Cold Showers aka Ishnaan

Why? I always share with students, you will never ever regret a cold shower. Getting in the shower is a wrestling match with your subconscious and if you win, you will truly win in multiple ways. Your skin will over time literally become more radiant. Your major organs will thank you for the generous flush of fresh blood supply. The nervous system is able to relax and restore while balancing the glandular system. And your negativity will literally fade away.

If you have a space heater for your bathroom this will take your journey to the next level. I like to stick my towel right in front of the space heater for after the shower.

Begin by dry brushing your body with a soft bristle natural brush. Brush the bottoms of your feet and work up the body to the heart center. From above the heart you work your way down to the heart. This gets the circulation flowing through the body.

Then take a high grade oil--coconut is cooling (great for summer), sesame is warming (great for winter) and almond is an excellent choice year round and massage this into your skin toe to head.

Turn on the cold water and begin chanting. If you don't chant you will mentally say things like, "Fuck this" or "This is crazy" or "I am crazy". And none of that helps melt away the negativity and it just takes the fun out of it. So I recommend chanting Ang Sang Wahe Guru. Ang sounds like ung, as in sung. So the chant sounds like Ung Sung Wahe Guru. This commands the 30 trillion cells that create you and blasts away all negativity.

I like to start with the feet entering the water, and then the calves which I massage with my feet. Then I begin to enter more and more body parts, leaving the head and hair (tied up on top of your head) out of the water the whole time. As you chant massage your body all over. Really massage the digestive track. It's amazing to allow the water to flow down from your neck as this assists with giving the metabolism a jump start.

The breasts and armpits deserve a thorough massage. I enter and exit the water 3-4 times massaging this whole area vigorously as it's tonic for the lymphatic system and a great breast cancer preventative. The cold shower isn't a passive experience. You are moving and massaging the whole time. After completion towel dry, dress and you are ready for deep meditation. A cold shower will create a mental space for you to set your rhythm for the day, instead of the rhythm of the collective consciousness riding you.

On the first two days of your menstrual cycle it's best to skip a cold shower--warm water is preferred. These cold showers are not for bathing. This is much like a meditation practice. For times you need to soap up and wash hair, use warm water. And please don't take a hot shower and finish with a cold shower thinking you have practiced Ishnaan. Yes, the hot and cold water is an excellent form of hydrotherapy, however it's a different practice altogether.

"Showers should be cold. Cold showers preserve a woman as a woman; they correct imbalanced menstruation, prevent early menopause, skin problems and they help her to keep her glow."
-Yogi Bhajan

The Science of Cold Showers