我在北京冬泳

文/ 何彦斯 译/史聪一

在中国已经有一段时间了，2019年秋天，我突然意识到：自己需要一个地方来冬泳。我很佩服那些冬泳人士，能够在严寒中坚持自身爱好。然而，我却从未想过有一天能真正成为其中的一员。

冬泳想法受维姆·霍夫启发。当你年过五旬之时，生活方式也需要变得更为健康，因为这将使衰老的过程变为一种“享受”。2010年我戒烟了，因为我意识到每天两包烟对我的身体来说太多了。我从瑜伽和冥想开始。维姆·霍夫的方法包括三个方面：暴露在冷水中、呼吸以及伸展运动。

每日，我坚持仅用冷水洗澡2—3次。持续了一年之久后，在2019年10月，我准备好进入下一阶段：将自己浸泡在室外的冷水中。生活就是这样，当你真正需要什么的时候，它就自然而然地来了。在北京颐和园内，我把脚浸在池塘里，走到了一处小亭，遇到了四位同行的女士，此时，已临近冬日，于是我索性走上前去，询问她们这里可有冬泳之处。四位女士都想告诉我地点在何处，却分别指向四个不同的方向。紧接着，突然从楼梯下方出现一位男士，他已上了年纪，并询问我是真的想冬泳还是随便问问。在得到肯定答复后，他带着我前往，我吃力地跟着他矫健的步伐。其间，他告诉我他已年逾六旬，过往几年一直在冬泳。我望着他，才意识到他有多么健硕，脸上也洋溢着喜悦之情。终于，我们来到了冬泳之处。我跟他说，因为今天没带泳衣，所以我要回去适应几天，之后再来这里冬泳。随后我们便互相加了微信，约定下一次一起冬泳的时间。

11月初，我第一次将自己的身体缓缓浸入颐和园的运河之中。在景区之外，有少数游泳爱好者们，正在为一年之中的冬泳时刻做着准备。有些人穿着泳裤站在周围，好让他们的身体沐浴秋日的暖阳。就在这样一个11月的下午，水温11.5摄氏度。最令人惊叹的是，这些上了年纪的人们展现给我的是乐观的心态与容光焕发的精神状态。而我也能感觉到他们是多么快乐、积极和健康。也许，这对他们来说就是汲取能量，并来到户外的原因。为了让身体做好潜水的准备，我在去运河的路上就完成了30至50次深呼吸。根据维姆·霍夫的方法，这样能使身体充满活力并抵抗寒冷。我脱下衣服，穿上泳裤，让自己下到水里。随后，我浸入大约两米深的水中，并不停地深呼吸。记得自己曾看过一个来自“Yes-project”的视频，主角曾在波兰与维姆·霍夫一同训练，并在冰冷的水中停留了大约十分钟。因此，我知道自己正在做的事情是可能实现的，即使对于像我这样未经训练的人也是如此。11.5摄氏度的水温并没有我在视频中看到的温度那般低。在接下来的几周中，我不断来到这里，慢慢地人们开始认识我，而我也认识了他们中的一些人。他们走近我，并问我一些客套话：“你来自哪个国家？”“你来中国多久了？”“你在哪里工作？”“你几岁了？”“你叫什么名字？”这些问题是从后往前依次问的。

Being in China a good while, it occurred to me in autumn 2019 that I need a place where I could go winterswimming. I adored the walrus people where they practiced their hobby in the cold, but I never thought of actually being one of them to one day.

The idea came from Wim Hof. When you are in your 50s, it is time to adjust your life to a more healthy lifestyle, that would make aging more enjoyable. In 2010 I quit smoking because I realized that two packs a day were too much for my body. I started with yoga and meditation. Wim’ method consists of three pillars: cold water exposure, breathing and exercises like stretching.

After taking only cold showers twice or three times a day for one year I was finally ready in October 2019 to get to the next step: immersing myself into the cold water outside. And as always in life: when you really need it, the occasion will jump out. I was walking in the Summer Palace here in Beijing barefoot after I had dipped my feet in a pond when I encountered a group of four ladies in one of the pavilions that were built as bridges. I approached them and asked if they knew a place where I could go swimming during the coming winter. Each of the four ladies gave me different directions as of where the place was. Then suddenly from the foot of the stairs an older bold man jumped out and asked me if I really mean it and want to go swimming? He lead the way in a speed where I had problems following. He told me that he was over 60 and had done winter-swimming for the last couple of years. Looking at him I realized how fit and healthy he was. And the happy smile on his face never disappeared. When we finally arrived at the water-place I told him that I had not brought a swimsuit today but that I would come back in a couple of days and jump in. We exchanged our wechat so that we could stay in touch and make an appointment for the next time we would meet for swimming.

Beginning of November it was the first time that I let my body slowly into the water of the canal that leads to the Summer Palace. Just outside of the Historical Side there were a handful of swim enthusiasts that were getting ready for the cooler time of the year. Some were standing around in swim trunks letting their bodies be warmed by the autumn sun. The water had 11.5 degrees Celsius this November afternoon. The most stunning thing was the very positive and radiant vibes that these senior citizens gave me. I could sense how happy, positive and healthy they were. Just being here and absorb their energy was a good reason to come out. To prepare my body for the dive I had taken 30-50 deep breath on my way to the canal. According to the Wim Hof method this would energize the body and make it resistant the cold. I undressed myself, put on my swimming trunks and went down to the water. Letting myself glide into the about two-meter deep water I kept breathing deep slow breaths. I had seen a video from the “Yes-project”who had trained with Wim Hof in Poland and had stayed in the freezing water for about ten minutes. So I knew what I was doing was possible, even for an untrained person like me. And todays eleven and a half degree were not as low as what I had seen in the video. For the next weeks I kept coming back and slowly people got to know me and I got to know some of them. Then some of the other simmers approached me and asked the “normal” questions: “From which country are you?”“How long have you been here in China?” “Where do you work?” “How old are you?” “What’s your name?”The order of the questions is about right.

之后的日子里，气温进一步下降，直到1月初的最低点：0.6摄氏度。从那以后，气温又缓慢而平稳地回升了。这个冬天，我的个人纪录是在0.6摄氏度的水中浸泡了6分钟，而拍摄装置则是我新买的Gopro8。我加入了由这群中国泳者们组成的冬泳队，并在队中上传了15秒的活动视频。这样人们便知道我就是“何老师”，并很快就会来问我各种各样的问题。当一个不在我们微信群里的人像往常一样叫我的“外国名字”时，很快便被另一位新认识的同学打断说：“这是何老师”，而我的脸上则露出了感激的笑容。人们需要时间来包容与接纳。这里的文化和习俗，我很久以前就下定决心要接受。不久后，我正式成为冬泳队的一员，他们给了我一顶橙红色的游泳帽，上面写着冬泳队的名字，作为加入队中的标志，我每周都会进行2—3次冬泳，大多集中在周末。之后，我会乘坐公交车，并走完剩下的两公里，或者，我会从家一路走过去，路程为十公里，大约需要两个小时。

在我看来，除了浸泡，同其他志趣相投的人聊天，也是保持年轻和健康的一种方式。一些人在冬泳前把各种各样的油涂抹在身体上。当水变得异常寒冷之时，我会感觉我的手指和脚趾几乎冻僵，于是我决定采取两种措施：我拿了浅蓝色的手套和袜子/鞋子，同时带了一个暖水瓶，里面装着温水，让它流过我几乎冻僵的身体。所以，身体的活动是必要的。因此，你会经常看到年长者们匆匆赶回家或去汽车站。没人会去喝任何东西。最重要的是：不要饮酒！

冬泳的观念，深深植根于中国的传统之中。照顾好身体并保持健康，在中国社会中有着举足轻重的地位。很多老年人都会在寒冷的天气中游泳。

Temperatures dropped further until the lowest point in the beginning of January: 0.6 degree Celsius. From that on it slowly but steadily climbed up again.

My personal record this winter were six minutes in 0.6 degree Celsius water which I also recorded with my newly bought Gopro 8. I had been added to the Chinese winter-swimmers group where I posted some fifteen second video-clips of my activities. This way people got to know me as “Teacher He” and soon would approach me asking all sorts of questions. When one of them who wasn’t in the wechat group called me the usual: “Foreigner” by name, soon one of the initiated jumped in and corrected: “This is Teacher He”, which put a grateful smile on my face. It takes time to be tolerated and maybe accepted. The cultures and customs which a long time ago I decided to accept. Soon I was officially one of the Winter-swimmers-group, and as an out-ward signal for that I was given an orange-red swim cap with the group’s name on it. For my weekly to or three plunges,mostly at the end of the week and weekends, I would take a bus and then walk the remaining two km or I would walk all the way from my home, which would take about two hours for ten kilometers.

现在，已经是2022年了，这是我在北京冬泳的第三个年头。新冠肺炎的大流行表明：健康是多么重要。大多数人认为细菌和病毒对人类有害，其实它们是我们身体的一部分，还能够帮助我们生存。真正的敌人并不是病毒和细菌，而是压力、快餐以及缺乏或从未被锻炼过的身体。我认为这是我教学工作的一部分，需要为学生和同事们树立榜样。当他们看到我做瑜伽、普拉提、体育训练及冬泳时，他们便会提出问题，说不定到时候他们也会跟随我的脚步，找到自己的健康生活方式，这就是充实和平衡生活的基础。

这里每天都有200多名上了年纪的男性和女性来冬泳，每个冬泳者都有自己来这里的深层原因。我把每天去南门（我们在颐和园的南门冬泳）的行程称为“访医之旅”。这也是“医生”的天职：问诊并不取决于你的医疗保险、社会地位或银行账户余额。清澈翠绿的河水，无偿地流向那些需要“受益”与“良药”的人们。大自然（天性）是丰富的。这并不是一些西方思想家为了维持其优越感与活力而发明的社会达尔文主义。当你仅仅环顾四周的大自然——你会看到树木在春暖中欣欣向荣，为路人提供大量的果实，而你要做的，仅仅是采摘。

Some rub their body with all different kinds of oil before swimming. When the water got really cold I felt my fingers and toes nearly frozen and so decided to take two measures: I got light-blue gloves and sock/shoes and I brought a thermos-bottle with warm water that I would let flow over my nearly frozen body-parts.Moving your body is essential. You would often see old people rushing back to their homes or to the bus-station.Nobody takes anything to drink. And most of all: no alcohol!

The idea of swimming in winter is deeply rooted in Chinese tradition. Caring for the body and staying healthy plays and important role in the Chinese society. Mostly older people are doing the swimming in the cold. Besides the water it’s the chat with other like-minded who keeps people young and healthy, I think.

Now its 2022. It’s my third winter in the water in Beijing.Events in the world show how important health is. Bacteria and viruses that most people consider dangerous to humans are part of our body and help us to live. The real enemies are not viruses and bacteria but stress, fast food and not enough or even no physical activity with our body. I consider it as part of my teaching work to be an example for students and colleagues. When they see me doing yoga, Pilates, physical training and winter swimming they ask questions and maybe in time they will follow and find their own way of leading a healthy life that is the basis of a fulfilled and balanced life.

These daily 200 older men and ladies who seek the kick of the cold are not mainstream. Each of us winter swimmers has its own deep rooted reason why he or she takes the plunge into the icy water day and day again. I call the daily ride to South-Gate (that’s where we swim,the Southgate of the Summer Palace) my visit to the doctor. Its doctor Nature. Visits are not depending on your health-insurance nor on your social status nor on your bank balance. Free of charge the clear emerald water flows for everyone who needs its benefits and medicine.Nature is abundant. Its not the Social-Darwinism that some western thinkers invented to keep the elbow-society alive. When you just look into nature around you- you will see blossoming trees in spring and the same trees offer the passer by an abundance of fruits that you just need to pick.