Each day at the lake holds something different and sometimes unexpected…today was one of those days. It started with my morning constitutional and the gratitude I hold for this being an important and sacred part of my life. It grounds me and sets me up for the day.
I took a few photographs with my phone that I’d planned on using for my post today. The lake was calm on this chilly, crisp mid-morning. I could have created my post upon returning to the house, but thought I’d hold off until later.
I decided to pop along the lake to take the wee laddie and bairn out for a play at the park by their house this afternoon, so that my daughter could have a bit of time to get dinner ready. We played together for almost an hour before anyone else came along.
As we were about to leave, a couple showed up in shorts and headed out onto the lake and checked on an area then walked back to shore. I was curious, so asked if they were planning on taking a swim not expecting that they really might be contemplating that…after all it was about -6 degrees celsius! They were soon joined by another chap wearing shorts and a toque. We chatted for a moment and I mentioned about my journal and asked if I could take a few photographs for a post to which he agreed.
So with the ice fishermen in the background, they began breaking up the ice about 20 feet off shore in the marked area I had noticed previously to have been cleared. They were joined soon after that by another man with a Scottish accent, which of course I had to find out more about. It turned out that he was the husband of an acquaintance I’d met last year at one of the pre-school programmes I used to take the wee laddie to. We chatted for a bit about what they were planning on doing.
The wee laddie and I were watching, completely fascinated. The next thing I knew, the man with the toque, who I now know as Victor, began a breathing technique and then descended into the freezing cold water and sat down in it up to his neck. He was then joined in the next ‘ice pool’ by the Scottish fella that I now know is Mark, who was explaining to the original couple about the techniques used for breathing in these conditions.
Mark and Victor stay in the icy lake for a 13 minute session most days and various other people join them for varying amounts of time building up over time to this threshold. This practice is based on Wim Hof, something I had heard of previously. Many people liken this to something similar to a polar bear dip which is not the same as these water immersion techniques. It is something that has sparked my interest regarding the potential benefits in building mental resilience, among a multitude of other positive outcomes to explore. Something we could probably all benefit from, especially in these uncertain times.
Mark and Victor have a new website, which I gather will launch any day now at www.icemonks.com I think it will be interesting to learn more about this philosophy. Whether I’m up to participating in something like this I’m not sure, but I’m open to learning more about it. This truly is ‘A lake for all seasons’ and you just never know who you’ll meet.