My right foot feels it first. That biting, tingly feeling slowly creeps up my leg like a caterpillar up bark. I shut my eyes tight and submerge the rest of my limbs into the cedar barrel filled with four bags of ice. The cubes clink against the sides and slowly melt around me, bringing my body temperature back to bearable. And what originally felt like torture by 1,000 needles starts to feel calming—even pleasant. Admittedly, my first cold plunge wasn’t to join in on the latest celebrity fad.
” Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan wrote the book on cold plunging, after beginning to swim in the frigid Scottish waters that surrounded them in 2017. Their books The Ripple Effect and Taking The Plunge, among others, dive into the healing powers of “wild swimming” and the sense of community that comes with it.