Click here:

Mahmoud Ahmed Lala link.

What does this song have to do about saunas?  Seemingly nothing.  Mahmoud Ahmed is a 60 year old Ethiopian singer who, i’d bet my house, has never taken a sauna.  Yet his music fits nicely with the sauna experience.. melodic, passive yet steady simple base line, and a rolling voice with horn interludes.

But this is one of the things that makes life worth living.  Navigating, as Seth Godin describes, out on the edges of the box.  On the edge, where you can think freely vs. being pushed around like sheep. Just within the boundaries, vs. out there lost in the wilderness.  The other nice thing about living out on the edge of the box is being able to jump easily to edges of other boxes.

Jessica Hagy illustrates this another way, in her work with graphs and Venn diagrams Indexed.  Not so much a book, but a simple page by page collection.

So, this is life: not a book, but a page by page collection.

• A = Ethiopian music.
• B = Sauna.
• A union B = Listening to Mahmoud Ahmed in the sauna on a zero degree Minnesota day.

Too many people troll around unchallenged, right in the middle of their own box – same couch, same TV shows, same friends, same downloads on their Ipod.  Push yourself outward, on the edge, and start looking at other edges.  How do you get to your edge?

Me: the mobile sauna.

Sauna hidden benefit

One of the more powerful sauna benefits is one that is often overlooked.  In this fast paced world of many demands, ask yourself, when is the last time you’ve spent a couple hours just thinking?  No TV, no driving around, just ‘recharging your batteries’?

Reconnect in the sauna.

Some people love running or hiking as a way to mentally recharge.  And in the film “What About Bob?” Bill Murray (Bob Wiley) is told to ‘take a vacation from your problems.’  Well here’s some free sauna information that isn’t about how to build a sauna or throw a sauna party or where the next mobile sauna is.

I had a great sauna last night.  Alone for a couple rounds, I was able to reconnect.  I found myself jotting down a list of things to do,  including writing this post.  Then my friend Dan showed up for a sauna.

Three things in our lives.

Dan and I discussed how, being so busy, life basically comes down to three buckets: family, work, personal.  Now this resonated with me as not only is he right, but I have a freaky appreciation to the power of three relating to sauna.

This morning, over coffee, I was able to put a “p” for personal, “w” for work, and “f” for family in front of each thing on my list from the sauna.  I’m pretty sure “put socks away” would be ‘personal’ but my wife surely notices my socks laying around, so I stick an “f” next to that one, and for that matter, “w” too, as it’s too cold outside to show up to a meeting with just my shoes on.  The point is, forging ahead with a focus on all three buckets is a rising tide that lifts the content in each.  And at the end of the day, after we kick the bucket, that’s it!

What about you?

Not sure if you’re a list person, or where you go to reconnect.  Maybe you take a pen with you while hiking, maybe you jot stuff down in the sauna at your fitness center (avoiding eye contact with Sven), but my backyard sauna is really good for my head.  Without a sauna, i’d still be looking for my socks, and you wouldn’t be reading this.

Rain, not snow

Rain in Minnesota in January seems as common as snow in San Antonio in summer.  We are typically blessed with single digit temperatures, bright sun, fast outdoor ice, and fresh powder snow for skiing.  Today, however, was met with temperatures in the 30’s, a heavy gray sky and steady drizzle.

A healthy glow

The folks that converged today on Fish Lake in Maple Grove were here to raise money to build a high school in Haiti, as part of the Rotary Club of Maple Grove’s 2010 Deep Freeze Dunk .  I brought my mobile sauna to the shoreline of Fish Lake to help with the plunge experience.  Maybe it was the feel good purpose of the event, maybe it was everybody’s bright smiles contrasting with the gray sky, maybe it was the 170 degree wood burning sauna, but everybody in attendance was happy to be there and participating in a timely, good cause.

New friendships flow

I’ve always said, the worse the weather, the better the sauna.  Today was no exception.  Those that committed to support the fundraiser, got off their couches, ventured out onto a frozen lake, plunged into the hole in the ice, indulged in sauna, began forming a bond which naturally evolved into tighter friendships.  There is something genuine about the polar plunge and sauna experience.  Honesty, transparency, sincerity.  There is no bullshit in a sauna.

It was day four.  Sick of television, sick of my pillow, sick of my bed, I had to get out of the house.  I grabbed my youngest son, our hockey sticks and gear and hit the outdoor rink.  Ten minutes in and I was starting to second guess myself.  Holding myself up along the boards, hacking like a chain smoker, dizzy with Robittusen remnants, I could just hear my wife “you shouldn’t have pushed yourself”.  But I had.

I had to do it.  I was sick of staring at these crisp clear sunny January Minnesota days from inside.  Plus I knew what was waiting for me, my backyard sauna.  We made it home and after grabbing 32 oz of water and my towel, I escaped to my sauna.

Goodbye hacking

I first noticed a change half way through round one.  No more hacking.  Just as a wood burning sauna can take the bite off a zero degree night, it cleared me out after just one shot of water on the rocks and a few coughs.  ahhhhhh sticking it out a little while longer, I then doused some cool water over me and stepped out into the fresh air.  Not bad!

Goodbye weird drugs

I don’t know about you, but taking cold medicine is just a bit of lessor of two evils.  I have no idea what guaifenesin is or what it does to your body, but it sure ain’t natural, and it surely is in cough medicine.  And a by product of being sick and taking drugs is that weird “out there” feeling from drugs.  I forget what i’m watching on TV, my wife’s voice has a freaky echo, and I get dreams to a warped degree.  Not good.  This much is clear: if I were to take a sweat sample off my skin during round two, i’m sure it would be full of guaifenesin.  I’m pretty sure the body doesn’t digest the stuff, but i’m very sure I was sweating it out.  It felt great to sweat, and feel myself again.

Goodbye achy body

Laying in bed all day and night sucks. I had pretty much turned into peanut brittle.  Skating took on heightened fear, for had I crashed, I’d surely break into pieces.  Yet, while sitting on the bench during round three, I began feeling the complete opposite.  I tossed a shot of water on the rocks, stood in the sauna and began stretching.  “oh, so that’s what my ankles feel like!”  My lower back pain was gone, I was like Gumby and each stretch and deep breath made me think “did i really just lick this damn cold?”

On the package of Cold Eze and those zinc lozenges it says something like “proven to shorten the duration of the common cold.”   I can personally attest, this same claim could also be posted outside my sauna door.

Update

Sound asleep, I notice is the sound of a garbage truck.  “Garbage truck?  what the?” So, I start thinking, if I am hearing a garbage truck it must be morning, and if it is in fact morning that means I actually slept through the night.  I open my eyes.  I look at the clock.  7:08 am.  Sheesh.  I just slept soundly for 8 1/2 hours.  First time I can say THAT since my cold.  Yippie!! thank you sauna!  I take a deep breath, no need to cough.  I get out of bed.. ah.. gumby, not peanut brittle.  Thanks again sauna!

Chris, good question.  If speakers fail prematurely in the sauna, it’s still worth it.  Yet I’ve had a great pair of outdoor speakers in my backyard sauna for 8 years now, and they show no signs of breaking down.

• Use outdoor speakers – made for rougher conditions.
• Keep your speakers on the floor – out of the way under your benches.
• It’s actually not that hot or humid along the floor of a sauna – heat rises.
• Build a box around your sauna speakers  – use the same tongue and groove cedar for a nice look.
• Venting your sauna with a crack along the bottom of the sauna door is like a cool blow dryer – fresh air is good for the speakers.
• BONUS: consider playlists of 4-5 minute songs, allowing you to keep track, roughly, of how long you’ve been in the sauna.  I’ve been known to get wrapped up in a 20 minute Fela Kuti or John Coltrane song, and end up needing to be shoveled into bed at night.

for more hot air, click here:

www.saunatimes.com

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From: chris
To: gra3512@yahoo.com
Sent: Sun, January 10, 2010 10:15:15 PM
Subject: speakers
Any thought on speakers? My fear is that most speakers are not designed to operate at the high ambient temps of a sauna and will surely fail prematurely.

What is this?

This is an authentic wood burning Finnish sauna. Northern Europeans have been taking part in this ritual for centuries.

How is this sauna different?

Experience the wood burning sauna stove.  It was hand welded and crafted by a third generation Finnish stove maker, Lamppa Manufacturing, Tower, MN.  The stove weighs over 300 lbs. and has about 80 lbs. of special rocks that hold thermal mass.  This creates a different sort of heat, one that naturally radiates through the body and produces negative ions for a natural, therapeutic experience, offering many unparalleled benefits.

What are the benefits of an authentic Finnish sauna?

1.  Health and wellness: Sauna therapy is perhaps the best way to detoxify, ridding one’s body of slow metabolizing bad stuff.  Saunas rejuvenate, clear and promote healthy skin.  Alternating between the sauna room and outside, saunas help with respiration  Saunas are great for muscle relaxation, whether stiff from a cold winter day or exercise.

2.  Escape: beyond the physical benefits, sauna therapy is great for stress relief.  Imagine having your own cabin escape right in your backyard.  No driving, no big mortgage, just a “staycation” where you can turn a corner of your backyard into an enjoyable working asset, a place for social interaction with family and friends.

3.  Green: with a small solar panel, this entire unit can be ‘off the grid’.  It is efficiently wood heated with minimal smoke output.  Today I am heating using Minnesota red oak, harvested from private land.

How do I take a sauna?

The cool thing is that there are few rules to a sauna.  A few basic suggestions:

1. Drink a big glass of water before going into sauna.  Stay hydrated throughout.  This encourages sweat and wards off dehydration.
2. Wear as little as possible.  Whatever you are comfy getting wet.
3. Have a towel handy for drying off when you’re all done.
4. Enter the hot room.  Most people stick around for 10-15 minutes.  Toss a bit of water on the sauna rocks, if desired.
5. Getting too hot?  Try sitting on the lower bench and work up to:
6. Go outside and dump water over your body or jump in the lake.
7. Stay outside and cool off, let your body equalize for a few minutes.
8. Repeat 1-7.

Oh, and keep the sauna door closed!

Disclosure

By reading this, you are using this sauna at your own risk, if you feel faint leave the sauna immediately. The sauna stove is very hot and if you touch it you will get burned. Please look at but do NOT touch.