Sanctuario Spa is now in QC!

October is Wellness Month

Know your spa facilities

The Sauna

The sauna is a small room or hut heated to around 80 degrees Celsius. It is used for bathing as well as for mental and physical relaxation. The temperatures in a sauna are of the order of 60 to 100 degrees Celsius. The air can be relatively dry, or water can be sprinkled over the stones to increase humidity. The air must never be completely dry, however, since it could be harmful to the respiratory system.

There is no one right way to take a sauna. One usually goes to the sauna naked, but you can wear a bathing suit or towel if you feel more comfortable.

Try this first, and once you've tried it out, you can change it to suit your taste:

• Start by taking a shower. This helps to keep the hot room clean.
• Enter the sauna and sit on the upper bench. You may want to use a small towel to sit on.
• Sit back for a few minutes and let the heat permeate your body and open the pores of the skin.
• You may adjust the air moisture by throwing water on the stones of the heater. The steam will make the room feel hotter.
• Step into the changing room to cool down, maybe take another shower.
• You may go back to the heat a few times, taking your time to relax and enjoy the warmth.
• Finally shower to clean yourself from the sweat.
• Allow yourself to cool and dry properly before clothing yourself.
• Follow the sauna with a peaceful rest and a drink.

Enjoying a sauna is a personal thing, you should always listen to your body and do as you feel best. For a first time I would suggest you stay in for a few minutes, depending on the temperature. After cooling down for a few minutes, go into the sauna again and stay a bit longer, maybe five to ten minutes.

When you feel like having another break, feel free to do so. If you are reasonably healthy, you can bathe in a sauna as often as you like without worrying about health effects. As with showering, taking saunas very often may dry your skin, so you may want to use a moisturising lotion after a sauna.

The Steam Bath

Not unlike a sauna in that it induces sweating, but with entirely different atmospheric conditions. It is operating most effectively at temperatures of between 43C(110F) and 46C(116F) and a relative humidity above 100%. In a steam bath, steam (or to be more scientifically correct, MIST) should be permanently present. 

A steam bath is health giving as well as enjoyable. As a supportive activity, a steam bath is especially recommended to alleviate the conditions listed below by virtue of its high steam content and the general benefits of moist heat.

The list was confirmed by the research carried out at the Institute of Medical Balneology and Climatology at the University of Munich: Bronchial asthma, bronchitis, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, coughs, hoarseness, expectoration (particularly with the assistance of essential oils) non-acute rheumatic complaints and restricted or painful movements of the joints.

In addition, again as a supportive measure the steam bath is beneficial for persons suffering from: Sleeping disorders, particularly through over excitability, poor skin circulation, dry, chapped skin, muscular tension, muscular weakness in the subcutaneous blood vessels, and sensitivity to sudden changes of temperature.

A great advantage of the steam bath lies in its highly beneficial effect on the skin, a feature particularly appreciated by women. The moist heat stimulates the subcutaneous blood flow and cleanses the skin intensively, opening the pores, removing dead skin and impurities and leaving the skin feeling soft, clean and silky smooth.

Shower before the first session-time the stay in the steam bath in accordance with your personal sensitivity-do not exceed 15-20minutes- cool off with cool fresh air and cool water without shocking the system and avoid shivering-take a warm foot bath if you have cold feet- do not take more than 2-3 sessions in the steam bath. In the case of combined facilities like sauna and steam bath, which provide for different types of bath, you may also switch from one type to another. What is essential though, is that you cool off thoroughly after each session. Never start a fresh session if your body is warm (or worse still, hot) and never change from one type of bath to another until you have cooled down properly. To do so could overtax your circulation. Unless the body has cooled down properly after a steam bath, even a swim in a heated pool could be physically harmful as it can be after a sauna.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."

A treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing. Many have reported miraculous results.

Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery.

While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma, and there is nothing you must believe in order to learn and use Reiki. In fact, Reiki is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not. Because Reiki comes from God, many people find that using Reiki puts them more in touch with the experience of their religion rather than having only an intellectual concept of it.

Jomar Fleras, Sanctuario CEO and reiki master personally conducts reiki healing by appointment.