❄️ I GOT IN THE ICE BATH ❄️

Last Sunday, I went to my friend N.ICE Collective’s workshop which was all about wim hof breathing and cold exposure.

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I had massive resistance to go. 

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Growing up in Turkey, I’m used to going in warm water when it’s hot weather. Cold exposure is just not a thing there 😂 I had an assumption that if I go in the cold and I’m not wrapped up in warm clothes, I’ll get ill.

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I let all that go and went as I was curious about this and been meaning to learn wim hof breathing properly for ages.

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We did the breathing first which is 30 deep circular mouth breath, then exhale and hold until you have the urge to breathe again then another in breath, hold for 10-15 seconds. That’s one round, we did few of those.

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At some point we did as many pushups as we could. I did 9 (knees on, not quite there yet 😄), then we did this breathing and while holding our breath, we did as many pushups as we could. I was blown away by doing 29 effortlessly, I couldn’t believe wtf just happened.

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So then of course I was a bit pumped, “Omg, if my body can do that, of course it can do the ice bath.”

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HERE’S HOW THE ICE BATH WORKS IN THE BODY 👇🏼

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You have your symphatetic nervous system which is your stress response, fight or flight. Then your parasymphatetic nervous system which is about rest and digest. 

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When you’re in the ice bath, you obviously go into a stress response. What you do to balance it out, you activate your parasymphatetic nervous system by breathing in for 4 and breathing out for 8. This calms you down. In a way they cancel each other out and you come to balance. That’s why you see super chilled people hanging out in the cold 😄

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It’s perfectly safe and actually a good thing for your body. So good for your immune system, reset for your endocrine system, raises ph levels, releases nitric oxide that increases blood flow in your body, etc all that which I didn’t know about.

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HERE’S HOW IT WENT 👇🏼

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There are three stages to cold exposure:

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1️⃣ Preparation

2️⃣ Cold exposure

3️⃣ Recovery

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1️⃣ In preparation, we held the horse stand, feet wide squat which is uncomfortable really. Then we did the breathing in for 4, out for 8 which calms you down. As you focus on the breath you’re not focused on how tired you are, you just keep going. 

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This is to prepare yourself to the fact that your body will feel uncomfortable in the cold but you will focus on the breathing and it will be great.

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2️⃣ Then we got out for the ice bath. As every group went in, we stood around and sent them love. 

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Our group was second. The moment I realised we were going in, I got scared. I had split seconds to back off. I remembered a time when I jumped off a high cliff. Thinking didn’t get me there, jumping did. Doing it together in a group helped as well.

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We took our clothes off and four of us went in at the same time. We sat down immediately.

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So this was the moment, my body realised, “Oh shit, I’m in ice bath!” It actually doesn’t hit you few seconds in. When it hits you, it hits you 😄

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I started shivering and shaking a lot.

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I could see two parts of me. One was on the verge of freaking out like, “Omg I’m gonna die!” The other part was, “This is ok, you’re totally doing this, look it’s all good.” 

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And it was. I closed my eyes and just focused on breathing in and out. The facilitators were incredible in supporting and keeping everyone calm. 

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This is also a great exercise to surrender and let go. Our bodies are so intelligent anyway, they know what to do. Its about calming down the mind and letting the body do its thing.

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Its not like a firewalk where you trick your mind to something. You’re super aware that its an ice bath and its cold. What happens though is, as you’re exposed to cold, your blood vessels narrow and blood flows into your core to protect your organs. 

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So internally, you actually feel warm! 

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Your body creates shock as a reaction for you to get out. When it sees that - ok this person is not listening, it goes into warming the body from the inside and releasing oxytocin hormones. I was blown away by this.

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Towards the end, we all smiled which actually helped a lot 😄 I instantly felt, “Oh this is actually fun.”

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3️⃣ Then we got out and stood in horse stand again. We moved our hands arms to heat the body up gradually rather than going to sauna or speeded heating which is actually not good for you. It makes the body thinks its warm when its actually not and stops increasing the blood flow to the skin.

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It feels amazing afterwards, I felt so alive and wide awake 😍

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I was surprised by how quickly we all did it and how everyone stayed for 2 FULL MINUTES. 

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The workshop was held so beautifully and professionally. The fact that no one lost their shit shows the great spaceholding and facilitating skills.

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Thank you @martinpetruslondon @nicecollective @breathingproject & Heather for organising and holding such a great workshop. I’d definitely do it again and I recommend it to everyone to do it at least once 😍 Check out their future events 🙌🏼

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WHAT I LEARNT👇🏼

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Your body is so powerful and incredible. You just have to surrender to and trust your body. I also learnt how to keep your calm when shit hits the fan.

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It also showed me to challenge my body once in a while, just like how you challenge yourself. 

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Growth doesn’t happen in the comfortable. When you challenge yourself, the part of is able to handle that challenge steps in and you grow a little bit more. 

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And I didn’t get a cold 🤗

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So I challenge you to do something you’ve been meaning to do but scared. Not for the sake of it to prove yourself you can do it, but do it if its true 🙏🏼

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Create your website, open your heart, speak your truth, ask for what you want, do that pitch, give that talk or go in the ice bath 😉

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That’s where you’ll discover a part of you that you might not have seen and appreciated before 🔥

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Love you 💛

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📷 @simonrphoto