Hotsie Yoga

What to do in -20 weather while melting dive holes at the bottom of the world? Take up Yoga!

We use a "Hotsie" to circulate warmed glycol thru a stainless steel coil (i.e., a "finger"), which melts sea ice to fashion dive holes. It's a noisy, lengthy process (1-2 days per hole, depending on ice thickness), and as the sun goes down and the temperature drops, you can get very cold monitoring its progress, fueling the burner (diesel) and feeding its 5 kW generator (gasoline).

Last year, Cecil Shin (right, holding the finger) showed me some meditative Yoga moves, which we adopted to make tending the Hotsy a bit more enjoyable.

Tadasana modified for Hotsie hose: Heat applied to the brachial artery/vein helps keep the upper extremities functional.

Yoga poses while draped with the Hotsy hose helps stretch cold, old, aching muscles ...

And their melodic, pulsatile vibration allows one to get lost in the moment, mindful of the sublime beauty of Explorers Cove.