A lot of what Bjorn has described speaks to my understanding of Misogi. I'm pretty sure a basic meaning to misogi is to clean the body, to give up accumulations of dirt and grime, which we pick up in one form or another throughout daily life. However, deeper meanings apply: one layer of meaning would be that as we surrender the dirt to the flow of water (water-misogi, in this case) we can also surrender the psychological tsumi/impediments we acquire. It's a conscious and/or subconscious act of letting go of the relatively petty things which act as impediments to our
awesome lives. It can be really hard to do...particularly when it's cold, wet, and breezy...er...uncomfortable.