The day after Thanksgiving, November 27th, 2009.

My outdoor backyard shower is  hooked up to my garden hose, and cost $15 in parts from any hardware store.   It hangs over a branch outside the door to my changing room.  It’s been a wonderful addition to our sauna experience, simulating jumping into a cool lake after a long sauna round.

Yesterday, I could tell that the shower season here in Minnesota was almost over.  As I turned on the shower, it started with a trickle and it took a couple minutes to push ice through the hose.. brrrrr made for an even more refreshing ’splash’ cooling off under the rushing water.

Standing under the brisk shower, I said out loud “‘thanks shower, see you in Spring!”, my wife shaking her head with a smile on her face.

Link to how to make your own outdoor shower.

Here is a sketch of my ideal sauna, drawn in ideal conditions

on scratch paper in a dimly lit changing room, with a couple beers, taking a sauna with an architect and contractor friend, while at our island lake cabin:

1. Compact: 8′x12′ overall dimensions.  Most building codes don’t require a building permit for structures less than 100 sq. ft.
2. Efficient: a 6′x8′ hot room is a nice size.  Big enough to accommodate as a one person sauna to a six person sauna, yet small enough to heat quickly and efficiently.
3. Divine proportion: the golden ratio of architecture, harmony within nature, plus all your building materials come in dimensions that offer minimal cutting and waste (to burn in your sauna stove).
4. Two rooms: Critical in cold climates.  Just as grocery stores have double doors as an energy saver, your sauna should have a changing room.  It’s impossible to have an efficient sauna if the door from the hot room opens to the outside.  Close the door!
5. Dual benches: Consider pushing your internal wall a few inches, 6′4″ bench length is a magic dimension.  One person can stretch out, laying on the sauna bench or three people can sit comfortably.  Duel benches allow for good flow.  One can alter the two bench plan, and there is a good argument that having an “L” bench instead, modesty, privacy wise.
6. Versatile: A great sauna party by night can also be a nice home office escape or kids play area by day.  Storage above your hot room, and allow yourself to make a cabin style patio, that flows out from your changing room.  Turn your 8×12 sauna into a backyard escape.
7. Odds & Ends: A few tips to consider:

• Put a dimmer light in your hot room.
• 7′ internal ceiling in hot room, never higher.  Less unneeded cube mass to heat.
• Before cedar paneling your sauna/changing room, wire for sound and Ovi/Nokia mobile device technology.  Plus, I’m a fan of music in the sauna.

Which one are you?

The sheep dog: active, motivated, happy, challenged, independent thinker.

The sheep: reactive, reluctant, frightened if on the outer edge, bothered, happier in the pack.

Advice: find your pasture, where you can be the dog, not one of the sheep.

I am a sheep in traffic, on an airplane, or at a shopping mall and a sheep dog at my cabin or taking a sauna.

I get sauna inquiries well beyond Minnesota.

Estonia, Canada, Finland, even some guy named Apou from India, oh, wait, scratch that one, he was trying to sell me Viagara really cheap.  What is exciting is how a centuries old tradition from a relatively small country, Finland, has spread and blossomed to far reaches of the world.

Saunas in Minnesota are a logical thing:

• Minnesota has a big Finnish population. Daryl Lamppa is a third generation Finnish sauna stove maker.  He personally welds and inspects EVERY sauna he makes in his Northern Minnesota factory.  His craftsmanship is a jewel to Minnesota, and the sauna tradition.  Here’s his website.
• Minnesota shares a climate ideal for saunas. Saunas evolved out of necessity.  In a climate below freezing 5 months of the year, with no running water, inventive Finns learned how to bathe and recreate, creating the sauna experience.  Here in Minnesota, some think we have two seasons: winter and July 4th.
• Minnesota has over 10,000 lakes to jump into after a sauna round. In the movie “Bucket List”, Jack Nicholson convinces Morgan Freeman to skydive.  If Nicholson’s last name was Hankkennnen or similar, I think he’d have jumping through a hole in the ice on his bucket list.

If you live in Minnesota, a Finnish sauna is probably not too far away.  This winter, 2009-10,  click here for an up to date schedule of where you can experience my first mobile Finnish sauna at an event near you!

If you don’t live in Minnesota and want to experience an authentic Finnish sauna, I have a great idea for you: click here for how to build your own Finnish sauna.

Great quote from Seth Godin:

Not only do I notice more fabulous, but it sure seems as though the creators of it are more engaged, dedicated and yes, joyful, than I can remember. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do work that matters, this is it. You can’t say, “but I need to make a fortune instead,” because that’s not happening right now. So you might as well join the people who can say, “I love doing this.”

Fabulous.   my mission statement.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/fabulous.html

I always thought mission statements were complete BS.

Then I read this article about mission statements, and thought, what the heck.  So I wrote my mission statement for saunatimes.com and got some nice clarity.  I think every website or business or lawn ornament should have their own mission statement.   Here’s mine:

To expand the appreciation of the authentic Finnish sauna experience by helping 50 people get their own sauna.

What’s your mission statement?