Aspen Waite Magazine - Winter 2021

Page 40

40

Does the magic happen outside your comfort zone? Rachael Wood

Rachael.Wood@aspen-waite.co.uk

At Aspen Waite, we love our sports, whether that be Rugby, Cricket, Hiking, Surfing OR in my case, Open Water Swimming.

themselves in any available body of chilly water, from lakes, rivers, streams & the sea to water butts in their back gardens!!

Is there a correlation between sports performance & business success? At Aspen Waite we believe so, as a strong mindset combined with the necessary skills & expertise is a key ingredient to success in both.

What’s all the hype about? Aside from the huge sense of achievement from cold water swimming/dipping/exposure, there are numerous health benefits, including:

Some say the magic happens outside your comfort zone, and if you have pushed yourself across that imaginary dotted line, I’m sure you will agree this to be true. Open Water swimming is nothing new. It became fashionable in 18th Century after George III took a sea dip in Weymouth, Dorset, and remains of a Victorian bathing house can be seen at Elberry Cove, Devon, a beautiful swim spot where I co-incidentally bumped into Aspen Waite Chief of Staff, John Porteous during the summer. Open Water swimming has become incredibly popular over the last two years, the uptake largely driven by the closure of public swimming pools during Lockdown Life. There has consequently been a massive increase in Cold Water Swimmers and the media has been rife with stories of cold-water enthusiasts immersing

• Boost to Immune System • Reduces Inflammation • Reduces Stress. • Increased Confidence and Resilience • Burns Calories • Increases libido • Feel-Good Factor Last year, after a summer of balmy water temperatures; the River Thames reached circa 22 degrees centigrade in July/August, my swim buddies and I were drawn into the idea of a Cold-Water Challenge to keep us going through the winter months. I started off with a modest goal to swim 10x through winter in skins, i.e. just swimsuit, swim hat and goggles, no neoprene, from 1st Oct – 31st March. By 1st November this challenge courtesy of ChallengeCo.co.uk was complete.


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