This article was first published in the 2019 Ely Winter Times.
The first thing you need to know about a sauna is how to pronounce the word. It’s Finnish, a language in which each vowel is pronounced independently. So instead of an “aw” sound like “autumn” the “au” makes an “ow” sound like “now.” So it’s Sah-oo-na.
Now that you can say it properly, let’s talk about the right way to take a sauna. There are sauna aficionados who will gladly share the one true correct method, but each expert has different rules. The truly best way is the way that makes you feel cleanest, most invigorated, and later the most relaxed. No simple bath or shower can compare.
Serious sauna takers do agree that there are two parts to the experience: the hot and the cold. How hot? Some are content with 150 degrees and some wouldn’t consider anything less than 180 a real sauna and will go as high as 220 or so. Whoa! That’s more than boiling! Won’t your blood boil? No, but you don’t want to wear jewelry into such a hot sauna as it could burn your skin. Pails and dippers should be wood, not metal or plastic.
How cold? Standing in summer evening air is cool enough for some, but others are happiest with a plunge through the ice of a frozen lake or a roll in the snow, or at least an ice-cold shower.
How do you know which you like best? Well, there’s the catch. You have to try them all, and maybe more than once.
Wet or dry?
This may create the most avid conflict among sauna takers because you can’t have it both ways in one sauna. At the dry extreme, which is also usually toward the high end in terms of temperature, sweat evaporates so quickly that you may not even notice you are perspiring. Increase the humidity by throwing water on the rocks or showering inside the sauna room, and you feel otter, but the temperature actually goes down. Just like a humid day feels hotter than a dry day, a wet sauna seems to make you sweatier and hotter and forces you from the hot little room faster.
Wet or dry, you eventually reach your tolerance level for heat and are ready for the cold part. The iconic leap into a lake is ideal, but not always available. In winter, if you have the choice of an icy plunge, remember that water only gets as cold as 32 degrees. So even if it’s 20 below, the water is much warmer than the air or the snow. Most people find that the first cold dip is the only one that really feels cold. After that your skin is so tingly that the quick switch from hot to cold just feels like relief.
Another choice is nude or not.
The social situation will probably determine your comfort level there, and remember that you may need to consider others’ comfort levels as well. Most public places like hotels and gyms are going to require suits regardless of how comfortable you may be without one.
Speaking of hotels and gyms, many true sauna lovers would consider these substandard — just a warm room not worthy of the name sauna. For them, a certain ambience is critical to the whole experience.
The quintessential sauna occurs in a small building with a wood stove near the shores of a northern lake. Preparation is part of the experience — the smell of wood smoke as you start the fire, sitting around having an engaging conversation as the little room heats up, checking the thermometer and adding wood.
Then the sauna itself — rounds of hot and cold until your skin is nearly as red as a boiled lobster. For the beginner and the children this can mean sitting on the lower, cooler benches, but the lake plunge is part of it for all but the babies and anyone with a serious heart condition. Birch switches can be used to stimulate circulation even more. Water is tossed on the hot rocks to produce a gasp-inducing cloud of steam, called loyly in Finnish. The dash to the lake is short so there’s no time to think about it, then the cold that takes away your breath for a moment. (First-timers should be sure someone else is with them, and what how others do it if it is a through-the-ice dip.) Linger in the water or the breeze until the heat has dissipated, then abc into the hot room for another round.
A brush and a bucket of water may be used to help exfoliation or scrub off the ground-in grime, but soap is generally not used in a sauna. It’s a clean like no other.
When you’ve had enough, your pores have released all kinds of dirt and toxins, your brain has let go of the day’s small irritations, and your body feels relaxed and invigorated all at once.
But that’s not quite the end.
A sauna is best on a partly-empty stomach, so now it is time for some special snacks and plenty of water. Adult beverages can be part of it, too, as long as you’ve had enough water to avoid dehydration. Ideally the rest of the evening is spent relaxing with friends, and a great night’s sleep is likely to follow.
Some advice about that plunge through the ice: wear heavy wool socks to prevent cutting your feet on the ice and to give you better traction to avoid a fall. The hole is usually in a spot without current and where you can touch — often only waist deep so you have to duck to get the full impact. It’s good to have a buddy just in case you need help getting out, but most people pop out so fast they don’t even know how they did it. The first time may take some courage, but after doing it a couple times you’ll look forward to it, and then there’s the bragging rights.
About the option for rolling in the know — be sure the area under the snow is free from anything that you wouldn’t want to fall on. Crusty snow can cut, and even softer snow can scratch your skin when it’s cold. You probably wouldn’t feel it until later, so check yourself and your buddies to be sure it’s only superficial.
Saunas are becoming more popular, so much so that there are places where you can rent a perfect little sauna building that is trailered to your party. [Steam and Dream is an Ely business offering just that! Inquire about their saunas at www.steamanddream.com/sauna.]
Books about saunas
There are plenty of books on building saunas, taking saunas, and the Finnish culture around saunas. Arguably the best is Sauna Magic by Garrett Conover. Personal stories and photos convey the sense of deep health and connection that is the essence of sauna yet nearly impossible to put into words. You can find a copy at the Ely Library, Piragis Northwoods Company, or Mealey’s Gift and Sauna Shop.
