Ice baths and cold showers seem to be all the rage currently. I mean I probably have a skewed view since I'm around more health and wellness professionals than most of you are. But I would bet you have heard about it though, but do you know why??? Why the hell would anyone want to get in an ice bath??

I had a conversation in my office the other day about ice baths. My wonderful client asked me "Are you crazy? My pool water is freezing cold."

Right before this interaction we had a long conversation about how stressful life and work has been. My feedback for why ice baths are important caught her off guard.

To me, they are 100% for learning how to master stress when it hits you in the mouth. How do you respond when your spouse yells at you? What about when the whole world around us falls apart? Lose your job? Aka life in 2020 and still....

Ice baths are practice. It's safe, but oh so scream worthy. Learn to breathe. Learn to sit with being uncomfortable. Give yourself a second before reacting. Getting control of your reaction to stress.

Take what you want out of it, but it's not about the ice. It's about you.

Journal Prompt:

How do you practice staying calm under stress? What stresses you out?

Questions? You can contact me at james@jamesfryernmt.com or send me a message here.

Blog post written by James Fryer, NMT