World Sauna Forum 2026. What it means to really connect, by Elena Soini

Niemi-Kapee

THE FORUM

This year’s World Sauna Forum, held in Jyvaskyla, Finland, was the ninth annual gathering of Sauna professionals and enthusiasts, and for many of us in the industry, a chance to connect with partners and friends from around the globe.  Organized by Sauna From Finland, the forum combines Finnish sauna experiences with business to business opportunities, speaker series, workshops and marketplace, as well as pre and post forum excursions and events. This year’s opening session highlighted connection, belonging, and happiness as the core ingredients to Finnish sauna culture, but connection is the key.

It is not just sauna business that brings us together each summer in central Finland, it is an opportunity to connect with Finnish culture; the wonderful food, art, history, natural beauty, language, local people, and of course sauna, which is deeply rooted in daily life in Finland.

TAMPERE REGION

Kaukjärven sauna, Karen with Saunamekko on the picture. A lakeside public sauna in Tampere, offering three very good saunas, light concessions, and a grill for makkara (sausage). 

Niemi-Kapee. One of the most memorable experiences of this trip was a visit to Nieme Kapee, arranged by our fabulous guides at SaunaKonkeli.  

“A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet.”

- Unknown

Finnish folk art

Connection 

In the sauna, we connect with others, but there is more than this obvious social opportunity.  In carrying the wood and the water. In cleaning out the ashes, and lighting the fire. In nourishing the flame, and caring for the space, we are offered the opportunity to connect with our ancestors through the process of ritual. And, at that moment in time, in this preparation, there is no other more important thing. We become connected to the sauna, to the ritual, to it.

Visiting other saunas, especially those “very special” places, we connect with the hosts with appreciation of the practice, the ritual, that prepared the space for our visit.  We connect, by proxy, to the builder that felled or collected the trees, quarried or carried the stone, and assembled the parts. We connect to the löyly and the heat.

Maybe this experience is a “silent” sauna, that provides the space and opportunity to connect with our own bodies, mind, and breath.  An opportunity to just “be”.  Perhaps it’s a public sauna in the heart of the city, where conversations evolve with the löyly, and ebb and flow of people coming and going.

We connect with ourselves and each other.

We are connected with nature; with the earth beneath our feet on our journey to the lake, or to cool outside, with the branches used for vihta (or vasta), and the environment that surrounds us. Earth, fire, and water.

Niemi-Kapee

Community

The World Sauna Forum brings us together to listen, learn, and engage. We cross cultural boundaries and learn about the aspirations, projects and achievements that are shaping the future of sauna experiences around the world. We are connecting as a global community. 

At the North American Sauna Society (NASS), we carry these connections forward to preserve traditional cultural practices, while promoting and broadening Finnish sauna experiences in North America and beyond.

We are connected.

Attendee countries of origin at this year’s WSF

We invite you to join our growing community of sauna enthusiasts. Visit our website, or contact us for more information. Follow us on social media to stay updated on upcoming events, and be sure to check out The Upper Bench podcast!

Share and follow:

Instagram: @newportsauna, @saunasociety, @saunafromfinland 

For information about the North American Sauna Society visit: https://www.saunasociety.org

For information about the World Sauna Forum visit: https://www.saunafromfinland.com

The sauna pilgrimage 2026 by Daniel Sarya

My purpose in life is to help people see their smile (I am an orthodontist in my ‘real job’); sauna helps me to see my own. In 2018, I had a vision to bring more of the Finnish Sauna Culture to my hometown and the United States, to help others see their smile as well. I never imagined how that vision would evolve. I thought that I was going to simply build a traditional Finnish sauna to share with others, and that would be it. Now, I am taking Americans over to Finland, and this year Norway too, to experience the culture firsthand.

About me, I am a fourth-generation full blooded Finnish American. In fourth grade, we had an assignment, “what do you want to do when you get older?”  My answer was in short, that I wanted to go to Finland and sauna. Dreams do come true! My first trip was when I was 10 years old to visit my cousins who were thinking about becoming exchange students with us. They did. At 19, I in turn lived in Finland and had a summer job working in the same cousins’ gear factory. 24 years later I finally was able to return and reunite with my family in the motherland and have now visited 12 times total.

Three of the more recent trips however, I took people from MI SAUNA with me to show them some of the saunas that inspired me to build MI SAUNA and experience new ones as well. What it comes down to is that I was not happy with my sauna experience in the US. I found them hard to breathe in, and the Finnish way of life and sauna was better suited to me. So, building a good sauna was the first step but as years went on, people were intrigued with my motivation and asked if they could join me on my next trip. Simple.

The first year, we had seven people, the next year we had six and this year we had 10. Every day we went to new locations to take heat. Every sauna we saw was not added to our list; we had to break a sweat and have löyly. At the end of our first trip, we looked back at the numbers of saunas we used, and it was about 26, the next 29 and this year 46. These numbers really don’t matter!

Some locations had only one sauna for us to use, while others had 2, and multiples in a couple of locations, with the most being 16 (Oslo Floating Saunas). Since we were only visiting for a brief time, we wanted to experience what each location had to offer. Gotta make the most of each day! We also try to see what we like about each experience and hopefully be able to bring some new concept, or physical component back to our sauna to share.

There are a couple of final things to understand about a sauna experience, and this is vital; there is no specific amount of time needed to be spent in the sauna or the cool down session, the basic rule is that you get hot/break a sweat to count it as a round in the heat and you need to cool down afterwards. That cool down period is more of a time to replenish oneself to be able to take more heat (some would also say that the heating period allows for a better/more cool down time).  This often means a swim in cool water, replenishing electrolytes, having something to eat and enjoying the conversations with fellow sauna bathers.  With the 8-hour sessions, sometimes a cool down period would last an hour or more with a hike in the woods enjoying nature.

Public saunas in Finland can take many forms. If I were to explain every location in detail, each could have its own chapter in a book. Sauna helps us to appreciate what god has given us in nature and ourselves and there was one specific place that really exemplified that for me, Storfinnhova Gård.  Here, there was only one Savusauna and it was built into a cave. It can hold 35 people (we had 15) and we did it as an overnight private rental. It was lighted by 200 candles, had a waterfall inside to cool down with which was diverted from the frigid river outside, and was part of (what we called) a nature village.

Storfinnhova Gård Hot Room

Most nights we stayed in a hotel, that night, we stayed in yurts and treehouses. The owners provided us a meal of locally caught smoked salmon and pork loin with numerous salads and home baked archipelago bread for dinner with a rhubarb cake for dessert (a light Finnish breakfast was also included for those staying overnight.  The pathways were lit by solar powered string lights but were not needed much since it never really gets fully dark in the summer. The Savusauna starts out hot but cools down as water gets poured on the rocks.  Near the end, you could stay in for a half hour or more.

Between rounds, people went for long walks looking and listening to the wildlife. This was the first time I have heard a Cuckoo bird live.  We did find some moose tracks but could not stir any up; however, seeing the elusive Finnish Hare (they are at least 3 times the size of those we see in Michigan) brought us many smiles.

Walk Between Rounds

The Glamping experience with only the sounds of Nature was extremely special, but each location we visited on our pilgrimage was uniquely positive in its own way.  The sound of löyly (the steam coming off the rocks) is the common theme amongst every sauna, it somehow drowns out the distractions around us and helps us regain focus on the basic joys of life.

46 saunas at first may sound like a rushed experience but it was exactly the opposite.  It only happened because we took our time and appreciated what every facility had to offer.  Each Day was a new adventure that finished with many hours at various saunas.  By slowing down and living more intentionally, we saw more places, relaxed in nature but took a lot of heat and chilled out in ways you must experience to understand.

We are currently only taking this trip on an annual basis (although talk of other tours has begun), but spots are limited. You can message us at @MI_Sauna on Instagram or Facebook if you are interested in joining in 2027. If you want to do a guided tour or your own, you can also check out the “@saunasherpa” on instagram or facebook to help coordinate an “Authentic Finnish Sauna Experience.” Kimmo, the Sherpa, has taken many rounds of heat with us in years past and has used more saunas than anyone I know otherwise. If you want to go out on your own, there are many great public saunas, but it helps to know someone who knows spots with uniquely good löyly.

Daniel M. Sarya DDS, MPH, Orthodontist, is the owner/operator of MI Sauna in Traverse City, MI, a public sauna on the beach of East Grand Traverse Bay at Keith J Charters State Park.

Saunalautta M/S Premium, Tampere

A Case for the Spectacular Routineness of Public Sweat, by Randall McNamara

These texts are written by the author named on the masthead. They either reflect, or don’t reflect the views of NASS, but regardless bring important aspects to the general sauna discussion.

As a worldwide sauna-goer, enthusiast, devotee, and now full-blown fanatic for more than 40 years, I am the proverbial contented curmudgeon in a hotbox. In fact, many assume that I might have been installed there by the manufacturer as a peculiar add-on, like a ladle and bucket, only quieter.

Naturally, I find myself profoundly baffled by today’s sauna marketplace messages. As our industry steams toward the billion-dollar threshold, we keep trying to situate the sauna into a fancy, marketable, and easily defined box, instead of cherishing the hot wooden space that it has always been. Cardiovascular longevity, mood enhancement, and optimizing our nervous systems? Yes, but in our rush to package the sweat—relentlessly assaulted by hype and influencers—we risk losing the very essence we are trying to preserve.

To understand the soul of traditional Finnish sauna, we might find inspiration from the French Annales school of historians. They argue that true meaning isn't found in great leaders, grand events, or elite movements. Instead, meaning is created in regular, unremarkable encounters, friendships, and routines. Applying this lens to the sauna tradition, the contemporary din softens and its aura becomes clear: the magic of the sauna lies in its astonishing ordinariness.

A dependable public sauna is not a curated experience, but a shared place whose profound power is rooted in its total lack of curation—you never know who will be sitting next to you, and it’s hard to hold glamour in the hot box.

The modern optimization craze fetishizes premium, experiential concepts. Those with means can certainly enjoy their ultra-exclusive spa days and install high-end home saunas. That is fine; please invite us to join you on occasion. Yet a vital part of our tradition is ensuring robust public bathing opportunities and price points—the high and low, the marginal and the sublime. This sauna moment mustn't be solely about making a splash and a profit, but about establishing an inclusive and accessible sauna culture. Ultimately, public saunas will attract new converts to the unfussiness of the Finnish way.

True community relies on accessibility and affordability. We must have venues for the group of students seeking an affordable evening out; for colleagues desperate to escape the relentless ping of their devices; for families maintaining a weekly ritual; and for old friends connecting in a public place to decompress without protocols. We don't go to the sauna to biohack our way to immortality. We are there to sit and do absolutely nothing in hushed mutual contemplation and comprehension of our delicate existence.

Luxury saunas may drive the industry and attract private equity, but public saunas sustain the thermal movement. As NASS members and ambassadors, there are numerous ways for us to support and promote public saunas. We should relentlessly champion co-op and non-profit models, advocate for a wide spectrum of price points, focus on consistency over capex, and humbly educate in the finest Finnish fashion, while gently debunking recurring myths and misconceptions.

As stewards of the North American sauna culture, we know that life is better with more sauna, even imperfect ones. We need not elevate all of them into a luxury good, nor quibble endlessly about temperature, air flow, and bench height. By promoting the affordable, imperfect, and habitual nature of the public bathhouse, we encourage the belief that deep satisfaction is born out of unpretentious habits and shared quietude. The true magic of the sweat belongs exactly where it always has been…in the beauty of ordinary days.

Randall was converted into a sauna true believer as a university student in Tampere, and continued his thermal journeys in Russia, Norway, the US, Türkiye, and Japan.

Randall McNamara

Randall at Kotiharju

Born Into the Steam: Keeping the Löyly Honest, by Markus Räty

I was introduced to sauna at four weeks old - my father’s idea.

He was a Finnish immigrant to Canada - a mechanical engineer by training and a sauna builder by passion. In our house, sauna wasn’t a novelty or a wellness accessory. It was simply part of life. You went to sauna the way you ate dinner or shoveled snow.

My father, however, was not a quiet Finn when it came to sauna. He loved talking about it - the stories, the culture, and especially the mechanics of it. Heat transfer dynamics. Airflow. Stone mass. He was forever sketching heater ideas and explaining why some designs produced better löyly than others.

He also wrote about sauna - essays and reflections that tried to capture something deeper about the practice. One of them carried the title Sauna Exists, Therefore I Am. It took me some time to fully understand what he meant. I only knew that sauna seemed to matter in a way that went beyond heat and steam.

On my mother’s side of the family, the tradition ran just as deep. My Mummo - my grandmother - had a lakeside sauna on Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, and many summers of my childhood were spent there: cold water that stole your breath, wood smoke drifting through the trees, and the quiet rhythm of sauna, swim, repeat.

Her sister - my great-aunt - founded Kangas Sauna in Thunder Bay in 1967. Eighteen saunas under one roof. Families, workers, neighbours. Steam rolling down the hallway and the smell of my Mummo’s Finnish pancakes drifting in from the adjoining restaurant where she worked.

Thunder Bay, after all, became home to one of the largest Finnish communities outside Finland, and sauna culture naturally followed. It remains a quiet epicentre of sauna life in North America, shaped by generations who carried their traditions across the Atlantic. For us kids, it was simply normal.

Looking back, I realize I was immersed in sauna culture long before I had the words to describe it.

Today my relationship with sauna has become professional as well as personal. I design saunas, consult on them, and help people build them in homes, hotels, and public spaces across North America. As an ambassador with the North American Sauna Society, I also spend time talking and writing about sauna culture itself - what it is, what it means, and why it continues to matter.

Which brings me to something I think about often.

Sauna is having a moment.

Across North America, new saunas are appearing everywhere - in backyards, on docks, in cities, and in forests. New communities are forming around them, and it’s exciting to see.

But it also raises a quiet question: if anything can be called a sauna, what is a sauna?

Finns have traditionally been very relaxed about these matters. Sauna has always taken many forms, and there are very few rigid rules – the only one that comes to mind is “Ovi kiinni!” That openness is part of the culture.

Yet there is also a subtle downside. Finns are not always quick to define, protect, or promote their traditions to the outside world. Sauna has been part of everyday life for so long that it hardly seems worth explaining.

The risk, of course, is that if you don’t define something, others eventually will.

Sometimes well.

Sometimes not.

For me, the essence of sauna is actually quite simple. Sauna is family, community, washing, and reflection. It is children and grandparents sharing the same bench. It is throwing water on hot stones and feeling the room come alive with löyly. It is sitting long enough for the noise of the outside world to soften.

Performance is not required. Perfection is not required. Just heat, steam, and time.

Sauna will continue to evolve as it spreads across North America - as living traditions do. That evolution is natural and welcome. But the centre should remain intact.

After all, I was introduced to sauna at four weeks old. My father knew something then that I have spent a lifetime coming to understand: sauna is not just something you build.

It is something you inherit - from family, from culture, or simply from the people who first invite you onto the bench.

From places like Thunder Bay. From family. From the quiet traditions that travel across oceans and generations.

And something you pass on - preferably sitting together on the bench, throwing water on hot stones, and watching the room fill with löyly.

Mr. Sauna

Confessions of a Sauna Snob, by Steve Leppälär

As part of NASS’s Ambassador Project, we ask our correspondents to write something sauna related. Views and opinions are writers’, so they don’t have to reflect the views of NASS. The first text is from our dear friend, Steve Leppälä, from the Midwest.

I am a Sauna Snob but I try being one in a kind and constructive way. (For the most part.) I grew up taking saunas and have been in many varieties over my life. While I’m pleased by the recent surge in sauna popularity, I’m also disheartened by some of the structures and uses of what some refer to as a sauna.

Infrared cabins are one of the exceptions where I am not so kind or constructive. In Germany, they cannot legally be called saunas, yet sellers often associate them with the same health benefits as traditional saunas, benefits they have not been shown to provide. As my friend, super sauna enthusiast and builder, Glenn Auerbach, once said, the only thing good about an infrared “sauna” is if it’s used as a gateway to a real sauna.

When discussing sauna design or construction, I aim to offer guidance that supports an excellent sauna experience, sound structure, easy maintenance and longevity. I get into kinds of insulation to use and avoid, types of wood to consider, bench design options, lighting, heaters, ventilation (with emphasis on why it’s needed), and some clever carpentry hacks for tongue in groove installation.

One of the most common flaws in North American saunas, according to Finnish experts, is poor ventilation. While it may seem counterintuitive to vent a hot room, ventilation is about circulating heat, introducing fresh air and expelling CO2. Without it, CO2 levels can rise, reducing available oxygen and causing lightheadedness often mistaken for heat exhaustion. Ventilation needs also differ between wood-fired and electric saunas. There are numerous videos available that cover sauna ventilation.

Bench and ceiling design are also critical. I’ve been in many saunas with benches that were too low or ceilings too high. Raising my own benches by eight inches dramatically improved the sauna experience by placing my body, including my feet, within the hottest zone, meeting the “Law of Löyly”. I had been missing out on much of the good heat and löyly (sauna steam) that was up by the ceiling.

Ceilings should be flat, not vaulted or sloped toward unused space. Heat belongs where the bathers are.

Finally, sauna bathing shouldn’t be reduced to a single timed session. Take rounds: sit, throw steam, cool down, hydrate, and repeat as desired. Comfort, not endurance, should guide you. Also, never sauna on a full stomach because digestion requires significant energy and blood flow, which competes with the body’s need to regulate temperature in the heat. It’s better to wait an hour or two for a sauna after a big meal. Cooling can be simple or adventurous, from resting outdoors to cold plunges or rolling in soft snow, all of which can be invigorating. Occasionally, after several good rounds, you may even experience a lingering “sauna high” when high heat triggers the release of beta-endorphins which are natural opioids which reduce pain and increase feelings of pleasure. The final step is washing up in a shower or with a bucket. You will REALLY feel clean washing up after a sauna.

Steve “Löyly” Leppälä

Experience the Warmth of Finnish Culture at FinnFest 2025

Mark your calendars! FinnFest 2025 is happening July 31 – August 3, bringing together Finnish culture, heritage, and community for an unforgettable experience. From music and arts to educational programs and, of course, authentic sauna experiences, this festival is a must-attend event for anyone passionate about Finland and its traditions. For more details on programming, speakers, and special events, visit FinnFest

Finding Connection in the Heat: Sauna Culture at Northeastern

At Northeastern University, the sauna has become more than just a place to unwind—it’s a space for connection, reflection, and community. Tucked away in the campus recreation centers, these heated rooms offer students a break from the fast pace of academic life, providing both physical benefits and a unique social atmosphere. With phones left behind and the shared experience of heat and steam, conversations flow naturally, friendships form, and the sauna transforms into an unexpected gathering place where students can relax, reset, and bond over a timeless tradition.

Northeastern University Sauna Culture

Finlandia Foundation Fourth Annual Sauna Week

Celebrate the traditional Finnish sauna with a week (February 16-22) of online and in-person events.

Watch for details and check out previous programs at the Finlandia Foundation website and YouTube channel.
Finlandia Foundation Sauna Week

Discover the Essence of Sauna Culture: "Perfect Sweat"

We’re excited to share that the 7-part documentary series "Perfect Sweat" is now available on demand! This captivating series explores the rich traditions, history, and practices of sauna and sweat bathing across the globe.

From the heart of Finnish sauna culture to the vibrant sweat lodges of North America, "Perfect Sweat" takes you on an inspiring journey to understand the universal power of heat, steam, and connection.

Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into the world of sweat bathing!

Book Introduction; Fire and Ice, by Jimmy Creel

This book has a very focused look at using the principles of thermodynamics to create the best experience in sauna possible.  It was inspired by the North American sweat lodge and how the thermodynamics worked then. The book makes a comparison of the traditional vs the air dam style developed by the author.

Perhaps it was the spirit of Red cloud himself who inspired Jimmy.  Since the location of the sauna is just below the mesa where Red Cloud and his warriors monitored the calvary.   Jimmy mentions that just because people were primitive it bears no measure of their intelligence.

One could say this design based on the prehistoric Native American style is the reinvention of that style in the Americas and while mostly synonymous with Finnish and Russian style it is uniquely Native American.

Jimmy Creel shows us how we can get fresh breathing air with very low CO2 and how to create hotter, temperatures at the floor, all with a balanced trifecta of the three forms of heat transfer.  He calls this the balanced heat experience.  Jimmy also tests the system and shows his work.

The book also delves into the home built stove, the bio-char, and the secret to its phenomenal clean burn. When coupled with the concepts shown, it can deliver heat as high as 139 F on the floor while the ceiling is only at 185 F. 

Jimmy’s testing of ancient methods and techniques from Native Americans gave him the idea of the air dam.  

In the Native American’s sweat lodge, the fresh air was brought in via an underground tunnel under the rocks to provide a hot clean fire to get the rocks super heated and the wood burnt to white ash. This prevented smoldering.  When the skin dome was placed over the pile of superheated rocks, the fresh air came up through the rocks and the vents were along the bottom.  This was probably how the prehistoric smoke sauna operated as well.

Jimmy noticed that this worked with the laws of nature, not against them.  He just needed to figure out how to make the sauna or white banya, with a stove, work the same manner.  He succeeded!

After he tested the CO2 of the new method, he could see how the prehistoric people could all breathe fresh air and not succumb to the CO2, that would be prevalent in such tight quarters.  

The more Jimmy studied the prehistoric system, it was easy to see what prevented recycling of the CO2, a thermocline of fresh air created an air dam and helped push the stale air out through the gaps between the hide and the ground. 

This book shows how to recreate this prehistoric method in modern sauna. 

Creel shows the ancient German log building style.  This creates a sealed tight, and insulated log sauna or white banya.  It uses vertical log corners with horizontal log walls, utilizing mortises and tenons.

A side benefit of the system described, is that more and hotter thermal layers are created, ceiling to the floor with less fugitive heat losses.  This equates to hotter floors and warmer feet.

Creel puts to rest some myths about the sauna being a wet place, despite throwing all the water you want.  He used clever metrics to study the relative humidity and dew point at various temperatures.

Jimmy also discusses health and sauna from his personal experience.  He also delves into the ice tub, discussing some do’s and some very hazardous don’ts.

After all that, Mr. Creel shows the reader several sources of historical information on the study of sweat in the Americas. How Native Americans were banned from sweat,  while the Finnish in the North East were enjoying the experience. 

It could be argued that this design has a longer track record than the historical white banya or sauna, as it replicates in modern sauna,  a prehistoric system of working with nature, not against it.

This book is written to honor the ancestors of old who lived with nature. Perhaps that’s what makes good sauna a spiritual experience after all?

Book Review of Emma O'Kelly's "Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat" By Garrett Conover

SAUNA The Power of Deep Heat

By Emma O’Kelly

Photography by Maija Astikainen

Emma O’Kelly and Maija Astikainen have delivered a magnificent addition to the literature of sauna. The scope and timing are perfectly attuned to the resurgence of interest in global bathing culture and the deep connections to traditions, community building, wellness, and current evolutions.

Not a lot of books on the topic in English earn the description of “magnificent.”  While most possess parts meeting the standard, many are overall inconsistent. The best of the older offerings tend to be good because of a narrower specific focus, such as those covering Finnish traditions, or Russian Banya.

When Norwegian-American Mikkel Aaland published Sweat in 1978, he broke ground that led to a global encompassing of the topic that continues today, informing the current resurgence and explosive growth in interest. Many people regard him as the godfather of all-things sauna due to the reach of his ongoing influence. Mikkel wrote the forward for Emma and Maija’s Sauna.

Over time, there have been periodic waves of interest in sauna, but the current one is not just huge by comparison, it is still building with no hint of when it might crest.

Part of this new groundswell is driven by the ease of internet access to all sorts of information, and the growing presence of interest groups on social media expressing perspectives from around the world. Suddenly all of us are much more cognizant of many refined traditions we may have been unaware of given the limits of earlier publications. Now we are privy to a far wider realm of countries and regions, each with specific variations of knowledge. From this wider sampling comes the accelerated evolution of practices resulting from blending traditions with innovations of the moment.  Emma’s journey joyfully starts in the here and now, and we get to share in her wide-eyed excitement as she encounters a range of practitioners, from keepers of the flames of older knowledge, to the new directions taken by “thermaculture” enthusiasts not confined by the specifics of change-resistant traditions.

Emma shares her introduction to Finnish style sauna, her connection with photographer Maija, who becomes both a travel buddy and collaborator, and then they are off.  Readers witness the journey through the Scandanavian countries, the Baltic regions, the Netherlands, and the UK. Through Emma’s eyes we get to feel the excitement and heightened alertness when everything is new and wondrous. Details big and small shine with equal brightness.  With each encounter and interview, we learn along with her as elements are revealed by those who know them best.

Sauna is not presented as a chronological travelogue. Each chapter groups larger themes such as health, community, history, rituals, and connection to nature, and within each are sub-headings which detail finer points. To illuminate such points Emma is likely to describe multiple examples from the full range of her travels. The genius of organizing the material this way is that two important features are cast simultaneously in sharp relief.  Those elements common to most traditions regardless of country, borders, and regions, shine luminously in concert with those details that are culturally unique, refined, and full of nuance. She trusts each reader to be observant, and encourages our own conclusions regarding what interests us most.

 The chapter sub-headings are short, typically just a few pages. While they collectively build the book as a whole, they also lend themselves to being savored as stand-alone, inspiring nuggets.  Other bright spots emerge as well. For those of us not wanting to spend time sleuthing our way through technical medical journals and scientific abstracts, Emma has distilled current health research into readable, jargon-free English. She also spices the narrative with little sparkles of humor and personal reactions to her encounters, adding balance to her admirable tone of non-judgement, and carefully refrains from steering us to see things her way.

Miaja Astikainen’s photos range from the illustrative to evocative, artistic, and resonant compositions. The combination of text and photos create a book well within the “must have” realm of sauna books. While I am quite forgiving, wanting even less stellar sauna books in my library just for the hidden good parts, I remain thrilled with the arrival of SAUNA The Power of Deep Heat. For anyone choosing only a few books on the topic, make sure this is one of them!

Garrett Conover -- Author/photographer of SAUNA MAGIC Health Happiness Community

A Sauna Event in Los Angeles

The Finnish Consulate of Los Angeles, together with Business Finland have been working on a wellbeing related program for some time. The idea has been to dig deeper in Finland’s UN status as the happiest country on earth, six years in a row. Happiness and wellbeing go together and everyone knows that if anything is as deeply ingrained into the Finnish happiness - and wellbeing for that matter - it’s the Finnish style sauna.

Photo Courtesy: Sami Laitinen

Team Finland commissioned a sauna study that started the process and its pinnacle was the event on September 21st at the Consul’s residence in Bel Air. Sauna from Finland The event began by some Finnish companies, in collaboration with Sauna from Finland, presenting their goods while light refreshments were served. There were two saunas; Kirami was showing their FinVision Nordic Misty sauna with a Harvia Virta Combi Heater and they also had a working cold plunge and outdoor shower on display. Aito Sauna had brought their Aito Sauna Classic with an IKI heater. Sauna America was displaying the Jokipii Linen Textiles, Hukka Design and Narvi heaters. Finally, Cariitti and Rento brands were also shown.

Photo Courtesy: Sami Laitinen

While the first part of the day was reserved for businesses and people interested in products and the sauna in general, the second part of the day was for media and other players in the well-being realm. It was great to see that many members of The North American Sauna Society were present, California’s own Nordic Sauna, Design for Leisure/ KLAFS USA, Sauna America, Cedar & Stone Nordic Sauna and IKI. Finlandia Foundation National also had representation, not least for their upcoming “Sauna Week,” again at the end of February 2024. Finnish Consul General, Okko-Pekka Salmimies made an introduction and welcomed all guests, who at this point filled the house. We were treated to an eyes closed most relaxing 5 minute nature sound meditation by OLO.space. This was actually really nerve calming exercise. After that we saw a Visit Finland video about Finnish wellness and happiness. Immediately after the video a panel discussion ensued. Eero Kilpi, President of The North American Sauna Society moderated a discussion with April Rinne (global futurist and keynote speaker), Samuli Kerrman (CEO of IKI heaters) and Jenifer and Mark Felan (owners of the Sweat Shack sauna and wellness franchise). The topics covered were the Finnish happiness, what is a sauna, sauna’s health benefits, differences between Finnish and American sauna practices, how is sauna doing in North America and finally, sauna and happiness. A couple of questions were also taken from the audience.

Consul General, Okko-Pekka Salmimies. Photo Courtesy: Sauna America

After the panel a very nice Finnish style dinner was served. Participants had ample time to mingle and network and some of us, who were ready and willing, ended the evening with a fantastic sauna session with sausage and all. You can’t go wrong with that!

Photo Courtesy: Sauna America

Special thanks goes to Consul General Okko-Pekka Salmimies, his wife Riikka and the whole organizing team, Titta Houni and Heini Salopelto in particular.

Bringing the Sauna Home by Rick Watson

Between 1999 and 2007 I made 6 trips to Russia and Finland as part of an American-lead humanitarian partnership with Finnish nationals inside of Russia. On these trips I had my introduction to both Finnish sauna and Russian “banya”. And I very soon became a “true believer”, never having previously experienced the exhilarating heat, sweat, cold plunges and camaraderie of these ancient traditions of Northern Europe.

My very first “virginal” hot session was in a Russian banya. I was a guest of honor in the home of a Russian family. We enjoyed a plentiful and hearty meal, and, wanting to be polite, I enjoyed ample portions of everything offered to me. After supper, I thought we’d head back to our lodgings, but our hosts had other ideas. We were going to do banya, they explained. We went out back to a small cabin, the chimney of which was expelling evidence of a roaring fire within. We undressed and entered the hot room. It was dark and very hot. Three levels of wooden benches were available for sitting. Since I was the guest, I was prompted to go to the third level up, where the heat was incredibly intense. The first ladleful of water on hot stones nearly roasted me. It did not take long for the intense heat and my over-stuffed belly to combine for a dizzying time in that banya penthouse. After hanging on for as long as I could to preserve a minute bit of dignity, I escaped and lay on the floor of the outer room! When the banya was over, the locals began eating again! I couldn’t even consider it. The room was still spinning!

After that Russian banya experience, I was a bit skeptical when the Finns were keen to sauna again later in the first trip. But at least I knew by this time to eat only lightly before or during the hot session and that one was free to come and go from the heat without feeling the need to prove anything to anyone. The Finns also had a lake to jump into in between rounds, which seemed like (and was) a great idea! After that I was hooked! On three of my subsequent trips, one or both of my teenage daughters also came along. They really enjoyed sauna too and the three of us soon began wondering how we might duplicate the experience back home. This, of course, involved convincing their uninitiated mother that this was an investment worth making! Eventually our yearning prevailed.

During these trips to “Sauna land” I became friends with David Tilly, a Finnish-American who was also part of the humanitarian team. He had built a sauna at his home in a neighboring town in the U.S. and eventually invited me to join him. These times in this friend’s sauna convinced me we could indeed bring the experience home as we had hoped! I didn’t realize that people in the US already did this sauna thing too. Coincidently, this local sauna friend was also a builder by trade and agreed to construct a sauna for my family on our property. By now it was some 12 years after that first Russian banya initiation.

Before my sauna was built and while still frequenting the friend’s sauna, we were joined by another Finn who’d come with his family to the US 10 years or so before and who missed his sauna life back home dearly. He did not have a sauna at home but enjoyed the Russian baths in New York City as a close approximation. That new sauna friend turned out to be the president of the North American Sauna Society, Eero Kilpi, though I didn’t know that at the time.

In 2010 our home sauna was finished. It had an 8’x8’ hot room with a wood-fired Finnish heater, a same-sized changing room and an outdoor shower. We also built a stone patio outside with a fire pit and a Japanese-style soaking tub which we use as a cold plunge. Dave the builder attended the inaugural session and brought Eero along as well. Right there our sauna club was formed as the 3 of us sauna bathed together regularly and invited numerous other friends to join us.

Today, some 13 years later, we have roughly 15 sauna “club” members with typically about 8-10 attending at any given gathering. We recently decided to name our club The Stamford Steam Works after our location in southwestern Connecticut. T-shirts are forthcoming as soon as we settle on a club logo. Having the president of the North American Sauna Society as a founding member has also lead to our status as a certified authentic “Traditional Sauna”. In 2016, at Eero’s invitation, we hosted the Finnish Consulate General to the UN at a club gathering and had coverage by our local newspaper!

Along with the bathing and cold plunging, lasting friendships continually emerge as together we also enjoy a fire pit, some cigars, traditional snacks like sausages, fried fish, pickles and cheese, and a variety of cold beverages. This sauna club now meets roughly every 3 weeks or so except during the hottest days of summer. We are proud of our international membership including Finns, Ukrainians, Caribbeans, eastern Europeans, and others along with a mix of Americans. We have several father-son pairs and an age mix from about 30 to over 60. It has, in fact, become a very important part of our male friend groups. And our sauna is not just a men’s club gathering but also a place for enjoying sauna with family and our other friends of either gender. It figures prominently in our entertaining and we feel it has been worth every penny of our investment. Now, as we enter our retirement years, we are planning to add another sauna on our property in Vermont!

The Development of Homecraft's Revive Sauna Heater by Kyle Wilson

We sat down with Kyle Wilson with Homecraft Sauna Manufacturing. They have just launched their new sauna heater. Since there are many people, who don’t know of the lengthly and costly process of getting a new sauna product certified in the US and Canada, we felt that there is a need to open this process a bit.

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Bringing a new sauna heater to the North American market marks an important milestone for us at Homecraft Saunas. After a year of development and testing, we’re excited to announce that we will be bringing a new, locally manufactured heater to the market called our Revive heater. Although we have been in business for over 35 years here in British Columbia Canada, we, like the majority of other sauna manufacturers in North America have been slow to develop and bring new heaters to the market that are locally made. After going through the process of developing and manufacturing a new heater, I hope to shed some light on why that has been the case while also challenging some perspectives on sauna heaters made by North American manufacturers.

Like I mentioned above, it is common knowledge that the North American market has been slow and stagnant on manufacturing new sauna heaters and this has left a big hole in the market for high functioning, modern heaters that are made locally. We often get asked why this is the case, and after going through the process of getting our new heater certified, I firmly believe that it is not an issue with ability, desire, or quality but the massive undertaking of getting through the safety certification process which hinders and burdens smaller manufacturers.

Most consumers are unaware of the extremely high standards that are put on North American manufacturers and the products they produce compared to items made elsewhere. The overzealous, burdensome and costly process to get a new sauna heater certified in Canada and the United States makes it extremely difficult for sauna companies to bring products to market and is the #1 reason why smaller companies have ceased to introduce new products. When we purchased Homecraft, it was our goal to try and change this and develop a modern, high end, great functioning sauna heater that would excite customers of a product made and manufactured in Canada.

We started the process of creating our Revive heater by hiring a thermo-engineer who helped us create the technical design and drawings for our new heater. We wanted to create a modern and sleek high tower design that allowed for great airflow from the elements, into the tower of the rocks. After we built our first prototype, things quickly moved into the testing stage where we were able to make some tweaks and test the heater’s performance level. The powerful blasts of Löyly that our Revive heater’s design allowed for, gave us the confidence that this was the product we wanted to bring to the market. After a few more months of testing, we moved to bring our new heater through the official certification process.

Without a doubt, this was the most time consuming and costly part of the process as we moved forward to get proper UL & CSA certifications to be able to sell a safe and legal heater in both Canada and the United States. Simple failures during this stage meant we had to re-do the tests until we passed, and that can quickly become costly during an already expensive process. Needless to say, after many rigorous and in depth tests that challenged both the safety and functionality of our heater, we were relieved and excited to receive our notice of approval.

As frustrating and difficult as the certification process was, and as much as it can be a deterrent for a manufacturer, a fully certified heater is what gives our dealers and customers the confidence in the quality and safety of our products which is an added layer of protection on consumers which we have found sometimes is a grey area for uncertified heaters entering the market. Because North American manufacturers have been slow to bring newer modern sauna heaters into the market there is sometimes the perception that the lack of diverse options means inferior products over heaters made locally in the US or Canada. However, it is our hope that we will be at the forefront of changing that perception by adding new heaters into our sauna line.

Our Revive heater represents our desire to bring a modern, well built, safe, and high functioning heater to the North American market. After a year of development and testing, we are proud to begin manufacturing this new heater that will give our clients the confidence that comes with purchasing a product locally made and UL & CSA certified. Active and regular sauna use is something that we have tried to promote at Homecraft for over 35+ years and we’re excited for you all to experience great Löyly with our new Revive heater.

The Revive Sauna Heater:

• Available in 6kw, 7.5kw & 9kw models

• Size: 14’’ x 14’’ x 36’’

• 190-210 pounds of rock capacity

• 100% stainless steel construction and components

• Built in protective air-flow chamber

• Built & Manufactured in Canada

• Certified with CSA & UL

Energetic Rituals of Sauna by Kate Hazell

Between June and July of 2022 during my summer break as a Massage Therapy student, I embarked on a journey across Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden in search of traditional sauna rituals. As a second generation settler of Swedish background from Tkarón:to, Turtle Island (so-called Toronto, Canada), more than one practitioner suggested that perhaps I might be there to see something through for an ancestor. Whatever encouragement might have been going on, I had felt compelled to make the journey. I was unable to shake the disappointment and strangeness of my profession calling itself Swedish Massage Therapy without it being remotely Swedish. I wondered whether there might still be traditions of manual body work, hydrotherapy and sauna that hadn’t been stripped of context and marketed into oblivion like an IKEA troll doll.

I put my Social Anthropology degree to use, conducting research and following leads, and connected with people who worked with sauna in cooperative relationship with the land. Their work was embedded in the richness of particular ceremony, and expressed itself as part of a larger medicine system. After being accepted to study forest Pirts in Latvia, I booked a flight to Riga, and planned additional study opportunities across the Baltic and Nordic regions. I kept a detailed diary of my trip, and have included highlights in pictures and excerpts below.

Having returned home, and now an ocean away, I am making whisks of maple, birch and beech collected on a local ATV trail, recalling the percussion of bundled branches on my body, the taste of smoke, and peaceful release of blood cupping. I am filled with wonder at the diversity of beliefs and traditions that live in sauna, and am relieved that in spite of the wrecking ball of cultural imperialism, there are places where these folk medicine ways are stewarded and thriving. 

Sauna has such powerful potential for återställa, restoring and making space within for shifts of being. It is no wonder that saunas have served as transitional spaces for birth, initiations and death since time immemorial. I anticipate that holding space for these realities within a professional community that wants so badly to be taken seriously will be challenging. How will I translate in terms of therapeutic benefit the wonder and poetic of a steam dance? The flow state and satisfaction of sauna whisk-making? The energetics of midsummer? The value of nakedness?

Through my reflections I want to emphasize how these folk traditions, or the people’s traditions, are not monolithic. They change shape over time, are of mixed heritage, survive oppressive regimes, and do not exist as a static, ancient thing. As a white person, no conversation about authenticity is complete without talking about the dangers of purity culture. While the desire for rootedness and community is beautiful, there are plenty of fascists and white supremacists claiming people of European ancestry in search of belonging. It is important to actively name and resist essentialist ideology when defining cultural experience and heritage. To search for authentic sauna is no exception, something that behooves the attention of the Nordic-inspired wellness industry.

For my part, I am excited to keep learning from sauna, tending the fires I have been invited to care for, reclaiming my ancestral folk medicine practices and ensuring there is room on the bench for others. Gratitude to Eero Kilpi for the warm welcome and for inviting me to write this article. I hope to meet many more of you and welcome continuing this conversation in the years to come. You can reach me by email at kate.t.hazell@gmail.com or on Instagram @steam_diary

Celebrating Jāņi (summer solstice) in Latvia, around a most aromatic fire fed with wildflowers, birch wood and oak leaves.

Fresh Pirts whisks are bound and stored in the shade. This morning we learned how the birch tree represents renewal, thriving and preparing the soil where other trees fear to root. Birch whisks have anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties, and an aroma similar to wintergreen when used in Pirts.

Spireni bathhouse, now part of the Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum collection, was built in Nica parish in 1862. This bathhouse consists of three divisions: one small entry room, a dressing room, and a bathing chamber with a sweating shelf and boulder fireplace. Water in the tub was heated using hot stones. The spirit of this sauna felt very welcoming. I could have stayed there for a long time.

Arrived at my cabin in Haanja, Estonia, where I will be staying for a couple of nights. The woods close in as darkness falls and I can hear an owl nearby. Such a pleasure to have my own sauna to fire up and the knowledge to tend it.

Today I walked a country road to Mooska farm to learn about Võro smoke sauna culture from one of its guardians. We talked about many things as she prepared the environment for her next guests, including how she works with people at every stage of life in the sauna, and those who are dying, as was done traditionally. Asked what she would like people to know about sauna rituals, she told me: Experiencing a ritual is not like consuming a meal seasoned by someone else. You must understand that the ritual is within you.

Photo credit to @kupparihanna

Wet (blood) cupping therapy performed on my upper back by a folk medicine practitioner in Finland. Post treatment I feel deeply relaxed, with progress made on reducing some particularly stubborn muscle resting tension. Wet cupping may not be for everyone, and it is in some cases contraindicated. For me it was a very positive experience.

One day to spend in Malmö and there happened to be a Queer Kallis event at the open-air bath, Ribersborg Kallbadhus. Nothing quite like stepping out of a friendly sauna and plunging naked into the sea!

The practitioner and I are undressed and talking quietly, seated in the antechamber to the 100 year-old smoke sauna that belonged to her grandfather. We drink tea between immersions in the sauna. She instructs me to take of the salt and to rub it into my skin, starting with my toes. She does this too. As we work, we repeat: I release from within me and outside of me, that which does not serve me.

Long Tradition of Sauna Peace by Heikki k. Lyytinen

Old and new sauna peace

Heikki K. Lyytinen

Long tradition of sauna peace

An enormous amount of information about European sauna culture has been preserved since the 13th century. Thus, the sauna is by no means without history. Legislation on saunas is also very old-time. Already the Germanic law in Latin Lex Bavariorum (Bavaria = Bayern) from 511-535 includes the record of saunas. The oldest Scandinavian legal texts include provisions on saunas as well. The sauna appears in the texts as a pacified place and in a legally special position. The fire safety of the sauna required special status.

The older Västgöta law, compiled between 1219-1225 and applied before 1350, considers wounding or killing someone in a sauna to be an evil deed punishable by double punishment.

Even in later mediaeval laws, violence in a sauna was considered a violation of the oath and was punished as severely as if the violence had taken place in the assizes, church, or home.

The severity of the punishment was due to the principle of mediaeval law that the weak are protected by law. A naked person in the sauna was also unarmed and thus defenseless. The same principle was applied in Visby law, which also mentions sauna peace, also in the case of a toilet: anyone who injures or kills a person “sitting in his comfort” will be imposed the same punishment as if the act had been carried out in the sauna.

In 1349, Magnus IV of Sweden confirmed the provisions concerning sauna peace, which were considered age-old in his city law. A Swedish law of 1538 stipulates that a man who has violated sauna peace shall not be sworn in and not be able to take an oathIn the Middle Ages, the turbulence of sauna habits requires sauna peace

Regarding the German sauna facility in the Middle Ages, eminent persons arrived at the saunas well-dressed, together with their servants. Common people, on the other hand, undressed already at home for fear of stealing clothes, running naked or half-naked along the alleys to the sauna. However, there were wardens in the sauna facilities to prevent theft. Often the sauna users handed over their weapons, which were guarded by a janitor. Wardens were also needed to maintain sauna peace. Immediately after the first steams, the sauna users began to drink beer and wine senselessly. During cooling down, the sheets were wrapped around and then the celebration was continued.  The mediaeval sauna mentality is well illustrated by the following German sauna shout:

“Wine gives me a lot of joy, followed by harp playing, violin music, dancing and using a sauna”

The German sauna facility also included a brothel - a form of unwinding and recreation attached to the steams. Therefore, it was by no means unusual that sauna peace guards were also needed to resolve disputes. In connection of using a sauna, disputes were often settled by using wrists and fists.

Sauna peace is also known in Finnish folk poetry

Peace is also known in the old poetry of the Finnish people in connection with the sauna. Elias Lönnrot's Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja contains a well-known sauna spell in the following form, which also refers to sauna peace:

“Come, dear God, to the steam,

Come, Holy Father, to the sauna heat,

To create health and build peace;"

Sacredness of the sauna as the starting point for sauna peace

The sacredness that requires peace has also been associated with the Finnish sauna and using a sauna. It obliged the sauna user to adopt a calm and restrained conduct. It was not appropriate in the sauna to quarrel, revel or curse, not to whistle, not to bawl or mention the name of God. And if anything could not be released from the mouth, even the wordless body discharges were not allowed. So the benches remain silent, and thoughts are woven into words only at the cooling stage.  The night sauna and undue steam were also out of the question. The “sauna property holder” (cf. Swedish Tomtegubbe), or sauna elf took care of it. Mikael Agricola states the elf's role in the preface to Dauidin Psalttari (Psalm of David): ”Tontu honen menon hallitzi quin Piru monda villitsi.”  (“The elf mastered the way in the room where many were excited by the Demon”). If the people of the house did not keep up in this respect, the consequences were very serious or even fatal. Thus, peace in everything in the sauna.

Without sauna peace, the sauna is not a place for relaxation

Behind the sacredness of the sauna is a shamanistic worldview. According to it, the sacred sauna facility had its own patron, which was greeted when entering the sauna. It served as a link between the spirit world and the human community. The father of the sauna steam was known as Auterinen. Stepping over the threshold, one went into the sacred space naked and unprotected. People crawled there as to a bear's nest for rebirth. The event was delicate and sensitive. It was entered stripped, with respect and alert mind - only the sacredness of nakedness without ranks and other formalities.

Here and today, the situation is different among the sauna people, but the idea of sauna peace has not changed. The central principle of the Finnish Sauna Society's activities is sauna peace as well. Part of sauna peace is bath peace, especially in connection with using a sauna. It means following good sauna practices, regardful and peaceful use, and the opportunity for privacy.

Regardful and peaceful behavior means silence or moderate use of sound. The sauna is a place for relaxation, no criticisms or reprimands, and work issues or conflicts are not resolved in front of others. Bath peace takes the form of regardful steam behavior. Those who enter or leave the sauna ask other sauna users if they want more steam.

The sauna is a place of calming introspection, silence of the mind and a kind of “clearing the head” and preferably in the open, maybe sometimes a safe refuge in the middle of everything that is escalating. The focus of consciousness drops from the head and thoughts to the body, which at the same time seems to lose its gravity. The feeling is feathery and detached from ceremoniousness.

Conscious bodily presence is then a state in which spiritual encounters can be achieved, perhaps also experiencing a sense of sacredness that interrupts everyday life. Presence in the body is a multi-sensory, balanced, and healthy state in which a person is by nature when the mind is not stressed. There is then more tolerance and self-acceptance in the mind world than usual. It can only be experienced in a place where there is peace in the true sense of the word sauna peace, where a Finn can be what he or she truly is.

The International Chimneyless Sauna Club has revived this old sauna tradition and, since 1995, has declared sauna peace for all on the day of the Finnish sauna, the second Saturday in June. The text was prepared by Eero Välikangas, the founder of the International Chimneyless Sauna Club. The manifesto of sauna peace is thus a new wording that has no historical equivalent. The manifesto embodies the leisureliness, benevolence, joy, silence, respect for each other, and peace that interrupts everyday life.

Declaration for sauna Peace presupposes that

Everyone may have the right to bathe in his or

in her favorite sauna.

All sauna bathers may come into the sauna

friendly-minded.

Disagreements, quarrels and mobile phones

shall be left outside ear-shot.

Any impure thought, envy or vengefulness may not

enter the sauna; tolerance and open mind are welcome.

HKL  30.05.2022

Homecraft Sauna Story by Kyle Wilson

 One of my favourite early childhood memories is sitting inside of our small sauna with all of my siblings and pumping ourselves up for the mad dash outside and into the snow for a quick roll-around and then heading back in to the glorious heat of the sauna to slowly defrost. Saunas have always been a part of our family and unbeknownst to me as a 4 year old boy was that my father had just purchased a small Canadian Sauna Manufacturing company called Homecraft alongside a long time friend. 

My father ended up selling out of the company within a few years but the love of the sauna never left us as we always seemed to have a traditional sauna installed in every home we lived in. In 2002 as an 18 year old kid out of high school I worked for short stints at Homecraft, helping in different areas of the shop, seeing how a Sauna heater is made and falling in love with the smell of a wood shop fully stocked with Canadian Western Red Cedar.

Life seems to have moved fast over the past 20 years, with marriage, children, career, and after living abroad for 14 years upon our return to Vancouver in April 2021 major life choices had to be made. A few months into our return to Vancouver my brother approached me with the opportunity to buy Homecraft Saunas, the company my father once owned, the long lasting positive memories associated with the Sauna and the the opportunity to own a unique business were to  much to turn down and we were able to come to an agreement and purchased the company February 1st of this year. 

As new business owners there is that sense of excitement and anticipation as we plan and strategize for the future. We are one of just a few Canadian sauna manufacturers who know we are competing against far bigger and more established names in the North American market and yet at the heart of it all is the love of the Sauna. From the traditions established, the wonderful memories or the place of solitude the sauna is for many. Whatever it is for you we are excited for this opportunity to bring our saunas to many more people in the years to come so that they in turn will enjoy what we have bringing it full circle once again. 

So that is our story as of today and we look forward to writing the next chapters for Homecraft, for ourselves but for the many who will enjoy the beauty of the sauna through us. 

Kyle Wilson

Homecraft Saunas 

kyle.wilson.homecraft@telus.net

At the Heart of Enchanted Steam by Heikki K. Lyytinen

Photo credits: Anne Lius-Liimatainen

Heikki K. Lyytinen has written a book “A Tribute to Steam, from World’s Sweating and Spa Cultures to the Mysteries of the Finnish Smoke Sauna Tradition (Linna Publishing 2021). Unfortunately the book is not in English, yet, but while waiting for a translation, here is an excerpt of the text:

I hunker down, almost squatting

under a low lintel.

I step on the benches

to quivering heat.

I let the black organ play

and give in to the enchantment of steam,

to its enhancing enjoyment.

Body awareness awakens and the sweat glands are activated - both small and large ones. Multi-compound sweat is released to the skin as dewdrops. In such a manner the body gets rid of extra heat. When sweating, your body does not overheat. If you don’t sweat at all, your skin might even burn easily. Sweating is varied: men sweat faster than women and young men more than the elderly. Those who use a lot of sauna have their sweat glands working effectively. 

Sweating or condensation?

 What happens in the body when sweat exudes to the surface? Our sweat acts as a thermostat and thermometer when sweating. The brain measures the temperature of the blood flowing through the brain. If it is too high, a small area in the bottom of the brain, called the hypothalamus, is activated. It sends a message through the nervous system to 2 to 4 million sweat glands around the body. The sweat glands begin to produce sweat that continues through the tubular gland and is released to the skin.

In the sauna, sweating initially occurs without steam. When you “sweat” just in the steam, it’s actually water condensed on the skin and not sweating at all. Then the window panes begin sweating as well. Or the pages of the book, as in the Finnish author and the poet Pentti Saarikoski's poem:

” …I am sitting on a bench

 I am reading

 a book by Gyula Illyés

 I am making a steam

 I learn a new thing

even books can sweat…”

A “steam whack” booming from the sauna stove can even block sweat. In the truest sense of the word, the body is hit by steam, where the mind is dazed. Pleasure has turned into pain and charm into momentary suffering. It is told by facial expressions hardly recognizing the bathers. Then the eyes narrow, the eyebrows shrink sharply, the skin flakes and the auricles burn. The body wriggles for a moment like in a purgatory.

Skin in "steam fever"

Sweating in itself requires a few degrees of increase in body temperature. The heat generates a small amount of “steam fever”. The skin temperature rises to about forty degrees Celsius. If the sauna is dry, the hot sweat barely dries when reaching the surface. On the other hand, in fact, hot and dry steam sweats more than moist one. However, the steam moisture is not sweat on the skin.

Especially in a smoke sauna, sweating is also associated with enjoying the aromatic scents of sauna and the sensible, sensory perception of scents. Strong inhalation through the nose strains the odors for easy palpation. It can even be used to identify the type of wood with which the sauna is heated. Breathing through a fresh sauna whisk further enriches the diverse spectrum of scents. The sauna gastronomist is then in his natural element.

The sweating phase is a multi-sensory experience:

At the moment, I'm just listening silence

it is not quite pervasive

the burring line of a pied flycatcher:

tsi-tsi-tsirou-tsimberi-tsi

softly nourishing my sense of hearing

the sauna stove is crackling

the water is bubbling in the pot

sweat is swelling on my skin

tears are dripping

heat wraps in its embrace

my mind is turning inwards

I feel like I exist

my sense of being has captured me

Sweating is a “beneficial form of exercise”

However, the sweating phase is not only a pleasure, but also a complex event. Sweating cleanses the skin, opens its pores cares for the kidneys. It expels harmful substances from the body and flushes bacteria from the skin. We do not yet know the extent to which sweating is required for the substances (toxins) foreign to the body to be removed from the body effectively. However, real cleansing requires fruitful sweating. Sweat trickles half a liter during using a sauna, depending on its duration. This improves well-being both internally and externally.

Sweating promoted by using a sauna is a "beneficial form of exercise" where there is no need to exercise. However, it is no substitute for exercising. The muscles achieve no load there. However, it is an effective physical training for skin, blood vessels and sweat glands.

While the mind is relieved, a person’s weight drops from 200 to 900 grams. However, any weight loss due to dehydration is temporary, as a refreshing drink will soon restore the situation when you cool down.

This is the stage that precedes the sound of the black organ: "When the black organ of the sauna stove sounds, the sorrows of everyday life are forgotten." This is also the stage where we are in external silence to reach inner silence. It also calms our minds.

Into the enchanted steam

The sweating phase in the sauna is followed by steam-making. In the creation of steam, water is drained onto the sauna stove, whereby the heat stored in the stones is transferred as water vapor to the benches. This heat carried by the air is called radiant heat. As a result of draining the water, the sauna temperature on the benches rises instantly. In this case, the heat effect on saunas is mainly due to the increase in the moisture content in the air. Evaporation of water is energy consuming. For this reason, the sauna temperature drops after the steam cycle.

The thunderous sound of the sauna stove tells the experienced bather about the success of the heating and the promising enchantment of steam. The “sound” of steams has its own uniqueness. At first, it hisses, then snarls like an angry cat and finally roars. The organ is open. It is a simultaneous invitation from the sauna stove to the pleasures of steam. Using the words of the Finnish author Ilmari Kianto, “Dear Brother Distiller” Joseph when bathing together with a sheriff who had forgotten prohibition and his official pride, and splashing lukewarm water on the sauna stove in the “nest of the trolls of the deep forest”:'

"The sauna stove squealed, the steam rumbled and then was a sound like a long hiss, which gradually faded away."

Ilmari Kianto, Ryysyrannan Jooseppi

Thousands of tiny droplets of tiny aromatic water disperse embracing heat into the bathroom. It is estimated that one liter of steam water produces more than 1,700 liters of 100-degree steam. Invisible clouds of steam ripple around the dusky room. The nasal cavities seem to burn. Breathing carries smoke aromas to the senses.

Soon the steam rises above your head and casts sweat to the surface of the dripping skin. Sweating starts to culminate. A little more steam. Steam embraces the body. It feels like floating on a cottony steam mattress. The sweetness of steam begins to "taste". Steam-hungry skin becomes satisfied by its stimulant. The genuine Finnish expression "tasty steams" tells of an enjoyable experience that the full body senses on its skin. Time seems to stop as well.

Time is running out covertly

as if in places

in the shade of sauna secrets.

I don't notice it.

The future is somewhere

outside the dusky room.

I live here and now,

the twilight world around me.

At the moment a glowing sauna stove,

is the centre of my pampering world.

It seems to care about me

and the other way round.

And I forget myself in that mood for a moment.   

Steams can have their own succession. The creation of steam can begin by pouring water at different places in the sauna stove. This is how you get fierce steam. Later, softer honey steams would follow. When you pour steam water in one place so that the water rumbles on the sauna stove stones and extends to the lower stones, as they loudly resound, the standing and long-acting steams roar. Steam does not just caress. It kisses sensually. 

Whisking - the crown jewel of steam-making

Whisking represents a very old sauna tradition when the sauna was not yet a washing facility. A Finnish proverb highlights the essence of whisking while using a sauna: sauna without a whisk is like food without salt. Similarly, Russians tend to say that sauna without a whisk is like wedding without a bride or samovar without a tap. Particularly the smoke sauna, the whisk and the whisking belong together. This is an inseparable trinity. The summer sauna is crowned by aromatic birch whisks. After all, it is the crown jewel of sauna.

The quick shaking of the whisk on top of the sauna stove rocks also gives an extra touch to whisking, scenting the entire bathroom as long as the sauna stove stones are clean. To prevent the leaves from being destroyed by the heat, the leaves can be kept in cool water, especially if whisking is carried out using a frozen whisk. However, fresh whisk in early summer would not endure the heat of the sauna stove.

Maybe some additional steam once or twice and then a moment of whisking again on different parts of the body to your liking and intensity from whispering to whining. It is said that hefty thrusts on bony places strengthen the bone, as a Russian saying goes: “Bones like warmth”.

Caress of after-steam

In the smoke sauna, after-steam in a mild heat is especially enjoyable after washing. The moisture content in the sauna room is then correct. The range of different scents has also become fuller. Already at that point, the particles have almost disappeared. So the after-steam should not be missed. They are the culmination of using a sauna. The gentle caress of dusky steam is then at its best. The after-steam phase and thus using a sauna is completed by a fresh rinse with cool water and a final cooling with soft drinks.

 Like born again

Steam-making is over: it’s time for afterthoughts. It has been elevated beyond everyday reality as if heaven and earth had encountered in human existence and life. The feeling is like "hereafter". After all, a smoke sauna is sometimes called a heavenly sauna or a sanctuary for the heaven on earth. 

The worries that have remained after using a sauna - the frictions of the mind - have been born in the freedom of steam and the feeling of holiness. You are not chased by rush anymore. The adrenaline surges it causes are long gone. The mind and body are deeply purified. Tensions of the mind have melted into an enjoyable experience. The liberated feeling is feathery and relaxed, the mood is agile and even the limbs are lithe.

Everyday life has become a beauty of human life. Debts seem to have become receivables. Reflection runs sharper than before after a fruitful idleness of the brain in the twilight of a dusky room. There is a feeling of being deeper - a deeper presence with oneself. Seems like a person has gotten to himself. Dark silence has given me the power to identify myself and find my own power. Steam has taken the mind beyond everyday life.

Source:

Lyytinen, Heikki K. 2021 Terve Löyly. Maailman hikoilu- ja kylpykulttuureista savusaunan saloihin, Jyväskylä: Kustannus Linna

Sauna Kaikille (for everyone) by Jean-Baptiste Billet

The following is a great testimonial by JB Billet. Please scroll down after the pictures for the first ever French version of the blog.

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My name is Jean-Baptiste, but call me JB.

I was born in the south of France in 1982, but as far as I remember, I’ve always wanted to go to the cold Canada. Fate being unpredictable, it took me through an interesting journey, which I am going to tell you in this blog post.

It started in 2003-2004, I was finishing my first French university diploma in IT and already thinking about what to do next. I wanted to try Canada to continue my studies, but my diploma was not opening any interesting doors for me over there. I was ready to travel outside of France and I had to find a backup plan.

My university had an arrangement with foreign universities via the the European exchange student program including the Turku polytechnic in Finland. Turku was then my destination for 2004-2005. It was supposed to be cold, with a lot of snow in the winter like in Canada, and without any hesitation I can say now that it was the perfect choice.

I landed at the Turku airport at the end of August 2004 and was welcomed by my tutor; Turku polytechnic used to assign a local tutor for the foreigners. 90% of the time the tutor welcomes the student, tells him where to find the various things (shops, administration, university), and never meets you again. 

Luckily for me, I was in the other 10%; her name was Riikka and she was at the airport with her friend Katja and another French guy. Not only did I get a real welcome, but also gained a great group of friends. During the year they spent a lot of time with us, showing the country and culture; me writing to you today is thanks to Riikka and her friends.

So, I arrived in Turku at end of August 2004 and the 16th of September we were invited to a party at my tutor’s parents’ house, lost in the woods north of Turku. That’s where they introduced me to a life changer: sauna. If I close my eyes I can still remember that very moment, my first sauna ever. First I thought you had to be crazy to go in such a hot room like that. That first sauna with the group was arranged so that the boys would go first, followed later by the girls when the boys had finished. The boys’ group ready for sauna was actually another Finnish guy, Jarmo, and me.

In this first sauna Jarmo took the time to explain how to bath, what to do if it feels too warm, that it is not a competition…and an extra, the heater was a good old Aito-kiuas. It is a really traditional kind of wood burning heater which gives you a really soft löyly/steam when you pour water on the rocks. After that first experience we had a sauna at almost every party, on chilly evenings and during road trips. Saunas took place either there, in a residential building’s indoor sauna, or at another friend's place, even on roof tops.

That year, I also met whom I considers as my «Finnish parents». They’ve reached a lot about Finland and since then, we saw each other as often as possible, and every time their sauna was ready when I arrived.

But after that incredible year, it was time for me to leave Finland and I also had found my way to go to Canada. I registered for a program in Sherbrooke’s University to learn how to start a business. My plan: to sell saunas in Canada. It had the same kind of landscape, the same climate, as many lakes…but not as many saunas than Finland. So, 2005-2006 was spent in Canada. For the sauna project it turned out to be too early for me, though, and in July 2006 I came back to France for more study and a 5-months internship, beginning of 2007, which I managed to secure in …Helsinki, Finland. 

Back to my second home country, but this time in Helsinki. I discovered some really good public saunas. My favorite was the wood burning one in Yrjönkatu swimming hall. We also rented mökkis (cottages) for weekends with some friends, always with a sauna. And once again, I had to leave Finland at the end of my internship.

After a break in Ireland, in 2008, I decided to go back to Finland and found a job in the Rauma area. I landed first at my «Finnish parents» place, with the sauna ready, and moved later to my own home, with a really nice wood burning sauna. 

The following 4 years I went to many different saunas; at home, at gym, at friend’s place, in public saunas, in mökkis... it is a «must be» place in Finland, and it is an addictive activity with so many feel good benefits. During that time, I also did my first avanto (plunged in a hole in a frozen lake) at a friend’s cottage. I still remember following him on the lake telling myself «You are crazy, turn back, disconnect your brain». But I couldn’t turn around, too proud, and I was right. The feeling after was so great, a real «feel good» feeling. In the midst of those 4 years I also met my French wife, but not in a sauna. She lived 7 years in Finland, mainly in the Pori area, and she is one of the few foreigners to have succeeded in learning to speak Finnish.

One challenge in Finland is the winter darkness. Year after year, we were subjugated more and more to it. And so, in 2012 we made the decision to move from Finland to Switzerland. I went back to Finland almost every year for few days to meet my friends and «Finnish parents». From 2017 I felt like I had to work more on my sauna ideas outside Finland. I started to communicate with the Finnish Sauna Society and Sauna From Finland, and I have to say, they have been really great. Thanks to Satu Freyberg I met so many interesting people, all sauna lovers. I also had very interesting exchanges and discussions with Risto Elomaa, from the Finnish Sauna Society (Suomen Saunaseura). Our first meeting was at the Finnish sauna society, at an island right next to midtown Helsinki. I was invited to meet another person there. That was when I had my last proper sauna, in March 2020. I was in Finland to discuss a public sauna project for the shore of Annecy Lake, in France, but as you can imagine, the concept of a public sauna in March 2020…not a good timing at all. My wife and I also decided that it was time for a new adventure, now with the newest member of the family, our little girl. 

So, here I am, writing for the North America Sauna Society, from Quebec City, our new home. From here, I hope, I will be able to contribute to the finish sauna experience cause. It is so worth it. Sauna could contribute to making the world a better place for sure. So, let people know about it and try a good sauna.

Sauna kaikille

Je m'appelle Jean-Baptiste, mais appelez-moi JB.

Je suis né dans le sud de la France en 1982, mais aussi loin que je me souvienne, j'ai toujours voulu aller dans le froid du Canada. Le destin étant imprévisible, cela m'a fait parcourir un chemin intéressant, que je vais vous raconter dans cet article.

Cela a commencé en 2003-2004, je terminais mon premier diplôme universitaire français en informatique et je réfléchissais déjà à la suite. Je voulais essayer le Canada pour continuer mes études, mais mon diplôme ne m'ouvrait pas de portes intéressantes là-bas. J'étais prêt à voyager hors de France et je devais trouver un plan de secours.

Mon université avait conclu un accord avec des universités étrangères via le programme d'échange d'étudiants européens, incluant Turku Polytechnic en Finlande. Turku était donc ma destination pour 2004-2005. Il devait faire froid, avec beaucoup de neige en hiver comme au Canada, et sans aucune hésitation je peux dire maintenant que c'était le choix parfait.

J'ai atterri à l'aéroport de Turku fin août 2004 et j'ai été accueilli par ma tutrice ; Turku Polytechnic avait l'habitude d'affecter un tuteur local pour les étrangers. 90% du temps le tuteur accueille l'étudiant, lui indique où trouver les différentes choses (commerces, administration, université), et ne vous rencontre plus jamais.

Heureusement pour moi, j'étais dans les 10 % restants ; elle s'appelait Riikka et elle était à l'aéroport avec son amie Katja et un autre français. Non seulement j'ai reçu un véritable accueil, mais j'ai aussi gagné un très bon groupe d'amis. Au cours de l'année, ils ont passé beaucoup de temps avec nous, montrant le pays et la culture. Si je vous écris aujourd’hui, c’est grâce à Riikka et ses amis.

Je suis donc arrivée à Turku fin août 2004 et le 16 septembre, nous avons été invités à une soirée à la maison des parents de ma tutrice, perdus dans les bois au nord de Turku. C'est là qu'ils m'ont présenté un changement de vie : le sauna. Si je ferme les yeux, je me souviens encore de ce moment-là, mon tout premier sauna. J'ai d'abord pensé qu'il fallait être fou pour entrer dans une pièce aussi chaude. Ce premier sauna avec le groupe a été arrangé pour que les garçons y aillent en premier, suivis plus tard par les filles quand les garçons ont fini. Le groupe de garçons prêt à aller au sauna était en fait un autre finlandais, Jarmo, et moi.

Dans ce premier sauna Jarmo a pris le temps d'expliquer comment se baigner, que faire s'il fait trop chaud, que ce n'est pas une compétition… et en plus, le poêle était un bon vieux Aito-kiuas. C'est un type de poêle à bois vraiment traditionnel qui vous donne une löyly/vapeur très douce lorsque vous versez de l'eau sur les pierres. Après cette première expérience, nous avons eu un sauna lors de presque toutes les fêtes, les soirées tranquilles et pendant les voyages autour du pays. Les saunas ont eu lieu soit là, dans le sauna d'un immeuble résidentiel, soit chez d’autres amis, ou même sur les toits.

Cette année-là, j'ai aussi rencontré ceux que je considère comme mes «parents finlandais». Ils m’ont beaucoup appris sur la Finlande et depuis lors, nous nous sommes vus aussi souvent que possible, et à chaque fois leur sauna était prêt quand j’arrivais.

Mais après cette année incroyable, il était temps pour moi de quitter la Finlande et j'avais aussi trouvé le moyen d’aller au Canada. Je me suis inscrit à un programme à l'Université de Sherbrooke pour apprendre à créer une entreprise. Mon plan : vendre des saunas au Canada. Il y avait le même genre de paysage, le même climat, autant de lacs…mais pas autant de saunas qu’en Finlande. Ainsi, 2005-2006 s’est passé au Canada. Pour le projet de sauna, c’était trop tôt pour moi, et en juillet 2006, je suis revenu en France pour plus d'études et un stage de 5 mois, début 2007, que j'ai réussi à obtenir à … Helsinki, en Finlande.

Retour dans mon deuxième pays d'origine, mais cette fois à Helsinki. J'ai découvert de très bons saunas publics. Mon préféré était celui chauffé au bois de la piscine Yrjönkatu. Nous avons également loué des mökkis (chalets) pour des week-ends avec des amis, toujours avec un sauna. Et encore une fois, j'ai dû quitter la Finlande à la fin de mon stage.

Après une pause en Irlande, en 2008, j'ai décidé de retourner en Finlande et de trouver un emploi dans la région de Rauma. J'ai atterri d'abord chez mes «parents finlandais», avec le sauna prêt, et j'ai ensuite déménagé dans ma propre maison, avec un très bon sauna à bois.

Les 4 années suivantes, je suis allé dans de nombreux saunas différents; à la maison, à la salle de sport, chez des amis, dans les saunas publics, dans les mökkis... c'est un lieu incontournable en Finlande, et c'est une activité addictive aux nombreux bienfaits. Pendant cette période, j'ai aussi fait mon premier avanto (plongé dans un trou dans un lac gelé) au chalet d'un ami. Je me souviens encore l'avoir suivi sur le lac en me disant «Tu es fou, fais demi-tour, déconnecte ton cerveau». Mais je ne pouvais pas faire demi-tour, trop fier, et j'avais raison. La sensation après était tellement géniale, une vraie sensation de « bien-être ». C’est pendant ces 4 années que j'ai rencontré ma femme, une française, mais pas dans un sauna. Elle a vécu 7 ans en Finlande, principalement dans la région de Pori, et elle est l'une des rares étrangères à avoir réussi à apprendre le finnois.

L'obscurité hivernale est un défi en Finlande. Année après année, nous y étions de plus en plus soumis. Et donc, en 2012, nous avons pris la décision de déménager de la Finlande vers la Suisse. Je suis retourné en Finlande presque chaque année, pour quelques jours, pour rencontrer mes amis et «parents finlandais». À partir de 2017, j'ai senti que je devais travailler davantage sur mes idées de sauna en dehors de la Finlande. J'ai commencé à communiquer avec la Finnish Sauna Society et Sauna From Finland, et je dois dire qu'ils ont été vraiment formidables. Grâce à Satu Freyberg, j'ai rencontré tellement de personnes intéressantes, toutes passionnées de sauna. J'ai également eu des échanges et des discussions très intéressantes avec Risto Elomaa, de la Finnish Sauna Society (Suomen Saunaseura). Notre première rencontre a eu lieu à la s Finnish Sauna Society, sur une île juste à côté du centre-ville d'Helsinki. J'ai été invité à rencontrer une autre personne là-bas. C'est aussi la-bas, et avec Risto, que j'ai eu mon dernier vrai sauna, en mars 2020. J'étais en Finlande pour discuter d'un projet de sauna public au bord du lac d'Annecy, en France, mais comme vous pouvez l'imaginer, le concept d'un sauna public en mars 2020… pas du tout le bon moment. Ma femme et moi avons également décidé qu'il était temps pour une nouvelle aventure, maintenant avec le nouveau membre de la famille, notre petite fille.

Alors, me voici, écrivant pour la North America Sauna Society, depuis Québec, notre nouvelle maison. À partir de là, j'espère, je pourrai contribuer à la cause de l'Expérience du Sauna. Cela en vaut vraiment la peine. Le sauna pourrait certainement contribuer à rendre le monde meilleur. Alors, informons les gens et allons dans un bon sauna.

Cheryl J. Fish, Ph.D.: "The Sauna Is Full Of Maids"

Our friend, Cheryl Fish, has written a book of poems, inspired by her many trips to Finland. Please find excerpts of our recent discussion about the book.

Q: What spurred you to write THE SAUNA IS FULL OF MAIDS, a book of poems accompanied by your own photographs, that mostly delves into your Finnish sauna experiences?

A: I want to thank Eero for asking me to write this guest blog post; also he was instrumental in my reading some of these poems at the Finland 100 block party in New York City in 2017. I started going to Finland in 2007 as a Fulbright professor of North American Studies and Environmental Humanities at University of Tampere. One of the first and most common experience of hospitality by my colleagues and the people I met was taking me to saunas. They ranged from fancy ones in spas to local community pools, to the one in the basement of my building that I scheduled. I came to learn about and appreciate the cultural aspect of this ritual of hot and cold, sweat and renewal, for health, for relaxation, and for contemplation. I am excited that your society’s mission is to promote the sauna experience in the U.S. and Canada as it is not really understood in most of the American saunas I have visited. They don’t seem to quite get it.

In the book, I want readers to understand the depth of the sauna experience; I connect particular sauna visits with friends I made during my many returns to Finland and the poems reflect that.

Q: Can you give a few examples of how your poetry links sauna experiences to friendships, travel, and local environments?

A: The poem that opens the book, “Gulf of Finland,” refers to my many returns to Finland as well as to that body of water itself. I begin with a line that alludes to the modern phenomenon of ‘frequent flier’ miles made ironic now due to travel restrictions we’ve experienced with COVID-19, and that the first thing I want to do is go to a favorite sauna:

“Can I use my miles to get more miles? They never expire…”

“A calm naked swim in Yrjökatu simhall, then smoke sauna.”

Next, that poem mentions various friends I would like to visit, so I need to “find out who is where”

“Angie sings and sways in Tampere’s pubs like Väinämöinen in The Kalevala.”

This poem refers to Kalevala, the Finnish epic poem based on oral history and folklore, which is another important component that I reference in the book, including the title, THE SAUNA IS FULL OF MAIDS. This particular swim hall in Helsinki, the oldest public swimming hall, offers a variety of saunas and optional nude swimming on separate days by gender. It is one of my favorite places in Helsinki. When I gave a reading from this new book in Iceland at an artist’s residency recently, several of the others knew this Yrjökatu swim hall.  I have a poem dedicated to Yrjökatu later in the book.

The author, right, post-sauna, in Tampere with her friend, Angie

Another poem in the book, “Two Maids in Töölö Towers Sauna,” from which I quote here, uses the sauna experience in the building where I was staying to reflect on how a particular friendship deepened over the years. It refers to the bodies of water and our own bodies:

“Annika arrives at the small sauna in Töölö Towers. 

Heat rises like tolerance. Our friendship expands and quiets over eleven years since I first visited Suomi. We eat and drink and shop and walk. 

Two maids sharing a view of Helsinki from the 11th floor deck. Taking non-traditional paths, finding pleasure in in-betweens. 

Pleasant for me to flit here. We pour water on the rocks, over nakedness. Leave imperfection and judgment. Sweat and cold, wood and skin. The time of dry smoke.

Annika collects lamps of artificial light that shine in the darkness of her living room. Omnipresent candles in the night. 

She visits her aging father in their cottage near the archipelago where Russians purchase islands. I lost my father this year. He slipped out of the room. 

The Gulf of Finland edges against moonlight, tumescent water resembling a lake.”

Iijoki River and dock, Ii, Finland

Q: What has the response been to the book of poems and your own photos and to featuring saunas as a focus? 

A: I have been very pleased by the response as the poems are accessible and readers say it captures a sense of pleasure, culture, diversity of experience, and healing. Here is a comment from Tim Frandy:  

“Steeped in the rich images of the Finnish north, Cheryl J. Fish’s latest collection of poetry is a meditation on how Finnish life and experiences entangle with mythic pasts and global modernities. Fish’s verse brilliantly captures the complex juxtapositions that characterize life in Finland today—from steaming saunas to nuclear reactors, from the Kalevala to Tom of Finland exhibitions, from Sámi lávvus to boozy Helsinki karaoke pubs. In her poetry, the mythologic remains with us, blooming in renewal in the everyday acts of diverse people: gay Helsinki; an immigrant from Afghanistan in a tiny northern village; a father rowing a boat with his dreadlocked son. The collection has a breath and cadence to it like a naked run over snow-covered ground, from a hot sauna to the cold sea.”
—Tim Frandy, editor and translator of Inari Sámi Folklore: Stories from Aanaar

Q: Where can we purchase a copy of the book? 

A: It’s available for $15.95 from anywhere you buy books online these days, like Amazon, Bookshop, Target, Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore can order it for you, or direct from my publisher, Shanti Arts: https://www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/def/FISH_SAUNA.html

You can also contact the author for a copy and to find out about her virtual and live readings at tribecagal312@gmail.com   or go to her website, www.cheryljfish.com

View from Midtown Helsinki down south, all pictures by the author