Open water swimming or cold water dips have become so popular over the last few years and even Cancer UK gave everyone a mission during March to complete a cold water challenge and dip every day! The benefits of spending time in cold water are promoted on social media most days, as are the health benefits that come from it.
1. It boosts your immune system: The effects of cold water on the immune system have been studied widely.
Cold water helps to boost the white blood cell count because the body is forced to react to changing conditions.
Over time, your body becomes better at activating its defences.
2. It gives you a natural high: Cold water swimming activates endorphins. This chemical is what the brain produces to
make us feel good during activities. Cold water swimming is also a form of exercise, and exercise has been proven to treat depression.
Cold water swimming brings us close to the pain barrier. Endorphins are released when we’re in pain, to help us cope with it.
3. It improves your circulation: Cold water swimming flushes your veins, arteries, and capillaries.
It forces blood to the surface and helps to warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the cold.
4. It reduces stress: Cold water swimming places stress on the body physically and mentally.
Many studies have identified the link between cold water and stress reduction. Cold water swimmers become calmer and more relaxed.
5. It is a great way of socialising and making new friends: There is a great sense of community amongst cold water swimmers.
There is nothing that brings people together like facing a challenge and sharing the experience as a group.
So, I met The Ice Warrior towards the end of last year through a friend who thought I would love the experience so I booked onto “The Release your Inner Warrior program”, a 121, 6 week experience where she taught me powerful breath work, mindset skills and cold water exposure, under the Wim Hof method. The benefits from the first week were significant, the breathing, the mindset and then there was the cold water exposure! WOW!
I have gathered this great story together from all her wonderful blog writing which is so honest and will probably resonate with many women, so read on and you will realise that behind every great woman is a great story!
In her own words, “I want to tell you more about me so you can understand. I have been unhappy, I have been unhealthy and I have been weak. I have anxiety that takes hold of my life sometimes. I was never really taught how to handle my anxiety, prevent it or address it head on. I have drank way too much and eaten with the aim to have that huge sinking feeling in my stomach. I have been manic and wanted to give as much as I can, thought that the world is against me and not really believed that I deserved that much in return.”
SO LET’S GET HONEST!
“My mum was an alcoholic!”
This was pretty much from when I was 9 and it was a huge focus of my life. If mum was drinking it was tough and really sad. Looking back it was worse than I thought at the time, because I just thought that it was normal. Throughout my late teens and 20’s it defined who I was. Life revolved around if mum was drinking or not, how we could stop her, how I could help her stop. The effect it had on me as life went on effected a lot of things. When I became a parent it made it very apparent it needed dealing with.
I really found it hard to trust people with my feelings. If friends let me down in the slightest I would just draw a line under the friendship and move on. I let myself either be the underdog in the relationship or if they started to care too much, I would bolt. I never really believed I was enough to make someone else truly happy. Then I met someone who stood up to my insecurities and made me believe I was loved. It didn’t end particularly well as I lost him to cancer and felt my heart was well and truly broken.
I spent many years single, lost and a bit sad if I’m honest. I had amazing friends and a very special friend who always had my back. If you find one of those by the way, do not let them go. I had a great dog too. Between the dog, the amazing friend and a bit of universe magic, they brought me THE most amazing person, who not only was super easy to love, he showed me how easy I was to love. He was happy with himself, he was strong and just so amazingly genuine and kind.
We created some gorgeous children and although I was living my best years the fear and anxiety crept back in. Parenting makes you question a whole lot of things and your life is no longer your own. About 6 months after my second child I started to believe I wasn’t enough, I over parented because I wanted them to feel more love than I had felt in my own childhood. I made life particularly difficult for everyone to be honest. I lost a lot of weight because I was constantly running on adrenaline, constantly trying to make things better, when in fact they were absolutely fine as they were and didn’t need making better. I have to admit, it’s all a bit of a blur. I do remember going to the doctors and them prescribing antidepressants, but deciding to try changes to diet, booze, exercise and asking for help. This put a plaster over the problems and it did get better, a bit, for a while.
About 3 years ago, I almost died because of an ectopic pregnancy!! Without going through all the details, I went into hospital with an ectopic pregnancy and it took them 14 hours to diagnose me. I was by myself in the hospital as my partner had to look after the kids so it was a bit scary. I had so much morphine, but the pain was immense and I actually started to send goodbye texts as I thought I was dying. After the op, the doctor came and told me if I had been left 1 more hour I would have died and I was very lucky. I did not feel lucky!! I felt scared that I was here one day then almost gone the next. Leaving my kids with no mum was all that was in my head. What would happen if I died. What I do know is that if I had been less healthy than I was at the time, I might not have made it. Physically I healed amazingly well but emotionally, I was broken. I ended up getting some trauma counselling, which was the hardest thing, but the best thing that I ever did. It unlocked a whole load of things I hadn’t dealt with around my parents, it was like going into the chamber of secrets that I had pushed down for years not really addressing them, not acknowledging them for what they really were. Understanding how some of my thoughts and actions are a product of this and what I needed to do to change things. It took time and courage, but I did things that started to make me believe I was important and I did deserve to be loved.
This happened over 3 years ago and since then I have developed my connection to my loved ones but most of all discovering and still discovering who I want to be and what makes me happy.
It was at the start of lockdown when I (and the rest of the world) was feeling a little overwhelmed and old feelings of anxiety started creeping back in. I was over reacting, crying for no reason, shouting at the kids and feeling lost.
I took stock and ditched the things that were adding stress to my life, the news and the mum’s WhatsApp groups mainly.
I brought in daily mediation, journaling anything that promoted calm and peace. I let things go, that weren’t worth sweating over, like homeschooling and letting my youngest go to the park in his Pj’s rather than battle with him to get dressed. I also tried to limit my time on social media as it was full of so much rubbish, but it was there that I stumbled across the Wim Hof method. I was fascinated and intrigued. It was like nothing I had ever come across before. I felt it was so extreme that I had to give it a go. I couldn’t stop reading about this extraordinary guy who climbed Everest in his shorts and held countless world records for sitting in ice baths! I was drawn to the science behind it and how he had trained his body to cope with the cold extremities. More importantly he reckoned he could teach everyday people the same skills.
I now could not live without the daily breath work and cold showers or dips. It has developed into a passion to share this gift and take individuals and groups on their own transformational journey.
My mission is to empower you to lead a healthy and happy life with strength and purpose.
Using Wim Hof’s method of breath work, cold water exposure and meditation you will find levels of clarity, courage and calm that you didn’t know were possible. Along your journey you will unlock a whole host of benefits including increased energy, reduced stress and anxiety, better sleep, heightened focus and determination, stronger immune system, reduced inflammation and so much more.
Just want to say a big thank you to Angela for your honesty and being such an inspiration.
This is such an amazing and inspiring story!
So are you ready to discover and release
your inner warrior?
Go check Angela out on her website: www.theicewarrior.com
Facebook: @icewarrior1 Instagram: the_icewarrior1
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