There’s Beauty in the Ice Cold

June 1, 2021 | By

Witnessing the turnover in someone’s breath during an ice bath – the shift from short, panicked breathing into softer, gentler breathing – is a beautiful experience. I don’t know how else to put it. I feel exceptionally fortunate to have witnessed this turnover hundreds of times now at DEUCE over the past two years, and yet no matter how many times I see it, it never gets old.

Now. As I say that aloud, I realize that for any of you reading this who have never taken an ice bath before, or perhaps have, but didn’t have a great experience – you might be wondering how in the world could someone ever use the word “beautiful” in the same sentence as a body submerged freezing cold water?! And hey, I get it. But I want you to know that this hypothetical, imagined rebuttal got me thinking about how to better conceptualize for you what I mean here when I say beautiful..

In short, I mean to suggest a perspective that perceiving beauty, objectively, is born, shaped, and enhanced by this critical component: experience.

Don’t take my word for it, though. Take it from one of the greatest cellists of all-time, Yo-Yo Ma:

“I can’t say the word beauty without also equating it with the word transcendence, because it seems like there are so many different things that are beautiful to so many different people. But I think beauty is often an encapsulation of a lot of different things in a certain moment, a frame, let’s say.

It could be music. It could be a poem. It could be an event. It could be in nature, and often, possibly most often, in nature. But, when that encapsulated form is received, there’s a moment of reception and cognition of the thing that is, in some ways, startling.”

The next Breath & Exposure Seminar is THIS SATURDAY, from 1-4pm! Beautiful experience in the ice cold water awaits, all that’s required to access it is your attendance. Warmly inviting you to join me..

ENROLL HERE!

6/1/21 WOD

DEUCE ATHLETICS GPP

Spend 15 minutes to find a 2 RM Bench Press..

Then, complete 3 rounds for quality of:
20 Tate Presses
Max Push Ups

Then, EMOM 15
Min 1: 10 Dbl KB Swings (53/44)
Min 2:  16 Jumping Lunges
Min 3: :30 Max Double Unders

DEUCE BACKLOT GPP

Take 10 min to find a high box jump.

5-5-5-5-5
Banded Deadlift

AMRAP 20
20 KB Swings (53/35)
10 KB Front Rack Step Ups – Right
20 Cossack Squats 
10 KB Front Rack Step Ups – Left
200m Run

DEUCE GARAGE GPP

8-8-6-6 
Sumo Deadlift

Then, complete 3 rounds for quality of:
12 Zercher DB Good Mornings
8 Weighted Side Oblique Crunches (ea)

Then, complete the following for time of:
100 Double Unders
100 Alt Reverse Lunges
100 KB Swings (53/35)

Originally from Northern Virginia, Kimmy is a high-voltage human with a passion for optimal experience. She has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Communication from George Mason University, where she was a two-sport NCAA Division I athlete (soccer & track), and taught communication courses for four years. After college, Kimmy spent a decade coaching and teaching in Virginia prior to moving to California. She is an NLP Practitioner, XPT Level 3 Coach, CrossFit Level 2 Trainer, and was the 2018 Virginia State High School Coach of the Year, where she led her soccer team to a state title in her second year as head coach. Kimmy created and currently runs the Breath & Exposure program at DEUCE Gym. Committed to a lifetime of better understanding human perception, Kimmy is enthusiastic about teaching others how breath, exposure and movement can help them live healthier, more peaceful lives.