Sometimes when we wake up in the morning, we're still groggy and barely alert but also we wake up full of anxiety and feel the need to really haul ass; shower, dress, get a quick bite and run out the door to head to our job. I wanted to start my day with the Wu Ji Posture and just stand there practicing deep breathing for 10 minutes. It felt really good and it was a great moment of just getting blood flow to the body, breathe deeply and controlled and shake the cobwebs out a bit. The cherry on top of a beautiful Tuesday morning was getting into a cold shower.
For all intents and purposes, a cold shower is a hell of a way to wake your ass up out of that groggy zombie like state. Most wouldn't last 10 seconds and I can't blame them. Who in their bloody mind would want to emerge themselves in cold water, let alone bathe in the damn thing? This practice is more than just having the guts to withstand the cold, it's to really tech you how you handle your body and being calm, cool and collected. I practiced my deep breathing and focused on that as much as possible. It's never easy but the benefits are incredible man.
Getting into the habit of taking a cold shower does take time and taking small steps into letting that fear go and just let the water consume you and build that tolerance for cold temperatures. Is it meant for everyone, probably not but you never know until you test it out for yourself. For the most part, it's fear and others can be because of certain conditions. You don't need to take a 20 minute shower in order to notice the benefits, just a couple minutes is more than enough for most.
The absolute key to both standing in the Wu Ji Posture and being in a cold shower is how you breathe. Cold showers tend to really get the lungs going and naturally make you breathe even deeper than normal (at least from my experience). You breathe in as deep as you can without straining, breathe out everything without straining and hold onto that. It's a very powerful sense of focus and concetration, think of it this way; you remember the stories of Peter Pan? The idea of slapping on some pixie dust and focusing on a happy thought, put them together and you can fly. Your pixie dust is your breath, your happy thought is your mind and picturing being calm, happy and full of power (I know this sounds goofy but it's the best analogy I can come up with on the spur of the moment).
We hate starting the day off with being anxious, in a rush, having our brains go haywire and dealing with negative thoughts. Start your day fresh and ready to kick ass, whatever it might be and being cool and collected in the midst of chaos.
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