Iyashi Bedrock Spa - review

I got a groupon a while back for the Iyashi Bedrock Spa, which is located near the Sporting Life on Yonge, between Eglinton and Lawrence. The groupon was for 3 x 90 minute sessions of hot rock bathing and hot yin yoga and I was intrigued, having never heard of hot rock bathing (closest I'd heard about were hot stone massages, which I've had done) and love me a good yin practice.

The first thing I'll note is that next time I go, I may not opt to ride my bike or may do so giving myself more time. My goodness it's hilly heading uptown! I got there all sweaty and a bit dishevelled but they definitely didn't seem to mind (and in retrospect, taking the TTC shuttles from Bloor to Eglinton would have been crappy -- it was SO packed). The serene environment when you walk in, the friendly front desk service and the easy-to-follow instructions on what to expect and what to do (posted on the website so you can prepare in advance) only took a few minutes and I was ready for my first ganbayoku session.

Ganbayoku is from Japan, and is a "rock bathing" spa popularized in Hokkaido (I think). There are something like 4,000 ganbayokus in Japan and Iyashi is the FIRST in North America! They import Japanese black silica bedrocks and install them with granite and infrared heating below for people to lie on and detoxify.

In my yoga gear, I went into the sauna like room (44 degrees celcius, 60 percent humidity) and found an available rock bed. I set up my towels - one to lie on, one to act as a pillow during svavasana - and laid down. The stone is slightly graded so that your head is slightly higher than your feet when lying down which was really comfortable. The stone, surprisingly enough, does not feel hard. Your body sort of melts into it. You lay on the rock for 25 minutes then take a quick cool down break to drink water. At the 25 minute mark though, I'd hardly broken a sweat so I thought I'd just stay in the room.

The hot yin class then starts. It is 60 minutes long with a 5 minute break halfway through to cool down in another room and rehydrate. At first I thought the break would be distracting and figured I wouldn't need it but let me tell you I was eager to leave the room at the 30 minute mark! Even with my experience with hot yoga, this was hotter, more humid, and the break was needed and just long enough. One of the reasons I sweat more too was that the heat source is coming from underneath you so it heats your body evenly, much faster, and to the core, which is why they make you leave the room to regulate.

At the end of the session, I felt great. Not like I'd just done a yoga class great though. Like I'd just been to the spa great. So it wouldn't replace my asana practice but is definitely a way to get a great meditation and svavasana in!
 

I'll be trying this two more times and I'm sure that now that I know what to expect, I'll be able to just relax more fully the next two times as well. While I definitely left feeling lighter and more relaxed, some of the other supposed benefits of ganbayoku are anti-aging, sickness prevention, and stress relief. Just like body blitz, I say this is a good spa alternative that offers more than just the treatment with a novel stress-relieving alternative.