 |
 |
 |
 |
Thermal suites and heavens
A thermal suite is a series of rooms designed to take your body on a wet and dry, warm and cold temperature journey. It might consist of saunas, steam rooms, ice fountains, tropical and cold showers, and some heated ceramic loungers where you can relax at the end of your travels.
What are thermal suites for?The laconium
The sauna
The steam room
The tepidarium
The hammam and rasul
Cooling off
Safety first
Spas with thermal suites
What are thermal suites for?
A thermal suite is a series of rooms designed to take your body on a wet and dry, warm and cold temperature journey. It might consist of saunas, steam rooms, ice fountains, tropical and cold showers, and some heated ceramic loungers where you can relax at the end of your travels.
The idea is that you use the several heat experiences to soothe, relax and detoxify your body, sometimes in advance of any spa treatments you have booked, sometimes just as a restorative therapy on its own to chill you (literally) out or re-energise you over a couple of hours.
There is no precise journey or set of elements in a thermal suite, although individual spas often recommend a specific heat journey through their facilities. What they all do is aim to relax and detoxify you - as you warm up, your pores open, you sweat, and this increased sweating is believed to be good for accelerating the elimination of toxins from your body.
The different elements of a thermal suite are sometimes given rather daunting names, so let us demystify them.
The laconium
A laconium is a tiled room where the floors, walls and benches are usually all heated to a mild temperature of around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. A favourite with the Romans who gave it its name, the laconium is a warm, not hot, room and a good place to start your thermal adventure. You can spend about 15 or 20 minutes here and relax in the dry, warm air as your body heats up gently and slowly. After a mild shower, you're ready for the next phase of the journey.
The laconium is also a good choice for people who like to relax in warmth, but find the higher temperatures of a steam room or sauna too challenging.
The sauna
A sauna is a traditional dry air room that heats to 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit. Sprinkled water can intensify the heat. Depending on how you react to the heat, you may only want to stay in the sauna for 5 minutes, particularly if it is your first visit.
The steam room
A steam room is where you will encounter wet, humid heat. The steam room is sometimes graced with a fancy name, such as an aroma grotto, when oils or herbal essences are added to the steam.
Some people prefer the dry heat of a sauna, others the damp heat of a steam room, which is thought to be particularly good for clearing out the respiratory tract and helping you to breathe more easily. As with a sauna, you may only want to stay 5 minutes, depending on the temperature.
The tepidarium
A tepidarium is exactly as it sounds - a dry, tepid room close to the body's own temperature. You can stay in here for up to 30 minutes, cooling down and de-stressing.
The hammam and rasul
A Hammam is a room with a gentle flow of steam, sometimes mingling with aromatic scents. It's used for communal bathing and is usually single-sex.
In a Rasul chamber, you coat yourself with various-coloured muds. After a while, steam is piped into the chamber. The muds become moist and, as you rub the mud into your skin, it gently exfoliates and cleanses. A Rasul can be a deeply relaxing experience, but also fun if you take a friend and rub the mud into each other. Some Rasul chambers can fit four people inside. After the steam, showers are turned on to wash the mud away.
Cooling off
To cool off after, or between heat treatments in the thermal suite, you can try an ice fountain - a room where you rub handfuls of ice flakes over your body, or a cold. Cooling brings your body temperature back to normal. Perhaps finish off with some fog or tropical rain showers, then relax.
Safety first
Take note of the guidelines for using the different heat experiences in a thermal suite. They should be clearly posted outside the door and will contain advice about the recommended time to spend within. Also, drink plenty of water while you're in a thermal suite. The heat experiences are designed to make you sweat more than usual, so you'll need to top up your body's supply of water.
Spas with thermal suites
Spas with thermal suites in the UK include One Spa at the Sheraton in Edinburgh, Pennyhill Park in Surrey, Whatley Manor in Wiltshire, and Titanic Spa in Yorkshire.
See also:
 |
|
|