So in April I reviewed the Far Infrared Professional Sol Cocoon and Earth Mat (chair mat) from Get Fitt.  I had amazing results, and thought I should update you how things are going since then.  Plus I’ve had over 50 people try the Cocoon and Chair mat, so I”ll let you know what I’ve found out from those trials.

Things I have learnt:

1. The Cocoon is much stronger than the Chair mat; if you have a chronic illness you are going to need the Cocoon, if you want to get better.  But the Chair mat will help you keep going.
2. Using the Cocoon 2-3 times a week at my Salon & Spa is not the same as using it twice a day; doh!
3. I’m lucky to be able to use it twice a day; some people are so sick they can only use it once every couple of days at first.  I’m not sure why, but potentially as I had my supplementation, nutrition, exercise, meditation and pacing in place.
4. Circulation is King in recovery from every illness; I really hadn’t understood how important it is, so I’ll write more about this with more tips.
5. I’ve been focussing on being able to work and be with the kids, not healing; this is a big shift in thought process for me, that I’m still working on it.

Pro’s of the Earth/Chair mat:

I use this for about 30mins at night and 5 mins in the morning.

1. It’s much prettier than the Cocoon
2. It helps me stave off a flare, or hold it off until I can get in the Cocoon.
3. It helps me to relax ready for sleep each night
4. Both kids love it before bed during reading time (it’s on a rocking chair).
5. It’s great for bad backs (no it doesn’t fix them forever, you need to keep using it and go to Pilates).
6. It can give a boost of energy, just not as much as the cocoon – I don’t think it would last more than a couple of days in someone like myself.
7. It’s easy to use because you can sit on it while you work
8. The kids also like to lie on it watching films etc when they are tired.
9. You can lie it on your stomach or knees for pain relief
10. Everyone who has tried it has found it’s great to reduce the pain and grumpiness of PMT (like magic!)
11. It means I can take it with me when I go away and still enjoy my holidays

So I’m really glad I bought one for myself personally and for my clients and I would really recommend it either as:

1. A cheaper option that you supplement with a Cocoon at a salon/therapist
2. Or for pain relief/PMT/energy boost if you are not chronically sick

Pro’s of the Cocoon

1. Massively reduces POTs symptoms and stops a flare up (heart palpitations, feeling as though my arms are tightly bandaged, pain across back & shoulders, fainting sensation on standing up).
2. Almost meditative in nature; it seems to put everyone into a state of peace and calm that creates a really deep sense of rest.
3. It helps me with the sense of overwhelm that being a mum of 2 young kids + a new business + Lyme disease brings on.  Honestly, there are times when I think it is the only thing that keeps me going.
4. The Cocoon shape definitely has a psychosomatic reaction and relaxes people; it must be a bit womb like.
5. Using it 2-3 times per week is keeping me going.  But I’m not making the degree of progress in improvement that I was making before.  There is some improvement, but not noticeable day by day as I was getting before, and life isn’t helping me maintain the improvements at the moment.
6. It’s great before or after a massage of for people who are too stiff or don’t like the intimacy of a massage as a replacement.

Case Studies:

Here is a list of the types of problems that people have come to try the Cocoon for.  I would like to try a few of them in more depth.

Relaxation, stress relief, exhaustion: This is the prime use of the Cocoon at the salon and it always works for this.  If they go racing out into the world, the energy will last 1-2days.  But if they pace, it will last 4-5 days.

Children: All react really well to it and it seems to be very calming and relaxing.  For mine, I get a lot less tantrums kicking off and their health seemed stronger.  It’s good with the Chair mat (better than before), but not as strong.  I’d love to try more with hyperactive or sensitive children.

Recovery from hard core physical exertion: I was really excited to have a Polar Explorer tried it out on his return from the pole.  So I can be sure it helps and that it fits very, very, very tall people!  A mum tried it after doing a moon walk and it helped, but I should have popped her on it again for her to get no fall out from all that walking.

Preparation for exercise: a couple of OCR enthusiasts (Obstacle course racing) have found it really helpful.  I’d like to try out a few more to see if it helps with their results and preparation for races.  Now personally I think these people are C.R.A.Z.Y and doomed to hurt themselves, but heh ho, who am I to judge, and at least this will help protect and/or heal them 😉

Recovery from viruses: Loads of people tried if for recovery of bugs/illnesses that they couldn’t shake off and it either worked immediately or by the next morning.

Cancer: It definitely helps with the exhaustion, stress and pain relief.  I would consider it a supportive therapy, but I wouldn’t want to claim or promise anything else.

Chronic illnesses: (E.g. Fibromyalgia, M.E., CFS. Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Lyme Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis).  It’s not a replacement or short cut for lifestyle changes.  It’s great for the exhaustion that often goes hand in hand with them.  The detox can be brutal, so care needs to be taken to not over do it initially; it even detoxes emotions (see my post on the sudden burst of grief about my parents death).  For some people it helps with pain relief straight away and for others it takes time; it’s going to take a few more clients before I can set people’s expectations clearly.  I definitely to keep going with more long term case studies on this.

What I’m going to keep investigating:

As you can see dogs like Far Infrared too 😉

I’m really interested in how it helps with PMT/Menopause and Depression, so I’m going to do some 2 month case studies in the coming months.  I’m pretty convinced it will help with these two really ‘normal’ problems, which would be amazing.

What’s not clear is which chronic illness is can not help or how many sessions my clients will need to make an improvement.  So we need to do more repeat treatments.

I reckon it will be good for weight loss, because of it’s motivational and detoxing abilities, but I haven’t focussed on this yet.  I can’t wait until it helps me, but the guys at Get Fitt reckon it will take another 4 months before my system normalises; argh!  (Yes, I know this shouldn’t be a priority, and I know I would tell you it’s not important!).

I’ll probably start all those case studies in a month or two, and just focus on continuing treatments with the people who have tried it so far.

In the meantime I’ve made a big decision; I’m going to take the Cocoon home for another month and see if I make as much improvement again as I did the first time.  this might seem really sensible to some people (and selfish to others), but it’s massive for me, as it’s a sign that I’m really prioritising myself ahead of other people and is a big step forward.

If I improve again, then I know that for the chronically sick I can only offer slow improvement/keep going treatments at Espiritu and that they’ll need their own cocoon to really improve (not knocking ‘keeping going’ as an option, as it’s better than ‘spiralling downwards’).  Also I’ll know whether I need to buy a Cocoon for my home usage.

But don’t worry, anyone who really needs it can still use it; I’ll bring it in once a week to Espiritu, or you can use it at my home or use the chair mat at Espiritu.

Want to try it?

Pop me a message on Facebook and we can have a chat.  If you are close, I really recommend you come and try my Cocoon.  I offer the first consultation (with a little coaching guidance) and first Cocoon treatment for free; that way if it doesn’t help there is no pressure on either of us.  My case studies are either free or on a large therapeutic discount.

If you aren’t close, Get Fitt do a ‘try before you buy’ option where you rent it for a month and then if you buy it, that rental comes off the price.  Do you mind mentioning to them that you read my blog posts, if you do take this option please?  They’ll give me a little reward and I’m putting any I get towards more products; there is no doubt that I’m going to need more support to recover completely from my Lyme disease.

At Espiritu I’ve created 10min, 20min, and 30min Far Infrared Cocoon services, a 15min coaching session for afterwards and packages of 6 for the price of 5 and 25% off 10 treatments.  Really popular is the Chair mat upgrade to pedicures/manicures/blow dries and the Cocoon upgrade to the Spa services (but remember, it will only be available 1 day per week for the next 2 months).

Remember to subscribe to this blog if you want to make sure you don’t miss the next instalment of what happens when I take the Cocoon home again and start using it on a daily basis again.

I’d love to hear from anyone else using the Get Fitt products and how it has helped.