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 Sisu, Imatra