122. Why I climbed a snow-covered mountain in my underwear

Why did I climb a snow-covered mountain in my underwear? In this episode you'll find out!

I share the story of my Wim Hof Method Winter Expedition including the powerful experience I had and the life changing question that came out of it.

Transcript

Hello! Hello, hello. It is so great to be back on the podcast airwaves. Oh, since I've last recorded an episode-- you may have seen on socials: I've been traveling overseas, I went to my brother's wedding in Spain, which was amazing. And I climbed a snow covered mountain in my underwear. And in this episode, I'm going to share with you what I'm talking about, why I did it and the, oh, knocked over my lipstick there. Gosh, too many things on the desk.

And also what I learned. What I learned from climbing a snow covered mountain in my underwear. So how did this all come about? Let's go back to the day I was born. So I was born on the 4th of October in Wollongong on an unseasonably hot day. It was mid-thirties, very hot for Wollongong that time of year.

And mom said I was a baby who really felt the cold and she'd always have to put little hats on me and scarves. And right through my childhood and teenage years and into my twenties, I was always that friend that was first to get out the Pashmina, put on the jacket. because I really felt the cold. I had this narrative running that I was afraid of the cold, this story I was telling myself.

Combine that with my fascination and interest in breathing. Breathing is foundation for voice without breath, there is no voice. And our words write out on a wave of air. I'm really looking forward to this season talking more about breath, and sharing how breath is so important for voice. And so that's what led me to discover Wim Hof, W-I-M-H-O-F. Wim Hof, amazing Dutchman, who specializes in the Wim Hof method, which he created, which is cold exposure, mindfulness and breathing. So I saw YouTube videos and I read the book, and I saw a Netflix documentary and it got me really curious about, Wow. I feel like I've got breathing pretty down pat.

Can I use breathing to break through my fear of the cold? And so I did some Googling and I found the wonderful Leah Scott from Wild Things Anatomy, and she has expeditions down at Thredbo, in the Australian snow fields. And so I booked. Now, when I arrived, it was a Thursday afternoon. I was geared up for it.

I thought, Yep. I've got this! And surely on the first day, it's not gonna be anything too strenuous. We'll sit around the fire. We'll have a bit of a chat. We'll ease into it, Uhuh. Pretty much as soon as we got there, Leah's like, That's right. In the cars, down to the river. Gear off. In the water. Oh, oh my God.

Now, keep in mind, I had done one ice bath before this. One, singular ice bath on the Gold Coast. Everybody else, pretty much everybody else was consistently doing ice baths or at least consistently doing cold showers. I attempted the cold showers, yet maybe with nobody watching. I was like, Nope, we're going back to hot. I like having my showers lava- like.

Yet I did it. I went in. Into that cold water. Yeah. It was, it was cold! You know, I breathed through it and it was fine. And this was before we learned any of the techniques. So I was like, Oh right. We're on. Friday, we did more of this. We went from the sauna to the ice bath and we walked by the river in bare feet.

And then Saturday was the big one.

Leopard print bike pants, little sports bra, snow shoes. And of course my love heart glasses. you may have seen them in the photos on social. And we were told, alright, the first bit's uphill, um, right. The first 90 minutes was directly uphill in snow. Now towards the top, it was snowing coming in from sideways and it was a struggle.

Oh my gosh. It was physically a challenge because I hadn't been on the old StairMaster. I feel like my yoga and Pilates hadn't quite prepared my fitness level for doing this. And it was freezing well near, yeah, minus eight, actually they reckon minus eight at the top.

And it was this bizarre feeling where I was really struggling. My heart was pounding so fast yet at the same time, I was incredibly cold, and there was so many points along that trek where I didn't think my legs could keep going. And I called down my spirit animal, the snow leopard. I recited every line to every motivational song that I could think of. I remember at one point I was taking each step onto that Sia song:

"I put my armor on show you how strong I am. I put my armor on..." And I was just taking a step with each of those parts of the song. Oh my gosh. A very, very steep bit, led us up to the top of the mountain, the pinnacle.

And when I got there, I just broke down. I just like actually, broke down. I think they captured part of it in the promo video, which is amazing. In that moment, I just felt so incredibly overwhelmed with emotion and so proud. And right at that point, just thinking about getting back down the mountain. When I did get back to the chalets and was in front of the fire, I pondered about how I did it and why I broke down.

And it was because I had done something that I legitimately thought was impossible to do. You know, if you had, have told me before this day that someone with your level of fitness and experience: one ice bath and you know, your potter around in inner city Brisbane, and you are gonna be in bike pants and a bra top, and you are going to trek up a snow- covered mountain and you know what feel great about it?

Like feel amazing. I would've said, You are crazy. You are, like, come on. You're gonna get hypothermia. How can any human do that? Yet I had done it and felt bloody great about it. So I thought to myself, Alright, well, what else do I think I can't do? What else do I think I can't do? And that made me excited. The more, we do things that we think we can't do, the more we realize we are living in a prison of our own thoughts. And it is only our limitations that we make for ourselves that are keeping us down. It's like that Henry Ford quote, If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.

And this is my invitation to you as we kick off Season Eight of That Voice Podcast. What in your life have you done that you previously had thought was impossible?

Chances are, there's lots of examples of this. I want you to think about that. When have you done something that you didn't think you could do?

And then grab out a pen and start a list. And write down what else right now you think you can't do.

And maybe it's to do with speaking and voice. You think, Oh, I, I couldn't start a podcast. I can't go live on social media. I can't speak at a conference. I can't have a million dollar business or whatever it is. And then take a black marker and you cross that shit out. Because, and I'm laughing because this is the thing! Everything on your current list can go to your Can list. And you've proven that in your own life, by doing things that you didn't think you previously could do. It's exciting, isn't it? Now a big piece of this is the group. There is a reason I struggle to have cold showers yet I walked up that mountain. When no one's watching and no one's holding you accountable, it is very easy not to show up for yourself and to back down.

Walking up that mountain with the amazing group of people that were there... All there, pushing the boundaries, seeing the potential they had as humans and supporting one another. There was no way that I wasn't going to do that. And you know what?

There was no way the group was going to let me. They got every single one of us up to the top. Some of us moved slower than others, and some of us needed assistance. Getting back down the steep parts. I'm not shy to say I was one of those. It was the power of the group that literally helped me climb the top of a mountain.

And so on your Can't list, who do you need to help you get there? The top of your mountain?

Maybe it's family, friends. Maybe it's a coach. This is what I love about coaching, because I constantly am dragging people, not dragging. That's not true. Holding and supporting and encouraging people to do things they didn't think they could do.

Cause this is the thing you don't need to do it alone. In fact, it's a hell of a lot harder on your own: reaching out for assistance and doing it with a group, having a helper helps you get there so much faster.

And so after the trek to the top of the mountain, things went up another notch. The next day, we took a dip in the thread bow river before sunrise. And that afternoon, we crunched through the snow while it was snowing. And sat in another river. Amazing. I'm going to get Leah on the podcast to explain the benefits of doing this.

You might be listening, going. Yeah, but Sal, why the hell did you do this huge benefits for immune system cardiovascular system nervous system. There's just so many health benefits to this, which I will get Leah to share in a later episode. Now, can I crank the shower cold? Yes, I can. I love it. I actually struggle to get out of a shower without ending on the cold.

Although I will say I am in Brisbane and the cold water up here in Brisbane is not quite as cold as the cold water in Melbourne as I discovered when I was traveling there last week. And I have that strength to do it, it's like the power of the group was with me at the time. And even though they're not physically here with me now, they are still with me.

I've got that encouragement every time I'm in the shower. Sounds a little bit saucy, doesn't it? Imagine there's a whole group while you're in the shower, but you know what I mean? You've got that feeling with you and you've got that encouragement that you can take on. So that is why I climbed a snow- covered mountain in my underwear to push the edges.

To discover that you can do things you think you can't do.

And what I'd like you to do is get on your phones, go to my Instagram and send me a DM or share this episode on your story. Send me a DM. And I want you to share with me, what is something that you think you couldn't do yet you've now done? And what's next on your Think You Can't Do list?