‘I felt amazing, vibrant, alive’: Frances Whiting on the crazy new trend you must try

I jumped right into this trend that boosts the immune system, relieves joint pain, helps with depression, anxiety and creates a natural high.

Beanies rather than bathing caps for ice swimming in Finland. T+L COLD

Wild swimming is incredibly popular at the moment, and if you’re not familiar with it, it’s where people hurl themselves into freezing lakes, rivers, ponds and various other outdoor bodies of water, apparently voluntarily.

They do it because of its reported health benefits, including boosting the immune system, relieving joint pain, helping with depression, anxiety and creating a natural high.

Me? I did it to prove a point. We’ve recently returned from visiting friends in York in the United Kingdom where one of them has become a wild water enthusiast, regularly driving to a remote farm to swim in one of its three ponds. Such fun.

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Prior to our trip, she told me of her new hobby and I said “Oh, I do that here, too, at our local reservoir” And I do.

What I neglected to mention, however, is that I do it in 40 degree heat with a water temperature at a balmy 28 degrees, honestly it’s like a lovely warm bath.

Ice swimming in Finland. Picture: Mikko Ryhanen T+L COLD

Wild swimming is not like that. It’s more like plunging yourself into your own deep freezer. Anyway, my family overheard me, said I could not do the real thing, I said I could, which is how I found myself standing on the edge of a pond in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors, surrounded by a group of hardy looking women wearing bathing suits and woollen hats. I don’t think I can adequately describe how cold it was, suffice to say it was the middle of winter, with a light dusting of snow. Snow.

“What are we, polar bears?”, I joked to my fellow swimmers to break the ice – until we broke the actual ice – but my teeth were chattering so much, it came out as

“Wwwahwwwwppppbbbbs’s?” They all looked confused, until my friend told them I came from Australia and that seemed to explain everything.

There was a small sauna hut near the edge where one of the women told me we could go to warm up whenever we liked, and I very sensibly headed there immediately until she said she meant after we had actually gone swimming.

Then, one by one all the group took the plunge, lowering themselves into
the water down a ladder and then striking out through the ice – did I mention there was actual ice? – until I could put it off no longer.

Frances Whiting. Picture: Tara Croser.

I adjusted my swimmers, pulled down my woollen beanie, and looking extremely attractive, I lowered myself and entered the water, and my heart stopped. I mean it actually stopped. Or at least, it felt like it did.

I gasped, shot out of the water, ran to the sauna hut, and did not speak a word to the other women already there because I was too busy checking my extremities to see if I still had any.

Then I did it again. And again. Because it got easier, and each time it felt less cold, until it almost felt pleasant and one of the women told me to get out because that’s the first sign of hypothermia.

But I felt amazing. Vibrant. Alive. All of which is to say, if someone invites you to dip your toes into some open water, give it a go.

It’s surprising how good it feels to – literally – get out of your comfort zone. Also to prove your family wrong.

Originally published as ‘I felt amazing, vibrant, alive’: Frances Whiting on the crazy new trend you must try