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Overcoming the Discomfort of Cold Temperatures · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Dealing with the heat radiation that comes from the sun is a
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  matter of gaining the ability to absorb and utilize the energy
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  without being overwhelmed by its force.
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  Turning then to the issue of how to deal with cold, we have an
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  entirely different scenario in that we have a reduction in the
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  energy available to us to absorb heat.
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  Cold represents a lack of force rather than an active force in
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  its own right. Nevertheless, it is useful and
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  important to be able to determine how the body can
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  effectively respond to cold. The normal reaction is an
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  attempt to shrink in and close off the body from the impact of
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  the cold, and in particular to protect the body core.
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  Obviously, shelter, clothing, and external heat generation are
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  mechanisms we utilize, but this is not the answer to the
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  question raised by the disciple to which the mother responded.
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  The famous escape artist Harry Houdini reported that he
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  systematically trained his body to bear the cold by bathing in
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  ice, and eventually he used this capability as part of his
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  career. In this case, he habituated the
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  body to respond to cold and accept it rather than try to
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  escape it or protect against it through external means.
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  The tradition of the Tibetans describe a practice known by the
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  name of Dumo, which is a form of meditation practice which
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  utilizes pranayam and visualization.
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  Advanced practitioners are able to withstand extreme cold and
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  Western scientists studying the phenomena have validated the
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  increase in body heat by skilled practitioners of this method.
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  The great Tibetan Yogi Milarepa is said to have utilized Dumas
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  as part of his spiritual practice.
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  It is noted that he spent long periods of time in the Himalayan
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  Mountains meditating without apparently suffering the cold of
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  the caves he was frequenting. A well known French traveller,
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  author and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, Madam Alexandra
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  David Neel, described her initiation and development in
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  the practice of tumo and her subsequent ability to withstand
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  extreme cold. We thus see several different
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  techniques, one through habituation, the other through
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  active generation of internal heat used by people seeking to
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  mitigate the impact of cold on the body.
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  In neither case is the individual burdened by feeling
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  like he is suffering from the cold.
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  A disciple asks, can one do the same thing when it is cold?
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  The mother answers yes, I think so.
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  I think one can always do the same thing in all cases.
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  The sun is a very powerful symbol in the organization of
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  nature, so it is not altogether the same thing.
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  It possesses in itself an extraordinary condensation of
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  energy. Cold seems to me a more negative
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  thing. It is an absence of something.
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  But in any case, if one knows how to enter the rhythm of the
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  movements of nature, one avoids many discomforts.
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  What makes men suffer, what disturbs the balance of the
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  body, is a narrowness. It is always a narrowness.
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  It happens because one is shut up in limits.
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  And so there is, as Shri Robindo writes here, a force which
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  presses too strongly for these limits.
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  It upsets everything. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter
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  4, Cosmic and Universal Forces, pages 92 to 93.