Nearly half of the year before my Wim Hof training, during one of my forest runs, I had a calling I couldn’t resist – to jump into the water. It was March, I was in Lithuania, it was .. cool. I had no towel or anything else what people have when they go swimming, but it felt so good. I was in my realm.
The message I got was clear:
“Jump into the water no matter the weather at least once a week. Do it for a year. “
Needless to say I signed up for it not knowing what I am getting myself into.
That year alone has created a new habit and helped me to EXPERIENCE being one with nature in the early mornings, often even before the sun is up and often all by myself.
At least once a week I would “run and swim” in one of the lakes around Vilnius or Molėtai. But not always I had time for a run, so I would just arrive, take of my clothes and get in. This is how at one of the lakes I met Simonas and his gang. Simonas is a president of Healthy People association (Sveikuolių sąjunga – Lit.). A wonderful lad and a beautiful kind soul.
He invited to join their annual winter challenge and jump into water DAILY for 30 days at Balsys Lake Beach, ending the challenge in Trakai, where a large ice swimming pool is cut off for the race.
Once I helped them to cut an ice swimming pool and all of us “tested it”. It is really fun to conduct this activity with a group and sometimes we had TV filming, to inform people about the 30 day challenge!
It was truly hardcore, but the people make it a party and it is always nice to meet fellow enthusiasts to share the passion.
If you are in Lithuania in colder times. Check out Eketė Vilniuje on Facebook, and join the activities at Green Lakes (Žalieji ežerai) Google maps. For ice hols in other towns click here.
Funny enough, we have Ice Buddies in nearly every town, who would meet regularly (sometimes each morning at the lake they live nearby), they go to re-open their frozen spots and support each other in testing whether the water is still wet. It often is! 🙂 In essence, you can often find a hole cut by the previous cold water maniacs and use it if you wish to.
During the year from March to March I enjoyed my own challenge.
Sometimes it was quite cold -17C or so, thus people started commenting that I will get sick, that I am overdoing it etc etc. But, I never felt better and did not get cold even once!
On a contrary, I started sensing my body better, I started feeling when it is actually getting close to overcooling. This was a new tool for me which I tap into even years later.
Yes, it was quite cool. Sometimes it was snowing or raining, sometimes even both (remember – Lithuania!). And it wasn’t what the mind wanted us to do, especially on a lazy Sunday morning in January. Despite that, I did it for the entire year and dragged some of my friends to join me.
Cold water has also helped me to learn to focus on breathing and feel warm.
And yes, in summer August 2020, I took a Wim Hof course to learn the method. It added me yet another dimension of what could be done in addition to what I was already doing.
All these experiences helped me to open up and get deeper under the bonnet of what makes Body-Mind-Soul feel good.
Audrius
