Transcript: Training and Recovery

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Welcome to the Shawn Row podcast. Thank you for tuning in. Let's talk about it. Welcome to the Shawn Row podcast brought to you by the media network. I'm here with Cindy Rosika, owner of the Lowly Sauna Lounge. Cindy, how you doing? I am so good, Sean. So super excited to be with you today. I am very excited for you to be here because you are a valuable asset in a athletes training and people. I'm saying that because what she provides, the service her company provides, shout out to Dion, by the way, a partner, and he is a great guy. Dion is is very educated with the whole sauna thing and the whole coal pl. But Cindy, you you being an owner of this this place, this facility, and I'm I'm going to lead into something, all right, is a treat for guys like me. I say a treat because if you're a runner, any form of athlete, athleticism, even just an everyday person, the cold plunge is a a weapon to recovery. Yes. Tell us about it. How did you start? When did you start? Okay, I'll have to go back in time a little bit. Okay, let's rewind a little bit. 2022, Dian and I meet on Bumble. We had this crazy romance. Just all these circumstances just came together and boom, right? And we found ourselves in love. We get married 21 days after we have our second date. Got it. It be like that sometimes. It can be like that sometimes. Shot his arrow. Cuz I'll give you a thing. Like the first date was a swing and a miss. The second date was a missed text to his massage therapist who was named Cindy, but he texted me instead. And so we're essentially still on our chemistry. Wow. Because we're still on our second date. Transparent about it, right? I know, right? It was like a total total thing. But we're actually still on our

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thing. But we're actually still on our second date. Like he never went home. He's still passionate. That's that's all that matters. And you have a lot of things in common. That's what keeps the chemistry flowing. Go for it. That's the greatest thing ever, right? Mhm. And he had had some dental work done that just wouldn't heal. Didn't think anything about it. Doctor's like, "Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine." It wasn't fine. We got married in August and by December he's sick. Like seriously, like circling the tank sick. Has a pickline of crazy antibiotics. Has lost 30 lbs. Nobody knows what's wrong with him. He's a walking miracle, man. He looks healthy, strong as an ox. I know. Wow. So what happened was Christmas morning of 22, he had this dream to take cold baths and it will heal you. He got like a spiritual calling about this, huh? And he tells me this and I'm like that sounds awful. And and would you say that sounds awful? That sounds awful about waking up. Totally awful. I would never like hot baz. We were not athletes. We're not particularly at that time particularly health consscious. We're like none of those things. Like his favorite restaurant is Popeye's chicken. I drink a lot of wine. Spicy chicken, you know. Yeah. Spicy wine. Oh, let's eat the grease. Anyways good. Um and he tells me that and I think you know everything I just told you. And so right after Christmas he we finally get his lymph nodes biopsied and we find out the whole reason behind all of this is he has lymphatic leukemia. Oh my gosh. Are you serious? I'm totally serious. And we learned that news, let's just say on a Thursday and Monday they want that they, you know, the medical community wanted to start um super heavy protocol on him and that we had the weekend to just figure it out and we just went rabbit hole down deep YouTube like YouTube University on anybody that had cured themselves naturally of of this some real hope like some real hope, right? soul searching to fix it

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hope, right? soul searching to fix it the natural way. Okay. And we found this curious Dutch guy named Wimhof. Have you heard of him? No. He's also known as the Iceman. Okay. And he's done these amazing things with his autonomic nervous system. He has been able to increase his immune system by doing three things. Breath, cold, and mindset. And Wow. And we probably watched 200 videos that getting deep, Cindy. Okay. So totally deep like this. There's a method to the madness here. This led to something. Okay. Go ahead. We did not. Sean, this this did not start out as oh like this is let's just wake up and open up a sauna lounge and let's do that. We sell service for cold plunging and uh infrared sauna. We watch it really led to something something dramatical happened to open this door of health and healing basically. And so what happened um was I found a place to go. Dion was too sick. Mechanics gym, they're no longer in business. That was my first coal plunge. Mh. And I it took literally took my breath away, but it also was such a pattern interrupt like something started to change. Whoa. And then and so Dion was a little bit better so he started going with it. Like the next time he went with Right. Cuz the first time I just wanted to try it out. There weren't results yet, but I tried it. Like I was the first one to do it cuz I'm like, "Hey, we'll do anything." You know, I've been to MD Anderson with my grandfather when he was living and it was not, you know, it still stuck in my body those memories of of, you know, what what he went through. So, um, we go to the gym and this was this is the real thing in the gym. You know, Dion is so sick, still has a pickline, 30 lbs lighter, and he's not a big guy, right? and he's got a trash bag on his arm with a rubber band so the line doesn't get wet, right? And the gym members are watching us and

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And the gym members are watching us and we're getting in these, you know, 40 ° ree water tubs and then we'll get him out and I'll dry him off and warm him up and we'll go set in the sun and we'll do like we that was our repeat, right? And it was a the gym members were seeing our courage, our faith. They were sharing their courage, their love, their prayers, their hope, you know, like witnessing our hope and like it was just like this elevating thing that it now I know what it was. This heart works in mysterious ways. God does God is on his game like all the time or her game, however, but you know um that was the really biggest deal. All right. So we were doing this like almost every day and it was pretty far away and so it was about an hour to get there, an hour to do it, an hour to get back. So like three hours every day is a lot. So you guys got a system now that you're going and you're doing it. We're doing it. But you still haven't seen results yet or No, we're now we're three months in. So after three months, are you seeing He's a lot better. Oh, so he's moving around. He's functionable. He's Well, because And now we know why is because there are two ways to build new mitochondria. And one is really, you know, hard hard ass exercise. I don't want it. Just going crushing it. Right. And the second is extreme cold warming up naturally. That's a gem. That is a gem. And so he was getting like his energy was boosting. His energy was getting better. Like he was getting better all the time. We were sweating out toxins in the sauna. We were getting community and we were getting what I just told you about cold water. Okay. We were also getting pattern interrupts with what we were thinking like all this fear looping that was in our mind like you know all kinds of scary words like leukemia is a scary word. Yeah. You know so at any rate we were doing that we

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so at any rate we were doing that we were getting better. That gym was too far away. So, another place lit opened right across the street from we where we were living at the time. Literally across the street. Whoa. And we're like, "Okay, walking distance. Let me get a walking distance. Get up. Go get a sweat real quick." Right. Yeah. And this is all amazing. It's leading to something. Yeah. It's a journey. And it was beautiful and it was um bougie and like all the things I like. Right. But two things. It was private. Uhhuh. Right. So, no community, right? You got your own kind of like, you know, therapeutic, your own space, like Right. Privacy, right. Okay. Um, and their water wasn't cold enough and he started to get sick again. And so, what really happened, the whole reason came to be is that their water wasn't cold enough. We lived in a high-rise. I'm an interior designer. If we had lived in a house, we would have done this at our house. Right. End the story. like due to circumstances. Done and done, right? Due to circumstances. And um so he started to get sick again. He ended up buying two cold plunges on his way to work. Calls me on his way to work and said, "Babe, we got to do this. I've got to have this. If it worked for us, it'll work for anyone." Wow. Everyone. And that's the epiphany. The light bulb. And that's how we That's how like it wasn't like this big business plan. And it wasn't like we surveyed and you know and this and Sean this was it was God's plan. Let me stop you from this and it was God's plan. It was it's not about business plan. You can't control elements that's supposed to happen naturally. It was God's plan. I always say that firmly. You know what I mean? Yeah it was. And um go ahead. Let me So So then when when you got the place So we got the PL and this this all took place in like four days. So buys the tub Thursday. Monday we have a lease. That's how God works. It's like this is

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That's how God works. It's like this is no joke. You want it. We It just happened, you know. And this was in 23. right babe? 23. Um and this was before cold plunging was a thing, you know, and we thought, "Oh man, it worked for us. Like he's radiating health." Okay. For me, let me just tell you what happened to me because I didn't think I had any problems. I had a lot of problems. Um, this is how I broke up with alcohol. Wow. Yeah. Um, yeah, I could relate on that. You know what I mean? Like, right, cuz it's a nervous system thing. I had crippling anxiety. Like in my job as an interior designer, it is that is a hard profession with a lot of, you know, high octane clients who expect it like they expect it. And yesterday, they want everything like yesterday and and like construction. I don't know if you've done construction, but like things don't always go as planned. Hello, city of Houston. Um permitting, things like that. So many things that were beyond my control that I just carried all the time. And instead of having a plan, I had an ABCD EFG plan. Right? Okay. So all that. And so what I was doing is it was like I had a lowgrade fever on my nervous system non-stop. Wow. for years and I didn't know how to relax and I didn't know how to calm down and I didn't know I didn't even you know like so cold plunging once you got educated about it that's what kind of made you stop drinking I wasn't educated I wasn't I didn't even mean to like I didn't mean to do any of these things Sean like organically that's God absolutely because we're not we are everything. We are body and spirit. We're not one or the other. We're it it's this. Right. And so I thought I was doing this out of

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And so I thought I was doing this out of love for my husband. But what I found in doing this was a way to connect to something I didn't even remember I had. I think it's both. I think so, too. I think it's both. I think you did it out of love because you love somebody, but then also in hindsight, you realize, wow, this is helping me too. You know what I'm saying? I mean it was kind of like the back door to to sell because at that time I didn't think I needed help, you know, but Sean, I needed so much help. I was so full of You have no idea. Yeah. And that kind of that gave you some clarity. You could say the cold cleansing gave you some clarity. It gave me a pause. A pause on my nervous system. A pause that only thing I could do cuz like the water's cold. Like it is no joke cold. like you've got we going to talk about that. I know it's not for the week and it takes your breath away, right? But in that like like that gasp to me that was a pause that was this disconnection of my mind and my body and and the first times I did it all I could concentrate on was my breath nothing else like in for five. So you see what you just said with the breath. Now, let me tell the story. It's perfect thing to say to trigger the story. When I went to that event, Yeah. where you guys were at and I dipped into your cold plunge. I did it for four minutes, by the way, guys. Four minutes. Never done it before. Thank God for his blessing. And the cold plunge word that's all right, It's icy. Yeah. But when I was in that, I remember naturally I was I started making this like rhythm like you did cuz it was so cold. But the rhythm was making me feel better. And then I remember Dion was right there doing the rhythm with me. So I was like, "Okay, I'm on to something here." Cuz he was guiding me through the whole thing. And I think after the first minute is when your body just kind of changes a

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when your body just kind of changes a level. It does. And it's adjusting to the atmosphere. And I started like, yo, this is such a it's a great feeling, but it was different. And when I got out, Cindy, when I got out of the the plunge, I'm being honest with you, that even when I went home, I felt incredible. And I've never done it before. And I've always seen athletes do it. You know, a lot of the MMA fighters, a lot of the boxers, a lot of the football players, you know, after a game or something, they sit in there and just kind of use it to to decompress and recover. But I've never tried it before. And let me tell you, it's the truth, man. It is the truth. So, you providing this service to the community, you're helping. And not just athletes, too. I mean, like what you're saying is like a regular lady. She's not an athlete. You You're far from regular because you're somebody that's passionate about what you do. So that's never a regular thing. You know what I'm saying? Thank you. But when you provide this service to the community, you know, we come on these platforms to to educate people to let people know like there is facilities in the city that if you're feeling a type of way with your body, not even your body, the co-plunches from what you express to me, it's a mind, body, and spiritual enhancement, so to speak. You know what I mean? It helped your partner. I mean, you being who you are and what you're doing, like what would you say to anybody that has never experienced it, you know what I'm saying? Like what would you say to them? Cuz some people, you know, when they hear cold, you know? Oh, I know. I ain't going in there. That's cold, baby. I like to take hot showers in the morning, you know? I What would you say to them like to kind of I wouldn't say bait them in, but to kind of like let them feel comfortable coming in to go take a dip? I'd say number one, we have hot things, too. We have a hot tub and hot sauna. So, like, okay. Right. Um, but I would say when you're in our space, I think you'll become a little

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space, I think you'll become a little cold curious because let me describe the space for you. You've been there, but you haven't. Um, open, right? Open. Warm. The aesthetic is really warm. Welcoming. I want you comfortable. Excellent customer service. Yeah. And I want you to feel like you're coming into our living room, into our home, right? So, I want the whole experience to be a nervous system reset for you because cold is just an invitation only an invitation. You know, I seen something great great answer by the way. I seen something where it says like um if you take cold showers in the morning, it's actually better for you than if you take warm showers because it makes your nervous system like wake up. Yeah. Or if you drink like a cold bottle of water in the morning, it it wakes up your organs or something. I ain't going to lie, I started drinking the cold bottles in the morning. Really? Yeah. Just to kind of like switch it up. I'm always I always want to learn, you know what I mean? And uh I feel like with the viewers or the people out there that don't know, cuz it's not just athletes, regular people, you know, we want to always make regular people want to know about this stuff. So you you doing this I think is a gem to the city. I think it's it's also a a learning curve and I think you and Dion are like incredible people for like going to these events and like really I see y'all grinding man. You know what I mean? Like you guys are on your page there's a lot of events you guys pull up and just and putting all that together is not an easy task especially when you're dealing with water. You know what I mean? But let's switch it up. Let's let's talk about running. Okay. And you know I'm not a runner. I know you're not. Unless something is chasing me. No. Okay. But I know your son's a runner. He totally is. And I heard he did his 50 mile run. Congratulations to him. In Norway, he did a trail run and I'm going to just tell you the mama bear and me. His tracker cuz I could, you know, track him, right? All the way in where was he? Norway. Okay. Yeah. And his his number his race number

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Yeah. And his his number his race number was 281, which I thought was really cool. Houston for representing. And that was just like fluke. That was so cool. But anyway, the tracker stopped tracking and so like I'm seeing my baby in this like, you know, horrible terrain, this long 50-mi trail and I'm seeing my baby's tracker like not going and then all these other other these other boys are like running right and uh no, it just was dead. His the the battery broke or something. But at any rate, everything was good. It's 25 hours. I will Yeah. in not flat ground like mountain rock. That trail is a whole different Yeah, that trail ultras animal, man. I do smooth flat surfaces personally, but doing them trails is a whole different animal. Did he cold plunge afterwards? Well, it's it was in Norway, so they they did jump in the sea. So, yeah. And you think that after a workout you should do cold punch or before? I think you should do it before. I think you should Okay, let me just tell you there's a lot of science about this. That's why I'm right. There's a lot of science. Educate us, please. And I will tell you in our and the team between Dion and I, I'm soulhe science, but I've looked at this a little bit. I think that pre-cooling before you run is smart. Cycling or running because you you just chill. It'll help you handle the heat better. If you're a weight trainer or weightlifter, you know, like you're shredding, right? So, you want that inflammation. So, don't cold plunge right after a workout, after a strength training workout. Um, do that four to six hours later or pre - cold before or use us on your off day like your recovery day. Right. So, we have a lot of athletes that do high rocks and all other kinds of things that we would never do. Right. But we have been doing s like we have been, you know, doing hard things with people. Gem, man. And so before it so say for instance I got this 200 miles that I'm

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instance I got this 200 miles that I'm training for for the Wounded Warriors project. Yeah. Would you suggest me getting a cold plunge before my run or getting a cold plunge? I would do it both. Actually for you I would do it both. And I want you to try it. I want you to try that that pre-cool before and see if it gives you a little more juice. And are you doing breath work? No. You need to talk to Dion. I gotta talk to D because it'll oxygenate your blood. You will have more power than you've ever had. What about infrared sauna? Tell me about that. Love that. Tell me the dynamics. Juicy. Well, first of all, everybody looks good in a red light glow. So, they do a lot of good skin stuff, don't they? Look like come on beautiful pores. You start looking just shiny and nice. All glowed up like I love it. Okay. I love that. Right. I want to tell you a little bit more about that because it does these two things do something incredible that you never would know. All right. So, you're getting I just I got to tell you cuz you know like you could bring your wife. This is education for me. It is education. This is good news. Okay. So, when he was so sick and we were doing this all the time and we were kind of newly married, right? So, you imagine just drama of this crazy illness. Had that health scare and then Yeah. Okay. But what was really cool about it is that we were spending time almost every day doing some breathing together, doing something hard together, witnessing each other's courage, doing it together. Talk about keeping the bond strong or making the bond stronger, huh? And then we would get in a sauna together. All right. Your tech doesn't work. This is a cold plunge sauna romance. Yes, it is. This is juicy, y'all. Listen to me. All right. So your tech doesn't work in there. Undivided attention. You and your partner. Undivided attention. Locked in. Sweating it out. Talking it out. Just getting rid of stuff like toxins, right?

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rid of stuff like toxins, right? And then doing it again like rinse and repeat. What was happening was we were getting a dopamine hit like all the endorphins is lightening up. Lighten up, right? um serotonin and then you're getting oxytocin. So, it's like this love potion cocktail. Oxytocin is that that chemical that is loyalty, strong bonding, protection, safety. Women love to feel safe with their men. This I'm like, this is like juicy. This is gems. So, if you're going on a first date, ladies and gentlemen, forget going to a restaurant. You should think about taking your partner to a infrared sauna lounge. Preferably lowly sauna lounge because you might get a lot of brownie points when you go in that sauna lounge. How about that? That was a commercial for you. You just might. Thank you for that. And I'll tell you what we did last night. We had our first first um singles sauna social. Wow. So it's like a you make you turn it even to like a social event, you know. That's so slick though because it's like slick in a good way. So you bring people together but it's health. Ah Sean instead of going to a bar let's go to the sauna lounge. Well instead of getting on a dating app where it's all like you know filtered right and you're showing your best thing that's not the real like that in the picture. When I seen you on the computer you was looking like this but when I see you in person you didn't look like that. I didn't even know who you were. Who is where is this person? And we met on Bumble. Like that's how we met. Right. So we know about that whole dating thing. So you made kind of like a social environment too. Well, we did. And what's so cool about it is that alcohol free. Our space is alcohol free. Alcohol free entertainment. It's hard to find places to go to these days where you don't if you don't want to drink. You know what I mean? Like I know I do. Oh, or you want like real connected conversation. Correct. So think about it as connection and chill instead of Netflix and chill. Just saying. Um, and that's a smart one because you're staying connected with that person actively. Yep.

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actively. Yep. Well, okay. So, eight men, eight women. All right. Guided guided with a relationship therapist with with good questions like just simple questions, just easy like, you know, what lights you up or what's something you're proud of or what? You know what I mean? Speed what do you call a speed date? Kind of speed date in a sauna. A little. That's fun though. That's kind of fun. It's kind of fun though, right? And also, you will meet 15 great Houstononians, 15 epic people that care about their health, that are willing to, you know, like maybe be reframing their relationship with alcohol, um, and that are willing to take a risk because cold water is it's intense. And you know, you know what? You know what's so dope about that is because you know for anybody out there that's single, it's also good to know that if you meet somebody in that environment, you know that they're health conscious. That's right. You know that they like the same thing you like. You know that we both can better ourselves. And I think whoever your companion is, you got to have that kind of chemistry. You know what I'm saying? So that's that's a plus, man. And the best conversations happen in a sauna. We we were in last year or year before last we you know to help our business we went to eight different countries to doing sauna and co words of wisdom. Yeah cuz you are very knowledgeable about it. Tell the viewers word of wisdom. What would you tell them why they should come to your sauna lounge? Oh little word of wisdom from you. Okay. And we be short cuz we got a little little time left. So let's connection community. Mhm. a place of belonging. And when you have a calm nervous system, you feel safe. And when you're safe in your body, you um the resistance starts to fade. It widens your aperture of what what's really going on. Wow. In our world. Like it widens our aperture. Opens the mind. Opens opens the spirit.

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Opens the mind. Opens opens the spirit. And it helps you connect to the truth of who you are. And I believe we're all divine. And it's not the light to get in, it's the light to get out. Cindy, thank you so much for those gems. And we appreciate you guys. This is brought to you by the media network. Let's go level up. Thank you for watching and listening to the Shawn Ro podcast. Please remember to like and subscribe.