Why You Need to be Using a Sauna (AMAZING 14 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SAUNA) - SOMA Breath

So this video I'm going to share with you 14amazing health benefits of the sauna for your brain and body. That's right. Now I've been a sauna enthusiast for many years now, especially with receiving some incredible benefits from when I was actually suffering from a chronic health issue called ulcerative colitis. And I found that this special sauna ritual that I started to to do on a regular basis was actually one of the keys to me recovering at a much faster rate. And I would combine meditation with breathing practices from Pranayama that I believe is one of the most powerful ways for you to reprogram your unconscious mind and also to really de stress and get back into your optimum state, especially if you're suffering from autoimmune conditions, stress related conditions and things like that. And I'm going to explain to you in this video some of the new emerging science. I actually have a friend called Dr. Rhonda Patrick who's done some amazing research on the sauna and his health benefits. So some of the data comes from her research. I'm not going to go into the science as deeply as she does, but I'm going to share with you more about my own techniques on how to get these benefits in the sauna in the most impactful way. Alright, so let's first discuss the mechanism of our sauna helps. And first we must identify the different types of saunas that are out there. So you may be used to these like herbal steam saunas or steam rooms. Now these types of saunas, they don't give you enough heat exposure as you need to really get the maximum benefits. Because the maximum benefits of a sauna comes from the heat shock of intense heat. Now a dry heat sauna, like a Finnish sauna, a Nordic sauna, like a Russian bunya, which go up to between like 80 and 100 degrees, even more.

They are a very different therapeutic benefit and the mechanism, how they help. Compared to the wet saunas and wet heat saunas, they only go up to around 50 degrees. They may feel very hot, but they don't actually give you the heat shock that you need. Whereas these Nordic saunas, they are much hotter. And that dry heat creates this heat shock, which is a hormetic stress response in your body that produces these heat shock proteins and a cascade of hormones and other neuropeptides being released into your system. Endorphins and even BDNF and other growth factors, neuroprotective factors that actually strengthens your whole body, brain, your mind, because there's a saying that goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And it's this putting yourself through a short, a brief period of stress, a positive stress. We're not talking about doing something that you don't enjoy. Like you're going in there with courage and, and really embracing it and enjoying it. That's why I love making into a meditation. It seems to strengthen your body. Your body creates a strengthening conditioning so that the next time you encounter stress, the stress doesn't affect you as much. And it seems the ancients understood this process of hormetic stress because a lot of the ancient shamanic practices and rituals were actually using this hormetic stress, this idea of stressing the body a little bit, and through that creating a strengthening, a conditioning. So these benefits are really going to come from a dry heat sauna. So the 14 key benefits I'm going to explain to you in this video, you really need to do in a dry heat sauna. So if you're somebody who doesn't like intense heat, then you can actually.

Take baby steps, do a little bit every day so you get comfortable doing it and you'll find that you're actually going to love it. You're going to fall in love with the sauna. I've recommended this to so many people who used to love only going into the steam room because it's not as intense, it's not as hot, who now prefer the dry heat sauna because the feeling they get from it, the high they get from it, the cleansing and the strengthening they get from it, all the health benefits. Okay, so let's go through them one by one. Now I am going to read off my article. Now. I wrote an article on this which actually went a bit viral and I made an infographic about this. So I'm going to actually share with you some of the facts from this and just run through what they are. And then my actual soma meditation technique, which you do in the sauna, that will actually maximize all of these benefits and make it much more fun and enjoyable for you to do. All right. Okay. So the source of my facts Here comes from Dr. Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D. from foundmyfitness.com and she has a wealth of information on many different types of biohacks out there and stuff that isn't like, talked about much in the mainstream science. And she's really good at taking complicated subjects and making them easy to understand. So definitely refer to her for more information. I'm just gonna run through some of the things that she talks about. So the recommended duration based on the studies that she shares is a minimum of two 15 to 20 minute dry heat sauna sessions at 80 degrees to 100 degrees centigrade with a 15 to 20 minute cooling period in between, three to four times a week. This will give you the maximum health benefits. Okay, so for your brain.

It will help you grow new brain cells. It helps your brain function faster, improves memory, attention and focus.

It can even help prevent degenerative diseases of the brain. It also enhances the power of meditation and visualization.

It also relieves anxiety and depression. And it also gives you a natural drug free high. So let's explain to you the mechanism of how this works. So for the brain, what the sauna does, is it actually.

That positive stress response actually triggers you to produce more bdnf, which is a neuroprotective neuropeptide. And that is the mechanism of giving you a lot of benefits for your brain. Okay. It can also.

Through that positive stress response.

Wake up the power of stem cells, endogenous stem cells that have the power to change into any other cell in your body. And when these are activated, and I'll show you through my sauna meditation how you can actually help this circulate around the body.

And actually they do these in labs. In labs they activate stem cells using either very low oxygen or intense heat. And same thing happens in the sauna is you wake up the power of these stem cells that go to areas of inflammation and especially in the brain, and help you regrow.

Degenerative cells, cells that have died, and also helps lower inflammation. Saunas also promote human growth hormone. And this is vital for maintaining healthy tissue organs and muscles that degenerate with age. And this can actually prevent aging itself and also can help as well with this whole process of strengthening, conditioning your whole body and mind.

So this is the mechanism of how the sauna helps your brain. But let's now talk about the benefits for the body itself. So for your body, it helps muscles grow bigger, stronger and more efficient, increases longevity with various anti aging benefits, causes a massive release of growth hormone naturally. Okay, we just talked about that. It boosts your immune system and improves insulin sensitivity, therefore lowering the risk of diabetes and metabolic diseases. Okay, so there's a lot of benefits for your body and brain. Now, I don't like to separate and compartmentalize things, but people like to see things separate these days. But I believe the mind, body, brain, everything is one. We're not, we shouldn't separate them. And the same Mechanism that we just discussed with increasing neuropeptides, that positive stress response, bdnf, stem cell activation, growth hormone activation.

Helps with all of these benefits that we just discuss. But here's another added benefit, is that you sweat a lot in a sauna. And when you use another ingredient, this can actually be enhanced. That ingredient is vitamin B3, niacin. But the flush generating niacin, not the non flush niacin, but the pure niacin that creates the flush response. This done with the right protocol, can actually help remove toxic metals. So arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, bpa, which actually disrupts hormones in the endocrine system. And this is found in receipts, toys, baby bottles, plastic containers, pizza boxes, beer and wine, a lot of processed things, even cans contain it. And then phthalates, which can actually affect your male sexual development, can even cause cancer. Shown in rodents and is found in plastics, found in many common products and certain foods as well.

So doing a regular sauna practice can actually help release these heavy metals from the system, especially when you use niacin. I'm going to share with you my exact protocol for that in combination with this. So here's some facts. In a study of 2,300 Finnish men, it showed that the longer and more often used a sauna actually showed less risk of heart problems and early onset of death. So this was a long study and it actually is really proving to you all of the benefits that I explained. And there's a lot more references below this video in the description. So now let's actually talk about my sauna protocol and how we can use this as a meditation technique as well. So the sauna has an amazing health benefit that we just explained. But how do we enhance this? How can we enhance that? So one of the ways of enhancing those health benefits is by using niacin, vitamin B3. So the way to use niacin is you want to start off with a dose of like 100 milligrams to test out what helps you quickly get into the flush response. With niacin, it's all about the flush. So you don't want to get the non flush variety. You want the flush variety that actually makes you feel very, very hot itself. And what you get is a very strong flushing effect where you get a lot of vasodilation. And this helps flush toxins out of your system. Okay. And where you do this is that you, you take 100 milligrams and you do exercise. You do like a, a gym workout, running on the spot, doing you could even do a high intensity exercise. And what that will do is it will start to help you flush out these toxins, to really get the niacin flowing and moving and circulating around the body. And that will prepare you for going into sauna. So you would do, you would take the niacin. It usually kicks in within about 10 to 15 minutes. And you would do this and do your exercise. Okay, do an exercise for like 15 minutes, high intensity. And you'll start flushing and then go into the sauna. When you go into the sauna, you will be flushing and you're going to find that this whole in the effect of the sauna is going to be enhanced. You're going to get a feeling of more heat being generated. And it may be uncomfortable at first, but it will gradually get better and better the more you practice it. And you can start with 100 milligrams and then you increment with another 100 milligrams and until you get to around 500 milligrams. 500 milligrams is a really good kind of introductory dose. And actually people take, for different conditions up to like 3,000 even more milligrams of this vitamin B3, like mega doses of it. However, I recommend just for most people who don't have any health issues, just to stick to 100 milligrams to 500 milligram range, because that's enough if you're doing it on a regular basis, then to read up on the actual protocols. Now I've got links and references on if you want to steadily increase the doses. You want to use niacin for other health issues and conditions because it has got a lot of benefits for skin conditions, acne, even depression, and other conditions where flushing out toxins can really help, help. And niacin really helps with this. Okay, so.

You can do this niacin protocol, but now I want to share with you my sauna meditation techniques. Now I love the sauna. The sauna was like my church. I would go there and I would use it as a time to pray deeply to my unconscious mind, which I believe is a, is a way, a method to reprogram your operating system, your mind when it gets cluttered up over the, over the years, through traumatic events, through stress, through learning bad.

Habits, you can actually unwind and unravel and undo yourself. And I find the sauna is one of the best ways to do this. And you can get a lot of relief of old stressful traumas and past events if you use a sauna in the right way. You can also use this as a way to actually create new, more empowering habits, to even manifest, create the life that you really want. If you're into things like the Law of Attraction, I believe the secret lies with doing these techniques in the sauna. And when you combine it with the breath, magic really happens. So there's a very simple technique that I do that is using rhythmic breathing and chanting whilst in the sauna. And so what you do is you go into the sauna, you would find a comfortable position.

Keep your back straight, you can cross your legs.

And what you want to do now is actually just let your head drop forward whilst you're in the sauna. And what I find is the intense heat starts to get a lot of blood flow going into your brain. And getting that blood flow into the brain, I believe enhances the power of your brain stem and the midbrain, the area, the seat of your awareness. That's right. So what you want to start doing now is a process of rhythmic breathing where you breathe in for four counts and out for eight counts. So you're breathing in like this into your diaphragm, then into your chest for four.

And then out for eight.

And then no pause between inhale and exhale, breathing in.

And out.

As a cycle. And you just repeat this rhythmic breathing and just do this as you start to drift into a very deep, altered state of consciousness. Now you're going to find at this point that your power of visualization starts to get enhanced and you can start to.

Imprint suggestions into your conscious mind. So if you want to forgive and let go of past events that have, like, affected you, this is one of the best times to do it, where you can actually visualize the person you want to forgive or a past event where maybe you did something you want to forgive yourself and you can just send forgiveness. You can actually recondition that by using this Hawaiian prayer where you say these words over and over again. Please forgive me, I'm sorry, I love you. Thank you. Or you can say, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I love you. Thank you. Actually, the order doesn't matter so much. Just saying that mantra. And over and over again, visualizing the person you want to forgive and just repeating that can actually help you release a lot of stress, stored, suppressed emotions from the body.

Now, if you want to actually use this as a way to visualize your goals and to create the reality that you want, what you just do is use a visualization technique of actually visualizing what it Is that you really want to call in perhaps as a financial goal or a health goal or a person, a connection that you want to create. Visualize yourself having this right now, in this moment, right now, and bring it into the present moment, bring your awareness to it, embody it, feel it as though it's happening right now. And you just start doing that whilst you're doing the rhythmic breathing. This really enhances the entire process. And what you can also do is just simply bring the intention of gratitude, deep gratitude for the body that you have today, the ability you have to do this meditation itself and just have gratitude for something that you love, that you have deep passion for today, and just bring in that awareness of gratitude. And if you find it hard to feel grateful for something, think about something you love or someone you love and just embody that feeling of love and just sit there and just bring in that awareness, Bring that in with the rhythmic breathing. And after several minutes of rhythmic breathing, what you can do is take a big inhale.

A full yogic breath, and just breathe out very slowly, like you're breathing out through a small straw.

You're going to find your whole nervous system calms right down. This will actually allow you to even stay in the sauna longer. So if you're somebody who's only been able to stay a few minutes in the sauna, you might be able to triple that time, quadruple that time, just by doing this rhythmic breathing and the breath, extended breath, because this calms the nervous system down, actually cools the nervous system down, and it helps you actually stay more calm and relaxed in the intense heat environment. That's right. You can also make a tone. This is taking it to the next level. So you do several minutes of breathing in for four, out for eight, then you breathe in.

And then make a tone.

And then repeat several minutes of rhythmic breathing.

Deep breath in.

And just repeat that. You can also experiment with a faster rhythmic breath because you'll find as you get hotter and hotter in the sauna, you're. Your heart rate goes up and you may need to breathe slightly faster. So you can breathe in for two and out for four. Always extend your exhalation, keeping your exhalation longer than your inhalation, doing this rhythmic breathing, and then extend your exhalation in this sequence. And using the power of visualization is one of the most powerful ways for you to de. Stress, calm your nerves and to get into these deep, altered states of consciousness where you can speak to your unconscious mind. You can reprogram yourself and Have a more powerful way to manifest the life that you want to create.

I say you want to heal yourself. This is a very powerful way for you to visualize letting go of any dark energy and visualizing yourself being full at your best. Calming your nervous system down. One of the mantras you can use at this time is, whilst you're making this rhythmic breathing and chanting is I am whole, perfect, strong, loving, harmonious and happy. Saying that over and over and over again in your mind, I am whole, perfect, strong, loving, harmonious and happy. And saying I am calm, I am calm.

Just saying that mantra, making that tone is an amazing way just to calm down, calm your nervous system down. Because most of the problems associated with disease, depression, anxiety is because you've been burnt out, you've been stressed out, your adrenaline has been pumping for too long, you're chronically stressed. And by getting into this state, this calm, therapeutic state is one of the most powerful things you can do to release the stress from your body, to release this tension and to get into this deep rest and recuperation mode. Rejuvenation and if you do this at night, if you do the sauna in the evening and you do this according to this protocol, it can actually help you have a very deep, rejuvenating, restorative sleep as well. This is what I highly recommend is doing a sauna several times a week, using at night to get a very restful sleep. You can also do it in the, in the morning as a way to get supercharged as well. If you don't overdo it, don't do it for too long, do it for 10 to 15 minutes. Do one round in the morning is a powerful way to actually get charged up for the day ahead and feel really cleansed. I would actually do one in the morning and one in the evening when I was living right next to a gym in, in the UK and I would, I'd love being in the sauna as an amazing therapeutic environment. So I want to get your results with this, see what your results are like with this and send your comments to me below by commenting in the comments below this video and check the description out for more information resources on everything that I just discussed here in a lot more depth. That's right. Much love, positive energy, peace.