The Power of Self-Awareness: 10 Lessons From My First Ice Bath

On Saturday I completed my first breathwork and ice bath workshop.

An email came through a few weeks before for the opportunity. My awareness tuned into it.

Around a year ago I wrote down some bucket list experiences and doing a Wim Hof experience was on there. My heart thumped as I saw the email because I realised I had three options:

Option A - ignore it and my dreams.
Option B - make an excuse and avoid it.
Option C - dive straight in even though I felt apprehensive.

There is a famous quote:

“Fear is peeing in your pants; courage is doing what you have to do in wet pants.”

I’ve recently been delving deeper into self-confidence, courage and self-discipline. These are areas many of us struggle with, me included. It seems these qualities can be significantly improved when you have a burning desire, a massive purpose or a higher calling.

Nature loves a sense of purpose. This is why we see in research that people have lower levels of
cortisol, cholesterol and BP if they are purpose-driven.

As I mentioned, I felt something in my heart that day when I saw the email so, even though my logical mind wanted to resist, I dived in.

It’s like Steve jobs said:

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

When I attended the workshop, possibly the most enlightening part was the 1 hour of breathwork. I had never gone that deep before. I felt tingles all through my body and, when I held my breath and squeezed my pelvic floor, my whole body vibrated.

It was extraordinary - memories from my past flashed before my eyes, beautiful ones and challenging ones.

I could see where I was holding myself back. I could see the fears right before my eyes. The same three fears I speak to all my clients about:

- Fear of criticism/ failure
- Fear of not belonging/ success
- Fear of the loss of security/ safety

After the breath, I was so elated with the 'neurochemical cocktail' I felt like dancing. Shortly after, I dived into the ice and my whole body tightened, burned and stung as I submerged in the ice. Again, realisations came afterwards with another high.

Undoubtedly these experiences challenge who you really are. I have worked with clients who have all unknowingly been living on default. They have spent their lives going outwards to get things to feel better on the inside. Their paradigm has been based on their external world.

This experience was quite the opposite - it helped you to go inwards to discover everything you
ever need is on the inside. This shifts your paradigm to your internal experience.

Here are my 10 lessons in self-awareness from a morning of breath and ice.

1. Allow others to be as they are and allow yourself to be as you are
2. Leaning into challenge creates opportunities
3. The breath is omnipresent, circular and your teacher
4. Know you do not 'need' to change, only change if you want to
5. Your thoughts influence your sensations - tune in for insight
6. Your mind is only resisting change because of your paradigm
7. Shift your paradigm and transformation flows
8. Your body houses memories, relax the body and release the memories
9. You are creating your experience whether your aware of it or not
10. Becoming more conscious is all about the control of your attention

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Share with someone who you think might need this. 

Love, 

Nilesh