Someone asked me last week what my actual morning looks like. I realised I'd never written it down. It isn't complicated.
05:15 — Wake up
No alarm anymore. Light blanket on, light blanket off, out of bed inside a minute. I try not to look at a screen for the first half hour.
05:25 — Water, outside
One big glass of water with a pinch of salt. Bare feet on the grass for two minutes. If it's raining I skip this part.
05:35 — Sauna on
The sauna is pre-warmed on a timer. I walk out, step in, and sit down. Nothing in my hands. No phone. No book. The first five minutes I am terrible company even to myself.
05:50 — First round done
Out of the sauna. Straight into the plunge. I do not make this look graceful. Two minutes, eyes closed, breath slow. The first minute is a negotiation. The second minute is fine.
05:55 — Back in
Ten minutes in the sauna. My heart rate is calmer now. I think about nothing in particular. Sometimes, by the end, I think about the day.
06:10 — Out
Out of the sauna. Quick rinse. Dry off.
I don't journal. I don't do breathwork in the sauna. I don't meditate with a timer. I have tried every one of those things at various points. What I found is that the practice itself is the practice. Sitting still, getting hot, getting cold, coming back.
The result, a year in
Sleep is better. Mood is better. My first two hours of work are reliably the best two hours of my day. Dingin showers in hotel rooms stopped bothering me. I get sick less. I am less fragile around stress — the same thing happens and I recover faster.
I cannot prove any of this. I am not running a controlled trial on myself. But four mornings a week for a year is the closest thing I've had to a compounding practice, and I'd pick it over almost any supplement stack I've tried.
What I'd tell someone starting
Start shorter than you think. Eight minutes of heat, one minute of cold, eight minutes of heat. Do that three times a week for a month. Do not miss the fourth week.
If it's still there at week five, you have a practice. Not because of the protocol — because you showed up.