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.