Most people who never make it to my courses don't have a time problem. They have a fear of cold water.

And almost all of them believe the same thing: that you need a certain toughness to sign up for a course like this. That ice bathing is for people who take cold showers without batting an eye.

That's the misunderstanding. And it's exactly the other way around.

The Course Is Designed for People Who Are Afraid

Someone who has no respect for cold water doesn't need a course. They just get in.

Everyone else — which is almost everyone — brings exactly what we work with: a nervous system sounding the alarm. A racing heart at the mere thought. The voice in your head saying: I'll never survive this.

That's not weakness. That's your nervous system doing its job. It only knows ice-cold water as a threat.

For now.

My first real ice bath was a bathtub full of gas-station ice. I had been working my way there for weeks — breathwork, cold showers — until the cold from the tap didn't bother me anymore. I wanted more. So I drove to the nearest petrol station and dumped 40 kilos of ice into the tub. The feeling of stepping in is something I'll never forget: my body just did it — and my head was clearer than it had ever been in my life.

What Actually Happens in the Course

No one steps straight into cold ice with me. Literally.

The course starts with the breath. You first learn how to calm your own alarm system — in the warmth, on the mat, with zero pressure. Only when that clicks do we move toward the water.

And then there's one sentence I tell every participant beforehand: No one has to get into the ice. There's no countdown and no peer pressure. Someone who walks to the edge and turns back has still learned more about themselves that day than in many a seminar.

On top of that: we're a maximum of ten people. I stand right there, next to each person individually. Nobody goes under — in the water or in the group. Health questions get answered beforehand, not at poolside.

The First Thirty Seconds

I won't promise you something soft: the water is cold. The first impulse is a breathing reflex — exactly the one you practised beforehand.

And then something happens that surprises almost everyone: it goes quiet. The mind that had a hundred reasons against it a moment ago is still. You sit in the ice water and breathe. That's it.

That moment is the real reason for the course. Not the cold. The cold is just the tool.

What You Take With You

After the ice bath, the fear isn't gone. But it's lost its terror — because you've experienced that you can handle your own alarm.

To be honest: getting used to the cold takes time. But your body remembers. What you've learned once, it recalls faster than you think.

And it doesn't stay at the poolside. You take it into situations that have nothing to do with water: packed schedules, difficult conversations, nights when your mind won't switch off.

If something tightened in you while reading this: that's not a sign to stay away. That's where we begin.

Find the next Fundamentals Course dates here. If you have questions beforehand — especially about health — just write to me.