SAUNAGUS & WINTER BATHING

PHOTOGRAPHY MYRO WULFF

WORDS LIZETTE MIKKELSEN

METAMORPHOSIS: TRANSFORMATION THROUGH WINTER BATHING

The first seconds are a shock — your breath catches, your heart races, and your skin tingles as the cold wraps around you. Then, something remarkable happens: clarity. This is winter bathing, a ritual that might seem extreme, but one that carries profound benefits for both body and mind.

Winter bathing is, at its heart, about transition — the movement from comfort to discomfort, from tension to release, from noise to silence. As your body meets the cold water, it responds instantly. Blood rushes to protect your vital organs, boosting circulation and supporting heart health. A surge of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin floods your system — a natural chemical cocktail that delivers energy, focus, and mental clarity. It’s a happiness so pure it feels almost addictive: even on the hardest days, the endorphins lift you, making you feel lighter, brighter, and more positive. Over time, this ritual strengthens your immune system, increases your resilience to stress, and improves sleep quality. Stress hormones like cortisol begin to drop, and your nervous system finds a new balance.

MY Magazine founder and editor-in-chief Lizette Mikkelsen shares her experience: “I discovered winter bathing during a period in my life when I felt completely overwhelmed. My nervous system was on edge, and I had lost my sense of focus and creativity. The first time I stepped into the icy water, my whole body froze in shock — but then, in that stillness, I felt a strange calm wash over me. Slowly, breath by breath, the tension released. “As the weeks passed, the ritual became my lifeline. Even on the toughest days, I knew that two minutes in the water could reset my mind. The cold gave me focus and clarity. I felt my body grow stronger, my mood lift, and I started to see creative possibilities again. That shift — from stress to peace, from exhaustion to energy — was my personal transition.”

After the shock of the cold comes warmth — and another transition. Saunagus, a guided sauna ritual where waves of aromatic steam are circulated through the room, completes the cycle. Moving from icy water to enveloping heat is a physical and emotional journey. Deep heat relaxes tight muscles, eases tension, and reduces inflammation, helping the body recover after cold exposure. With each breath, the warmth improves circulation, calms the nervous system, and melts away residual stress. “At first I found saunagus to be surprisingly intense”

“In the beginning, I almost felt a kind of anxiety sitting in that overwhelming heat. My instinct was to fight it, to resist. But over time, I learned to let go, to breathe, and go with the experience instead of against it. That shift — from resistance to surrender — gave me a deep sense of strength and trust in myself. It showed me that I can handle more than I think, and that realization has stayed with me far beyond the sauna. So now, when I sit in the sauna after a winter dip, I feel my entire body surrender. My muscles soften, my breathing slows, and my thoughts become quiet. By the time I leave, I feel not just warm, but renewed — as if my system has been rebooted.”

The benefits extend into the night: “I sometimes struggle with sleep, but after Saunagus, I sleep like a baby. The warmth and the complete relaxation reset my whole system, and I wake up feeling truly rested. It’s one of the most tangible gifts of this practice.”

Together, winter bathing and Saunagus create a powerful rhythm of transition — between cold and heat, tension and release, stimulation and recovery, resistance and surrender. The cold awakens the senses, strengthens immunity, and sharpens mental clarity, while the heat soothes, heals, and restores balance. And for those who carry the weight of stress, anxiety, or sleeplessness, this ritual offers a natural path to confidence, calm, and resilience. It’s a practice that transforms both body and mind, helping you navigate life’s challenges with energy and presence.

For me, these rituals became more than self-care. They were a way to step out of the heaviness of daily life and into a space of renewal — a cycle that lifted me from stress to calm, and from creative block to inspiration. From fear to trust, from sleepless nights to deep rest, and from creative block to inspiration.

This is MY Transition.