Extreme Bathing Protocol

RINSE

Prepare yourself physically and psychologically by cleansing your body and washing off road dust, personal care products, fragrances and sweat. Protect your natural body oils and microbes with natural cleansers and quality water.

HOT

Use a sauna, hot bath, steam room or hot air to heat your body to the point of ‘forced mindfulness’; when your mind and body agree it’s too hot. Practice relaxing under thermal stress by taking slow controlled breaths.

COLD

Use a shower, cold water or air to cool and then chill your body. Use comfort as a guide and resist cold induced hyperventilation by keeping your breath calm and steady. Let your body temperature drop till you feel shivery and know if you shiver you’ve gone too far.

REST

Allow your body to regain renewed balance and spend as much time resting as you do in extremes. Enjoy the cool when hot and warmth when cold, and explore the blissful state of thermal balance and enjoy the enhanced relaxation and sleep that follows exposure to extremes.

REPEAT

Do two or three rounds using the first round to calibrate your resilience and subsequent rounds to go deeper and explore the edge of your tolerance. Enjoy alternating between hot and cold, vasodilation and vasoconstriction, sympathetic stress and parasympathetic relaxation. Try to repeat the process three times a week and foster a culture where contrast bathing is part of your lifestyle.