There’s a new holistic healing technique sweeping the United States, and Renee Greco, one of the owners of Cure Infrared Sauna Spa, knows it’s more than just a fad.
Infrared saunas are similar to your typical sauna, but without the steam and thickness in the air. Instead of heating the air around you, infrared saunas heat you from the inside out, causing body temperature to raise at least two degrees, Greco said.
“By raising your body temperature, it keeps your blood circulating, opens your veins and allows the blood to get to places it normally doesn’t get to,” she said. “They’re the same infrared lights used on newborns in the nursery. The way it heats your body up from the inside is almost like a microwave effect, but totally safe.”
If you’re skeptical about this process, you’re not alone. Greco said many of the people who come in are hesitant to get in because this healing practice is somewhat new to the United States. The first-ever saunas were created in Finland, where steam vapor was generated by splashing water onto heated rocks. The Finnish also used the sauna as a location to cleanse the mind, refresh the spirit and prepare the dead for burial. The sauna was a key part of their daily lives and families used it to bath together within the home, according to jashbotanicals.com.
When the Finnish began to travel to other parts of the world, they introduced these cultures to the pleasures and health benefits of saunas, which then lead to further evolution of the design. This led to the invention of infrared saunas in the last several decades.
Infrared saunas use infrared heaters to convert light into heat. This heat warms nearby objects without raising the air temperature, so that a bather in an infrared sauna absorbs heat but the surrounding air does not. “It helps with rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme disease and fibromyalgia and it also helps lower blood pressure and helps with diabetes by opening the veins for circulation and allowing the blood to heal and keep things running like they should,” Greco said.
Before opening Cure, Greco worked for years doing Medicare compliance, and was looking to get out of the corporate world. When she developed some health issues, her nephew, Frank Procopio, urged her to try out an infrared sauna. “After I did it I immediately felt a huge difference – it was amazing,” she said.
Soon after, Procopio and Greco decided to go into business together and open Manlius’ first infrared sauna spa, which officially opened its doors at the end of April 2014.
At Cure, you won’t be sitting next to a stranger in you sauna. There are four private rooms and each sauna is big enough for two, in case customers want to bring a friend. They provide hand towels for clients to wipe down in the sauna to help remove toxins. Greco said that on average, her customers spend about 30 minutes once a week in the sauna.
And on June 28, Cure is holding an open house for anyone who wants to try it out for themselves. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., they’ll be offering free 20 minute sauna sessions. Call 414-7726 for more information or to make an appointment or visit cureofsyracuse.com.
