I cannot give enough praise for the way my portable steam sauna has helped me during my detox experience. If you have acne or skin issues, or are just detoxing in general, you NEED to be doing this! I made my steam sauna a part of my daily routine and my acne healed much faster because of it. Even if you don’t have skin issues, getting your sweat on is beneficial for everyone. Detox is all about elimination, and your skin acts as your “third kidney” as it’s one of the main outlets for lymphatic waste. We’re supposed to shed 2lbs of waste/skin a day and many of us don’t—the steam sauna is definitely the solution to this!

I log a serious amount of time in the sauna and in doing the math, I average out over 500 hours in the sauna a year! It’s safe to say that when it comes to sweatin’ out the sin, I’ve got you covered. I’m gonna share with you the tips and tricks in using a steam sauna to amp up your detox experience and discuss why it’s so beneficial for the healing process. I’m gonna walk you through my whole routine and touch on what you can do to improved your sauna experience by adding in tools, customizing your sauna, and making it a fun and enjoyable part of your day.

Why Sauna?

• The skin is the largest eliminative organ and when you sweat you are eliminating toxins and bodily waste. This helps lessen the load/pressure on the kidneys, another key eliminative organ.
• The process of sweating stimulates the lymphatic system, the cleaner of the body.
• Hot temperatures dilate blood vessels, resulting in increased blood circulation throughout.
• While sweating through exercising increases heart rate, the blood flow to organs is lowered because it’s needed in the limbs for movement. Sauna induced sweating encourages blood flow to vital organs aiding in the detoxification of said organs.
• Improved sleep
• GREAT for acne/skin problems as it helps remove debris off the skin for better breathability and helps speed up the healing process.

STEAM SAUNA & ACNE

While getting your sweat on is an extremely important aspect of detox for anyone, the reason I am so adamant about getting in everyday is because of the profound effect it’s had on my face and all it’s acne.

I think everyone knows you’re better off not poking and prodding your zits, but I also know that nobody wants to walk around with whiteheads looking like they’re ready to burst either. We’ve all tried to pop a zit that wasn’t ready to pop and ended up angering it further. Only pop a zit when it is “headed”, meaning there is a white head and it’s close to bursting on its own. Prodding a zit that isn’t ready to be popped leads to bleeding and leaving a darker, longer lasting hyperpigmentation mark. There is a fine line between ready to pop zits and ones that need more time, and that’s where the steam sauna is a tremendous help. It speeds up the whole healing process and helps bring zits to that poppable stage faster. This occurs because the hot steam opens our pores and make us sweat, pushing out toxins from our lymphatic system. The pus inside a zit is lymphatic fluid, and since sweating stimulates the lymphatic system, it brings zits to “head” faster. This makes a huge difference in the time it takes for my acne to come and go and saves me from deepening scars.

While acne is certainly an internal problem, a build up of external dead skin cells can clog pores and cause more acne that way. Exfoliating your skin plays a crucial role in skin health as it helps shed the old dead skin cells to make room for the new. The steam sauna softens the skin and makes it so the exfoliating process is gentle, and it is key to be as gentle as you can around acne. An essential part of my sauna routine is softly using exfoliating gloves around the acne in a mirror (being careful not to go over existing acne as it will irritate it further). Implementing this step has made my face feel much smoother and lessened the amount of acne I get. For a while, I could only do the outside of my face as I had too much acne and I had to opt for a gentler option—baking soda. While in the shower after the sauna, I would put about a tablespoon of baking soda in my hand and add a couple drops of water to make a paste. I’d then use my fingertips to gently caress my face, again being careful to avoid any painful cystic acne. This made a huge difference in the amount of small zits I was getting and left my face feeling softer and smoother.

So there you have it. Acne is the result of a clogged lymphatic system, particularly in the head area. Sweating helps stimulate the lymph fluid (which happens to be the fluid within a zit), bringing it to head faster and thus ending the zits life sooner. It softens the skin for easier exfoliation, preventing clogged pores and resulting in smoother, healthier skin. There was a big difference in my skin when I started hitting the sauna daily, and there is a noticeable difference if I stop.

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES!

When I first started my detox I got excited and bought a portable infrared sauna tent from Costco. This thing had me sweating ferociously and I was really pleased with it until I read about Dr. Morse being very against them. They pronounce these machines to be completely safe, with low EMF (electro-magnetic field) options deemed a “safe amount of radiation”, but it is exactly that. There isn’t any level of radiation that is safe. We know microwaves, another “safe” level of radiation, kills the nutrients in the food it heats. Infrared sauna’s are like microwaves for people, heating you from the inside out. While you do get a serious sweat on and are indeed eliminating toxins that way, you are still subjected to low-level radiation, which is acidic and therefore goes against everything I’ve re-learned. I searched the topic on rawfigs.com (a terrific resource guide that breaks down topics covered in Dr. Morse YouTube videos for easy searchable references), and the good doc goes on to tell us a story of how a woman’s breast tumor grew substantially from the use of infrared saunas. All I needed to hear was “radiation” and “acid” and I was very grateful for the Costco Return policy. This is how I came to land on the portable steam sauna.

WHAT TYPE OF SAUNA SHOULD YOU GET?

A sauna can be enjoyed by anyone and is used by all for more than just detox, so investing in a permanent one might be the right move for you. In that case, traditional Finnish wood burning saunas are said to be the best. There are also permanent electric, smoke, and steam saunas available for all you big spenders out there. But if you’re like me, with limited budget and space, you’re going to want to opt for a portable steam sauna tent!

So I took it to Amazon, and one week and $150 later, I was opening my new portable steam sauna. It looks ridiculous; not only is there a hole for your head to stick out of, there are also hand holes so you can play on your phone while your body sweats. Essentially it is a very tiny tent connected to a rice cooker, and if you wanted to make your own personalized one you could literally use a small tent and a rice cooker.

HOT/COLD THERAPY—LYMPH BLASTING SAUNA TECHNIQUE

What really takes your detoxing sauna experience to the next level is alternating between the hot steam and a cold shower, on repeat. I do this 2 or 3 times during a session and by the end of it I feel very different than if I were to just steam sauna alone. Alternating between hot and cold promotes blood and lymphatic flow, along with stimulating your nervous system. When you’re done doing this sequence you will feel like you just spent a hard hour in the gym and are ready for a nap. I like to sauna at night before bed because by the time I’m finished I am ready for it.

What to do:

• Sit in steam sauna for 15-20 minutes
• Quickly transfer to a cold shower and stand under it for as long as you can, usually a minute or two. This will become easier the more you do it.
• Blast the water at your cerebellum as there are many nerve endings there. I also blast my armpits as there are major lymph nodes beneath.
• Quickly transfer back to sauna.
• Repeat 1-2 times if desired.

Dr. Morse says to always end on cold, so when you’re finished showering, endure one last blast of cold water.

*Note: This type of stimulation might be too much for some individuals and can leave you light headed and dizzy. Not a good or safe way to feel when standing in a wet hard tub. If this is too much for you, don’t do it until you have detoxed further or have eased into it. It’s best to ease into this if it’s too much stimulation for you. The cold will become easier to tolerate as you further detox.

If you don’t sauna, you can still do this in the shower by alternating between hot and cold water!

SETTING UP

Your sauna assembles quite easily with the use of plastic tubes and joints, you can’t really mess this up. Mine was a little tight zipping up so I cut a couple inches off of the largest support poles.

Do not use the chair that comes with the tent as you do not want your head sticking out of the head hole. Hang a tea towel over the head hole to block the steam from escaping and sit on a towel inside. There is a handy little remote that allows you to turn the unit on/off, adjust the heat setting, and set the timer. The sauna also comes with a myofascial foot roller that feels nice to roll your arches on, as well as a mat for under the tent for moisture control. Put an extra towel down anyway.

You want to start it on the highest setting (9 in my case) so that the water heats up the fastest. It will take about ten minutes for the water to come to a boil and fill your tent with steam, once it has you can put it on a lower setting to your heat comfort level, mine is either 6 or 7.

I’ve been using mine for a while now and eventually the top of the heater loosened up and I was losing a lot of steam out of it. I solved this issue by weighing it down with textbooks on top. This kept the steam from escaping and I finally put that stack of textbooks to use.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Skin Brushing

While I’m waiting for my sauna to heat up, I use the ten minutes to brush my skin. As I mentioned before, the skin is supposed to shed 2lbs a day, and with the restricting clothing materials we wear today, this just doesn’t happen. Skin brushing helps eliminate dead skin cells from the surface as well as stimulating your lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system rests just beneath the skin and is easily stimulated by light brush strokes. While I was in deep detox modes, skin brushing would give me tingling sensations lighting up areas of my body. Other times it has instantly made me start sweating. Even if you don’t feel anything happening, it is still beneficial to your lymphatic system. Massage therapy will suggest you brush towards your heart, but with what we know about the kidneys being the main lymphatic outlet, we know better. Brush towards your main lymph nodes and continue to brush down to your kidneys.

You can find a skin brush at your local health store, but you want to make sure it is made with natural bristles as we don’t want to clog our pores with synthetic materials. There are different levels of coarseness you can get and you may want to have a separate softer bristle for your face (if you have severe acne like me, avoid face brushing as it will only irritate your acne further). I use a handy one that has a long detachable handle to reach the back area as well as a hand handle for easy to reach places.

Essential Oils

Having struggled with asthma all my life, I have found essential oils to be extremely beneficial for my lungs. If I’m having a tough time breathing, I use my steam sauna as a breathing aide as I add essential oils to the water and inhale the steam. For breathing enhancement, add a few drops of peppermint essential oil in the water before steaming. If. You can also use other essential oils you prefer, I like using lemon & orange as well.

Another thing you can do is brew herbal tea in your steamer so that you open your pores and lungs to healing herbs. I like to use Dr. Morse’s Heal All Tea or his 3-Lung Tea if my lungs are struggling.

Exfoliating Gloves

You’ll notice after being in the sauna for a little while that you can scratch yourself and there will be a white dead skin cells under your nail. I keep exfoliating gloves near my sauna to slough off this dead skin. Even though I skin brush before the sauna, there is still always a lot to slough off. Because of this, it is best to wash your exfoliating gloves often. Not only are you sloughing off dead skin, but you are also stimulating lymphatic circulation. These gloves are dirt cheap and great for the sauna.

Towels

One to sit on, one to clean with, and one for underneath the sauna. Use a small towel to cover the head hole as well. I have a towel robe that I use for transferring from the steam sauna to the shower and back.

Waterproof Speaker

Having a waterproof speaker is a necessity in my opinion! Doing the hot/cold sauna switch takes a good chunk of your free time, and sometimes, I absolutely dread doing it. You know that feeling—it’s winter, you’re warm and comfy in bed and you don’t wanna get up even to pee. Well getting out of your warm bed to jump into a freezing cold shower is definitely not appealing either. SO MAKE IT APPEALING! I have a plethora of playlists for my various moods. I seat dance like a mofo. I sing along. I listen to podcasts. I put my phone in a bag and watch YouTube videos. I listen to audio books. I do guided meditation. I watch Dr. Morse videos to remind me why I’m doing such crazy things, like jumping into a freezing shower after sweating my ass off. Do whatever it is that makes this fun for you, and getting a waterproof speaker did this for me. I can pause, change the song, adjust the volume, and even accept incoming calls (it has a mic so I can talk on the phone through the speaker). I use this cheap waterproof speaker off of Amazon for the sauna and everything else. It bumps!

Lymphatic Massage

If you have acne, your lymphatic system is especially congested in your head area. You can easily perform a lymphatic massage on yourself to help drain your head and neck. I follow the instructions in this video and in the first 8 months of my detox, I didn’t feel a thing because my lymph system was so stagnant. After significant detoxing with fruit & fasting, my lymph system had some flow to it and I could start to feel the facial lymph massages draining my head. Whether you feel it working or not, the lymph massage is helping loosen up the vessels and nodes. Regardless of using a sauna, I do this massage every night before bed with my favourite Living Libations cleansing/moisturizing oils.

CLEANING YOUR SAUNA

After every sauna use, I wipe down the inside walls and floor to remove moisture and avoid mold. I clean my sauna with my everyday natural cleaner, Dr. Bronner’s soap (diluted with water), about once a week.

MY EXACT ROUTINE

• Fill up heater with water.
• Add essential oils.
• Turn heat setting to 9 and set timer to 60 min.
• Close heater & add weights (books) to top to keep steam from escaping (maybe your steam sauna is better quality & the weight is unnecessary).
• Close tent & cover head hole with towel.
• Put on a bumpin’ playlist.
• Go to bathroom & dry brush in front of the mirror for ten min while the water heats up.
• Turn heat down to 6.
• Open tent, lay towel down and climb in.
• Zip up tent and ensure head hole is covered with a towel.
• Sing & seat dance for as long as I can handle, about 15-20 min.
• Get out of sauna, zip tent back up.
• Jump in a cold shower for as long as I can handle, about 2min. Alternate on hot and cold once (always be sure to end it on cold!)
• Quickly dry off on terry cloth robe & get back in sauna.
• Sing & seat dance for another 15-20 min. Give lymph massage while doing so.
• Get out of sauna, zip tent back up.
• Gently use exfoliating gloves on my face in a 5x mirror.
• Get in warm shower, rinse face.
• Let warm water hit my cerebellum, then switch to cold for as long as I can handle.
• Get back in sauna for another 15-20min. Use exfoliating glove on full body.
• Jump in cold shower for 2 minutes. Change it to hot. Back to cold.
• Get out & get dressed
• Wipe down inside of sauna with towel

While the steam sauna is a steep little investment, it’s benefits are well worth it, especially if you have skin problems. If you don’t end up making the purchase, there are public steam rooms and sauna’s available for use (check out your local community centre or swimming pool). You can also access saunas & steam rooms in gyms if you have a membership. For your face, you can do it the old school way by holding your face over a bowl of boiled water with a towel to trap the steam in.

Whichever you choose, your skin will thank you!