Try cold water swimming regularly

“Returning to the same spot most days keeps me entirely in tune with nature - the moon controlling the tides, the changing of the seasons, the comings and goings of the wild. I heard the first cuckoo of spring and the first roaring stag of the autumn, I saw the first and the last swallow of the season at the loch. The colours change on the trees and the moors around the loch, snow caps the tops of the mountains and then melts away - to be felt in the chill of the water temperature as it enters the loch through countless rivers - bringing the cold and the fresher water. I regularly spot birds flying low across the water, wading on the shore, standing in the shallows, bobbing about on the loch with me: heron, cormorant, oystercatcher, curlew, goose, ducks, gulls … I learn their names, their calls, their behaviours. In the summertime fish jump and jellyfish arrive. I have swam with otters and seals, silently communicating and sharing the water. I have arrived at the loch shore with a hammer to break the ice to get in, staying just long enough in the water for the cold shock thrill to kick in. I have stayed in for well over an hour, swimming long distances and lingering on the shore afterwards, not quite ready to return to the real world.”

“I notice a massive difference in my life when I swim in the cold water regularly, instead of just restricting a swim to summer days when the ice-cold ocean is a welcome salve to the baking heat of the sun. [...] For me, the cold water shock brings me totally inside my body, forcing a presence I’m generally not capable of in the rest of my day. My mind is silenced and completely reset. For a while it’s just me in the water, every nerve ending firing. It’s so grounding but also so light, total joy as I dive through the waves, flipping around and around feeling every inch in contact.”