Do you know the Tibetan medicinal baths?

Perhaps you have never heard of the tibetan medicinal bathshowever, in the Asian country they are part of daily life and have contributed to well-being for thousands of yearsof a population that lives at high altitudes, with little oxygen and very cold for a good part of the year.

That is why the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added Tibetan medicinal baths to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Committee held in Port Louis, Mauritius.

How is the Tibetan medicinal bath?

The medicinal bath is a traditional practice in Tibet, of great importance for disease prevention. known as lung mu In Tibetan, it embodies the properties of the five elements or the five origins of life: earth, water, fire, wind, and space.

With the bath in bathtubs or pools with spring water where different decoctions of medicinal plants and minerals are dissolved, it is about balancing the energies or causes of health and disease, according to traditional medicine: lung (wind), chiba, (fire) and peigen (phlegm).

There are several types of bathrooms

The baths are carried out with minerals or with medicinal plants dissolved in the water and under the supervision of traditional doctors. But baths are also taken in religious ceremonies, popular activities or as part of the daily life of families.

Following UNESCO’s decision, China’s Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Xu said that “the medicinal bath is part of the heritage and development of traditional tibetan medicinal theories within modern healthy practices”.

You can make a version at home

Although a therapeutic bath genuine is performed under the prescription of a physician whochoose the right mix of plants to treat the imbalance that is suffered, it is possible to make a version at home.

On the internet you can find mixtures of plants and minerals, already prepared for the bath, or you can buy each product separately and make the mixture at home.

For example, a Tibetan mixture to treat osteoarthritis contains ephedra, rhododendron, mugwort, Myricaria squamosa, San José pine, calcite, trona and sulfur (minerals), caltrop and Shorea robust.

with european plants

And you can also use the European plant mixes that are easily accessible in any herbalist,although we are no longer talking about a Tibetan bath, but the philosophy is similar.

Some known mixtures are those of rosemary, basil and rue; roses and marigolds; and citronella and rosemary.

Prepare a decoction with these plants or the ones you want for 15 minutes, then pour it into the water at 38ºC and take the bath for 15 minutes.