- Can you just briefly tell me about what we're about to do here?

- Okay, so what we're gonna do is, we're gonna get in the water.

- Yes.

- It is February in Maine, so it's gonna be really cold.

- We recommend a nice, slow, steady walk-in.

So that's just a chance to have a nice conversation with the nervous system.

- Mmm.

- And it also kind of slows down a cold shock response that your body is gonna have.

So a lot of people will run into the water and dive in.

- Yeah.

- That causes like a little bit of shock.

That's the dangerous part.

- Dangerous?

(women laughing) - They didn't tell you?

They didn't make you like sign a waiver?

- I did sign something now that you mention it.

My lawyer's gonna be very annoyed with me.

Okay.

So we're not trying to shock the system we're trying to ease the nervous system into this new environment.

- Yes.

And then we'll get you to wherever you're comfortable with floating in the water.

Everyone will start laughing, giggling.

- Yeah.

- Everyone's gonna start bonding and like it's been so helpful for so many people.

I mean, so many people use it for mental health and just like general wellbeing.

- Yeah.

- But I mean, that's where we've all come together in this amazing way because we're all bonding from a place that's like human to human.

It's not like, "Hey, what's your job?"

It's like, "Oh my God, we're in our bodies."

Like, how amazing is it to be alive right now?

- Yeah.

- In our normal day to day we don't get a lot of extremes in our body.

Like, we don't really-- - We're all about comfort.

- We're all about comfort.

- Look at me!

- Exactly.

It's like 65 degrees.

Like, we're always like at this stasis.

- Yeah.

- And so like today you're gonna get like this huge experience of what your whole body is capable of.

- Yeah.

Well, I'm ready.

- You're ready?

- Yeah.

Are you ready?

- We're ready.

- Are you ready?

- [Woman] I was born ready.

- Are y'all ready?

(group cheers) (atmospheric music) - [Host] Mainers have always relied on these waters.

Come rain or shine, hot or cold.

A Mainer's relationship to the coast is in their bones.

Here we go!

(group cheering) (uplifting music) - Still, to enter these waters in the winter feels like I'm breaking the rules.

Like I'm trespassing.

Why do people do this?

Why am I doing this?

Okay.

(indistinct) (host exhales) - Yeah.

Good breath.

Good breath.

- Okay, now we're getting to the special part of my body.

Here go my bits!

(uplifting music) (group cheering) (group cheering) - [Host] This is so cold.

(group laughing) - Well, you know what, you got a smile on your face.

I see that smile on your face.

- I do.

- I'm so connected to the water.

It's been kind of like my safe space my whole life.

It became like a place for me to go and just like hide.

- What were you hiding from?

- Life.

You know, just like an escape.

My parents were divorced.

- [Host] Yeah.

- And there was a lot of like, let's put kids in the middle kind of feelings.

- Right.

- I was hiding.

- Yeah.

- Now I'm like starting to find myself in the water.

- You've been in here for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

- [Host] Wow.

- I was starting to get sober and everything felt terrible.

I saw somebody online getting in the cold water and like, everyone was laughing.

And so I was like, that looks amazing.

I'm gonna try that.

I just jumped in and came up laughing, like I've never laughed before.

(woman laughing) My orientation, I think was like, I'm not okay, I'm not okay.

And then it was like coming back into the world and you're like, oh, there's people-- people are amazing and kind, and like I wanna connect with people again.

So my connections started becoming stronger.

I started searching them out and yeah it was kind of like reawakening a little bit.

- Six minutes, six minutes!

- [Host] How long do you normally stay in?

- [Woman] This is a lot for someone who's just gotten in the water for their first time.

Six minutes is insane.

- [Group] Yeah.

- When you're doing something and everybody that goes by you is saying, "how could you do that?"

"You're crazy to do that."

And there's something powerful about being able to do something when nobody else wants to do it-- (woman laughs) or can't, feel like they can't.

- Yeah.

- The cold gives me a rush.

Like, if it's a nasty day outside I wanna go out and be in it, you know?

I want to wrap myself up and put my goggles on and be out in the worst of the storm.

- [Host] Yeah.

- [Woman] Yeah.

- I feel, I don't know, like the water feels thick.

The water feels thick.

They're not capable of any sudden movements-- (exhales) and I'm not fighting it anymore.

- Nice.

(atmospheric music) - At 40 degrees Fahrenheit, it feels like a cascade of needles across my skin.

My breath is hard to control but after the initial shock, I realize it's okay.

I'm okay.

As my body adapts to the winter, it's teaching me a lesson.

You have to be cold to appreciate the glorious sensation of becoming warm again.