The Finnish sauna, proven cure for the busy mind

A sauna's proper place is by the lake, so you can jump in the cold water after sweating in the hot steam. Photo Don Wright / Creative Commons license.

A sauna’s proper place is by the lake, so you can jump in the cold water after sweating in the hot steam. Photo Don Wright / Creative Commons license.  

The BBC has a fascinating story on the cultural meaning of the Finnish sauna. Many people in northern Minnesota and the Great Lakes states owe their heritage to Finland. For that reason, sauna (and its correct pronunciation, SOW-na) has deep meaning in our part of the world as well. If you’ve ever wondered why saunas are such a big deal to Finns, this story goes over the history and significance — including some great stories and, uh, lets say “candid” sauna pictures.

Says one Finn:

“Sauna is for your mind. It really helps you to calm down in a modern society where it is never quiet,” says Lehtola. “You enter this meditative place. It’s dark and it’s usually so hot that you don’t want to speak.”

There was a book out a couple years ago about Minnesota saunas called “The Opposite of Cold.” The photographer for that book, Aaron Hautala, will be one of my guests in my Oct. 19 Great Northern Radio Show, which we’ll broadcast from Crosby, Minnesota, another Finn-haven in these north woods. We’ll also feature the Finnish folk duo AALLOTAR. My heritage is a mix of many parts of Europe — now so removed that I can really only declare myself a Midwestern, Scandinavian-influenced American — but I do have just a tiny bit more Finnish blood than anything else, and so I shall demonstrate on Oct. 19.

* Though, to be clear, I’ve never gotten into the sauna tradition myself. Something about the nakedness. Never got used to it. (My problem, not yours).

 

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