Spa Magazine

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Photo by: Damien Russell

Ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to cleanse in hot and cold public baths, and many cultures have utilized water-based therapies throughout history. Soaking in onsens (natural hot springs), for instance, is still a national pastime in Japan, while plunging into ice-cold water after a sauna is de rigueur in Scandinavia. Relaxation is the key draw, but traditional kurs (a series of treatments delivered consistently over several weeks) are also medically therapeutic.

Today, more and more spas are adding luxurious bathing rituals to their menus for the health benefits they offer. But as a recent journey to Germany's original bathing town reconfirmed, soaking is an art not only to be enjoyed on special occasions or as a bliss-out at spa retreats but also incorporated into our daily lifestyle. 

Kneipp's Cure

After ridding himself of tuberculosis (once considered incurable) in the mid-1800s by dipping his body in and out of the cold Danube River, Sebastian Kneipp, a Catholic priest and natural healer, went on to evolve the practice by alternating the cold plunges with warm water soaks and adding medicinal herbs to the mix. In Germany, the word they use for what Kneipp developed translates as "cure." After his health regimen helped heal the Pope's crippling arthritis, Kneipp's popularity grew. It continues today. 

Throughout Bad Wörishofen, Germany, Kneipp's image is everywhere: billowing on butter-yellow flags in the town center, staring at you from framed pictures on restaurant and hotel walls, even as sculpture. Kneipp-recommended arm soaks and footbaths (troughs and wading pools filled with cold water and outfitted with hand railings) are also commonplace; they're found in parks, in front of banks and pharmacies, and even deep in the Hansel and Gretel-like forest.

"We call this the Kneipp coffee break," says Juergen Neumeier, head of international business for the company that has brought the technique to the masses. Neumeier places the palms of his hands on opposite elbows and bends forward dipping his arms into a trough of ice-cold water. We are in a leafy green park in Bad Wörishofen, a small fairy-tale town dotted with timbered houses set at the foot of the Bavarian Alps where Kneipp started this form of healing. His holistic approach includes alternating hot and cold water to stimulate circulation and improve the body's natural healing powers, the use of specially selected medicinal herbs (which are absorbed into the skin), exercise, and balanced nutrition. Neumeier leads my group past towering timbers and lush ferns to a rushing cold stream with built-in handrails. One by one, we remove our shoes and step into the icy water. "Hold onto the bars and lift your feet high, taking storklike steps," he instructs. "When the cold hurts your feet, get out and go barefoot through the grass to warm them."

We do as we are told, stepping for a minute or so through the ice-cold water then racing over to the wildflower meadow. I ask Neumeier if people really do this. He assures me they do. "In the afternoon, when you're feeling tired and on your third cup of coffee and wanting another, a cold Kneipp arm bath or footbath will wake you right up."

The baths are also part of the town's morning wake-up ritual. As locals congregate to wade through cold foot pools in the park and run barefoot through dewy grass, tourists are awakened between 5 and 6 a.m. in their rooms at Steigenberger Hotel Der Sonnenhof with the delivery of an in-room hay pack (fresh, heated grasses and herbs that are placed under the back or shoulders by a spa therapist).

After 45 minutes, the pack is removed and the ritual continues by staggering dreamily, in robe and slippers, to the no-frills spa where arms or feet (your choice) are submerged for five minutes in hot water laced with energizing rosemary, calming lavender, or uplifting orange salts or essential oils and then plunged for 15 seconds into freezing water; the series is repeated several times.

"The regimen helps prepare you for the day; it gets your blood circulating," says Anita, the early morning attendant who delivers the in-room hay packs for the hotel. And it also helps to boost the immune system. Other therapeutic Kneipp bathing options include affusions, during which a certified bath master gently hoses (without -pressure) ice-cold water onto your face, arms, legs, back, or full body; and a simple, three-and-a-half minute washing ritual, which I tried at Bad Wörishofen's Kneipp-Spa-Hotel Fontenay.

Standing naked on a small towel in a private treatment room, I shivered as Wilhelmine, Fontenay's resident bath master, dipped a linen mitt into a bowl of cold water and gently caressed my arms, chest, stomach, legs, back, and feet. No soaps, oils, or herbs are used-just tap water. To say the water is frigid is an understatement, but I'm wrapped quickly in a giant towel and led into a salt-cave grotto, where I'm piled with layers of warm blankets. Beneath them, I slip into a deep and restful sleep-deeper and more restful than I can ever remember having before.

"This washing ritual is very easy and very good for you to do at home," Wilhelmine tells me an hour later as I am unpeeled from my cozy mound of blankets. "All that's needed is a soft cloth, preferably linen, and 45-degree water. Wash, then slip into bed under piles of blankets. You'll go straight to sleep, I guarantee."

Next: Do-It-Yourself Kurs