Journal
Whether you’ve got a Brass Monkey Ice Bath, or something a little less awesome, developing a cold dipping routine will be key to getting the most from it. Here are a few simple steps to help get your started.
There’s so much advice out there on cold water immersion telling you what to do and how to do it. But we understand that cold water exposure is a very personal thing and we all do it differently depending on why we’re doing it, what we’re using to do it, and the environment available to us.
Getting into cold water is no walk in the park. So when things seem mentally tough, we find it best to keep things simple. And it doesn’t get more simple than our 5 steps for newbies to the cold.
Speaking candidly from their own personal experiences, we got together with four friends of Brass Monkey, Professor Green, Joie Risk, Rosie Marcel, and Laurence Fountain, all cold dipping pros in their own right to ask for advice for first-timers.
“I think, if people want to do contrast therapy, they think it’s about taking their regime to the next level. And people ask us about protocols all the time, and it’s really about what they’re trying to achieve on any given day.
Over the last two years, Joie has seen the at-home wellness trend becoming more mainstream. Catapulted by the Covid pandemic when thousands had more time on their hands to sit at home and contemplate their wellbeing, mortality, and how to get more from life. Joie And with that, people realised they had to take more responsibility for their own health.
If you’re not feeling well and have doubts about doing your cold exposure, always talk to your doctor. But there’s one clear rule that’s useful to know. If you have flu-like symptoms with a fever, don’t get into the water.
We all have days when we just don’t feel like it. On these days there are usually three mindsets.....
Cold showers are a great entry point when you’re starting your cold water immersion journey. Most people have access to a shower and you can easily play with the temperature and length of your cold exposure.
If you’re wondering what the options are for starting your cold exposure journey, there are a couple of things to think about:
Everyone breathes. But when it comes to breathwork the word ‘work’ is very deliberate.
With our modern lifestyles, stress, poor posture, and low awareness of how to breathe ‘properly’ have meant that for the vast majority, this completely free and incredibly powerful tool has fallen by the wayside.
This is one of our most asked questions, and Daniel gives us a great top-level summary of the most well-known benefits of cold water immersion. But let’s have a quick overview of the full range.
Daniel is often asked about the frequency and the length of cold dips. The answer is as unique as the person asking the question.
You don’t get good at press-ups or handstands, juggling, ju-jitsu, bench-pressing, knitting, playing music or whatever by doing it just once. We know this to be true. CWI is a practice. Show up daily, design it into your routines and reap the benefits.
The most important thing to do when you emerge from your ice bath is to warm up naturally and gradually.
Yes, it’s tempting to wrap up in your dry robe or dash to the sauna - but hold off! Allowing the body to create its own heat is all part of the process, and where many of the benefits are found.
The cold is a very personal thing. We each practise the cold in different ways for different reasons and your journey is your own. Only you can get yourself through it and only you can conquer the cold. But there are some techniques that can help you prepare. Here, we explore the three ways Daniel Kluken prepares for the cold to help you get the most from your practice.
In this 3-minute guided cold exposure, Daniel invites you to surrender to the cold, reminding us that the cold is always stronger than we will ever be.
We are not trying to fight it or control it, we are trying to make peace with it.
As Wim Hoff puts it, “When you go into the cold, you cannot think. You have to be. You learn to be, to be the best version of yourself.”
In this video, Daniel guides us through a 1-minute cold exposure session. Before entering the water, focus on the conscious decision you made to face the cold. Understanding your ‘why’ is an important part of your mental preparation every time you’re preparing to enter the water.
Dutch-born Daniel Kluken has been exploring and teaching cold exposure for over 10 years, working with people from over 40 countries as a high-performance, leadership and mindset mentor.
