Hot/Cold Showers
I have always had a passion for Naturopathic hydrotherapy, as a traditional, practical and accessible modaility to increase vitality. I have had hot-cold showers for many years through summer and winter.
If you have always been a bit resistant to cold water, now is a wonderful time to practice a gentle form of hot and cold showers because we are in the middle of summer. Changing your hot shower to finish with a cold blast in the middle of winter, can seem heroic and way out of their comfort zone, for many people.
However, right now, when the weather is warm to hot, is a good time to practice turning the shower to cold to finish off. And if even that is too much of a reach, or too extreme if your body is in a fragile state but you want to build vitality, then just turning the shower to lukewarm can help as an interim step. Another interim step is to practice putting our hands or feet in cold water.
The cooler to cold water after warm to hot water, gently stimulates adrenal hormones (depending on how cold the water is) but this then causes a reflexive action of the body to compensate and create a parasympathetic state of relaxation. It feels very good- that’s also why we do it!
Also, strangely, people who tend to feel the cold more, will find that if they build up their tolerance and feel warmer. Ending a daily warm shower or bath with cooler water- will give wonderful results. I prefer to do mine in the morning to wake me up but for many, in the evening can help with sleep.
You may have heard of Wim Hof ice baths - I don’t recommend that unless your adrenals are very strong. It is a tradition in Europe and Russia, to build vital strength in both children and adults including sick people, to roll in snow or jump into freezing cold rivers and lakes. Those who do it swear it makes them feel invigorated and helps their immune system strengthen. It really builds vitality.
It is possible to build these effects with a more gentle approach. We do not have to go to extremes and, for many of us, extremes are not the right approach. Especially if we have a sensitive nervous system or are adrenally exhausted.
We should not be chilled after a cold shower, we should feel a warm glow. If we are chilled afterwards, we were in there for too long, or our life energy was a little too weak.
This is such an easy thing almost anyone can do. People with bodily aches and pains, autoimmunity, chronic adrenal fatigue, stress, hot flushes….all sorts of conditions can benefit. One of the founders of Naturopathy, Benedict Lust, apparently cured his tuberculosis from cold water treatments, and so did Kneipp, the father of Naturopathic Hydrotherapy. However in later years, Kneipp also said that he found it could be just as effective and healing with a more gentle approach.
And if you can manage to have cold-ending showers in summer….your vitality and tolerance will build, and you just may find that you can do it through autumn and winter too. It is a wonderful, accessible lifetime practice for building resilience and vitality.
We tend to look for miracles and medicines to feel better, but many cures have been attributed to Naturopathic hydrotherapy, and this is its core practice.
