2023
From ice baths to cold open water, cold therapy is rapidly gaining popularity, with many thousands practising cold treatment for various reasons.
At its core, it is personal and most definitely a journey.
Plunging into cold water is:
Meditative: cold therapy draws our mind to the present moment, or the "now," and away from the distractions and stresses of life. It also allows time for conscious, deep and reflective thought.
Spiritual: the duality and connectedness of oneself becomes immediately apparent when you take on an ice bath. With it comes the space and time to reconnect with who you really are.
An Initiation: you can liken cold therapy to the original fear - or the moment we emerge into the sensory bath that is the reality we find ourselves within. It is synonymous with the first gasp of breath we take as newborns as we are delivered into this unknown world.
A Ritual: cold baths are something to practise often and have a process that can be repeated and explored deeper each time.
A Ceremony: like a rebirth ought to be, the connection with your inner self stripped of the emotional baggage and irrelevant distractions we carry is significant and ceremonial.
Cold therapy is something I do as often as possible.
Some days, I manage an ice bath once.
Some days, I manage to do it multiple times.
Some days, I don't manage at all! (An opportunity to reflect on why I couldn't can also be a meditative experience).
Cold therapy is an opportunity to show up for myself and the world.
Ice Therapy is Not an Ego-Fuelled Competition for Coldness
Social media can be an excellent platform for promoting the benefits of ice therapy and showcasing what you do.
Social media can also be a shallow, competitive, flattened representation of the world around us and is often blatantly false.
Cold therapy has too often been used as attention-grabbing clickbait content in which half-dressed, muscled-up wannabe celebs show off how cold they can go.
The entire premise of cold therapy, according to this competitive bunch, is to see how much attention they can grab by wearing little and boasting the lowest temperature.
At the centre of all this is the content creators' egos.
Ice therapy is not about how cold you can cope with or boasting for clickbait about pushing your bodies into extreme conditions.
It is the opposite: a moment without ego.
Ice Therapy Means Existing with Survival
To overcome and survive.
Ice therapy is a powerful situation of overcoming a fear long driven into your mental programming.
The cold water represents a daily test of myself.
Mentally, it is to survive a previously feared situation and to exist within that moment, absorbed by that feeling of self-empowerment.
Internally, you have:
Reconnected with the present moment
Proven your self-motivation
Demonstrated mental strength and power
Ice therapy, for me, means spiritually existing with my own survival.
Ice Baths Mean Coming Face-to-Face with Your Courage
Because ice baths and cold therapy represent a daily test, they also help us to draw our attention inward and come face-to-face with our inner courage and strength.
On the days I don't manage to plunge into the cold water, I have the meditative space to think internally about why I didn't.
I can meditate on what blocked me from doing this, what I need to overcome and what is stopping me.
While some get addicted to the endorphins and try to do it despite being unwell, we should listen to our bodies and not an addiction.
It is not about the addiction; it is about being the unmasked me.
Just me and the cold.
There's No Hiding or Holding Back
Your true innate self comes to the forefront in the present moment when you bathe in icy cold water.
All your frailties come to the surface.
You cannot hide or hold back from the nanosecond you get into the cold water.
It is a ceremonial experience of self-love, self-care and self-respect.
Just like meditation, the only place you can exist is in the now with who you truly are.
250% More Endorphins
Rid the programming, be at peace and feel a fantastic boost.
Ice therapy can raise endorphin levels by 250%.
Overcoming death is hugely powerful.
There's nothing quite like it.
From ice baths to cold open water, cold therapy is rapidly gaining popularity, with many thousands practising cold treatment for various reasons.
At its core, it is personal and most definitely a journey.
Plunging into cold water is:
Meditative: cold therapy draws our mind to the present moment, or the "now," and away from the distractions and stresses of life. It also allows time for conscious, deep and reflective thought.
Spiritual: the duality and connectedness of oneself becomes immediately apparent when you take on an ice bath. With it comes the space and time to reconnect with who you really are.
An Initiation: you can liken cold therapy to the original fear - or the moment we emerge into the sensory bath that is the reality we find ourselves within. It is synonymous with the first gasp of breath we take as newborns as we are delivered into this unknown world.
A Ritual: cold baths are something to practise often and have a process that can be repeated and explored deeper each time.
A Ceremony: like a rebirth ought to be, the connection with your inner self stripped of the emotional baggage and irrelevant distractions we carry is significant and ceremonial.
Cold therapy is something I do as often as possible.
Some days, I manage an ice bath once.
Some days, I manage to do it multiple times.
Some days, I don't manage at all! (An opportunity to reflect on why I couldn't can also be a meditative experience).
Cold therapy is an opportunity to show up for myself and the world.
Ice Therapy is Not an Ego-Fuelled Competition for Coldness
Social media can be an excellent platform for promoting the benefits of ice therapy and showcasing what you do.
Social media can also be a shallow, competitive, flattened representation of the world around us and is often blatantly false.
Cold therapy has too often been used as attention-grabbing clickbait content in which half-dressed, muscled-up wannabe celebs show off how cold they can go.
The entire premise of cold therapy, according to this competitive bunch, is to see how much attention they can grab by wearing little and boasting the lowest temperature.
At the centre of all this is the content creators' egos.
Ice therapy is not about how cold you can cope with or boasting for clickbait about pushing your bodies into extreme conditions.
It is the opposite: a moment without ego.
Ice Therapy Means Existing with Survival
To overcome and survive.
Ice therapy is a powerful situation of overcoming a fear long driven into your mental programming.
The cold water represents a daily test of myself.
Mentally, it is to survive a previously feared situation and to exist within that moment, absorbed by that feeling of self-empowerment.
Internally, you have:
Reconnected with the present moment
Proven your self-motivation
Demonstrated mental strength and power
Ice therapy, for me, means spiritually existing with my own survival.
Ice Baths Mean Coming Face-to-Face with Your Courage
Because ice baths and cold therapy represent a daily test, they also help us to draw our attention inward and come face-to-face with our inner courage and strength.
On the days I don't manage to plunge into the cold water, I have the meditative space to think internally about why I didn't.
I can meditate on what blocked me from doing this, what I need to overcome and what is stopping me.
While some get addicted to the endorphins and try to do it despite being unwell, we should listen to our bodies and not an addiction.
It is not about the addiction; it is about being the unmasked me.
Just me and the cold.
There's No Hiding or Holding Back
Your true innate self comes to the forefront in the present moment when you bathe in icy cold water.
All your frailties come to the surface.
You cannot hide or hold back from the nanosecond you get into the cold water.
It is a ceremonial experience of self-love, self-care and self-respect.
Just like meditation, the only place you can exist is in the now with who you truly are.
250% More Endorphins
Rid the programming, be at peace and feel a fantastic boost.
Ice therapy can raise endorphin levels by 250%.
Overcoming death is hugely powerful.
There's nothing quite like it.
From ice baths to cold open water, cold therapy is rapidly gaining popularity, with many thousands practising cold treatment for various reasons.
At its core, it is personal and most definitely a journey.
Plunging into cold water is:
Meditative: cold therapy draws our mind to the present moment, or the "now," and away from the distractions and stresses of life. It also allows time for conscious, deep and reflective thought.
Spiritual: the duality and connectedness of oneself becomes immediately apparent when you take on an ice bath. With it comes the space and time to reconnect with who you really are.
An Initiation: you can liken cold therapy to the original fear - or the moment we emerge into the sensory bath that is the reality we find ourselves within. It is synonymous with the first gasp of breath we take as newborns as we are delivered into this unknown world.
A Ritual: cold baths are something to practise often and have a process that can be repeated and explored deeper each time.
A Ceremony: like a rebirth ought to be, the connection with your inner self stripped of the emotional baggage and irrelevant distractions we carry is significant and ceremonial.
Cold therapy is something I do as often as possible.
Some days, I manage an ice bath once.
Some days, I manage to do it multiple times.
Some days, I don't manage at all! (An opportunity to reflect on why I couldn't can also be a meditative experience).
Cold therapy is an opportunity to show up for myself and the world.
Ice Therapy is Not an Ego-Fuelled Competition for Coldness
Social media can be an excellent platform for promoting the benefits of ice therapy and showcasing what you do.
Social media can also be a shallow, competitive, flattened representation of the world around us and is often blatantly false.
Cold therapy has too often been used as attention-grabbing clickbait content in which half-dressed, muscled-up wannabe celebs show off how cold they can go.
The entire premise of cold therapy, according to this competitive bunch, is to see how much attention they can grab by wearing little and boasting the lowest temperature.
At the centre of all this is the content creators' egos.
Ice therapy is not about how cold you can cope with or boasting for clickbait about pushing your bodies into extreme conditions.
It is the opposite: a moment without ego.
Ice Therapy Means Existing with Survival
To overcome and survive.
Ice therapy is a powerful situation of overcoming a fear long driven into your mental programming.
The cold water represents a daily test of myself.
Mentally, it is to survive a previously feared situation and to exist within that moment, absorbed by that feeling of self-empowerment.
Internally, you have:
Reconnected with the present moment
Proven your self-motivation
Demonstrated mental strength and power
Ice therapy, for me, means spiritually existing with my own survival.
Ice Baths Mean Coming Face-to-Face with Your Courage
Because ice baths and cold therapy represent a daily test, they also help us to draw our attention inward and come face-to-face with our inner courage and strength.
On the days I don't manage to plunge into the cold water, I have the meditative space to think internally about why I didn't.
I can meditate on what blocked me from doing this, what I need to overcome and what is stopping me.
While some get addicted to the endorphins and try to do it despite being unwell, we should listen to our bodies and not an addiction.
It is not about the addiction; it is about being the unmasked me.
Just me and the cold.
There's No Hiding or Holding Back
Your true innate self comes to the forefront in the present moment when you bathe in icy cold water.
All your frailties come to the surface.
You cannot hide or hold back from the nanosecond you get into the cold water.
It is a ceremonial experience of self-love, self-care and self-respect.
Just like meditation, the only place you can exist is in the now with who you truly are.
250% More Endorphins
Rid the programming, be at peace and feel a fantastic boost.
Ice therapy can raise endorphin levels by 250%.
Overcoming death is hugely powerful.
There's nothing quite like it.