The Journey

I have always known that I wasn’t “happy”. I remember as a child, looking at other children, wondering why they were always smiling. I had a fantastic childhood in comparison to some of my other friends growing up, but even the ones with extremely abusive parents seemed to have an innate happiness within them, that allowed them to play and be content. I always felt that I was forcing myself to play with others and would get bored incredibly easily. Much later in life I found out that I have a condition called ‘Aphantasia’, the inability to voluntarily create mental images in one's mind. This truly helped me understand why I couldn’t play as a child without a toy or something physical, as I basically lacked the ability to imagine. I didn’t realise this until I was 25 though, so until then life was quite dark and confusing. I thought that people were just exaggerating, when they said they could imagine something in their mind. By the time I became a teenager, I was fed up of the emptiness (not knowing why I felt that way), so I began to take recreational drugs. I tried as many as I could from a very young age, as they enabled me to experience the “happiness” I had always longed for. Unfortunately this feeling only lasts in the moment and has subsequently created a slurry of negative effects now that I am older. A weakened heart, depression and a memory like a sieve, to name a few. Not what you expect at the age of 31. Over time I managed to stop taking many drugs, but was left with one addiction that I could not kick, cannabis. The one drug that I always felt was there for me and had helped me through the hardest times of my life. One would presume from these comments that I had not managed to achieve much in life, but I have always been a very driven person when it comes to work, having owned and run 3 companies simultaneously by the age of 24. So I knew deep down that there was more, that I was capable of more and that I shouldn’t let my genetic disabilities and self-inflicted ailments stop me from being the best version of myself.

In 2016 I met the love of my life. A woman who was 6 years younger than me and still full of enthusiasm and joy. Little did I know that this relationship would be the key to empowering myself. I have always called myself a realist, but lets be honest, that is just what pessimists call themselves to feel better… She helped me look within myself and begin to work on the trauma I experienced as a child, though I found it very difficult and fought against every idea she threw my way. In 2019 we all experienced, possibly the worst times of our lives, Covid. Initially this stopped me working completely and sent my depression into overdrive. I knew I needed to do something to help the world and myself. I had been converting shipping containers into bespoke spaces for a few years, which was my secondary business “Doodle Build”. There had to be a way that my skills could be used to help and so I set out to find a way. It turns out there were laboratories all over, looking for ways to make portable lab units that could be deployed across the world, to places that did not have the resources for testing. I managed to strike up a deal with one of these companies and began making laboratories for them at cost price. I felt great again, my mind was busy, I was physically active and I was creating an entire lab every week that I knew was literally saving the world. What more could I want… Well it turned out that just filling my brain and life with stuff to do, was not the answer to improving my mental health and wellbeing, momentarily just masking it. I lost 2 stone in 2 weeks from stress during this project and I am already a skinny guy. By this time, my partner had become a very reputable yoga teacher, life-coach and general woman of the earth! She had also experienced trauma, but was able to consciously look for ways to help herself, something I had not yet achieved. One of the main things she became interested in was “Cold Therapy”. It was stimulating her mind, body and soul. Now, I am someone that intensely hates the cold, so happily declined to join her on the journey. As time passed, I could see the benefits she was receiving from the cold. She was up at 6 every day, motivated at work and most importantly “happy”. There was only so long I could pretend this wasn’t undeniably helping her in every way, so I let go of my ego and decided to dive right in.

Being the hands on person that I am, I decided to build the classic “freezer hack” that had begun to appear online. It absolutely did the trick and was the perfect tool to begin my cold immersion therapy. At the same time, we had begun building a concept swimming pool within a shipping container at my company, a dream I have had for years and finally found the time and resources to give it a go. It worked and looked far superior to what I had ever imagined. This led me to the idea of expanding the health and wellness related products we could build in a shipping container structure and so set out to build a sauna. While I was lying in my chest freezer one morning before work, I had a lightbulb moment. We could create an entire hot and cold therapy room, in one compact 10Ft. shipping container. So the fun began, I sat down with my engineers and designers and we talked through options we had for the concept. It was decided that we were going to buy another chest freezer and try to convert it in a professional way that was acceptable and safe to sell onto the public. After a week of stripping down the freezer and prototyping, it became clear that it was not going to be possible to uphold the level of quality we strive for and so we made the decision to build our own, from scratch. 18 months of hard work, guinea-pigging for prototypes, nearly £100,000 worth of personal investment and we have created possibly the best Ice Bath in the world.

Previously I mentioned my struggle to give up cannabis, it was the only coping mechanism I knew worked and enabled me to switch off from any emotions I wasn’t able to deal with. I am not claiming that cold exposure is the answer to all drug addiction or that it will cure depression in all mankind, but I can whole heartedly say that it has unequivocally helped me. The time I spent in the chest freezer increased week after week. At first, 15-30 seconds, but in time I was able to stay in for 10 minutes. It was during this time I was able to be still, to be present in myself and start to work through emotions I had locked away for years. I felt myself not needing to be intoxicated all the time, because I was starting to feel genuine happiness. The increased production of Dopamine, created from cold exposure, was actually working and lasting longer and longer. I am now in a place where I am in control, where I can choose to be me and to appreciate life. I hope the product we have created can bring you the same benefits it has for me. Oh and I am slowly starting to see a burning light in my imagination, not quite an image yet but watch this space, we may have discovered a cure for Aphantasia as well…

Founder

Luke Jackson Miller