GANBANYOKU: Stone Sauna

An option for a healthier lifestyle

INDULGE in a lifestyle that makes you healthier!

As you continue to exercise regularly, maintain a proper diet, adopt good work habits, take enough sleep, and do all practices you may have being doing to keep yourself fit. Well, you may now consider a new option — “stone bathing,” the Ganbanyoku way.

More so if you never had any routine to keep yourself healthy. Ganbanyoku is the answer.

The Queen of Stone Spa operates the first — and so far the only — authentic Ganbanyoku stone sauna in the Philippines at St. Patrick’s Square near the Redemptorist Church, ready to pamper anyone who visits the spa.

Bedrock

Ganbanyoku is the newest health trend that has emerged from Japan and it is also becoming popular now in Korea. The word ganban’yoku means “stone bath” or “stone sauna” in Japanese, yet this unique sauna traces its roots to Thailand.

The stone bath is a large piece of granite, black and white silica and tenshoseki or tourmaline laid into an elevated floor, like a bedrock, where it is heated up to about 40 degrees Centigrade or 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bathing with one’s sweat takes five to 15 minutes at a time, then one rehydrates for about the same time before repeating the same session three or four times to complete a set enough to revitalize the body.

When the stone is heated, it emits negative ions and far-infrared rays. These special qualities create the many health benefits associated with Ganbanyoku. Those who regularly spend an hour or so in the stone sauna have found it as a great way to relax and have noted many health benefits.

Process

As you arrive, an attendant will give you an outfit to change into inside a dressing room that also serves as a resting room.

After a drink of water, you will be guided into the Ganbanyoku room, made to lie down over the stone slab covered with a large towel, for about five minutes, as sweat oozes out of your pores, literally dripping.

The attendant returns with a glass of water and asks you to lie in a supine position or sideways. By then you will have been fully wet, bathed in your own sweat, your body reinvigorated.

The attendant returns after another five minutes with another glass of water, and asks if you still want to continue for another five minutes in another position, or you may want to relax back at the resting room.

If you choose to stay for the next five minutes, the attendant returns to take you for a break to re-hydrate for five to 15 minutes at the holding room. The attendant would then serve you some Banaba tea or Ginger drink (Salabat) that may be mixed with lemon and honey.

As you return inside the Ganbanyoku room, the process is repeated for two to four more sessions. The attendant would likely allow you to choose the position you want, even seated, squatting on the stone slab, in the succeeding sessions.

A total of an hour inside the Ganbanyoku room would be enough, but one may return for another set of sessions later on the same day.

‘Secrets’

A number of company executives who have lately discovered Ganbanyoku would spend time at The Queen of Stone Spa early morning before reporting for work, then returns after work to get rid of all the stress before proceeding home where they will be able to sleep soundly.

Some have made it a habit to stone bath everyday, if not every other day. Those who may be very busy but have appreciated the benefits of Ganbanyoku would want a session in a week.

After a Ganbanyoku session, you will notice your body as being still warm for a couple of hours, full of energy.

Ganbanyoku is efficient in detoxification, improves the circulatory system and is good for the skin.

The far-infrared rays work to heat your body deep inside, causing you to sweat profusely. As your body warms up, your blood vessels dilate. It improves blood circulation, increases metabolism, helps eliminate waste and toxins from the body, and relieves stress.

The combination of those three things has led many to find out that Ganbanyoku is also a great weight loss technique. While there are no official studies on this, they believe the “secrets in the stone.”

In addition to the far infrared rays, the negative ions that are produced by the stone have their own set of health benefits. The negative ions, a type of antioxidant found in nature, are able to react with and breakdown any toxins present in the bloodstream.

This antioxidant quality has made many to believe that Ganbanyoku can aid in preventing cancer.

50% off

One may learn more about Ganbanyoku at www.thequeenofstonespa.com or google the Japanese word on the internet. Email queries, that may be about spa membership, may be sent to [email protected].

Better yet, visit The Queen of Stone Spa and experience Ganbanyoku, especially now that it has cut its service rate by 50 percent.

“We’re cutting our rates by half so you may try out what we offer,” according to Jessielyn “Jing” S. Abueva, president of Darlin Princess Co., Inc. that operates The Queen of Stone Spa.

Abueva said the company opted to cut the rates “for the time being” to educate the local market about Ganbanyoku and allow Cebuanos to experience the benefits the stone sauna gives. “We want to give Cebuanos an option for a healthier lifestyle,” she explained.

“Indulge in ‘stone bathing’ and be well,” she added.