Lauren Teller
The Cold Plunge
By Lauren Teller
I keep bad news from the Middle East stored in the only place that can hold so much horror: the bulletin board inside my heart. I tack up headlines and hope that lasting change will come someday.
Last spring, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to be the female instructor for a breath and cold plunge workshop hosted by the Boston-based incubator program Our Generation Speaks. OGS supports young entrepreneurs from Israel and Palestine who are working together to create a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian future. The OGS website contains words like “hope,” “trust”, “the future,” and “now.”
Hooray! The breathing techniques I teach in my own work with the Wim Hoff method can alleviate stress, and adding a physical challenge like the cold plunge builds trust. As Joyce Carol Oats wrote, “We tell ourselves stories to live.” The breathing will feel awkward at first, and the cold can be scary, but if I can help a diverse gathering find trust, they'll go home with stories to support the whole region. Hey, I’m in!
Weeks later, reality hit me: Once again, I'd yielded to optimism and wrote the end of the story first. I shook my head at such vanity; in the face of the conflicts in the Middle East, who was I to give instruction? Teaching involves reaching people; what did I know of their lives? I pulled over and called my Rabbi. “Unity without uniformity, let that be your teaching imperative,” the Rabbi counseled.
Photo courtesy of Lauren Teller
At the workshop I talked for hours; they listened. I emphasized geographic commonality and complimented them on their learning speed; they paired up and practiced breathing techniques like they knew each other’s thoughts. When the ice bath was ready, they circled in silence. A tub filled with ice—even one with daisies floating—can be intimidating. I was reverent, too, but towards them. I took the hands of the first woman. She stepped forward, put her toe in the tub, and stopped.
“I can’t! I can’t!” she wailed. I gripped her hands and thought of Vaclav Havel’s words: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.”
A woman in a full-body burkini rushed forward.
“Yes, you can, Zalika!! YOU CAN! Your breath. Do like this. Like this,” she said, and taking a full inhale through her nose, she demonstrated the full inhale and long, slow exhale needed to calm the nervous system. I felt Zalika move. A woman with a star of David at her neck was trying to pry her hands from mine.
“Zalika, focus,” whispered this woman, her face against Zalika’s. “Think of our futures and remember what she taught us. There will be hard things; that’s why we’re here. The breath and conquering the ice will help.”
I don’t understand enough to write big stories. I write only what I know. When someone feels the power of breath, a door inside opens. Zalika inhaled and, on an exhale, stepped fully in, bent her knees, and descended. The hem of her headscarf floated on the ice. When a person is immersed in frigid water, there is thoughtfulness, worry, or joy in their eyes. When something else happens, I stand as a silent witness. It was like that with Zalika. A tremble passed between our hands; I don’t know where it began. Then she smiled, rose, and stepped out.
The afternoon went like that: Palestinian and Israeli women, head-to-toe, alternating between terrified faces and joyful expressions. Cold, wet hugs. Unfamiliar names like Aziza, Eluf, and Zalika; familiar ones like Rachel, Miriam, and Sarah. Cheers for places I have never seen: Ramallah, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and for places I know well: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem. The women sang in Arabic and Hebrew; it was hard to hear the difference.
That was June 18, 2023. All of the women held hands that day, unaware of what was to come We laughed and danced and hoped.
Lauren Teller is a level 2 Wim Hof Method instructor, Positive Psychology Coach, author, and artist. She is passionate about physical health, emotional intelligence, and spiritual joy. She spends her time helping people learn to love themselves. Visit LaurenTeller.com.
