When it comes to any practice that I include in my life, there is one easy question I like to ask ....... "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"

It might seem like a simple idea and why would anyone continue to do a practice that wasn't benefitting them you ask? 

I'm not sure I can answer the why, but I know they do and often they continue doing things that have become habits, without reviewing if the habit is really serving them and helping them get to the goals they are aiming for.

So for the last two years, every shower I take, I finish by having purely cold water for at least 1 minute.

Has it been worth it?

Without question, it's a YES! And I will tell you how I benefitted later in the blog.

Why did I start?

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me 2020 was a really challenging year!

My business was closed down due to the pandemic and it was over 4 months before there were guidelines for those in my industry to work again. By that time I had decided that I needed to close the Centre for Integral Health in Shrewsbury, due to high running costs and low income and the prospects for it coming back to financially neutral, let alone profitable, were slim. I didn't want to have loans or other debts to try and make it work. So in its previous form, it closed and then I reopened it in a much-reduced capacity in a new location in December 2020. 

On top of that, I moved to a new area (which was a good thing but took a little integration) and I was aware that the Covid narrative was extremely harmful to public health with very little emphasis on what could practically be done to really stop people getting ill and reduce severity and fatality of infections.

Given now almost 20 years of experience working with health from a natural, preventative and cause-based approach, it won't surprise you to know that I had other ideas on how things should have been handled and was deeply disillusioned by the approach taken worldwide, which seemed hell-bent on waiting for the novel mRNA treatments while ignoring other options. I was glad that I was not alone in this, but when you understand how powerful language can be used to manipulate and direct culture and awareness, seeing the war-grade propaganda being used, was simply heart-breaking.

I hit one of the deepest depressions I'd had in my life, was questioning how I was going to continue in my career and wanted to see the governments be punished for the harm they have done to the populations of their countries.

So I did what I do best and problem-solved what I could do to mitigate the effects of all of this on my struggling nervous system.

I had been well aware of the benfits of hot/cold water treatment on the nervous system and had briefly dabbled with Wim Hoff's work on breathing and cold water therapy https://www.wimhofmethod.com/

I had shied away from doing the cold water work when I tried before as I don't really like cold water or being cold. But I felt there was enough evidence of benefit and I knew I needed something to wake me up out of this dark space I was in.

I was already working with Gary Hawke (http://www.garyhawke.org/ ), who is my goto talk therapist when I need to sort my head out, but I also needed something more physical and deeper for my nervous system..

I was finding it hard to motivate myself for my personal LifeForce Qigong practice, despite still teaching classes (and feeling better for each time I did)

So I bit the bullet and got into the cold showers.

I started by using a method suggested to me by my brother Sai Calder.

It's simple and as far as I am concerned, it is the most user-friendly (read suitable for cold water wimps) method I've seen yet.

The process is easy 

• Have your normal shower
• At the end, turn the water to totally cold, making it change as fast as you can
• Take a number of strong exhales through the mouth
• Tolerate the cold on your body for as long as you can
• Turn the shower back to warm and become comfy again.
• Repeat that two more times 

You can omit the final warm-up if you don't feel you need it - I never did, as the third cold didn't feel that cold and so I never bothered.

That strong exhale when the water goes cold is a method to help your nervous system move through the shock, if you held your breath it would compound the shock. It is essential you do this, especially when you start, you feel less of a need for it as you become more proficcient.

These days, I don't bother with any of the warming up after my cold, I just finish my shower with an extended cold session and feel awake and ready for the day.

So now two years later and still doing it every shower (although some days I have to argue with myself a bit to do it) and I can say without a doubt that it has had a positive effect on my physical and mental health.

What I have directly experienced is

• Less overall stress - I'm much better at just being the tortoise moving through my life
• I'm much harder to shock, even as the world continues to be cra cra, I'm managing to take it in my stride better
• I don't suffer from the cold as much as I used to
• I feel more robust physically
• My immune system feels strong - I've still not had a confirmed covid infection
• My mood is generally much more positive - I'm certainly well past the depression I was having
• I look forward to cold water experiences, rather than dread them

This year I hope to add a cold water plunge tank to my back garden so that I can go out and sit in it for increasingly longer periods of time, essentially using it as an adjunct to meditation.

I really recommend this process to anyone who has a dis-regulated nervous system, is struggling to create a level of calm in their life, has overthinking or anxiety

• or generally wants to feel calmer, more collected and focused in their lives.
• If you're not sure how to begin or even if it right for you, speak to me or contact someone who is experienced in cold water therapy.