Embrace the naked, my experience at the Onsen.
Sitting naked in front of strangers was not on my bucket list or my yearly activity-to-do for 2024 leading into 2025. Still, the power of shedding layers, enveloped by water has a certain thrill when we jump out of our comfort zone. The ancient Egyptians did it, and so did the Greeks, Romans and Mesopotamians. Scandinavians do ‘Sauna.’ Folks from Türkiye have perfected it and the Japanese are still doing it. Nothing screams ‘Vulnerable’ like baring your breasts or making sure your Punani is perfectly coiffed for people who don’t care. Yes, that’s right, don’t care. When you bare all at a Japanese Onsen or an Ottoman Hamman experience no one cares what you look like, so why should you?
This is what I convinced myself when in Japan, I experienced my first Onsen bath ritual, unless you count the one time when on a tropical holiday, I was dared to strip down and run into the ocean starkers, granted it was dark and we were a group of four women who had way too many Cosmopolitans, but I did it, even though the temperature was the hinting at a single digit and I had no towel and didn’t take into consideration that damp sand sticks, to everything.
The hotel I booked in Kyoto was famous for its Onsen. https://www.hotelthemitsui.com/en/kyoto/thermal_springs-spa/
Highly Instagrammable and with a five-star rating on Tripadvisor, I was ready to lose my inhibitions and strip off, but before I did, there was a strict protocol I was to follow. The instructions were as such:
- If you’ve been visited by the ink person, then adhesive water-proof dressing needs to be your best friend, lest you end up looking like a human post-it note.
- Wash, and I mean scrub before you enter the baths. There is a separate area to wash there, there and even there, so basically, you’re clean and fresh even before your pedicured toes dip into the water.
- Don’t look down and don’t look up to the ceiling. There’s no mirror and no one to save you once that robe is off girlfriend.
- Remember all bodies are beautiful, even yours.
- Once in the water you’ll forget all about steps one , two and three and instead concentrate on step number four.
The temperature in an Onsen is generally between 37 and 40 degrees and the perks of a relaxing soak in mineral-rich waters include the benefits of sulphur, magnesium and calcium which aid in stress relief and relaxes the muscles—no wonder the Japanese have zen in their DNA. Focusing on ‘Not focusing’ that you’re naked with strangers is an exercise in social and mental clarity. Seen one bosom, you’ve seen them all. My skin felt wonderful, my face was flush and I didn’t need to look or talk to anyone, I could just be in the zone the entire time. No wonder I floated back to my hotel room in total silence.
Fast track forward and my next water therapy experience was with my fellow Water Polo Mum group, who are used to being near, in and around water most of the year due to the tireless support we give our sons on their water sport journey. No one balked at the suggestion we give a Turkish Haman a try. Lord knows we were itching for a good body scrub by the bath attendant, a stranger, who like at the Onsen, has seen one bosom, has seen it all. What we weren't expecting was that we were stripping down to our bikini bottoms all together at the same time.
But, as mature experienced women, no one batted an eyelid when we entered the steam room and then instructed to lie on a heated marble slab. If you’ve ever rubbed a marinade on a piece of meat or played ‘Rolly Polly” on the beach, think of being slathered and rubbed in dead-sea salt times one hundred. Without a sound, my bath attendant scrubbed the top layer of derma off my body from every crevice and I mean every crevice. Remember when I mentioned leaving your inhibitions at the door? That day I left it at home. Doused with warm water from head to toe and covered in soft soap bubbles my skin was left feeling refreshed and my pride radiated as the Turkish towel clung to my frame and water dripped all over my rubber thongs.
I’m looking ahead to experience number three, by then I’ll be all cool and throwing my head up in the air and saying ‘hmpf, naked shmaked, who cares?’ All I know is that even after a week I’m still complimented by the smoothness of my skin and the humbling sensation that my body is mine and nakedness is just a state of mind. When you visit https://www.ottomanturkishbath.com.au/ ask for Silvia. Not me. The other Sylvia.
#waterexperience #nakedthrill #watertherapy #lovetheskinyouarein