Ice cold community

BREATHING techniques, cold therapy and commitment: the three pillars of the ‘Wim Hof Method’ wellbeing trend that has taken the world by storm.

Ice-baths and breathing techniques are by no means new concepts. For years athletes have used post-training ice baths to speed up recovery or reduce inflammation.

So what is the sudden appeal of the ice bath to the everyman?

Founder of Cold + Conscious Mr Steven Nikolovski said his company is focused on making cold therapy and meditation a community-focused activity that is accessible to everyone.

Before starting Cold + Conscious, Mr Nikolovski would go to the beach in Geelong each morning to meditate, breathe and go for cold swims.

“There isn’t one specific group of people. Initially when I started doing it I thought we were going to draw a health and wellness kind of crowd, but we get everybody. We get health nuts, counsellors and politicians coming down, we get mothers, young people.
“I think the beauty of it is that its just connecting this really diverse groups of people and there are benefits for everybody,” Mr Nikolovski said.

“When you experience it for yourself it’s undeniable, you just feel better, you feel the results and people are seeing the changes in people.”

Benefits of cold therapy include increased focus and cardiovascular health, improved metabolic function and immune system function and more. Meditation and breath work has also been known to help manage stress, improve cognition, improve sleep, decrease blood pressure and more.

Mr Nikolovski said people often come to challenge themselves, and for the extensive health benefits, but stay because they find a tight-knit encouraging community.

“It’s something that people see that they can do to challenge themselves and take a cool photo for the ‘gram.

“But what ends up happening is so much more than that. Once they accomplish that they realise just how much more powerful their minds are,” he said.

Cold + Conscious runs cold therapy, group ice baths and meditation classes at the beach in Mornington, Geelong, Melbourne and Torquay.

Long time ice-bather Natalie Woodfull said it was the sense of community that drew her to cold therapy initially.
“For the first couple of times I just turned up for the meditation and breath work, I was a little bit too chicken to get in the ice in the first instance,” the Point Lonsdale resident said.

“And then once I took the plunge about six months ago over in Torquay I don’t think I’ve missed a weekend.”

“I have been able to overcome an awful lot of those personal mental health challenges by challenging myself in the ice bath and proving to myself that I can quieten the mind and focus on breath.”

To find out more about cold therapy head to www.coldandconscious.com.au.