At the mobile sauna yesterday, we had good effect with an international/reggae/African play list. Nothing Ragga and Rough, but more ambient dub (King Tubby, Thievery Corporation) with a mix of African (Amadou & Mariam, Fela Kuti). When at the sauna controls, choosing instrumental music, and (or music where one doesn’t understand the lyrics) seems to resonate like a cold water splash on sauna rocks.
Thanks to my brother, I have a waiver/disclaimer prohibiting top 40.
Old Chicago Uptown, bar sponsor for the The City of Lakes Loppet Cross Country Ski Festival, is excited to offer up the use of an authentic Finnish sauna to racers, sauna enthusiasts, plumbers, pipe fitters and and spectators in conjunction with this weekend’s festival in Uptown Minneapolis.
Folks interested in taking an authentic sauna are encouraged to bring a bathrobe or towel, swimsuit and a pair of flip flops. The sauna will be in the front of the parking lot, adjacent to the Old Chicago entrance. The sauna will be idling warmly from 2-7 pm Saturday and 2-5 pm Sunday.
Old Chicago will be featuring “two for one” Summits during the above happy hour times. Old Chicago will also be featuring a $4.00 Pasta Bowl on Saturday 2/6 (4:00 to 6:00 with Loppet bib or registration). Patio will be open for an ice cold beverage and cool down between sauna rounds. Come experience that ”up north” Scandinavian feeling and take a sauna at Old Chicago with your fellow cross country ski enthusiasts!
The City of Lakes Loppet festival:
http://www.cityoflakesloppet.com/
The Mobile Sauna:
http://www.saunatimes.com/2010/01/04/the-mobile-sauna-by-saunatimes-com/
Old Chicago:
http://www.oldchicago.com/
xxx
My good (virtual so far) friend Stephen built his own sauna in North Carolina. Watch through his video. It’s a great sauna, wonderful aesthetics and touches: slate patio walkway, nestled amongst foliage, and a great outdoor shower. Note Stephen’s OSHA approved sandals:
Click here:
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.
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.
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’?
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.
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
