Cold Culture - with Louis O'Connor

How did you begin your Friday morning? Whether it was watching the news, walking your dog, or listening to a podcast, it probably wasn’t by sitting in a tub of ice.

'Frontloading,’ Louis explains, ‘it’s doing all of your jobs, appointments, and work in the first half of the day’ so that you can relax knowing, ‘I’ve got the rest of my day.’ To Louis, these ice baths set the tone for any beneficial day.

Cold Culture- what is it?

‘Cold Culture’ is a brand started by local Warrnambool man, Louis O’Connor. It entails half an hour of meditation and breath work, followed by an ice-bath in temperatures of ‘one or two degrees celsius, max’. The sessions are ran each Saturday at 6:30am, with pop up sessions during the week over Summer.

What originally began as a desire for more in Louis life has now became a craze surging through Warrnambool. ‘Cold Culture’ is more than just a catchy name, dubbed ‘life changing’ and even ‘lifesaving’ by attendees, it’s clear that Louis was meant to bring this program to our area.

What does the Cold Culture community look like?

Arriving each Saturday morning, you’re met by a group of friendly individuals, all with the same goal of self-betterment. When asked about the community of Cold Culture, Louis speaks with ease of his clients-turned-friends; “you’re only surrounded by like-minded people. Likeminded in the fact that they want to grow, improve and better themselves. There’s none of that bitchiness or ‘I can’t believe you do this’. No one has to be there, they're choosing to be there.”

Without being grouped together in a classroom, sports team or office, beginning new connections as we get older can be difficult. Louis believes that the people attending Cold Culture sessions have ‘that mindset’ of stepping out of comfort zones to build new connections, ‘that’s why they’re there doing something crazy like ice baths.’

‘A lot of people like (Cold Culture) because of the community. They’ve found friends, not just because ‘oh we grew up in the same town together so we’re friends’, ‘no, we’re friends because we like the same stuff’.

So how did these sessions find root in Warrnambool?

To Louis, the concept of cold exposure is a familiar one; ‘I was interested in ice baths, seeing Wim Hof stuff online, I always had an interest in personal growth, improvement and recovery from playing sport. I went to a session in Torquay, which is similar to kind of what we do; breathing and ice baths, and I loved it.’

With his preexisting organisational skills from working as a teacher, Louis believed that he had what it takes to bring this program to Warrnambool; “I just went for it and did it”.

I think we’ve all been guilty of criticising business ideas we deem ‘too simple’. Maybe it’s a $500 piece of art that is really just paint splatter, or a best selling children’s book that only has three words on each page. The whole ‘I could do that’ mentality is an interesting one, because nine times out of ten, we don’t do it. Louis did though.

The Skill of Leadership:

What brings a good idea to life is the person behind it, “No one’s gonna promote your business if you’re not promoting yourself”. Louis is clearly gifted with the skills of a strong leader, and humbly summarises those gifts as ‘just my trade’; “speaking in front of people, educating people.”

Working as a primary school teacher, boxing coach, and business owner, ‘communicating with people, developing relationships and helping people improve’ is the foundation that Louis shares between each role. Despite identifying as an ‘introvert’, being a leader comes naturally for Louis; ‘When it’s time for someone to lead something, I can.’

Challenges:

Natural born leader or not, choosing to spend your weekend waking up early and sitting in a tub of ice is no doubt a challenge. “A lot of people are like ‘it’s just a bit early’ and that’s fine, that’s why you’re not here.” A frank statement, but one that Louis can back. “I get it, I’ve been those people as well. I still am occasionally, the challenge is getting up early, and starting your day like that”.

The challenge begins even before bodies hit ice, ‘the challenge of your own mind,’ by holding sessions just off dawn. ‘Apart from all the physical stuff that can happen to your body, it’s more the mental side of things, I think. You’re out of bed. You’ve challenged yourself. You’ve achieved something, and it’s only the morning. You’ve got the whole day ahead.’

You aren’t an odd-one-out because you don’t find the ice enticing, even Louis confesses that he still

stares at the tub and ‘dreads it’ some days, but that it is absolutely ‘worth it’.

Benefits:

Muscle recovery, lower blood pressure, increased energy, improved circulation... a quick google search will have your head spinning with the physical benefits of cold exposure therapy, but Louis has found that the biggest change has come emotionally, simply feeling ‘happier throughout the day’.

How can a practice that seems so uncomfortable, produce joy? Louis explains how ice baths spike ‘a mass amount of dopamine’, like sex, drugs, sugar and love. Usually a sharp spike of dopamine is met with the consequence of a sharp decline, that has you ‘chasing those short term dopamine hits’ and feeling tired, fast. The feeling after eating too many lollies is a good example of that. Cold exposure causes the prolonged release of dopamine; leaving you feeling good, for longer.

With so many benefits and testimonials, would it be correct to view Cold Culture as a form of therapy? Louis thinks so;

“it’s cold exposure therapy, and breath work therapy.”

“I’m hesitant to use the word ‘therapy’, because I think people associate that with qualifications. There’s a sort of legality attached to using that word and people can get very strange with it.”

“I’m not handing out advice, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m not giving medical advice. Sometimes people who have gone through a tough time just need someone to tell their story to. Talk it out, declutter their mind.”

Is cold exposure clinically tested?

It seems to be often that holistic practices are discredited as being ‘pseudo science’, so how clinical is Cold Culture? Let’s break the practice down in to two parts; the beginning half hour of gratitude, breath-work and meditation, and then the following ice bath session.

“There’s research around gratitude, and telling stories. Teaching gratitude through stories is more affective than just telling people ‘be grateful’.” “You find gratitude in stories. The human condition and existence is all narrative based”. Louis often implements fables into his session, creating easy visualisations of values for his clients.

Using his teaching experience, Louis runs me through the studies encompassed in ‘The Resilience Project’;

There’s a set of three questions used throughout schools in Australia;

One - what was the best thing that happened to me today? Two- who am I most grateful for today and why? Three- what am I most looking forward to tomorrow?

'If you do that for twenty-one to twenty-eight days, and you pay attention to those

three questions every single day, there’s a lot of research that shows you’re inclined to be more happy and less anxious.’

That’s the mental side of things, now how proven are the benefits of cold exposure? With confidence, Louis responds; “There’s lots of research on it now.”

Louis enlightens me on the works of Susanna Søeberg, an author and PhD holder from Denmark, who has created a thesis on the benefits of cold water exposure.

Søeberg is no stranger to the world of cold exposure, she accumulates mass references on Joe Rogan’s number one podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, and has a strong online presence herself via social media. Søeberg has been developing clinical research around how much cold water exposure and sauna time you should do per week in order to receive maximum benefits.

Louis ponders for a moment; ‘I think it’s around eleven minutes’ of cold exposure, and fifty-seven minutes of sauna time. Søeberg’s research has found an anatomical impact, with the pairing of cold exposure and sauna exposure positively affecting the fats in our bodies.

Talk of one researcher leads to another; "I’ve started to study what is essentially the ‘Wim Hof method’.”

Wim Who?

Wim Hof. If you’re anything like me, an image of a man with a beard and minimal clothing popping out of ice might come to mind. From what I’ve learnt this

morning, this man is pretty remarkable.

“Wim Hof is a guy in the Netherlands. He’s crazy, really into his fitness, running marathons. I think he’s done (a marathon) in Antarctica, in the deserts, in extreme temperatures with no clothes on, just shorts.”

This man sounds tough to say the least, but what impact has he had on cold exposure research?

“He started doing his own breath work practice, which is a very ‘yogi-like’ technique as well. He would be going in the freezing cold lakes and realised how good it made him feel. He was experimenting with that, and has done more and more and more.” Louis trails, the admiration clear in his tone.

“They’ve started a study in science. It’s legit. It’s scientifically backed now.” And with that the insult of ‘pseudo-science’ can start to fade out.

Most great revelations come from a place of suffering, so what’s Hof’s story?

“His wife committed suicide, he was miserable with that and was like ‘right, I need to find things that make me feel good.”

“Now (Hof) is worldwide, he’s got millions of followers, they’ve done documentaries on him. He’s got his own app as well. He does his own courses, there’s all these ‘Wim Hof’ certified instructors

around the world. I did one of those workshops in Belfast (Ireland) last July. That was really confirming because it was fairly similar to what I do (with Cold Culture) already.” With a proud smile Louis adds; ‘I’m on track.’

“(Scientists) have injected different toxins into (Hof’s) body, and he’s been able to fight them off just through his breathing techniques. It’s really interesting.”

How on earth does that work?

“Your inflammation mark is what makes you sick. (Hof) has inflammation under control so much so, he doesn’t get sick.” That sounds simple enough; inflamed equals sick, sick equals inflamed.

“That’s a physical health benefit of (cold exposure), reduce inflammation as much as you can.”

Acception in Warrnambool: Despite having a recent feature in the local paper, Louis is quick to acknowledge that the concept of Cold Culture is often perceived as being ‘very progressive’.

“Someone had said to me ‘it’s not a very Warrnambool thing’, having people open-minded enough to do it, but I think there were enough people sitting around thinking ‘oh yeah, I'll try that’.”

Being situated some three hours away from Melbourne, it’s no shock that Warrnambool has a reputation of falling in to the same generational routine, and those that try to break it can get criticised. Louis hasn’t been an exception;

“People will say ‘what are you doing (Cold Culture) for? Just teach, you get good money.’ Really? Is that all life is? I’m just trying to get more out of life constantly.”

“You could imagine (Cold Culture) being in Torquay, Melbourne, up on the Gold coast or Brisbane.”

So why risk the criticism and bring the program to Warrnambool?

'I think it’s important to give places like this opportunity’, ‘it’s shifting mindsets. Shifting mentalities around it.’

Perhaps the concept isn’t really as progressive as perceived, Louis sure thinks so;

“People have always gone for ocean swims because it makes you feel better. They’ve always done meditation, always known that you need to be grateful in life. It’s not super out there.”

With a moment of thought, Louis acknowledges how ‘combined all together it might seem that way though.’

Social media:

Social media can feel like the backbone of our society; businesses boom from it, friendships flourish and information spreads. However, the platform is widely criticised for causing issues in youth, arguably so. Rather than hating the forum as a whole, Louis has a modern take;

‘Social media can obviously be terrible, but it’s there, so just accept it.’

That statistics show that social media is only becoming more prevalent as time goes on- 17.6% of the Earth’s population is active on Instagram; “This is the way of the world, let’s make the most of it”.

"What can you saturate your feed with? You could have all the people virtue signalling without solutions, women in bikinis, or Only Fans models. That’s not going to be healthy for you, it’s giving you a distorted view of the world. You can choose to follow things like Cold Culture, Wim Hof, where it’s all about self improvement and development. Russell Brand, all of these type of people. Saturate your feed with that stuff, things that will truly empower you.”

Goals for the future:

For Louis, his end goals is to ‘develop the lifestyle’ that he wants; ‘keep Cold Culture going, be a healthy person for myself first, and not be reliant on having to work as a teacher’. “That’s my path."

‘I wouldn’t like to stop teaching, because I still like it,’ Louis quickly clarifies, 'I could always do casual teaching.’

‘Scheduling different things without restriction’ is what makes a ‘good lifestyle’ for Louis, and the work load of full time teaching provides limitations.

“It’s school holidays now, but imagine if this were March, I could’ve still been like ‘yep, I’ll meet you for a coffee at eight, no worries.’”

‘I think it’s a healthier life style.’

Feeling stuck in a repetitive cycle of life is a struggle many people have, what is the way out of that?

“Don’t just quit your job, because that’s stupid. Have a bit of a plan in place of what you could be working towards, so that you can get away from that place you don’t like. I’m lucky that the job I’m trying to move away from isn’t necessarily one that I dislike. I think it’s pretty good, but do I want to be teaching from eight 'til four every day until I’m fifty years old? Mm, probably not.”

“Thats why I had started (Cold Culture), because I was at a point where I had been teaching for ten years and I was like ‘what else can you do? This is going to be soul destroying just doing the same thing.’” ‘You’ve only got one life, what are you doing?’

Recipe for a life well lived:

To summarise our chat, I threw one last question at Louis- what is the recipe for a life well lived? After a few seconds of thought, this response was given;

“One where you’ve just maxed out the whole life, but you’ve got everything out of it. It’s not always going to be fun and games and happiness, there’s always that level of suffering, but minimising the level of suffering. Choosing things that are difficult so that the rest is easy. It’s like doing the ice baths in the morning, you do that for five minutes, which is like a form of suffering, and then you have the rest of the day where probably nothing is going to be harder than that. You’ve trained yourself. This will pass, that’ll pass too. This is only a moment, not life.”

With no backtracking or rephrasing, it’s evident that Louis really does believe what he preaches, and Cold Culture is an encompassment of it all.