While most people would probably choose to stay inside on a cold, rainy December morning, over 30 participants at the Ice Buddies kickoff event at MainX24, Chattanooga’s 24-hour celebration of Main Street and the surrounding Southside neighborhood, gleefully chose to change into bathing suits and hop into tubs of ice water with total strangers. Why might someone do such a thing, you ask? Well, cold-plunging practitioners like Ice Buddies founder James Dawson say a combination of breath work and submerging yourself in cold water can benefit your mental health. And when doing something as difficult as chilling out in 40- to 50-degree water for three to five minutes, why not have a buddy (or a dozen) do it with you?
Dawson, a Chattanooga-based business consultant, says he, like many people, was experiencing burnout and anxiety. He says that he was eating well and exercising but was having trouble being present. Searching for a way to deal with these feelings, Dawson discovered Wim Hof.
Hof, a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete, is known for his breath work and cold-therapy technique, the Wim Hof Method. This method, Hof claims, can increase energy, reduce stress levels and heighten focus, among other things.
After learning about Hof’s method, Dawson decided one day to plunge into the unheated outdoor pool at his gym in January. The cold shock activates the body’s fight-or-flight response, he explains, and by finding your breath and centering yourself, you experience peace and find yourself in the present.
“You’re not worried about the past, and you’re not worried about the future,” Dawson says. “Your body is, physically and mentally, fully present in ice water. And you get out and receive this unbelievable dopamine surge, just complete feelings of euphoria.”
After experiencing cold plunging’s benefits, Dawson came up with the idea to build a community centered around the activity and mental-health advocacy. Enter Ice Buddies.
James Dawson prepares a tub of ice water at his home in Chattanooga.Since the group’s inaugural event at MainX24, members have engaged in weekly communal cold plunges in outdoor bodies of water, such as Suck Creek, in the winter, Dawson says. Once community members take the plunge, they verbally express to the group what they want to let go of and what they want to hold onto.
The community has been growing, and feedback has been positive, Dawson says.
“I’ve heard people say that they were looking for some type of community and would have never thought it would look like Ice Buddies but are glad to be a part of it,” he says.
Andre Cimo, a Chattanooga local working in logistics, started cold plunging about three years ago. Like Dawson, Cimo learned about Wim Hof and was drawn to the benefits of his method. So he started doing breath work and cold plunging to benefit his mental health. He noticed an immediate change and was hooked.
When Cimo started cold plunging, he says he felt like a pioneer because the activity wasn’t well known at the time. He describes going out into nature, hiking to a water source and taking the plunge. He says his negative feelings disappear when he’s in the water, and he feels amazing once he gets out.
With Ice Buddies, cold plunging with other like-minded people helps build and strengthen a sense of camaraderie, Cimo says.
“It’s neat to be a part of a community of people that do it now, as opposed to just being the weird guy at work that does cold plunging,” he says. “And seeing the positive impact that it has on other people around you, just having those people there to support you, makes you feel really empowered and strong and really like you can accomplish anything.”
The goal of Ice Buddies is to continue growing the community, advocate for mental health through local partnerships and create a sustainable way to cold plunge throughout the year, Dawson says. The group is also offering on-site cold-plunge experiences for businesses, organizations and events in the area.
“Right now, maybe more than ever in history, human beings are yearning for community,” Dawson says. “We are more isolated than we’ve ever been, and a huge piece of Ice Buddies is simply bringing together a group of people.”
To connect with Ice Buddies, visit weareicebuddies.com or follow the community on Instagram.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Ice Buddies founder James Dawson