Following the success of last year’s Guinness World Record for setting a new World Record for the First Ever Biggest Group Ice Bath (509 people), One Life Live It hosted a similar event at Leighton Beach today, 1 March 2025.
Credit Jean Hudson
The event raised the awareness of the mental and physical health benefits of cold-water immersion and launched International Ice Bath Day. Hundreds of people registered for the ice bath at Leighton, with some 18 other countries and several other Australian states also celebrating the Day.
Mark Hughes has advised that 712 people participated in the Day at Leighton today, with an estimated 3467 people taking a dip for mental health by the end of the Day across 18 countries!
Mark Hughes. Credit Jean Hudson
Both events were the brainchild of Mark Hughes from One Life Live It: a local business that focuses on helping people break out of negative mindsets and limiting behaviours, often associated with anxiety and depression. They provide coaching, ice baths and breathwork to help people to live life by ‘design’ rather than ‘accident’.
The grassy area in front of the Orange Box café was thronged with people. Between 7.30am – 10am, there was free breathwork and yoga sessions and a bouncy castle for kids.
Mark then took participants through a pre-ice bath breathwork session. Then everyone held hands while a beautiful song played – a tribute to a young man who lost his life. Finally we hugged the person next to us for 20 seconds – so very Fremantle!
The participants made their way down to Leighton Beach where over 30, 3-metre diameter inflatable pools awaited. They were already full of seawater. 17 tonnes of ice was required for today’s event. A donation was made to GreenFleet Australia to offset the carbon footprint.
Once ice was added to the water, participants jumped in and submerged up to the neck in the ice bath for 3 minutes. There were two sessions.
This was a not-for-profit event and all profits go to Beyond Blue, an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation that address issues such as depression, suicide, anxiety disorders and other mental health issues. According to the Black Dog Institute, one in five Australians aged 16-85 experiences a mental illness in any year and everyday at least six Australians die from suicide.
Ice baths/cold-water exposure and breathwork have been shown, through a multitude of recent, scientific, peer-reviewed studies to have a profoundly positive effect on those suffering with mental health issues.
Once the two groups were finished in the baths, they joined Cold Nips, now an Australia wide community movement who promote wellbeing, and raced and plunged into the turquoise ocean at Leighton.
What a fabulous event, don’t miss it next year.
* Story and photographs by Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey. Jean is our Shipping Correspondent and also a regular feature writer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.
** Additional photographs by John McGlue. John is also a regular contributor to the Shipping News whose articles and photographs you will find right here.
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