Do you feel yourself beginning to turn into that hibernating bear, hiding from the cold seasons?
Are you sad to see that summer is gone?
Have you felt yourself cringe at the thought of cold weather coming around again?
Do you ever wonder if there are ways to enjoy the fall and winter seasons, other than pumpkin pie?
Is it possible to embrace the cold?
“Ugh, here comes the body pains again from the cold, yuck!”
I feel you on this seasonal transition. I grew up in Nebraska, and their fall and winters are tough! The wind cuts right through you, and it literally takes your breath away. In fact, it has become an ongoing joke that Nebraskans still keep going about their business on days when it is literally negative 30!
I used to dread the cold, I grew up with this stigma of “the cold sucks!” But now, I have found my tools to embrace it, and appreciate its amazing beauty and healing. There are great reasons to include cold therapy into your life.
So, what are some key ways to enjoy it? The answer to that is, create methods to be content in the cold.
Allow me to share four easy methods to improve your quality of life through ‘cold therapy’ that I use.
Here goes:
METHOD 1. Change your attitude towards the cold.
Our thoughts are very powerful, they influence how our entire day can go. By just changing our attitude, we can enjoy things that we used to dread or hate. The late Wayne Dyer said ” If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
So, if you change your attitude about the cold before going out into it, you may have a better experience! Try just creating a feeling in your heart, from a memory when you really had fun in the cold.
Allow yourself to really dive into that feeling. Before you know it, you will start to enjoy the cold just from the power of your thoughts.
METHOD 2. Breathing and Cold Therapy
Wim Hof has become a HUGE hero in my life. He is called The IceMan, and he truly lives up to his title. Through his breathing technique, he has become quite a master of the cold. I cannot say enough about this wonderful man, and he has changed my perspective of the cold forever.
I love that he sees the cold as being his teacher. “The cold is an absolute doorway to the soul”. He has proven through scientific studies upon him and others using his breathing technique, that we can even control our immune system.
Although it does take some practice, this could change our entire way of life, and even our longevity and quality of life. The benefits of Environmental Hormesis, or acute stress from cold, has proven to reduce inflammation in the body.
It can increase the brain’s levels of norepinephrine which improves our attention span, and even our overall mood- making this a great technique to help people with depression to love life again.
Who would have thought that doing something such as being in the cold, can help people with depression?
Try out Wim’s breathing techniques, and I promise it will change up your perspective about the cold.
METHOD 3. Activate YOUR fire within
Activating your body through movement is easy and it can be fun! You can try a new HIIT workout. They take as little as 10 minutes, and there are a variety of options that are free to access online.
Another fun option is to put some music on and dance your heart out to your favorite fast paced songs. My favorite way to activate my body is through Dru Yoga.
Although Yoga tends to be very gentle and calming to the mind and spirit, it can really warm up the body as well! Most Dru yoga starts with some activation.
The power behind Activation is it allows your joints and muscles to become flexible and warm. There are even specific sequences and Asanas that focus upon heating up your solar plexus, giving energy to your power source, and also charging up that inner heat inside of you.
If you are interested in a session of Dru Yoga, to ignite your inner fire, give me a call and I will teach you some great techniques!
METHOD 4. Shivering your way to warmth
Did you know that your body naturally shivers to actually warm you up? It’s true; in fact, you can actually burn a lot of calories and get a great workout, just from shivering!
It is pretty amazing, or should I say it’s way cool! Dr. Denis Wilson has spent the last 30 years of his life researching metabolism and thyroid function.
In that time he has discovered some amazing benefits to shivering. He even wrote a book about it, called “The Power of Fastercize”
This technique has actually been proven to build your mitochondria to burn more fat and provide greater energy to the body!
I challenge you – try this at home – but be kind to yourself.
Now, I am not saying go out in 30 degrees below zero and stand in your underwear and feel yourself getting healthier. There is in fact a balance to how much cold the body can take, but the fact of the matter is, our ancestors withstood much more of a harsh environment than we do today.
If they were able to survive and pass on their genetics to us, then we can handle the cold a little more than we really give ourselves credit.
I know sometimes it seems to suck, but I promise you, if you let go of those thoughts that make you dread the cold, it will be such a better experience. Some of the most amazing people in this world have said that they have learned to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.
If we as humans can withstand being uncomfortable, nothing can stand in our way!
So the next time you scowl about a chilly day, and decide to get cozy on the couch, embrace the ‘this-sucks’ – go outside and make friends with Father winter. I know you will have many benefits from this, even if it means you are a stronger willed individual just because of it.
Always in everything you do, allow yourself to shine- and together we’ll make the world a brighter place!