Wanna join me for a cold shower?

I’ve been taking cold showers for about 15 years now.

I can’t remember where exactly I first read about the benefits, but I do remember thinking that I would absolutely die the first time I tried it.

Photo by Vecislavas Popa on Pexels.com

I’ve never used a guide or any scientific methodology for my shower routine but I trusted the way it made me FEEL and I went a little longer than 10 seconds every day.

Then, for a few weeks now, I’ve been wanting to learn something new to add to my meditation practice.  I honestly felt drawn to include something physical.  Yoga?  Some martial arts?  That’s how I came across The Wim Hof Method.  It turns out Wim is the boss of all things cold water and exactly the answer to my prayer.

“When you go into cold water, you learn to breathe deeply—automatically and naturally. Your blood vessels constrict, giving your vascular system a complete workout. This is the flow of life force itself, and you can learn to regulate it. ” ~ Wim Hof

Aha!  I signed up for a course with him right away.  Over the next couple of weeks, I know I’m going to want to cry as I’m asked to go colder and deeper.  I mean, this is the dude who climbed Kilimanjaro in shorts & swims under icebergs!

That said, I’m excited to learn about: 

• the potential of the breath to alkalise the blood
• how to boost our oxygen intake
• using cold water to release chemicals in the brain to benefit the body

So, now that you’ve got the lowdown, are you keen to join me for that cold shower sometime?  If not, are you going to listen to that little voice of your own, giving you direction about your own journey of self-care, self-mastery and learning?

I think you will…

Lee 

For more info about The Wim Hof Method

http://www.wimhofmethod.com

Have you ever?

 

Have you ever listened to the rain falling?

Did the gentleness of drops tumbling get you poetic or did the sheer power of the storm remind you of your owns storms?

 

Have you ever felt like you’ve been kicked in the gut?

How did the breaking of your heart sound? Did it grind, wring and burn corners of your chest that you had long forgotten?

 

Have you ever received a gift?

A blessing out of the blue for which no amount of gratitude would be appropriate?

 

Have you ever been betrayed?

Did you stand in the doorway of broken trust and bleed as the shattered pieces of glass cut you as they fell?

 

Have you ever danced? Really danced?

Did the primal impulse to sway create waves of sexual energy that made you high?

 

Have you ever been needed?

Did you beam and melt, motivated and elated or did the knowledge turn on your need for control and power even more?

 

Have you ever traveled alone?

Did you have a partner with you who was not there in spirit? Did the vibrations of civilisations past call out your name and send you home changed  but on fire?

 

Have you ever blessed someone with prayer?

Did your heart send vibrations across tall walls and rough seas; intercessions seasoned with grand visualisations of success, prosperity, abundance to people who you dreamed great dreams for?

 

Have you ever watched a loved one hurt?

Did you feel hammers banging inside your chest and did the shivvering knees make you nauseas with helplessness?

 

Have you ever been touched?

Whether by the 80 year old hand of a stranger, rough with callouses but warm with unspoken stories about abuse, slavery, loved ones that have never returned? Or, was it simply a simple line from a simple song that charged your soul’s batteries and flooded your veins with warmth?

 

Have you ever been lost?

Were you lost in the forest of someone else’s shadow or perhaps lost in the company of familiar people dancing to a beat you could no longer hear?

 

Have you ever been silent?

Did the inner noise, tainted with memories and paranoia, make you doubt whether to trust the whispers emanating from your pulse asking you to be still and trust yourself.

 

Have you ever had a brush with God?

Did it happen when you were at the top of a beautiful mountain or did it happen when you came face to face with a hijacker?

 

Have you ever been an addict?

Did your drug of choice soothe you, own you, control you and lift you all at once? Did your alliance seem ubreakable?

 

Have you ever received a compliment?

A genuine string of words about who you are, not what you can give? Did it remind you of the value you create, the impact you have, the light that only you bring?

 

Have you ever looked your soul in the mirror?

Did your reflection smile lovingly, nod tenderly and embrace you with comforting words of encouragement?

 

Have you ever been seduced?

Did it help you to escape your bad reality only later to return you changed and unsure of the way forward?

 

Have you ever connected with another heart?

Did it feel predestined to happen? Did you go there?

 

Have you ever wanted a glimpse of your future?

Did you follow that need to seek guidance from soothsayers, Tarot cards, horoscopes perhaps? Anything that promised the slightest secret fast forward to a life more grand?

 

 

 

I bet you have! And, guess what? So have many spirits before you, many souls yet to come. These shared experiences give us the assurance that we are part of the same journey and that the “answers” we seek already exist. 

 

These experiences should also remind you that YOUR unique set of experiences, YOUR unique choices, YOUR bespoke combo of emotions is what makes YOUR story a story that deserves its own page in the great book of life.

 

May you learn to appreciate that. There is no story without YOU.

 

Believe it!

 

© A Heart Full of Stories, 2016.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Lee-Ann Mayimele and www.aheartfullofstories.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.