Health tips
Healing clay
Clay detoxifies the body, deacidifies, stabilizes and strengthens, helps with rheumatic and degenerative diseases, alleviates skin and varicose veins. Clay treatments are an excellent workout for your vessels. The heaviness of clay activates metabolism, digestion and lymphatic system. Used regularly as a bath or pack, it improves blood circulation and thus the oxygen supply and function of the tissues.
Depending on the indications, clay is administered as a clay bath, wrap or clay mud full body therapy in a steam bath as part of a Felke treatment.
Clay consists of a variety of minerals and was created by the deposition of rock weathering products over the last 65 million years. In addition to sand as the largest proportion (particles of 0.02—2 mm), clay consists of silt (particle size 0.002—0.02 mm) and clay (particles smaller than 0.002 mm). In chemical analysis, silicon in the form of quartz is the main constituent. Clay also contains large amounts of iron (III) oxide, aluminum (III) oxide, as well as oxides of magnesium, potassium and calcium (see box page 32). The pH value is around 8 and therefore in the alkaline range. With a liter weight of the ready-to-use porridge (22 percent added water) of just under 1,900 grams, the clay is significantly heavier than water. The physico-chemical behavior of the extremely swellable, finely distributed clay minerals is primarily responsible for the therapeutic effect. They can bind large amounts of water, acid and other substances and exchange dissolved minerals.
In addition, there are the mechanical effects that become effective when the clay dries out and possibly resets on the skin.
clay bath
The clay bath is the central treatment of the Felke treatment, which also includes cold water treatments, air and light baths with lots of gymnastics and heat treatments. The baths are now used in floor-heated buildings in Felke Kurhäuser.
During the summer months, treatments — as in Pastor Felke's time — take place outdoors within a spacious natural, light-air bathing park. The patient sits in a shallow pit (120 x 60 x 40 cm) pierced into the grown soil. Since 1912, clay baths with clay sludge have been used — dry clay baths used to be common. The dry clay is now “washed down” with well water into a viscous slurry before use.
Each guest is assigned their own clay bath for the duration of their stay (1—4 weeks) and uses it once or twice a day for a period of 30 to a maximum of 60 minutes each time. The clay bath is a half bath. It is taken in a sitting, leaning position, with the legs, body and forearms covered with clay while the upper body remains free. Clay temperatures in floor-heated halls are around 8-10 degrees below body temperature; outdoors, the clay temperature depends on the current weather conditions. In contrast to similar applications such as moor or natural mud, the clay bath is a cold application. Due to the low thermal conductivity of the clay, heat equilibrium has established shortly after entering the clay bath, and no further heat is removed from the body. The skin can release acids and detoxify the alkaline clay. During the bath, the heaviness of the clay causes an increased withdrawal of blood into the internal organs, improves metabolism there and activates the body's excretory function. After the bath, you scrape off the clay pulp from your body. In mild weather, allow sunlight to dry the thin film of clay remaining on the skin and then rub it off with your hands before thoroughly cleaning the body with cool water. This drying clay on the skin causes an intensive increase in blood flow to the superficial vessels, causing the skin to redden.
