Brrrr…. It’s cold…

The first initial surprise when guests see our cold room is “WOW” and then the cold air hits them and more often than most guests step back and laugh with a firm “this is too COLD for me.”

For some the thought of the cold room is a hard NO!

Stepping into the unknown—especially something like a freezing cold room— going in without expectations of yourself… and allowing yourself to fully meet the discomfort… is something most of us are not practiced in.

So what would happen if you said YES to the experience. Without expectations or predisposed thoughts.

Many of us are used to controlling, avoiding, bracing, or pushing through situations that we limit our experiences.

But what if you stepped in what are the possibilities?

This can become a moment about learning to be with yourself in the discomfort. To know that you can support yourself—breath by breath, second by second—and in doing so you begin slowly building trust within yourself.

Because our cold room is really not about the cold it’s about you surrendering and holding yourself throughout the seconds and eventually minutes.

It’s about you “having yourself.” Having yourself” if it were in a cold room, or in a heated conversation, or a  troubling text or whatever the thing that derails you.  We have all experienced being taken off balance or “disconnected” and it’s learning to have yourself in any of these situations. 

And what is happening physically within us well your body immediately activates—your breath shortens, your heart rate increases, your nervous system shifts into a heightened state which is your sympathetic nervous system taking over. The sympathetic system is our “fight or flight” response. 

But if you CHOOSE, SURRENDER and step in without EXPECTATIONS this experience of the unknown is where a shift can happen within you physically and mentally…because instead of saying “no, not for me” you stay, you breathe and you regulate yourself.

By regulating yourself you're taking your sympathetic nervous system into a parasympathetic state which is the “rest and digest” state. In doing this dance between the two you are activating and strengthening the vagus nerve and in doing so physically designing a high vagal tone. The ability to “have yourself” in any situation - to recognize yourself in a sympathetic state and can fluidly take yourself into a parasympathetic state. That is personal POWER and creating what I say is your best friend - your very own nervous system.

And as you do this, your body begins to transition into a more balanced state—building resilience, increasing circulation, reducing inflammation, and training your nervous system to handle stress more effectively.

You are quite literally teaching your body:

“I can be in intensity… and I’m okay.” And emotionally—this is powerful because so many of us feel “off,” such as  low energy, disconnected, or not fully in ourselves.

Doing practices such as cold exposure brings you back into your body, presence and awareness of yourself on a deeper, more meaningful level.

I encourage you next time to step into the unknown starry sky cold room and reconnect with the part of you that knows how to handle hard things. It can all happen by starting with seconds and working into minutes.

To be in your POWER - learning to have yourself no matter what you’re stepping into.

Tara Fulkerson

Director of Integrated Healing at Karma Wellness