36 Comments
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Alisa Kennedy Jones's avatar

You completely inspire me to join SF's Dolphin Club... and your words made me want to sprint all the way down to the docks!

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

DO IT!! :) I will be so curious to hear about your experience. However, with your precious unique brain, I must insist you do this with people. No going it alone out there Miss Independent. xo

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Alisa Kennedy Jones's avatar

Oh, I will definitely be using the buddy system! There are 400 members--so, I'll convince some poor rube! xo

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Alisa, I am just reading Pia Hinckle's newsletter Words & Water. She commented below. She's in San Francisco and a member of the Dolphin Club of which you speak! I'm literally just reading a post from her now where she's talking about the club and her involvement in winter swimming. https://piahinckle.substack.com/p/on-the-rocks.

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Alisa Kennedy Jones's avatar

I follow her!!! I swear--now that I have sign off from the Dr--I'm going to do it! xoxo

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Pia Hinckle's avatar

Happy to join you! I’m a lifetime member.

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Camille Brightsmith's avatar

Definitely, haven’t tried it and don’t plan to, the Colorado winters are enough for me. But I loved reading this! Going to share with a friend!

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Mark VanLaeys's avatar

The concept of wintering, at least for me, is something I've grown in to and it's a deep well to draw from. Your reference to building up slowly is critical for so many forms of positive growth. " You’ll be surprised what your body gets used to," SO TRUE. Be it good or bad, that's a pearl to hold on to, though next to the word "body," I would add - and mind.

Every single one of us has amazing abilities to adapt and so often we get to decide what we get used to. Cold water swim sounds like a win-win.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Thanks Mark. You're right. Body and mind have experienced great benefit because of this experiment. I am only just now coming to the understanding that my wintering will be this deep well I can draw from. Up until now, that was lost on me.

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Mark VanLaeys's avatar

Yup - Live and learn, unlearn as necessary.

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Shawna's avatar

You make me want to try cold dipping even though I hate being cold. :)

I love reading about your progress and journey of healing. It’s inspiring.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

I was not a cold fan either, which is why it took me so long to even try it. One day, standing beside the Koksilah River near my son's house, there was a small eddy of crystal clear water. It was a brisk day in February, the sun was shining and we had hiked to get to this spot on the river. Something about that small pool alongside the rushing water had me stripping down and jumping in. It was a very quick dip, but I will never forget the rush I felt and the electricity in my brain. It was after that experience I started to think long and hard about how cold water therapy could really help me. It still took another year after that though before I "dipped my toe" in again and made it more regular thing. I had to mull on it for a good long while. xo

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

Kim!!!! Happy spring!!!! What a life-giving, smile-inducing offering. I feel the clouds parting between your words, the ground thawing, your own necessary darkness reaching toward the light. And might I add, you are one badass woman for jumping into the Pacific every day for the last two years. That’s some radical medicine for a radical human. I will cheer you from shore.😂❤️

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Knowing you have your own internal floating mechanism, I will happily accept your cheering from the shore!

Here's to the clouds parting and the ground thawing. xo

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

What a backyard! Gorgeous. And I love that you take advantage of it.

I've been curious about taking the cold plunge. Haven't yet. I'm always cold to begin with because of thyroid issues. I do turn my shower to a cooler temperature at the end.

You've inspired me. Thx.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Let me know when you give it a whirl! I'm sure you could make a very funny story out of it. Just saying... Could be good fodder for Good Humor. ;)

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Haha. A companion piece to my Jacuzzi story.

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Lisette Murphy's avatar

Three cheers for the importance of running shoe color!!! And I love this, Kim— so wish I could dip in the pacific right now, but I will settle for the shower… happy healing floating immersing!

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Thanks Lisette. I'm colouring alot these days as well! Using those neo crayons that you can add water to so it's like watercolour. It's been very fun. Healing is turning out to be very multi-dimensional. xo

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Maem's avatar

Beautiful Kim. I love what you wrote about wintering. How true! I sense your are reemerging from a deep hibernation. Love you!

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

😘love you right back!

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Switter’s World's avatar

As much as I dread the thought of swimming in cold water, whenever I jump in, don’t die, and get out, I feel so totally alive. It’s just the getting in part I struggle with.

As far as wintering, it’s not the problem here. It’s the two months of summering that breaks up the rhythm of life.

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Robyn Everingham's avatar

In my neck of the woods, the sub-tropics, Wintering is the best season. The Pacific Ocean is a stones throw from my front door but I am not sure there's ever a month of the year I could call it cold swimming.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Hi Robyn. Lucky you to be where the Pacific is always warm. I love the name of your newsletter.

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Pia Hinckle's avatar

Love this post. Cold water has taught me so much at every stage of my last 30 years of dips and swims in San Francisco Bay. Your corner of the Pacific is much colder! so I applaud your daily dips and can attest to the mental health and community that cold water brings. I also find that it is a continual process to work with my nervous system and just get in. I have never been sorry I did.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Pia, see above my friend Alisa Kennedy Jones. She's in SF and interested in seeing what this is all about. You two should connect! She is awesome.

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Pia Hinckle's avatar

Would love to take her for a dip. And you too! 🥶🧜‍♀️🩵

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

You bring up a good point about the nervous system. Some mornings when it's cold AND windy I have to use extra mind jedi tricks to get out the front door. A warm toque helps on those days. If you've been doing this for 30 years, you must have all kinds of cool stories. I look forward to checking out your newsletter. Thanks for your comment here so I could discover you.

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Maddie Burton's avatar

Kim, is it weird that I was cheering for you as I read this post?! I adored Katherine's book precisely because it normalizes wintering—and yet I'm overjoyed to hear that you're feeling the first signs of spring.

This resonated deeply because I've been limping along for a long time, too, but *just* started to feel that same energy you describe here. It's hard not to fight the lying-fallow times (at least in my experience), but when we do, it makes what comes afterward even sweeter.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Cheering from afar is my specialty, so I don't think it's weird at all. I was so happy to read your last post because I could feel your stirrings coming along as well. It was exciting to see.

I owe you an email. I've unexpectedly been looking after grandkids this week, so I will follow up when my week feels more my own. Yay to whatever comes afterward. xo

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Maddie Burton's avatar

Agreed: yay to whatever comes afterward 😀 (And: no rush at all...I'm not going anywhere. Grandkids are the priority!)

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Sandra Ann Miller's avatar

While I'm only two miles from the Pacific, due to our rains and run-offs, going it isn't always an option. But I feel the same sort of buzzing calm from my WaterRower. It's the whoosh of the water, the rhythmic breathing (unlike when I do yoga and the pose is being forced on us too long...I tend to hold my breath then, waiting for it to be over). I love that damned thing. Base model. Nothing fancy but the whoosh. It's a relaxing, demanding workout I can do while watching something inane on TV, then close my eye to listen to the whoosh. Love that you're running again, Kim, in pretty shoes. Enjoy that dip! xo

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

Rowing is awesome! Both my husband and I were rowers in University, so I know exactly the feeling you describe. The 'catch/whoosh' and the rhythm of the slide. I haven't tried it on a water rower, but I can see how it would be much nicer to hear that water as opposed to the other type of ergometer machine. xo

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Sandra Ann Miller's avatar

That and it's pretty. Since I live in a small space, and would have to see it ALL the time, it had to be aesthetically pleasing. LOL. xo

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Nolan Yuma's avatar

This piece hit home. I don't know if I'd have made it through 2023 without cold water. The only downside I've noticed is my tolerance. At first, I did it for stress and depression, but then I started taking ice baths or swimming in cold water before workouts because it increases testosterone. Now, I get a bit anxious on the days I don't have cold enough water around me.

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

My dream is to like cold water swimming one day

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