Date of publication 09/12/2022
Mindfulness Discovering the Top 5 Water Spa Experiences
In the spa, water can be use to calm, rejuvenate and nurture the mind, body and soul
When we seek relaxation, our bodies and minds intuitively connect with the energy of water. Our bodies are made up primarily of water and our planet is 70 percent H2O. Much of life is created from water and life can be healed with water. It is for this reason that water has been used for thousands of years in religious ceremonies.
Evoking purity, clarity and calmness, water can be the ultimately relaxing way of cleansing and purifying your mind, body and soul. Using water as part of your hotel spa experience can help balance your body and mind, and bring to you the harmony that you seek. Here are just a handful of ways that water spa experiences that you can indulge in to heal your body, mind and soul.
HOT TUB/JACUZZI
Immersing most of your body in warm or hot water can provide physical and mental benefits. Many studies suggest that soaking in hot water before retiring to bed can ease the transition into deeper sleep.
When your body absorbs heat, several subtle physiological processes occur. Your body warms up and your blood flow is increased, causing your blood vessels to dilate. Blood pressure is often reduced in as little as 20 minutes. Additionally, the hot water also causes muscle relaxation as heat from the water is carried deep into your muscles.
When sitting in a jacuzzi, the natural buoyancy of the water supports approximately 90% of your weight. This obviously reduces the strain on your joints, by giving them a little "down time" from the daily grind. Pressure is greatly reduced on all of your joints and muscles while you are relaxing in your hot tub. The pressure from the jets in a jacuzzi also massages the body and is commonly used for muscle or joint injuries as well as for stress and anxiety.
Like a trained masseuse, the spa's jets can soothe sore muscles. Focused streams of water - with warmed air mixed within the flow - can provide a therapeutic massage that you can control, depending on how gentle or intense you want it to feel. Smaller groups of jets will hit pinpoint muscles around your neck. Many jets will focus on certain portions of your back. Larger flow jets may often actually sweep up and down your entire back, just to the sides of your spine. Tiny jets will spin around your wrists. Other jets will aim for your calves, feet, or arms.
While hot tubs may offer health benefits, safe use is recommended. For any fit and healthy adult, it is wise to monitor the overall time spent inside the hot water. Even when the splurges and treatments have strong health benefits, a little moderation goes a long way.
ROMAN BATH
The Romans are most famous for the magnificent baths they built and were great believers in the therapeutic powers of daily bathing and massage with fragrant oils for optimum health. At the Roman public baths, bathers would usually first soak in the warm waters of the Tepidarium bath to relax and unwind. Once the body was relaxed, and the pores had started to open, the bather then entered into the pool of the Caldarium, where water temperatures could reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius or more, fully opening the capillaries. And finally, a quick dip into the cold water pool of a Frigidarium was needed to close the pores.
For the utmost relaxation experience, aromatherapy bath salts can be used during the Roman bath session. The ancient Romans also used medicinal baths of minerals, salts and herbal infusions for therapeutic purposes. A bath of clay water or Epsom salts can draw toxins out of the body. A bath in an infusion of Bay Laurel leaves or essence stimulates the circulation and relieves rheumatic aches and pains. A bath in Lavender scented water soothes the nerves and helps one relax.
HAMMAM
Also known as a Turkish bath, the hammam is a Middle Eastern version of the steam bath. The ritual is simple and involves several steps aimed at cleansing and relaxing. Typically, you pick a treatment that lasts a set period of time but are free to lounge the relaxation areas for as long as you like. As you enter the entrance foyer, you change out of your clothes before having a cup of tea or cold drink before or after your bath. Before entering the bath, a spa staff member will bring you to a transition area where you receive towels and adjust to the heat. From there you enter a private heated room that houses a large marble belly or navel stone, which you lay on.
You are doused with water, and then rubbed with mitts of coarse muslin cloth to rub off the residual dead skin. After a thorough sudsing and rubdown lathered with soap, you are dowsed again and rinsed of the suds. This is repeated once more. Afterwards, you soak in a hot tub, or lie on a warm marble slab to relax and chill out. You can even choose to receive a massage with fragrant, scented medicinal oils. Definitely after a hammam experience, you feel thoroughly refreshed, revitalized and thoroughly clean, as though you have been reborn.
HYDROTHERAPEUTIC BATHS
Hydrotherapy is the use of water in the treatment of disease. The use of water for therapy has been around for hundreds of years, as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans, and forms an integral part in many traditional medicine systems.
When submerged in a body of water such as a bath or a pool, there is a kind of weightlessness, as the water relieves your body of much of the effects of gravity. This liquid also has a hydrostatic effect and has a massage-like feeling as the water gently kneads your body. Water, when it is moving, stimulates the touch receptors on the skin, increasing blood circulation and releasing tight muscles. Cold baths are ideal for young to middle-aged adults.
External H20 treatments involve the immersion of the human body in water or the application of water or ice to the body, while temperature-based hydrotherapy involves the different effects of hot or cold water on the skin and underlying tissues. Generally speaking, heat is used to quiet and soothe the body, and to slow down the activity of internal organs. Cold is used to stimulate and invigorate, increasing internal activity within the body. Hot water relaxes muscles and causes sweating, and is used to treat arthritis, rheumatism, poor circulation, and sore muscles. It can be used in combination with aromatherapy. Cold water treatments are used to stimulate blood flow in the skin and underlying muscles. Temperature based treatments include the application of moist heat or cold to specific parts of the body. The application of moist heat is called fomentation, and is used for conditions such as chest cold, flu, or arthritis. Cold compresses or ice packs are used for sprains, headaches, or dental surgery. Body packs are used to calm psychiatric patients and for detoxification.
The healing properties of hydrotherapy are based on its mechanical and/or thermal effects. It makes use of the body’s reaction to hot and cold stimuli, to the protracted application of heat, to the pressure exerted by the water, and to the sensation of the water itself. Nerves carry what is felt by the skin deeper into the body, where it is then vital in stimulating the immune system, influencing the production of stress hormones, improving circulation and digestion, encouraging the flow of blood, and lessening the body’s sensitivity to pain.
SAUNA
Nothing is more reinvigorating than a deep, healthy sweat. Not surprisingly, sauna bathers most frequently cite stress reduction as the number one benefit of its use. Heat bathing in a sauna provides stress relief in a number of ways. It’s a warm, quiet space without any distractions coming in from the outside. The heat from the sauna relaxes the body's muscles, improves circulation and stimulates the release of endorphins.
Endorphins are the body’s all-natural "feel good" chemical, and their release provides a truly wonderful "after sauna glow.” Body temperature rising from the heat of the sauna causes blood vessels to dilate and increases blood circulation, speeding up the body’s natural healing process.
Many - if not most - of us do not actively sweat on a daily basis. Deep sweating, however, has multiple proven health benefits and can help reduce levels of lead, copper, zinc, nickel, mercury and chemicals - which are all toxins commonly absorbed just from our external environment. Also, through deep sweating, the skin is then cleansed and dead skin cells are replaced - keeping your skin in good working condition. Sweating rinses bacteria out of the epidermal layer and sweat ducts. Cleansing of the pores has been shown to improve the capillary circulation, while giving the skin a softer-looking quality. Research has also shown that a deeper, more relaxed sleep can result from sauna use.
PATRICIA SERRANO CHUNGSATHAPORN I 10/08/2017
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