Our mobile version is now LIVE at the App Store!
Toronto’s newest hot spot – Iyashi Bedrock Spa - gets you down on the floor continued....
History of Rock Bathing
The Experience
Back to previous page
Juge explains that the infrared rays emitted from the heated rocks penetrate into bones, nerves and muscles and warm the body slowly from the inside out and therein lay the benefits:
1. The release of toxins without the simultaneous release of nutrients. When the body is heated it begins to sweat and release toxins. But unlike being in the typical dry or wet sauna where temperatures are so high that sweat pours out very quickly, Rock Bathing treatments (just like infrared saunas) are effective at lower temperatures allowing sweat and toxins to be released more slowly but not nutrients.
2. It improves circulation of blood to the internal organs allowing them to function more efficiently.
3. The process of warming kick starts the metabolism for weight loss. Juge, who uses the facility twice a week, says he lost 19 pounds in the first three months. He says it’s normal for guests to feel hungry afterwards because the metabolism has increased and organs have been stimulated to work more efficiently.
History of Rock Bathing
Ganbanyoku (a.k.a. Rock Bathing) originated in the Onsens (hot springs) of Japan centuries ago and the Japanese people have been “taking the heat” of these natural black silica stones to promote healing of medical conditions - from arthritis to diabetes to fibromyalgia - for generations. Juge says that in Japan, the number of bedrock bathing facilities have multiplied to more than 4,000 in the last seven years.
One of the prime reasons that the practice has gained such popularity in Japan in recent years is for its esthetic benefits. Apparently, the taking of the bedrock heat is also a natural skin care treatment. Juge says that sebum from the sebaceous gland is released and mixes with perspiration to form a natural skin cream. It’s also good for the hair. To get maximum benefit from this “natural skin cream,” spa attendants recommend that clients do not shower for at least two hours.
Another side benefit, says Juge, may be the elimination of joint pain, muscles and eradication of cold hands and feet caused by poor circulation.
Back to top of page
The Experience
From a pleasant reception area, I’m escorted to the adjacent locker area to change into a Yukata. This traditional, two-piece pajama-style outfit, made of a waffle fabric, looks more like something one would wear to a karate class than a spa treatment. Inside the locker there’s the Yukata, a small towel, a pair of disposable underwear and disposable slippers.
Adjacent there’s a “cool down” room and the main treatment room, cedar-lined and set up like a dorm with 17 rock “beds” in semi-partitioned areas, allowing for up to 17 people to rock bath simultaneously (women only for the rock bathing, coed for the Hot Yoga offered at set times on Wednesdays and Sundays.) A second treatment room has four rock “beds” for use by women, men or couples.
Raised granite platform with embedded black silica stones provide the treatment “beds.”
Gentle instrumentals mixed with the sound of ocean waves and sea birds. Close your eyes, feel the heat, listen to the sounds and you could be lying on a beach. The humidity is around 60% so there is no suffocating pressure one feels in a wet sauna.
The attendant suggests I begin by lying on my stomach to heat the internal organs. Ten minutes later the attendant comes in to suggest I turn over on my back for another ten minutes. This is just a helpful starter because there is a large clock in the room so bathers can time themselves.
And, yes. It’s hot. Very hot but it’s not the suffocating type of heat one often experiences in a sauna. I feel the perspiration beginning to roll down my back, arms and legs in big fat drops. It feels like the same kind of sweat but Juge is right – no salty taste.
A treatment (either 60 or 90 minutes) is broken up into 20-minute intervals with the clients emerging from the treatment room to spend a few minutes in the “cool down” room to sip on water, flip thru magazines or just enjoy a moment of quiet.
Today, I’m the only one in the treatment room for the first 20 minute session before being joined by a young Japanese woman. We chat in the cooling down area and she tells me her name is Ai and that she's a 25-year-old Japanese student, in Canada for the last three months, who visits twice a week to lose weight and to improve her skin.
At the end of the session, guests are served a cup of green tea.
This is a tranquil, self-nurturing experience that could easily turn Iyashi Bedrock Spa into one of Toronto’s favourite “hot spots” especially during the bone chilling days of winter.
Have you enjoyed a Rock Bathing experience in Toronto or Japan? What did you think? editor@traveltowellness.com
Back to the top of the story
For more info
