I know what you're thinking:

Has Tom finally joined the band of personal development dimfluencers haunting the unholy corners of Dimstagram? 

And does my first ice bath mean I’ve also succumbed to the temptations of buddha bowls in Bali and sunset yoga sessions in Sayulita?

Well, I may have dipped my toe in the dimfluencer waters.

But let’s not go too far.  My foray into the trendy world of ice baths was for research purposes only.

a.k.a. I thought it might make for a good daily email.  

(don't say I don't look after you!)

See, Lauren and I spent last week on a Thai island called Koh Lanta.

In between eating pad thai and sipping tom yum cocktails, we tried a breathwork & ice bath class on the beach.

The breathwork & ice bath combo is meant to have a variety of benefits.  Including better sleep, weight loss, immune system support, stress release, reduced blood pressure and improved focus.

In fact, I’m pretty sure you could name any twinge or ailment and the ice bath aficionados would virtuously claim 5 minutes in their arctic plunge pool will sort you out.

Social media scroll-induced thumb fatigue?

Time for an ice bath.

Chronic meme addiction?

An ice bath can help with that!

Post-weekend bottomless brunch guilt?

Step this way and come “chill out” with an ice bath.

Anyway…

Our instructor took us through a variety of techniques including Wim Hof breathing, alkaline breathing, shamanic breathing and the so-called Dragon Breath (which had nothing to do with my red thai chicken curry from the night before).

And then, when that was done, she tipped huge bags of ice into inflatable, cylindrical tubs and invited us to step in. 

Which I did.  

And it was bloody freezing.

A few seconds later, as I lowered myself deeper inside, it got even colder.  I could feel an icy chill envelop my whole body.

And we crouched there for 330 seconds as the instructor took us through the breathing exercises again.

Here’s what I noticed as this all went down:

The breathing exercises were a fantastic distraction from the piercing, bitterly cold water.  Every time I focussed on my breath, I didn’t notice the temperature at all.  But whenever I switched my attention to the water, I did.  Especially in my feet, which were soon painfully chilled to the bone.

After the session was done, I began to wonder:

What’s the relationship between the pain of the wintry water and my thoughts about the water?

See, if we accidentally cut ourselves (for instance) and don’t notice it, we often don’t feel any pain. Until some time later when we notice the cut and the pain begins. 

We’ve all got examples like this which show that pain is at least partly a function of our noticing and our thoughts.

But what if we don't notice pain when we start thinking about it, but rather pain is created by us thinking about it?

This would be a very different way of seeing pain.

And it may require some pondering to fully appreciate the implications.

Especially when it comes to day to day psychological pains like stress, worry or anxiety.

My assertion?

We do create psychological pains like these ourselves.  Usually completely innocently and unknowingly, but it’s still us that does it.

The more I've seen the truth of this, the more I've been able to turn the dial down on my own stress, worry and anxiety.

A couple of years ago these were consistently at a 10/10.  Sometimes they were even off the scale.

I still have my moments.  But now my stress, worry and anxiety usually hover around 2/10 or 3/10.

Which is great.  Back in my most stressed and anxious moments, I never would've thought this possible.

But that's not all. 

It’s also unbelievably freeing to know that I don’t have to avoid certain situations, people or tasks if I want to avoid feeling stressed, worried or anxious.

And that's because I know these aren’t where stress, worry and anxiety come from.

I doubt this is what some people want to hear.  It can be handy to have the world ready & waiting to blame for our woes.  

Plus unusual ideas like these can be a tad destabilising.  Maybe even require a small leap of faith.

But that makes them no less true.

For those who are curious, open-minded or intrigued and who’d like to live with more ease, freedom and flow, my coaching might be a good next step.

If you’re ready to take the plunge:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

- Tom