by Grace Wilson
Winter is the perfect time of year for going to the spa and getting a heat treatment. So if you love the heat but you’ve tried all the herbal wraps and steam treatments you can find, I’ve got something new for you: a Japanese Enzyme Bath! But here’s the catch: to my knowledge, there are only two spas in the US that offer this wonderful treatment, and they’re both in California. So unless you’re headed off to Tokyo, you’ll have to visit Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary (www.osmosis.com), about an hour North of San Francisco, and/or Willow Spa in Santa Monica (www.willowspa.com).

The enzyme bath became popular in Japan about 40 years ago when it was offered to participants in the 1964 Winter Olympic Games. Widely known in that country for it’s therapeutic benefits, the enzyme bath is a great way to get immediate relief from aches, pains, stress and fatigue. It will also leave your skin soft, smooth and give you a healthy, warm glow.

In Japan, some enzyme baths are enormous, one in particular being as large as a football field capable of holding hundreds of people at a time. However in this country you’ll enjoy the luxury of a cozy room with a large, private tub for one or two people. The word “bath” is a little misleading as the tub is full of what looks and feels like dry, hot saw dust. Fine, soft wood shavings, rice bran, and plant enzymes combine to produce a natural source of heat through the process of fermentation. The intensity of the heat keeps the bath very clean and antiseptic. As we relax in the enzyme bath it ignites our own metabolism which fuels a detoxification process in the body.

Your bath attendant will “sculpt” a seat for you in the tub. You’ll lie down in a comfortable, semi-reclining position and then your attendant will cover you back up with the dry wood shavings. Don’t worry if you’re claustrophobic. It’s not at all uncomfortable being covered up to the neck – you can easily move your arms and legs. Most of all you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how delicious it feels to be completely surrounded in such a deep, penetrating heat.

It’s recommended that you drink water and use ice cold towels over your head while in the bath. When your body gets really warm, to have your attendant put a sopping wet, ice-cold towel over your forehead feels like heaven. Keeping your head cool while your body is hot prevents you from getting over-heated.

The maximum amount of time you’ll spend in this heat treatment is 20 minutes, but you can come out at any time. I usually start completely covered in the enzyme material, but after five or ten minutes I push most of it off the top of my body and relax for the remainder of the session “floating” with only the back of my body in the bath. My sweetheart, however, always stays completely covered, and enjoys every minute of the heat. We’ve never had an issue sharing the same bath – the spa tubs are more than adequate for two people.

When you step out of the bath, you’ll need to shower off all the wood shavings and rice bran from your body before either lying down to relax or heading off to your massage. After sweating out most of the stress and tension from your body, you’ll probably have the best massage of your life. All of your muscles and joints will be warm and supple.

So if your hands and feet have been icy cold for the last couple months, and you just can’t seem to get the chill out of your bones, I highly recommend a Japanese Enzyme Bath, assuming you can manage the logistics. Osmosis has been doing the treatment for over twenty years, so I can’t imagine why these baths haven’t become more popular in other cities. It seems like an obvious gold mine for a spa owner in Minneapolis, Chicago or New York. Hopefully it will catch on soon so we can all indulge!