Tibetan Medicinal Baths: Could Bath be a Cure?

The scorching Egyptian sand baths, the intoxicating German beer baths, and the invigorating Turkish steam baths…There is a wide variety of bathing styles from all over the world to soothe and heal people. While on the snowy plateau of the East, the Tibetan people boil good medicinal baths with the gifts from nature, to dispel cold and treat disease in the vapor of medicinal baths.

In the olden days, the Tibetan people found the hot springs as a remedy for various pains, such as joint pain, backache, rheumatoid arthritis. Tibetan medicinal baths also evolved from hot spring (baths). According to a legendary Tibetan story, an eagle fell into a hot spring after breaking its wings and being unable to fly. After seven days of soaking in the hot spring, it could fly again because its wings were healed. Thus, the hot spring earned the name “Eagle Hot Spring”.In the olden days, the Tibetan people found the hot springs as a remedy for various pains, such as joint pain, backache, rheumatoid arthritis. Tibetan medicinal baths also evolved from hot spring (baths). According to a legendary Tibetan story, an eagle fell into a hot spring after breaking its wings and being unable to fly. After seven days of soaking in the hot spring, it could fly again because its wings were healed. Thus, the hot spring earned the name “Eagle Hot Spring”.

The disadvantages of hot springs include the high altitude, cold weather, and poor road conditions in their locations. To overcome these disadvantages, a Tibetan expert developed the “Elixir of Five Flavors”as a substitute for hot springs. The basic formula of Tibetan medicinal baths is based on the Elixir of Five Flavors, which is prepared by boiling a mixture of five kinds of herbal medicines and barley. After boiling, wine curd is added, and the mixture is fermented, similar to the process of making home-made wine.

In the past, the fermentation (burning) materials included sheep dung, cow dung and firewood from the plateau. Today the medicine boiling process can be done with the assistance of computers. Once the boiling is complete, there’s no longer the need to carry one bucket after another, as the medicinal soup can be poured into the bath container controlled by computer.

Tibetan medicinal baths are customized, each having its unique formula. If one suffers from the pain in the thoracic spine, a medicinal bath is recommended as it triggers sweating afterwards, and then traditional Chinese medicine moxibustion can be applied once the whole body is dry. This integrated therapy leads to positive results and can even be combined with Western medicine. What matters most is achieving the primary goal of alleviating pain for the patients, regardless of whether the therapy originates from Western medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (Zhong Yi), or Tibetan medicine.

In 2018, the Tibetan medicinal bathing (the Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa) was officially inscribed onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, which has furthered the clinical practice, preservation and advancement of Tibetan medicinal bathing.

The acceptable temperature of Tibetan medicinal baths varies from the young to the elderly. Accordingly, we adjust the temperature and amount of the medicine ingredients. For example, given the diverse odors of Chinese medicine, we can add some odor-removing herbs, explore the therapies popular among the young people, and integrate traditional medicinal baths with modern ones, so as to preserve the medicines, pass on the culture, and spread it to Beijing, China, and all over the world.