Here is a video that I made of me doing my cold water swim.
This one is at Center Lake in Tustin, Michigan. The water was most likely 40 degrees Fahrenheit/4.4 degrees Celsius as when I temped it the next day it was 40 degrees. My video stopped recording part way in and then I started again so there are two parts to the event. It's on instagram, but I think anyone can view it.
Part 1:
Part 2:
We have a name for our Polar Dipping/Swimming/Chilling Club...
Calm, Cool, and Collected: A Celebration
We have a page on instagram if you want to follow it. It's called:
CalmCoolCollectedACelebration
I discovered that "A Celebration" is the name given to a group of Polar Bears. It seemed fitting also because we are Celebrating! We are celebrating our friendships, life, nature, icy cold water, and so much more!
We have been adding members too!! My friend Chris and I were the starting members. My children Allison, Clara, Emily, and Ben have all done it a few times now too. My youngest son, Jesse wants to go in so badly. He has been taking cold showers and has been in the lakes up to his knees at the most. I'm just a little nervous of him taking it on too quickly as he's only 8 years old.
We talked to a man and his son Dylan one day about what we were doing and the next day, Dylan joined us. He's a young teenager but he went full in, under the water and everything. He stayed in for quite a few minutes too and that was his first time!
Chris has been swimming 31 times now including our first dip on February 27th and I've been in 28 times! Our longest stay so far was at Lake Billings in Manton, MI. Chris and I stayed in for 16 minutes, splashing, swimming, loving it as much as in summer. I floated on my back and just stared at the beautiful blue sky above me. I love listening to the sound of the water swishing around.
Last weekend, I was in the Upper Peninsula with some of my kids. I got to swim in Lake Superior (The coldest lake in the U.S) and Lake Huron. I also swam in Lake Michigan in March. I hope to swim in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie as well to complete the Great Lakes Collection.
I am really loving this! There have been only a couple of days where I felt a little bit off about it and that's because they were super windy days. I don't like the wind. It's a challenge though that I hope to overcome and embrace. Some people think we are crazy, and maybe we are, but your body really does adapt to the cold and amazingly quickly too. It feels good, the coolness of the water, the sun on your face as your body is submerged in cold, the sound of nature all around.
Here are some of my favorite photos from these adventurous days.
I am loving this!!!
Center Lake Tustin, MI
Center Lake Tustin, MI
My Fourth Time in the Water
My friend Chris chopped a hole in the lake for us to have a place to ice dip close by.
I've been reading Wim Hof's book "The Wim Hof Method". He's become known as the Iceman. Official Wim Hof Method Website For over 40 years now he has been taking ice baths, taking cold showers, swimming in ice water, and practicing his breathing exercises. His body has grown stronger and healthier through this. I'm loving the book and I've been practicing some of his techniques. Since January 13th, I've been taking ice cold showers as often as I can, usually at least every other day. I start by taking a warm shower and then at the end I turn the knob all the way as cold as it gets. I measured the temperature one day and it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once I turn the water to cold I stay in the cold water for as long as I can safely. There is an initial shock, but as you do this more often the shock becomes less and less and really not much of a bother at all. After that, I feel I could stay there for a very long time. I don't push it, I usually get a little bored after so long. My first cold shower was 45 seconds long. Wim says that only 30 seconds a day is very beneficial. My second was 1 1/2 minutes and a week later I did 3 1/2 minutes. My longest to date is 8 minutes 42 seconds. After the shower I dry off and dress. (I don't warm the water back up in the shower). I feel refreshed, and invigorated. Many days I have noticed feeling better in normally achy places like my heal spurs.
Anyway, all this to say that I finally got to do a polar dip with a group of friends this past weekend. I wish we had recorded the temperature that day. I see that the high that day was 47 and the low was 28, so somewhere between those temps for the air. We jumped around 11:30am in McBain, MI at a friend's pond. I was set to be the first to jump in along with my friend, Chris. I felt scared. Not of the cold water, but I really don't like jumping into water even if it's shallow. So, Chris jumped first, alone. I ended up letting everyone else go ahead of me. Finally I HAD to do it!! So I DID!!!
I LOVED IT!
It only took seconds for me to catch my breath and be calm. It felt SO GOOD!! No Lie! I actually preferred it to the cold showers. I even decided to float on my back, enjoying the moment for a few seconds.
It's all I've thought about since then. I wanted to do it again. So today, we did! Chris and I went to the pond again. My hubby Tim, and our daughter Emily and son Jesse went with to watch and be our photographers. Today I checked the temp. Although it was a very sunny and blue sky day, it was only 19 degrees Fahrenheit at the time that we jumped. We stayed in the icy cold water this time for a little over a minute. It honestly felt so good. The hardest parts are jumping in and getting out. I recommend everyone to look into the benefits of cold showers and Wim's breathing exercises. He has found them to be able to heal people with Crohn's disease, MS, Arthritis, and more. Something so simple is worth a try. And, who knows, you may actually ENJOY it, like me.
February 27, 2021
