Sauna Life

“…The Finnish sauna. An almost mythical experience to all non-Finns, and certainly one that I had never experienced before my first proper visit to Finland some years ago. Until then my experiences, disappointingly, were of dry heated rooms akin to an oven in which random people studiously avoided eye contact whilst sighing at small relief of aching muscles after a preening session in the gym. I took very little joy from these saunas (and even less joy from the gym) and for years it was consigned to the “I’ve done it, won’t go back” box.

Until that is I met my wife, a Finn.

I was coerced in the name of cultural learning to go, fully naked, into a sauna. It had a roaring wood fire, dark wood benches, was 80degC, a shower inside the room, and a bucket of water with a ladle. I singed my posterior on an upper bench before realising there were mats, fiddled with a silly looking hat, and stared suspiciously at my wife who was cradling this bucket of water. Three ladles of water thrown onto the raging hot stones, and I let out a fair old roar as the room filled with super heated steam, my skin tingling, breath taken away and heart rate racing.

And then, calmness. And serenity. My breathing returned to normal, my skin still tingled, the heat wasn’t so bad, and I felt alive. Truly alive. I asked for more water to be thrown (a process called löyly, pronounced lo-loo) and the steam and tingling came rushing back. Genuinely I felt the tension in my neck and back start to release, the heat and steam working their way into my body. Fifteen minutes of sauna-ing and I was fully converted.

Eight years later, I have learnt a lot about saunas. I like a sauna really hot – 90degC. Beers go hot very quickly. Always sit on a mat. Sauna hats look funny but are useful. Use the shower to wet yourself before throwing löyly - it helps invigorate the skin even more. Every sauna has a Sauna Elf (called Sauna Tonttu) who looks after the spirit of the sauna. The rooms feel alive – there is a spirit and life to the wood benches, the walls, the feel of a Finnish sauna, that just cannot be replicated by any other type of hot room. The type of wood that is used is partly responsible, the thought of design and layout another, and the preferred use of a wood fire. Yes, you can use an electric stove, and you still throw löyly, but you lose that sound and smell of crackling wood, and the dance of the fire. Saunas are not only places of peace and reflection, but also spaces where business deals are made as perceived power and status are stripped away in the nakedness of the experience.

Finnish saunas are a cultural phenomenon and have been credited for improving health and wellbeing. For me personally, the benefits for mental health have been significant. And I have never ever slept as well as I do after a sauna. Just magical…”

Tony, husband to a Finn, and a sauna convert