Hot Springs

Aajonus stated plainly that "the hot springs is better than a hot bath in municipal water, unless the hot springs water is treated with chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride." This distinction was central to how he evaluated any bathing water source. Municipal tap water, even when heated to therapeutic temperatures, carries dozens of industrial chemicals that absorb through the skin during immersion. When a person soaks in hot municipal water, the pores open under the heat and the skin becomes more permeable, meaning the body is simultaneously trying to expel toxins through the skin while absorbing chlorine, fluoride, and other contaminants from the bath water. Natural hot springs water that arrives untreated from a thermal underground source avoids this problem entirely.

However, the qualification he attached was firm: a hot springs that has been filtered and then chemically treated to manage temperature or microbial content does not retain that advantage. He noted that some commercial hot springs operations take thermal water, filter it, and then control its temperature with added heat sources, and at some of these facilities the water is treated with chemicals. The person bathing should verify whether the water is chemically treated before assuming the natural source benefit applies.

The same temperature rules Aajonus applied to home hot tubs and baths applied directly to hot springs. The ideal immersion temperature was 102 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. He described 105 degrees as a standard therapeutic target and sometimes said 110 degrees was acceptable for those who could tolerate it. He was unambiguous that temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit begin destroying enzymes and vitamins in the skin and in the mucous membranes of the sinuses, ears, eyes, lungs, and bronchioles, and that they cause dehydration in the tissues of the skin and connective tissue.

When asked directly about soaking in a hot springs pool running up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit, Aajonus responded that soaking at such a temperature "will destroy enzymes in the skin and connective tissue and damage them. It will also cause dehydration in those tissues." This was not a mild caution but a direct statement of cellular harm. The temperature at which he placed the outer limit of safety was 43.3 degrees centigrade, which equals 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and he referred to this figure with precision when pressed on it. At a commercial hot springs where the temperature was running at 101 or 103 degrees Fahrenheit, he indicated through a workshop participant's account that one could request the attendants raise the temperature, and that 103 to 104 degrees was an appropriate range for the pool to be operating, even if other bathers found it too warm.

Aajonus described 90 minutes of immersion at 105 to 108 degrees as the benchmark needed to get heat deeply enough into the body to reach the lymphatic glands, nodes, and circulatory pathways of the lymph system. He used an extended analogy of a cold stick of butter sealed inside a two-cup glass jar surrounded by 108-degree air: even with that sustained external heat, it takes a very long time to begin melting the interior because the air has insulating properties and the mass itself resists warming. The body, he said, works similarly. The outer tissues heat first, and moving the heat inward to where deep lymphatic deposits are held takes time.

To get electricity and other conductive toxins melted out of the connective tissue, he stated it takes approximately 40 minutes at 105 degrees. To reach the deeper lymphatic glands and nodes and begin moving that accumulated waste, 90 minutes of sustained immersion is needed. This framing applied equally to hot springs sessions. When one person wrote to him describing plans to visit the Saratoga, Wyoming hot springs for a week and bathe in the springs three to four times per day, Aajonus responded enthusiastically, writing "Have fun!" and providing a specific instruction: the pineapple mixture, which he used to support digestion and fat processing during intensive detoxification periods, should be taken only once daily even when doing four hot springs sessions per day.

The pineapple mixture he referenced in the context of hot springs detox sessions was a preparation he used to assist the body in processing the fats and toxins being mobilized by the heat. When someone planned to do hot springs sessions three to four times daily for a week, his guidance was to take the pineapple mixture once daily rather than multiple times, regardless of how many immersion sessions were being done. The mixture itself, described in other contexts, typically involved pineapple combined with fats such as coconut cream, butter, and cream in proportions varying by the person's height and body size, with the purpose of providing the body enough fat to bind and carry dissolved toxins safely without them re-depositing in other tissues.

In one written exchange, Aajonus recommended that a person whose lymphatics were blocked in the head and legs, and whose skin was not perspiring efficiently enough to discharge heavy compounds even with hot baths, apply a specific topical mixture to the skin before bathing. The formula was three ounces of raw butter, three ounces of bone marrow, and two ounces of pineapple juice squeezed by hand, rubbed into the skin every other day. This treatment was meant to unblock the skin and restore its capacity to perspire heavier compounds under the heat of hot baths or hot springs. He described this as addressing a situation where the lymphatics were "a little worse in the head and legs" and where the skin's ability to perspire heavier compounds needed to be supported before the hot water immersion could work fully.

He also described a general formula for supporting the body during hot detoxification sessions, which he called a sport drink: two cups watermelon from the pink and red flesh down to the rind, one cup of milk, one tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar, one and a half teaspoons of moist Terramin clay, one tablespoon each of lime juice and lemon juice, two tablespoons of coconut cream, two to three eggs, and twenty blueberries to pull out metals, all blended and sipped throughout the session. Watermelon he identified as supporting perspiration and body heat. He recommended sipping about half a cup of this blend before getting into a hot tub or bath, a full cup while in the water, and another half cup upon getting out.

Aajonus recommended that people using hot springs or hot baths for detoxification also support their bodies with Terramin clay taken internally. His specific suggestion was one tablespoon of moist Terramin clay blended into three ounces of raw milk, taken once or twice daily. The clay's role was to help bind and remove the toxins being mobilized through the skin and lymphatic system by the heat. If this protocol caused constipation, his suggestion was a suppository made of three tablespoons each of raw butter, raw cream, and raw coconut cream, inserted into the rectum before sleep, used every few days as needed. This was not specific to hot springs but was part of his broader approach to managing the detoxification load placed on the body whenever heat was being used aggressively to mobilize lymphatic waste.

Aajonus acknowledged that people using hot springs at the upper end of the therapeutic temperature range could reach a point of heat prostration or extreme discomfort. His method for managing this without abandoning the session was specific: take a bowl of cold water with ice floating in it, wring out a cold cloth and place it on the top of the head, and then submerge the wrist and fist, open rather than clenched, into the cold water up to the wrist, for exactly two minutes. He explained that the bones of the hands and wrist are very close to the surface and chill rapidly, which quickly cools the blood returning to the brain, stopping the feeling of overwhelming heat in the brain. "Your body will want to stay in that hot water. The body loves the hot water. The brain hates it." He was also consistent that cold applications beyond two minutes were not beneficial and that the body should not be chilled for extended periods.

At commercial hot springs pools with both hot and cold sources, he confirmed that both temperatures are good for the body, with the qualification that one should not stay in the cold water more than three minutes at a time.

When asked specifically about Beverly Hot Springs, Aajonus called it "wonderful" and noted that it would count as a lymphatic therapy, but qualified that the temperature fluctuates because the water comes from an underground thermal pool and naturally adjusts. His advice was simply to check the temperature before each session, since the facility cannot guarantee a fixed temperature the way a privately controlled hot tub can. The temperature at Beverly Hot Springs was described as running between 103 and 104 degrees in advertising, though it sometimes ran closer to 101 degrees in practice. The procedure he described, drawn from a workshop participant's account, was to speak to an attendant politely and request that the temperature be raised if it was running low.

He described Deep Creek, a natural hot springs and river location in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, as a place worth visiting. He described its physical setup in detail: a rock hot springs arrangement where one side is very hot and can be touched over the edge to feel the heat, and the other side is cooler, with the cold river flowing through so both temperatures are available in close proximity. There is also a deep pool up on a cliff with sand on the bottom, surrounded by bars, where a person can dive in and swim to the other side. He described it as "a marvelous place" and said it is best visited on weekdays rather than weekends because of crowd levels. He placed it near Hesperia, California, accessible from the 15th Street area or from the other end via Hiking Canyon.

He also mentioned a natural spring on a friend's property on the Hamakula Coast, where water comes out of rock and forms a small lagoon. He described putting that spring water into a bathtub heated to a high temperature, saying that when it contacts the skin, "it's unbelievable," and characterizing spring water as being "like food" because of everything living and mineral-rich it contains.

Aajonus made clear that hot springs, like home hot tubs, are a form of lymphatic therapy that requires sustained duration at appropriate temperatures. Despite the appeal of hot springs as a destination or a single visit experience, the body's deep lymphatic deposits require consistent, repeated sessions over time. One week of intensive immersion three to four times daily, as one person planned, he affirmed would give a "real boost," but the underlying principle was that the lymphatic system is chronically blocked in most people eating modern diets and requires ongoing commitment to hot immersion to progressively clear.

He also consistently placed hot springs below a privately controlled home hot tub in terms of practical reliability, because a hot tub maintains a constant programmable temperature and is available daily without travel, whereas a public or natural hot springs fluctuates in temperature and may be chemically treated. The home hot tub, particularly the cedar ofuro-style Japanese tub that fits in a corner of a room, was his preferred recommendation for the patient wanting daily access to sustained therapeutic immersion.