As I dip my toes into my first ice bath, I’m shocked at how my body reacts. My muscles tense up and my heart rate goes sky-high. Everything burns. Yes, I’d seen it on Instagram and watched celebrities like David Beckham and Kim Kardashian shiver, clench and scream through freezing sessions, but the reality was more shocking than I’d expected. “Remember your breathing,” says Lisa Kricfalusi, a cold exposure therapist who is guiding me through my icy dip — so I take a deep breath through my nose, try to forget about my mind screaming for me to jump out of the bath, and instead delve a little deeper, submerging my shoulders and shocking my body even more.
