‘Snowga,’ Cryotherapy and Other Cold Treatments

Cold treatments like cryotherapy, the Wim Hof Method, and snowga are becoming a hot trend. by Alison Margo I emerge from the yoga studio drenched with sweat and step outside barefoot to navigate the rocky path down to the banks of Aspen’s Roaring Fork River. Wading into the freezing water, I try to slow my breathing, elongating my exhales as I slowly submerge my body into the icy depths. View the new issue! My plunge into the mountain river isn’t madness. It’s an attempt to explore the growing popularity of cold exposure therapy. Today I’m trying the Wim Hof Method, founded by Dutch extreme athlete Wim Hof. His technique harnesses meditation and mindset to influence control over the body. His belief—like that of his fellow cold exposure proponents—is that bracing shiver-inducing temperatures for a short time (often after a workout or exposure to heat) offers myriad health benefits. It may speed up metabolism, reinvigorate the body, reduce inflammation and toxins, and burn fat, while improving circulation, sleep, focus, and immune response. Some devotees also posit that learning how to stay relaxed in uncomfortably frigid conditions builds resilience and grit, which helps you cope with adversity in other parts of your life. Cold plunges have long been popular in Scandinavia, Russia, and some Native American cultures. But the wellness community in the U.S. has only recently warmed up to the concept. In the past few years, snow rooms, snow showers, ice caves, and cold plunge pools have become increasingly popular at spas and studios, according to a recent report by the Global Wellness Institute. Emily Longfellow, founderowner of The Vimana House near Aspen—and the instructor leading my post- yoga foray into the Roaring Fork—explains the benefits of cold therapy this way: “When we get into the river when we are all hot, sweaty, and stretched out, the cold completes the medicine from our yoga practice. It has a constricting quality that is good for our skin and anti- inflammatory for our muscles. It also further strengthens and jump-starts our immune system by putting it under stress, much like the heat does.” Getting outside one’s physical and mental comfort zone, cold therapy devotees say, does a body good. Longfellow plans to host Aspen Wim Hof instructor Errol Doebler, a former Navy SEAL, to lead a series of cold exposure workshops at her studio over the next year. ICE CHEST Curious to sample more cold therapies, I decide to try whole body cryotherapy (WBC), which uses liquid nitrogen to expose you to ultra-low temperatures (about minus 240 degrees), at Aspen’s Fahrenheit Body Spa. Shivering just thinking about those numbers, I allow myself to be closed into a “cryo cabin” that looks like a giant vat and leaves only my head sticking out. Brian Frisselle, a former professional race car driver and founder of Fahrenheit, distracts me with small talk as the cabin fills with intense cold. Before I can fully assess my level of discomfort, the three-minute session is over. As I step out of the cabin, I’m surprised to realize that the previously aching muscles in my neck have relaxed and I feel energized. “Our clients swear by it,” says Frisselle of the treatment. “The blood rushes to the central core and vital organs, bringing nutrients, endorphins, and many other benefits.” He also points out that professional athletes have long used cold thermal therapies to aid with recovery from sports injuries and fatigue. SNOW STRETCH In perhaps a natural marriage of cold therapy and the pandemic-induced craving for fresh-air fitness, yoga, too, is getting a frosty twist. Outdoor yoga in the winter— snowga, as some dub it—is catching on everywhere from the Pacific Northwest to New England. Group snowga at Beyul Retreat, near Aspen. “During winter we get more stagnant in the body, and going outside and practicing yoga in the warm Colorado sun, with wind on your skin and with snow on the ground, is invigorating,” says Abby Stern, founder and general manager of Beyul Retreat, a wilderness lodge an hour outside Aspen. Stern curated a unique winter yoga retreat offering at Beyul that includes meditation in a wood fire sauna as well as a cold plunge in an outdoor pond or in the Frying Pan River. “It’s great for boosting the lymphatic and immune systems,” she says. “It shocks the system and then we learn to work with the breath to reacclimate.” In fact, the “shock” to the system is one of the elements devotees of cold therapies like best. Getting outside one’s physical and mental comfort zone, they say, does a body good, particularly when it reconnects us with nature. But be smart about it: If you’re contemplating taking the (cold) plunge, talk with your doctor first, particularly if you have a preexisting medical condition.