Cold Therapy as an Opportunity for Mindful Personal Growth
My first indoor cold plunge today. So grateful to have been guided, led, held in this experience at The Plunge Houz.
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If you know me in real life (or even on social media), you know I love the warm and hot weather. I’d rather be in it all the time. Caribbean, South of France, Central America, the Carolinas… And I like activities that are usually done in warm climates: beach yoga, paddleboarding, surfing, shell hunting. Growing up in Buffalo, I really disliked not only the cold weather but the dampness and the lack of sun in the winter. Even in Connecticut now, a sunny day (almost no matter what the temperature) puts me in a good mood whereas a cloudy day has the opposite effect.
As I have grown through a journey to better health – physical and mental – over the years, my resistance to coping well with the winter months had become one area I just hadn’t managed to work through. I don’t really believe in forcing a positive mindset, opting instead for awareness of what I am really going through. My yoga practice and other areas of personal growth have shown me that this is a more authentic way to live. No one is perfect! No one loves everything all the time. It’s stressful to try to make yourself live that way, and even worse to think you should portray that when it’s not you.
That said, I have also learned to challenge myself to do the best I can with circumstances that aren’t my favorite. These are areas for real exploration and growth.
Enter: cold weather and winter.
When I returned from a yoga retreat (working, not really retreating!) and some days surfing (no work) in Panama in April 2023, and after yet another bout of Covid, I decided that for my birthday (early May), I’d go up to Rhode Island and get back up on those waves. That water was COLD. I knew it would be cold. But if I waited until it was warm, it’d be out of the groove I had just gotten into. I wanted to make progress surfing and so that meant I’d have to take on some conditions that weren’t my favorite. I listened to Wim Hof’s “Becoming the Ice Man” on the 2-hour drive up, trying to mentally prepare myself. I had a great time that day, and the wetsuit kept me warm, though my face and head certainly felt the cold! I realized it wasn’t that bad and I could do this.
My post-surf glow comes through even when it’s cold. May 11, 2023, Narragansett, Rhode Island. 1 week after my 47th birthday. Guided through cold water conditions by surf guides at Narragansett Surf & Skate.
As someone with an autoimmune condition, I have experienced inflammation problems fairly often. Some things definitely trigger this: too many simple carbs, sugar, dairy, stress, poor sleep, not enough sleep, viruses, etc. Sometimes it just seems to kick up out of nowhere. This contributes to muscle and joint pain, lack of ability to exercise, stiffness, migraines, more poor sleep, more poor nutrition decisions, brain fog, and overall fatigue and lack of energy. As a mom of 2 little kids, woman who runs 2 businesses, and someone who has learned to love being active, this is a recipe for disaster. Reducing the inflammation, I now understanding, is the absolute key to living well, for me.
I hate winter. Let’s explore cold therapy!
I’d heard about Cryo therapy – where you go into the cold tank – as a possible modality for reducing inflammation. As with all alternative therapies, there are people who swear by them and others who swear they’re terrible for you. And you can find research to support whatever argument you want to go with. I spent years, personally, trying Western and Eastern medical modalities – and some stuff that doesn’t fall easily into either category - in an effort to correct very poor health and live as well as I can. I figured I would try Cryo therapy as a possible non-medicine way of reducing my inflammation after having had Covid. The staff at the place where I started doing Cryo talked me me through it, and stayed with me the whole time. Gradually I started to crave it. I could tell that I was less inflamed – my headaches were fewer and far between, my hands were not puffy and stiff, and I wasn’t achy walking down the stairs in the morning anymore. I also felt a positive boost afterward.
First time in the Cryo tank. April 2023. Restore Hyper Wellness, Westport CT.
Taking that Cryo feeling, and remembering surfing in cold water, this past fall I started cold plunging in Long Island Sound. I love to be at the beach, I like to be outdoors, I wanted to find a group of people who like challenging themselves and growing as individuals, and sure enough… I love it. And so does my mental health. And my no-longer-very-inflamed-joints. I have been doing it regularly since.
Cryo and cold plunge have certainly reduced my pain, and given me a mental fortitude around cold conditions that I did not have before. This flip of the script has not made me like winter. Make no mistake. But, I now spend more time outdoors in the winter than I ever have before. Especially if it’s sunny, but even if it’s not.
Every time we step outside our comfort zone and do something that a previous version of ourselves would never have even thought possible, we experience massive growth in a multitude of ways. Those challenges and that growth is what this second half of my life is all about.
Plunge with friends, Long Island Sound, Fairfield CT. January 2024. Water temp 44 F.
Isn’t it scary and unsafe to try these extreme techniques?
It can be, but isn’t necessarily so. Over the years, thanks to my yoga practice and having very good mentors for the activities I have taken on, I have learned to embrace these challenges and reap the benefits.
The biggest keys for me:
1. bring a strong awareness of yourself first and foremost,
2. know why you are doing it, and
3. find someone knowledgeable, who you trust, to guide you through it,
Surfing in Panama, April 2023. Notice 2 instructors helping 2 students (I’m one of the students!) Find knowledgeable people you trust to help you with a new challenge. Beach Break Surf Camp, Playa Venao, Panama.
This applies to anything new I try, really. Many people may try things and jump right in, ego first. Like to prove something to themselves, or most often, to someone else. This is how it can all go wrong, and quickly. It’s how people get hurt in their first yoga class, or have a panic attack out surfing and almost drown. It’s how they have a negative experience and vow to never do something again. And it doesn’t have to be that way.
1. Learn to cultivate your awareness of your own body, breath, emotions, etc. Developing a strong yoga practice with breathwork and meditation is how I have done this for myself.
2. With that awareness, consider why you want to try something. What are you looking to get out of it? (hint: an awesome social media post or bragging rights is not the answer)
3. Who can best guide you in your first attempts? And yes, you may have to pay them for their time and expertise. It’s worth it to grow in a way that is safe for you.
I am grateful to have had amazing yoga teachers who I can work with – when I want to learn something new, I’ll do a private class with them. The first time I did this was with Ingrid at UWS Yoga in NYC. I was afraid to be upside down (control freak!) so she did a private inversion workshop with me where I didn’t have to be self-conscious about my mental hang-ups or physical capabilities.
I had someone guide me the first time I did a plunge in Long Island Sound in November 2023. And good thing – I would not have been able to breathe and I didn’t expect that to happen. If you’re local, check out the Ebb & Flow collective, and/or hit me up, I can now guide you through this as well.
Last summer I got a new racing paddleboard. At 21” wide and 14’ long, this is not the board for everyone! I am small and have really good balance. I also got a new state-of-the-art paddle. And booked a lesson so I could really learn the best techniques to optimize my use of this equipment. I’ve been paddleboarding since 2014, but not with this kind of gear, and not with racing goals. I worked with Jonathan from Vermont Ski & Sport.
I go out on a lesson with a surf instructor if I am in a new place, haven’t done it in awhile, the conditions are different than I am used to, and/or if I want to work on something new. In Rhode Island, I go with instructors from Narragansett Surf & Skate. In Panama, Beach Break Surf Camp. There have been many others too.
Even though I am now experienced in cold plunging, just today I did it indoors in a tub for the first time, and was really happy to have been led through that experience, as it was different from walking into the Sound. And I was a little hesitant about it. I may have put it off or avoided it which would have been a shame as it was a great experience, and I now get to spend the day with much less pain. I had this great experience with Deb at The Plunge Houz here in Fairfield, CT.
New gear, new goals. SUP racing clinic with Jonathan from Vermont Ski and Sport.
Conclusion…
As you can see by now, I have challenged my own narrative in so many ways. It doesn’t always mean I have a change of heart, but it does mean that I learn about myself and continue to work on growing. Even if I didn’t end up liking cold therapy, I would have been able to be really proud of myself for just trying it rather than refusing to try because of my belief that I wouldn’t like it. Honestly, the physical and mental benefits that it has given me outweigh any of that other stuff. Physically I feel more energized and less pain. Mentally, it's good to keep my promises to myself and not punk out because “I don’t feel like it”. And so even on a day when I don’t feel like doing it, if I had planned to and there’s not a real reason not to, I will go. I do love having the option, now, to do it indoors in clean water and no sand. Sometimes I just don’t have time for all that entails, as much as I’d rather be outside. Doing it outside, there is a community, and while I can tend to be kind of an introvert, it’s good for me to make commitments to be in community with others as well. So when there’s a scheduled plunge, I go (again unless there’s a really valid reason not to).
To sum up, it’s good for our personal growth to recognize what are some assumptions we hold that make us unhappy, and to challenge ourselves to address them. It’s important to become self-aware, to know why we are doing things, to do them for the right reasons, and to find good people to support us. None of us is here to do this thing called life alone or to settle for mediocre. We are either progressing or falling behind. We can only tread water for so long – it’s exhausting and doesn’t get us anywhere. What will you do to grow in 2024, and how can I help you?
Xoxoxo Betsy
