VICTORIA – The sun may be shining on the beach, but the paddle-boarders are wearing wet-suits and the caregiver's kids have toques. Lynda – on the other hand – is walking in flip-flops and is wrapped in a robe. "People say, 'Wow! You're brave!' or 'Really?' or 'Bhrrrr!'", Lynda says with a laugh.

They react that way because they assume Lynda is going swimming in the cold. "I say, 'Not swimming. Dipping'", Lynda explains. "Ocean dipping."

Before she shows me what that is, you should know how Lynda's been. "Well I shuffled," she says. "Because I just hurt too much."

The almost 72-year-old says she was relying on Advil to get her through the day, and struggling to sleep. "Which also brings on pain in your head," Lynda admits. "Because it's so depressing to hurt."

One day, a friend suggested 'dipping'. So Lynda started researching. Then, she began embarking under the water. "You walk into this frigid, frigid, frigid water," Lynda says with a laugh. "And your brain says, 'Cold! Cold! Get out! Get out!"

But instead of listening to her brain, Lynda focused on her breathing. "You just override it like a ninja. I feel like a ninja!," Lynda smiles. "[I think of] all the years of my sons being so in love with everything ninja!"

When your breathing is controlled – Lynda says the cold doesn't depart – but a calm arrives. I ask her to document the experience with a GoPro camera. You can see her transform as she walks deep into the ocean. "I went to my neck," Lynda says. "And then I was there."

'There' is where the pains subsides – she says – and bliss begins. "And then you're just sitting in the beautiful water," Lynda smiles. "In this incredible beach."

After about three minutes, Lynda returns to shore. Instead of a victim to her pain, she feels empowered for her life. "My [inner] furnace is just going vvvrrr!," she beams, lifting her arms in the air. "It’s just invigorating."

After two months of almost daily-dipping at Victoria's Gonzales Beach, Lynda says she will feel better today and sleep better tonight. But first, the woman who once struggled to shuffle will go for a short jog with her dog.

"Come on!", Lynda says racing past her pup. "I'm going to beat you!"