AIM CWR ™ in Australia
Bath Additive
Water is the center of life. The food we grow
depends on water—without it, it withers and dies. The body is
approximately 70 percent water, and, although we can live without food
for about eight weeks, without water, we could only survive for about 10
days. Despite the obvious importance of water to our lives—as
nutrition and for survival—the healing properties of water are often
forgotten.
Water is a healer with a long history. According to archaeological
evidence, balneology—using natural mineral waters for the treatment of
disease—has been with us for more than 5,000 years.
At the temple of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, bathing and
massage were integral parts of therapy for the sick. Legend has it that
Hippocrates, who is known as the father of Western medicine, was a
descendent of Asclepius. And, indeed, Hippocrates did use water and
bathing as therapeutic tools.
The Romans also embraced water as a healer. The Roman physicians Galen
and Celsus used bath therapy, and it’s written that cold baths cured
the Roman Emperor Augustus of disease when nothing else would help.
The Romans recognized the value of natural hot springs—mineral baths—and
elevated these “fountains of youth” to an art form. Roman baths
included private rooms, steam rooms, and public baths. The Romans
developed elaborate systems of aqueducts to carry water throughout their
bath complexes. One could well say that their complexes were the first
“resort spas.”
The word “spa” originates from the town of Spa, located in the
Ardennes Forest in Belgium. Peter the Great, the seventeenth-century
Russian czar, visited this city to relax and “take the waters.”
Apparently, Peter, and others, found relief from their pains here, and
physicians began looking seriously at spas as health centers. In 1797,
the Scottish physician and surgeon James Currier published The Effects
of Water, Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Fever and Other Diseases.
The foundation of what we know of today as water therapy, or
hydrotherapy, began early in the nineteenth century with Vincent
Preissnitz, a Silesian farmer. He had mangled his fingers while farming,
and a neighbor showed him how to use wet, cold compresses to restore the
movement in them. It was Preissnitz’s bad luck and hydrotherapy’s
good luck that later in his life a heavy cart rolled over him. The
doctors of his day declared him “crippled for life.”
However, Preissnitz remembered his early success with water and started
treating and experimenting on himself. Eventually, his crippled body was
cured. Word spread, and hundreds and thousands of people came to him.
His unorthodox means and use of something as simple and common as water
raised the ire of the day’s leading physicians, and they took him to
court. Preissnitz won the case and eventually was accepted as perhaps
the first hydrotherapist.
Although Preissnitz established modern hydrotherapy, it was another,
Sebastain Kneipp, who truly developed it. A weak and frail man, he began
to use cold water to strengthen his body. He found and shortened some of
Preissnitz’s techniques and was also the first to begin to add herbs
to the water.
It was these men and others who learned about the healing properties of
water that gave rise to the rebirth of spas in the Victorian era
(1837-1901). Hot springs were found, frequented, and developed, often at
mountain retreats with breathtaking views. These spas were often staffed
by medical practitioners who prescribed and monitored treatment. As they
became more popular, world-class restaurants, symphonies, entertainment,
and recreational facilities were added to them. Today, of course, spas
are not seen as much as health establishments as they are as fitness and
beauty centers where the rich and famous are often pampered.
AIM CWR ™ is a unique bath additive that captures
the essence of ancient spas. Simply pour two ounces into your bath and
soak... Relax and let stress brought by everyday pressures of life to be
replaced by a contented feeling of well being.
Try it. Let your experience be your
guide |
