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| Banya, the Russian Bath |  It is better to stay in the banya as longer as you can. Usually, once you've been properly perspired, you pick your way towards the cold pool for a plunge - the hot and cold contrast being a crucial ingredient of a genuine banya, - and go back to the steam room again after that. Experienced bathers recur to this doing five to six times on each visit. Half-way through the bath the bathers make the "flogging" lashing their bodies over and over again by dried branches of white birch or oak tree, soaked formerly in hot water, until the skin turns a rosy glow. The objective of the lashing, which is repeated three times or more, is to promote good circulation.
It is in best traditions to go swimming in the neighboring lake or river or even to go out and roll in the snow in the winter after the banya! However, a mere dip in a cold pool or a cold shower would be quite enough to content most of us.
You have to spare approximately two hours to experience relishes of the banya in full measure. After that, you'll come out scrubbed, polished, cleansed and totally relaxed.
Visits to a banya are viewed by Russians both as healing and prophylactic action. They see it as a key to continued good health, specifically considering illnesses of the respiratory and circulatory systems. Many Russians think that the banya is predominantly important for preventive maintenance of good health and balance in the body.
The impression of the banya can be intensified if use some herbs saturating the water with nice aroma. These are composed of a combination of leaves including pine buds, coltsfoots and eucalyptus.
Benefits of the Banya
- stimulates toxin removal with up to 30 % of waste and toxins ejected through open pores
- improves work of cardiovascular system and bloodstream, increasing the quantity of red blood cells and hemoglobin content
- augments capillary behavior
- enhances metabolism
- rises overall cell oxygenation level
- extenuates weariness, nervous tension and mood swings, thereby encouraging a state of relaxation
- provides an overall sense of comfort and amplifies emotional strength and lucidity of mind
Steam bathing is an efficient and enjoyable way to repulse neurotoxicity caused by environmental toxins and physical stress shifting our psychological and physiological health. Detoxification results from healthy sweating and opening up pores of the body induced by the steam.
The health benefits of steam bathing are amazing, be that sauna, banya, hamam or onsen. Steam baths are gaining more and more popularity amongst health hunters all over the world.
If you suffer from any serious health condition you shouldn’t forget to consult your doctor ahead of being engaged in sauna or steam bathing. This is particularly important if you have any sort of heart ailment, since a quick temperature increase can cause cardiac arrhythmia. And of course, people with high blood pressure or diabetes and pregnant women should also keep away from saunas and steam baths sooner than seeking medical advice.
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