A group of friends in Owensboro have dubbed themselves the Ice Bath Posse after meeting at a Wim Hof Method class in 2022. Now, the friends connect weekly and join each other in community ice bathing on Sundays. On Saturday, the group is participating in the Polar Bear Plunge at Lake Cumberland.
The original three are Jennifer Francis-Gehring, Bret Maynard, and Alex Roach.
“We have quickly grown over the last year to an amazing group of 10 humans from all walks of life, beliefs, and backgrounds,” Francis-Gehring said. “We have found support, love, connection, and community in ice bathing together two to three times weekly.”
She said the group is dedicated to spreading the word about healing their nervous system and healing trauma stored in their bodies through ice bathing, cold exposure, and breathwork, through the lens of safety and connection.
The Polar Bear Plunge will be a new experience for the group.
“We have never cold plunged into a natural body of water, much less in the winter,” Francis-Gehring said. “But here we are, doing the 2023 Polar Bear Plunge, and raising money for Special Olympics Kentucky. We just want to support the athlete in all of us.”
Group member Jan Alvey said the experience and the group has been amazing in many ways.
Ken Caselden, another member of the IBP, said they are strive to learn how to regulate their nervous systems “and take control back in our lives using breathwork and exposure to heat and cold conditions. ”
The Wim Hof method is a way to keep your body and mind in its optimal natural state. One of the pillars the group focuses on while doing the Wim Hof method is breathing.
“We are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things as we find new ways to influence our physical and mental health,” Caselden said. “We have each learned over our life span up to this point that life never really gets easier as we age, but we can learn how to get better at doing hard things so that we can live happy, healthy lives well into the aging process.”
This is why the Ice Bath Posse plunges and practices breathwork weekly; some daily. The posse is finding that a regular practice of breathing in rhythm, and practicing breath holds reaching up to 4-5 minutes on an exhale, has the power to heal and transform by regulating the “system” into its natural, healthy rhythms.
“Overall, breathwork is teaching me how to listen to my body and invite my higher power to meet me exactly where I am today,” Caselden said. “The Ice Bath Posse has become like a support group for me; one I would not want to imagine my life without today.”
