𝗜𝗖𝗘/𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗚𝗘 – 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘁 & 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲

Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of being taken through a physical and mental reset by a brilliant soul Lisa Shabbas.

The whole evening was about letting go of our stress, fears, dropping the ego and resetting our nervous system.

I was joined by 6 fantastic guys, all of whom had been through a lot of emotional stress recently, and this was a great way to release what was being held in the body and mind.

We started off calming the nervous system with breath work, followed by a naked dip in the cold Brighton sea – in front of a lot of onlookers – which not only prepared us mentally for what was to come, but also allowed us to drop whatever ego and worries we had about our image.

After our time in the sea – and after walking over what seemed like 5 miles of stones – we all climbed into an extremely hot sauna.

As the heat continued to rise, Lisa pumped up the music (she had chosen tribal beats) and started to expose us to different scents, as well as some gentle birch whipping, both of which allowed us to open our body and emotions.

The energy in the sauna continued to climb and there was a fantastic sense of unity between everyone. This led to tension, stress and toxins being released both physically, mentally, and orally.

After the sauna, we then prepared for a full body ice bath, where we would calm our breathing and relax our body as much as possible when exposed to the ice.

Being exposed to this level of cold straight after the heat is both mentally and physically taxing, but once you fully relax and succumb to the cold, your body and mind undergo a relaxing shift.

This level of cold directly after the heat of the sauna also leads to an increased capacity to handle stress as it activates your mammalian dive reflex.

There are many physical benefits when it comes to hot & cold therapy which i have listed below:

However, it’s the 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, as well as the ability to 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺, that I want to concentrate on here because these are the two benefits that all 7 of us needed the most.

(Well, I know I did anyway.)

Everyday day I practice health protocols to release stress and toxins, however, with the world in the state it is at the moment, the stress levels on my system have definitely increased as I have been trying to put out as much content as possible to make people aware of what is coming, whilst simultaneously running a business, and helping clients.

Therefore, for me, this Ice/Fire Purge was more about releasing tension, resetting my immune system and increasing my ability to handle stress, than it was about releasing toxins … and it did that spectacularly.

If you want to read more about this, then I recommend Nassim Taleb’s book, ‘Antifragile’, where he shows that regular exposure to environmental stressors is a way to become stronger physically, emotionally and mentally.

Multiple research studies have shown that hyperthermia conditioning via the use of intense cold & heat can prevent protein degradation and muscle loss by triggering the production of heat shock proteins (HSPs), which are then used by your cells to counteract potentially harmful stimulus, including environmental stress from pollutants, toxins, heat, cold, exercise stress and more.

Whenever a cell is exposed to an unfriendly environment, your DNA “separates” in specific regions and begins to read the genetic code to produce new stress proteins, including these HSPs.

What this means is that exposure to extreme heat or cold can induce a hormetic response (a protective stress response), which promotes the production of HSPs that are crucial to stress resistance, prevention of free radical damage, support of cellular antioxidant capacity and the repair of damaged proteins.

A hormetic response in layman’s terms is exposing the body to a little bit of the poison, so it becomes stronger.

And who doesn’t want to become stronger?

So, if you are looking to clear the body of stress and toxins, whilst increasing its ability to handle stress then I definitely suggest exposing yourself to heat and cold regularly.

Even better than that, give Lisa Shabbas a message, and she’ll guide you through this experience with her expert eye and compassion.

Health & Happiness

Ryan