Cold Shower Practice (Misogi)

For Many years, about 45 years actually, I've ended my morning shower with a cold shower. By cold, I mean COLD, not cool or lukewarm. I don't know why I began to do this, except perhaps that around the age of 16 I decided that I would swim in Lake Candlewood, on my birthday April 23, every Spring, and even in Connecticut the water is cold in Spring. I felt I wanted to be tough enough to just dive in with no toe dipping and cries of shock. I thought it would toughen me in general and help me to adapt to cold weather and discomfort. I retained this practice throughout my life and even when a teenager I also felt a spiritual and emotional aspect stirring from it.

I always felt that morning was the only time that a cold shower would be beneficial. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I found out that one of the health benefits of cold showers in the morning is that it stops the output of melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal glands in mammals in the morning. Researchers have revealed a myriad of health benefits and medical uses for melatonin, among which are re-establishing Circadian rythm, aiding learning and memory loss, combating Alzheimer's and mood disorders, insomnia, cancer, obesity, headaches, ADHD, to name a few. Cold showers in the morning help establish appropriate melatonin production, which entails having it being released into the bloodstreams at night to aid sleep.

Circulation is greatly enhanced by the practice of ending one's morning showers with cold water. Warm water brings the blood to the outer surface of the body and cold water accelerates this process at first by dilating the capillaries and pulling the blood from the inner body to the skin, and then sends back to the internal organs. The skin's pores are first cleansed by the warm water and then closed by the cold, as are the hair cuticles. The result is glowing skin and shiny hair. I’m 61 and I’ve been told (even by a skin specialist), that I have very good skin

More physical benefits are:

Anti depressant influence
longevity benefits
toxins flushed from the skin
less toxins from water and self cleaning products absorbed
fertility benefits in men
boost and improve all glands of endocrine system
Improve lymphatic production and drainage
reduce swelling edema and inflammation
skin conditions,
Improve skin elasticity and collagen production
repair and strengthening of the circulatory system
strengthen and regulate autonomic nervous system
reduce stress
Enhance pain tolerance
improve hemorrhoids and varicose veins
Relieve chronic fatigue
Stimulate anti -tumor responses
Increases percentage of brown body fat - the good fat which helps offset diabetes & obesity
Lowers uric acid

It’s best to take a shower finished by a cold shower on an empty stomach.

Beyond these very important health benefits are the mental emotional and spiritual benefits.
Being of Eurasian background, with a Japanese grandmother from a Samurai lineage, I was interested to find that Samurai and seekers of spiritual balance alignment and development regularly practiced Misogi - Harai, the cleaning or purification of body, mind and spirit, through the washing away of impurity or obscuring energies in a cold river or waterfall, or by pouring cold buckets of water over themselves.

Over the years I incorporated an intent to allow water to wash away resentment, grievances, resentments, emotional hurts and any unwanted emotions and habitual thoughts. It is symbolically satisfying to guide your imagination in this way and to see the water flowing down the drain with unwanted emotional rubble.
I will probably finish my showers with 5 to 10 minutes of cold water as long as I’m alive, which, due to the many health benefits and my family background may be for a very long time.

Defying Aging

We are told time is an illusion and at the same time are told to be in the moment. I consulted Spirit on this dichotomy recently after a time of being unwell and not walking, or doing any type of inner work. After exchanging spiritual greetings with Spirit as I always do, I mentioned that I hadn’t been spending any time in Non-Time as I sometimes call walking meditation, trance, and other similar experiences. This is what was given to me...

Where are you when you’re not integrating the spiritual in your daily life? When you are simply and only in the physical you are truly trapped in the finite logistics of time and space. When you are earthbound in this way, you enter the aging experience of a limited earthly existence.

Transcendence, which you experience in many other states besides your ordinary everyday consciousness, takes you out of the moment into the spaces between the moments, this what you need to integrate into your earthly moments. Playing is transcendental, making music, creating, being in Nature and any activity which takes you out of your customary daily existence in a pleasurable way. These experience expand your consciousness into the wonder and timelessness of Infinity. It is here that Joy resides, and Love in it’s purest form, as a sweet state of bliss and not a human emotion.

The All That Is, is a powerful organic whole which you are an essential part of. Although you may feel small and insignificant you are as important to the workings of the Universe as every small part of a clock is necessary for a clock to keep on ticking.

HOW I BECAME RICH ...

Success and Wealth:

The Secret, Think and Grow Rich and so many other books, articles, talks, lectures, teachers, , Life coaches, gurus, seminars, webinars, workshops and classes, focus on attaining Wealth, , becoming a Millionaire, becoming Wealthy. I capitalized Wealth and Millionaire because these days that’s where the values of society focus. Many condemn the breaks the government gives to the very wealthy , who in the opinion of many own the government, and there has been a voluble outcry against the reckless way in which the small percentage of the wealthy has recklessly attained and maintained their wealth, Despite that in my life coaching studies I’ve been saddened to see the 6 figure income and I’m saddened to see how many aspire to achieve great wealth or to become a millionaire.

This morning I clicked on a link to read a blog by a woman who has overcome some big challenges and is still working on attaining freedom from life’s challenges. I was saddened by this blog although parts of it were right on.

The author was perhaps referring to the law of entrainment . This is no news. There is a term in physics called entrainment which is based on a concept introduced in 1666 when Christian Huygens, a physicist noticed the inclination of pendulum clocks placed in proximity to one another (as in the same room) to fall into the same rhythm. This occurrence falls under the principles of resonance, or sympathetic vibrations. This is no news.

What bothered me about this outlook came next when the writer stated “If you are serious about deliberately creating wealth in your life like I am, begin hanging out with wealthy people.” To me monetary wealth is not a criterion for friendship. It has been my experience in my years on this earth that wealth has many faces. Monetary wealth just hasn’t demonstrated itself to be one of the characteristics I value or look for in a friend or companion. While I have often desired more financial stability and security or abundance in my life, I have rarely found the friends public figures and people I know who are wealthy in finances to be happier, or more secure and balanced than those who aren’t.

In fact, I’ve found many, but not all, to be rather miserable. Many are on multiple anti-depressants and anti- anxiety prescription and/or self medicate with recreational drugs, booze, shopping, drama and gossip, or whatever suits their particular needs. We’ve all read the statistics on the economic analysis of global wealth and are aware that about 90 % of global wealth is distributed throughout North America and “rich Asia Pacific countries and 1% of adults are estimated to hold 40 % of world wealth. According to Richard H Ropers the author of Persistent Poverty and American Prejudice: With Liberty and Justice for Some; the concentration of wealth in the United States is inequitably distributed. That 1% at the top of the financial ladder has a net worth approximately equal to that of the bottom 90%. “ Do I long to be among the 1% holding vast amounts of wealth in cash property and investments ? No.

Lately I’ve realized I am a very rich woman. I am wealthy in rich relationships, family and friends. I have a home and a very small bit of land which I am truly fond of. I have a wonderful friendship and relationship with my husband kids and animal companions. I really value knowledge and books and I have a huge library. I am intrigued by crystals, rocks and minerals and have enough to open a rock and mineral store, but I don’t hoard and store them. They’re displayed throughout my house and yard to gladden my eye wherever it lands, as are my many, many plants. My ouse has been described as a Bolivian jungle.

Do I want to make a fantastic living ? Yes ! The Key word in my last statement is “living”. No need to ” make a killing” which I always found a strange phrase to use to suggest making an inordinate amount of money. I’m interested in making a great deal of money yes, but I want to be enjoying a fantastic life along the way. I don’t want more than I need and I don’t need more than I want. I don’t want to amass wealth at the expense of others. I want just enough money to have financial stability and abundance and to provide abundantly, not extravagantly for myself and my family, to help others in need and to support organizations which are of service to those less fortunate. I want to be able help others achieve the same. I suppose that’s why I do intuitive counseling and life coaching. Through my coaching in the past I’ve encouraged and supported others on their journey to identify and harvest their gifts and to create a job, or jobs they loved while making a “fantastic” living and en-JOY-ing their lives.