“AHHH! Damn that is cold!”
My eyes ached. My abdomen shivered. My back arched in a desperate attempt to reduce contact. My burning fingers ran through the sudsy hair, and then across my numb skin.
The experience probably took me less than 3 minutes, although it felt much longer. I am not sure that I have ever showered so quickly in my entire life. It was my first attempt at a full cold shower. I shut off the water and asked myself what kind of masochist would do what I just did. Seconds later I felt the blood moving through me, my nerves firing, and an alert energy radiating from my body and mind. So this was the reason for the last few minutes of agony.
I had previously read articles about how some people have treated severe arthritis through hydrotherapy, the practice of submerging oneself in freezing cold water. Numerous studies demonstrate that hydrotherapy and even cold showers can boost the power of the immune system. Mild cases of depression can sometimes be alleviated through cold showers, due to the intense shock on the nervous system.
The most obvious and personally relevant benefits for myself are threefold: I take shorter showers, I feel especially clean, and I always walk out with a sharp, powerful focus of energy.
The first reason that I began to take cold showers is simple. Even though I have become well accustomed to the shock and mild discomfort, I still cannot stand in the shower indefinitely. I never take more than 5 minutes to shower now, compared with the 45 minutes I would often spend in the shower previously. This is a difference of some 200 hours per year, otherwise wasted beneath a barely lukewarm stream coming from a shower head 12 inches too low. Cold showers save me a lot of time.
Secondly, I feel cleaner than ever, as though every square inch of my skin has been completely expunged of any filth. I actually feel this on a semi-spiritual level as well. All guilt, frustration, anger, lust, or self-pity are obliterated beneath the polar water. All that remains is the energy buzz and mental drive.
Finally, that rush. My gaze sharpens, the slack in my face disappears, and any part of me which was not yet awake has had its ass kicked down a flight of stairs. I feel like I could fight, run, or grind out assignments all day. Cold showers have a compounding effect with sexual transmutation, but even independently, it is thoroughly invigorating.
My advice for anyone who wants to benefit from this is to start soft. Start warm and turn the handle progressively colder. Make it as cold as you can reasonably bear; too much and you will lose the will to repeat the experience. Your body will eventually adjust to the new routine, but the effect it has on your day will always remain potent.
Go forth and conquer!