So you want to become a sauna pro...
For sauna builders, bloggers, podcasters, hotel/gym owners, nerdz
Your APPROACH Matters
When learning something new, your approach matters just as much as the content. These five pieces of advice will help you avoid blind spots in your knowledge.
Abandon the goal of becoming an expert; be a student, and stay a student. Even after you have learned a bunch, refuse to become an expert. Stay humble. Always pay careful attention. Even a long-time expert can discover new things and benefit from correction.
Principles are more important than prescriptions. Understanding the basic principles of sauna will result in greater flexibility for sauna builds and help avoid common pitfalls.
Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Experts will confidently explain that you should trust them because they’ve, “built three billion saunas” or are, “100% Finnish” but this does not guarantee that they are always correct. Many common sauna conventions are just plain wrong. (See #2 for the best approach.)
The road of good sauna is flanked by two steep ditches. The ditch on one side is the overly strict, “if it’s not perfect, it’s flawed and bad,” often expressed as a rigid traditionalism. The other ditch is the overly permissive, “Any sauna is a good sauna,” which lacks principles and standards. The road to good sauna is paved with strong but flexible ideals.
Go deep. Sauna is a practice with rich cultural roots, and while you might not practice all the possible elements, it is wise to understand as many as possible so that you aren’t unknowingly watering down a rich practice.
STUDY (Be a Nerd)
Books
— The Sauna Is by Bernhard Hillila
— The Opposite of Cold by Michael Nordskog
— Sauna: The Finnish Bath by H.J. Viherjuuri
— Sauna With Finns: Sauna Stories from North America by Warkentin; Kailo; Halonen
— The International Handbook of Finnish Sauna by Allan Konya and Alewyn Burger
— The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design by Lassi A Liikkanen
Watch
- Heating the smoke sauna: https://youtu.be/jj94pxpAFOw
- A January Swim: https://vimeo.com/153813737
- The Truth About Sauna The Truth About Finns: https://youtu.be/i_rNFsHruDU
- The Sauna Experience: https://vimeo.com/151736393
Follow
nochihodosauna on Youtube (the sauna scene in Japan is exploding)
Estonian Saunas : Adam and his wife Anni on Youtube, Instagram
Sauna Sherpa on Instagram
Podcasts
The Upper Bench: https://www.theupperbench.com
The Sauna Trail: https://www.thesaunatrail.com
Sauna Talk: https://www.saunatimes.com/category/sauna-talk-podcast/
Kivia: https://www.kivia.ca
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Facebook: Wood-Burning Sauna, Sauna Construction and Use, Wood-Fired Sauna, Sauna Society
Sauna subreddit
EXPERIENCE
After mindset, this is perhaps the most important area. Sauna is a rather counterintuitive practice, so you are likely to have your opinions change, even if you are well studied. Expect your opinions to change.
Use as many different saunas as possible. Even bad saunas can be instructive. Pay attention to the quality of heat (soft or harsh), how you feel, and the different elements of the sauna. Here are a few sauna experiences to consider: electric, log, savusauna, different settings (remote, by a lake, big city, etc), bad ones, good ones, old-school rustic saunas, modern fancy saunas, infrared (not a sauna!), barrel, mobile, floating, sauna in the U.P., sauna naked, sauna with Russians, Finns, Swedes, Estonians, and others, and pay attention to how they sauna, use a vihta, bathe in a sauna.
You are selling the idea of sauna!
