An Ice Cold Splash of Reality
Why. Just why.
So were my thoughts as I held on, clinging to the rope tied to a bucket of ice cold water hanging just a couple feet above me, wondering if maybe it won’t be so bad. Right?
Wrong. The shock. The cold. The tingles going all the way to my bones. Teeth clinched, I let out a shout, a scream filled with all that tied me to my reality and with that, there I was. Anew, alive, feeling every part of my body and present to nothing but that very moment.
A week ago I had the best vacation I’ve had, well since last year. But still, one of the greats. I came back renewed, refreshed and with findings about myself and life that I could not have gotten otherwise. Exaggeration? Nope. Truly, I feel that my life and sense of being changed.
This feeling was the culmination of many activities but the most key one was undoubtedly waking up before sunrise and going through a thermal circuit or as most would know it, switching from a sauna/hot tub to an ice cold plunge.
During my stay at Grail Springs, a wellness centre in Bancroft Ontario, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture led by Tanya Mahar. Tanya has been studying meditative practices for a big part of her life and that weekend she was kind enough to share some of her learnings with us.
