Four Ways To Feel the Glow With Heat Therapy

As someone who grew up in the endless sun of Southern California, I’ve never quite adjusted to the concept of winter. My threshold for “cold” is embarrassingly low – anything below 20°C sends me into survival mode. And living in Sydney now, every time the calendar tips toward June, my instinct kicks in: seek warmth. Any warmth. Immediately.

In years past, my winter ritual involved locking myself in a Bikram yoga studio in Darlinghurst, sweating through 90 minutes of stillness, fire, and surrender.

But this year, the craving ran deeper. I wasn’t just in search of heat; I needed something restorative. Something sun-drenched, soul-soothing, and slightly off-grid. I didn’t just want to survive winter; I wanted to reset.

So, I did what any sun-seeking woman with a wild heart and a family of six might do: I packed our bags and booked a trip to Fiji. What started as a seasonal escape turned into a deep, healing experience centred around one of the most ancient, powerful forces in the world: heat.

The Mud Baths & Thermal Pools: Earth-Generated Magic

There’s something undeniably grounding about smearing warm volcanic mud across your skin in the heart of Fiji. And no, you’re not wading into a bubbling mud pit like some prehistoric spa-goer. Instead, you’re handed the rich, mineral-loaded mud in buckets – thick, cool to the touch, and dark as wet clay—and encouraged to paint it onto your body. It’s part ritual, part play.

My youngest dove in without hesitation, streaking mud across his cheeks like a mini warrior, giggling as the clay dried into a cracking shell. My older kids, on the other hand, stood back at first, clearly hesitant to get dirty.

But the more they watched everyone embracing the mess, the more they softened. One by one, they joined in, eventually laughing and covering themselves head to toe. Later, they admitted they were glad they did it – that it was way more fun (and relaxing) than they’d expected.

Once the mud dries and begins to flake off under the sun, the real magic begins. You move through a series of naturally heated thermal pools, each one warmer than the last. It’s not just about rinsing off – it’s about surrender. The heat seeps into your muscles, quieting your mind, easing your body into stillness. You feel the tension lift, the weight of the everyday loosen.

Barefoot Movement Under the Sun: Grounding Through Heat and Earth

One of the simplest yet most powerful rituals I practised in Fiji was also the most natural—walking barefoot under the sun. No shoes, no schedule. Just me, warm sand, and the soft rhythm of movement.

Each morning or late afternoon, I’d wander along the beach, letting the tropical sun heat my skin and the golden sand press into the soles of my feet. This wasn’t just a walk—it was heat therapy in motion. The sensation of sun-warmed earth beneath me felt primal and deeply grounding. With every step, I could feel my body recalibrating, my nervous system softening, my mind unclenching.

Walking barefoot in a warm climate activates something ancient in us. It combines the benefits of heat, natural reflexology and earthing – a practice that connects your body directly to the electromagnetic frequency of the planet. In wellness circles, it’s believed to reduce inflammation, balance cortisol levels, and even improve sleep.

But I wasn’t thinking about the science at the time. I was just feeling. I was present. I was soaking in the warmth, both from above and below. And in those moments—between steps, between breaths—I felt a kind of wholeness I didn’t know I’d lost.

The Fijian Hot Herbal Poultice: A Tropical Embrace

If you’ve never experienced a hot herbal poultice massage, allow me to set the scene: bundles of freshly picked island herbs—wrapped in cloth, steeped in coconut oil, and steamed until they’re nearly too hot to touch. Then, slowly, rhythmically, they’re pressed into your skin.

It’s not just a massage. It’s a ceremony. The heat from the compresses reaches deep into the muscle tissue, melting away months of stress, while the scent of local botanicals lingers in the air—think ginger, lemongrass, wild mint. I could feel my nervous system recalibrating with each press.

This was the treatment I didn’t know I needed—the one that reminded me what deep exhale feels like. It was luxurious, yes, but also humbling. Rooted in Fijian tradition, the experience felt like being held by the island itself.

Yoga in the Morning Sun: Building the Fire Within

Every morning, while the rest of my family eased into the day, I claimed a quiet corner of the resort gym deck overlooking the ocean. No complex flows, no pressure to “perform”—just me, my mat, and the rising sun.

The warmth on my skin as I moved slowly—stretching, breathing, simply existing—was its own kind of therapy. On some days, I followed a downloaded 20-minute flow; on others, I let my body decide what it needed. But every session had the same goal: to build internal heat. To ignite my energy from the inside out.

That, I realised, is the essence of heat wellness. It’s not always about stepping into something hot. Sometimes, it’s about letting the warmth within you rise up and take over.

Why We Chase the Heat

There’s a reason cultures across the globe have long incorporated heat into their wellness rituals—from Turkish hammams to Finnish saunas to Japanese onsens. Heat cleanses, softens, recalibrates. It strips away layers—literal and emotional—and brings you back to your most essential self.

Physiologically, it improves circulation, reduces inflammation and eases muscle pain. But emotionally, heat provides something even deeper: a sense of surrender. A return to presence. A softness in a world that often feels far too sharp.

For me, Fiji wasn’t just about escaping winter – it was about remembering that heat is medicine. It’s a ritual. It’s connection. And it’s something we can carry with us, even when we return home.

Must even steak be politicised? The American Heart Association recently recommended eating more “plant-based” protein in a move to counter the Health and Human Services Department’s new guidelines calling for more red meat.

Few would argue that eating a Big Mac a day is good for you.

On the other hand, growing evidence, including a study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that eating more meat—particularly unprocessed red meat—can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in the quarter or so of people with a particular genetic predisposition.

The APOE4 gene variant is one of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s.

You inherit one copy of the APOE gene from each parent. The most common variant is APOE3; the least is APOE2.

The latter carries a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, while the former is neutral. A quarter of people carry one copy of the APOE4 variant, and about 2% carry two.

APOE4 is more common among people with Northern European and African ancestry. In Europe the variant increases with latitude, and is present in as many as 27% of people in northern countries versus 4% in southern ones. God smiled on the Italians and Greeks.

For unknown reasons, the APOE4 variant increases the risk of Alzheimer’s far more for women than men.

Women’s risk multiplies roughly fourfold if they have one copy and tenfold if they have two. Men with a single copy show little if any higher risk, while those with two face four times the risk.

What makes APOE4 so pernicious? Scientists don’t know exactly, but the variant is also associated with higher cholesterol levels—even among thin people who eat healthily.

Scientists have found that cholesterol builds up in brain cells of APOE4 carriers, which can disrupt communications between neurons and generate amyloid plaque, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.

The Heart Association’s recommendation to eat less red meat may be sound advice for people with high cholesterol caused by indulgent diets.

But a diet high in red meat may be better for the brains of APOE4 carriers.

In the JAMA study, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute examined how diet, particularly meat consumption, affects dementia risk among seniors with the different APOE variants.

Higher consumption of meat, especially unprocessed red meat, was associated with significantly lower dementia risk for APOE4 carriers.

APOE4 carriers who consumed the most meat—the equivalent of 4.5 ounces a day—were no more likely to develop dementia than noncarriers. (

The study controlled for other variables that are known to affect Alzheimer’s risk including sex, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and education.)

APOE4 carriers who ate the most unprocessed meat were at significantly lower risk of dying over the study’s 15-year period and had lower cholesterol than carriers who ate less. Go figure. Noncarriers, however, didn’tenjoy similar benefits from eating more red meat.

The study’s findings are consistent with two large U.K. studies.

One found that each additional 50 grams of red meat (equivalent to half a hamburger patty) that an APOE4 carrier consumed each day was associated with a 36% reduced risk of dementia.

The other found that older women who carried the APOE4 variant and consumed at least one serving a day of unprocessed red meat had a cognitive advantage over carriers who ate less than half a serving, and that this advantage was of roughly equal magnitude to the cognitive disadvantage observed among APOE4 carriers in general.

In all three studies, eating more red meat appeared to negate the increased genetic risk of APOE4.

Perhaps one reason men with the variant are at lower Alzheimer’s risk than women is that men eat more red meat.

These findings might cause chagrin to women who rag their husbands about ordering the rib-eye instead of the heart-healthy salmon.

But remember, the cognitive benefits of eating more red meat appear isolated to APOE4 carriers.

Nutrition is complicated, and categorical recommendations—other than perhaps to avoid nutritionally devoid foods—would best be avoided by governments and health bodies.

Readers can order an at-home test from any number of companies to screen for the APOE4 variant.

The Swedish researchers hypothesize that APOE4 carriers may be evolutionarily adapted to carnivorous diets, since the variant is believed to have emerged between one million and six million years ago during a “hypercarnivorous” period in human history.

The other two APOE variants originated more recently, during eras when humans ate more plants.

APOE4 carriers may absorb more nutrients from meat than plants, the researchers surmise. Vitamin B12—low levels have been associated with cognitive decline—isn’t naturally present in plant-based foods but is abundant in red meat.

Foods high in phytates (such as grains and beans) can interfere with absorption of zinc and iron (also high in red meat), which naturally declines with age. So maybe don’t chuck your steak yet.