And so it begins: How Brass Monkey came to be

And so it begins: How Brass Monkey came to be

I’ve enjoyed exploring health and wellness for over 20 years now, especially where science meets the more esoteric. It’s a hobby though I admittedly read more than I do, I tend to be excited and open to new ideas more than execution, always feeling the need to know more and join the dots together. I’ve long been inspired by the likes of Dr. Bruce Lipton, Zig Ziglar, Dr. Joe Dispenza and of course, Wim Hof to name a few. They’re mentors, really, just in books, podcasts and YouTube videos. The single benefit of lockdown in 2020 was it taught me that I needed to make some changes, to make improving my health a thing that I do and not just what I consume - and most of all make time with my family a priority.

 

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

During those many months working from home in early lockdown I realised that things needed to change for me, being away from all the distractions that medicate a monkey mind such as mine, I realised how unhappy and unfulfilled I’d become, I felt an alien in a work environment that I’d spent years co-creating. I’ve proudly built my own small business (with partners) since 2010 and so a realisation that I wasn’t doing the work that I should be, that I was wasting my life by chasing money, it felt uncomfortable to admit. I guess that I already knew it deep down, things had changed when our family came on the scene, lockdown brought it into the spotlight. That’s when my experimentation with ice and ice baths started. I felt drawn to it after a year cold showering and several Wim Hof Method experiences, including in Poland in February 2020 with the man himself. In Poland I’d found the cold in nature was somehow challenging and comforting all at once, and I needed to experience it once more. The problem was, I live nowhere near natural cold water and we were all locked down. So, I did what any sane person would do, I converted the chest freezer into an ice bath.

Dans DIY Ice Bath

During late summer 2020, almost a year before launching Brass Monkey, I converted the family chest freezer, filled it and got in. F8ck, it was cold. A new level of cold. A whole body jolt. Like being electrocuted and cuddled at the same time. I had no idea it would feel that intense, and so amazing afterwards. I had to practise to give into it, to relax and really let go, building up from 30 seconds to a few minutes, just like cold showering. A strong breathing and cold practise helped me to take action for myself when my mind was far from in a great place. The ritual, creating a space to practise gave me a base to build from. I am no ‘cold master’, though of course people think I am, I feel more the eternal student and one who is sensitive to the cold, especially in my hands and feet - yet that’s what interests me so much about it, the way that it challenges me, often in very different ways, feeling how my body responds and feels in ice is amazing. Ice water or cold therapy isn’t and wasn’t a cure-all either, yet it unequivocally lifted my mood and my body started to adapt. As Wim Hof says, the cold is a teacher, for me it’s always felt a mirror, showing me my truth, right now.

 

It was in the freezer in November 2020 where the idea for Brass Monkey came to me. I got out of the freezer and noticed it leaking, I was so disappointed but not surprised - after all I’d filled a chest freezer with water. I thought that there has to be a better way, a safer way. I wondered, why don’t ice baths exist, just like the beautiful hand-built saunas and hot tubs I’d seen? Why isn’t there a ‘Jacuzzi’ of ice baths that are super safe, beautiful, automated and reliably therapeutic? Something that would last for years and years. And, I wondered if there were other people like me, people who don’t live near natural lakes and rivers that might want to have access to fresh, cold ice water to dip into anytime.

 

Now it’s July 2021, we’re just launched, it’s taken 10 months to get to the start point of a new journey, I’m excited where it can grow me and take us, the changes that we can make and most of all meeting the community of enthusiasts that I can serve with products, knowledge and sharing our experiences.