Why COLD EXPOSURE Gets Me into ALIGNMENT of my BEST Version
I could never understand why there was a big sensation over people jumping into tubs of ice and freezing themselves, I would watch from the warmth of my home and think
“What the hell is everyone doing? And why are they volunteering to torture themselves?”
Obviously, I had heard of people taking cold showers in the morning to wake themselves up but that’s as far as I knew.
And living in the UK we get woken up by the cold by default, so it was never of any interest.
Until I realised the benefits and links between cold exposure and the trajectory of my life.
In this article, I’m going to share why I use cold exposure to get into alignment with the best version of myself.
Understanding My System and Why It Was Nervous
Before finding out why cold exposure was beneficial to my becoming my future self, I had to understand what about me would benefit the most from it.
Understanding my nervous system and the important role it played was an integral part of adding this chillier method to my everyday life.
I learned that when my body was in a stressed state, it would trigger my sympathetic nervous system, creating tension and making it difficult to feel calm, centred, or aligned with who I aspired to be.
But by introducing my body to cold or cooler temperatures, there was a powerful way to regulate my nervous system and bring myself back into alignment.
The Link Between the Nervous System and Cold Exposure
See, your nervous system is a network of nerves and cells that send signals between different parts of your body which ultimately set off different triggers.
Think of it as your body’s own control centre where it’s responsible for processing your emotions, how you handle stress, and maintaining balance.
Cold exposure enters the chat…
When you introduce cold to your body, whether it’s plunging into a cold shower, going for a walk in chilly weather, or using facial ice globes, your body’s first reaction is to tense up and release adrenaline.
However, after a few minutes, a shift occurs, and you enter a state of calm triggering your parasympathetic nervous system which is the governor of ‘rest, restoration.
How Cold Exposure Has Impacted My Nervous System
For me, this changed everything. I used to start my mornings super moody, grouchy, overstimulated and unproductive. Even when I was in a great mood I would bounce around between tasks with no sense of direction or structure.
I had a routine but it was working backwards along with a mindset to match.
But that changed when I started to implement cold exposure into my routine and I soon saw a shift in how my mornings ran.
It was as though there was a reset button that needed pushing, and once I pushed it, things changed.
“Cold is a stressor, so if you are able to get into the cold and control your body’s response to it, you will be able to control stress. Just breathe and reclaim your soul.”
Using Cold Exposure to Align With My Best Version
Now that I knew the benefits of cold exposure and how it can bring my body into a state of calm and rest, I knew this was the optimal ground for manifesting my dream life and becoming the best version of myself.
And as someone who has spent years studying manifestation, mindset and transformation work, I know the fastest way to become the best version of yourself is through alignment, and to get into alignment you need to be in creation mode, which cold exposure did, very well.
As Dr. Joe Dispenza states, when you can bring coherence between your brain and your heart, you bring balance and inner peace to your body which signals to the brain that it is safe to create, allowing you to escape survival mode, and enter creation mode where all manifestations you want begin to happen.
I knew if I wanted to see the long-term benefits of cold exposure and manifestation, I would need to implement these changes into my daily life.
How I Add Cold Exposure to My Daily Routine
Since making this practice a part of my daily routine and a natural process in my mornings, it’s something I actually look forward to, which is shocking as a woman of Caribbean descent - we don’t often like to be cold!
But I loved the benefits of what cold exposure brought and that there were so many ways to reap the benefits without having to jump into an ice bath every!
Here is how I include cold exposure into my daily routine:
Facial Ice Globes
What’s better than starting the day with something skincare related to nervous system regulation benefits?
It’s like a two-in-one and the reason my first go-to is my facial ice globes. They feel refreshing, tighten my skin, and help reduce puffiness.
But more than that, they also activate my nervous system and bring a sense of calm before I begin my day.
And I can do it straight from my bed.
I use a little facial oil to cause some slip (I use the Biossance 100% Squalene Oil) and glide my globes over your face paying extra attention to my cheeks since they’re where my face feels the cold the most.
Cold Morning Walks:
Cold exposure and the UK are two peas in a pod and go hand in hand.
You can count on UK weather to back you up when you need a wave of cold to reset your nervous system and the high you get after a cold walk is invigorating.
However, in this instance please use discernment. Do not go out and catch a cold or pneumonia, you still need to dress adequately. You can wear a tracksuit and still get the benefits.
If you’re wearing a sports bra and a pair of shorts to go for a walk or run in the middle of January, it’s not a good idea.
The idea is to give your body a small shock of cold without going too far to the extreme, and remember girly, prioritise your safety at all times.
Running my hand under cold water
Sometimes I just don’t want to leave the house, and I’m not in a facial mood (hardly ever) so I’ll run my hands under cold water for a few minutes making sure I keep my palm down to hit those pressure points.
It’s an easy, quick way to bring cold exposure into my day without needing a full cold shower or walk. And this small act helps regulate my nervous system and sharpen my focus for the day.
Each of these rituals is more than just habits, I use them intentionally to stay aligned with my future self.
Finally…
Learning to regulate my nervous system using cold exposure not only helps me to align with the best version of myself, it unlocks a level of discipline and emotional resilience I didn’t know I had.
Do this with practice, patience, and a lot of research! Once you become used to to it, you’ll soon feel an inner peace and see a transformation from the inside out.
