Is it the chicken or the egg?  Are Scandinavians predisposed to sauna or did the Scandinavian climate, over centuries, create the ingenuity to burn fire in a room and warm up?

In this case, 40 degrees, cold wet rain, the kind of day where those less adventurous say “I’m going to go curl up on the couch with a good book” as a way to go meekly inside and hide.  This is the same day when those with a backyard sauna get excited and fire up their wood burning sauna stove and embrace what nature throws at us.

Between rounds, sitting outside with the birds and the rain dancing off the trees the only word is “ahhhhhhhhh” perfect!

His metaphor on change and revolution is exactly the right metaphor for when folks discover the authentic Finnish sauna experience:

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.

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.

Considering whether to build a wood burning sauna or an electric sauna?  You may want to read below.. I’ll post all comments.

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.

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

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?

There’s something beautiful about sitting outside in the rain, rainwater tingling the skin, steam billowing off one’s body after a nice sauna round.  Climates with rain, rain, beautiful rain are blessed with lush greenery, lakes, and fresh oxygen from the surrounding greenery.

Infrared closets and health club saunas just don’t hold a candle to your own authentic outdoor sauna where between rounds you can sing “rain, rain, beautiful rain!”

With your own authentic Finnish sauna:

• Sit outside in the rain like a crazy man with a smile on your face.
• Turn a rainy day at the cabin into a party.
• Turn a 3 day cold front into a beautiful day.

“No guru, no method, no teacher.  Just you and I in nature.”

I’ve heard folks say that their sauna is their church.  Sauna is a spiritual experience in Finland. Van Morrison surely wasn’t speaking directly about the sauna experience when he wrote this masterpiece, In The Garden, yet with any masterpiece, lyrics can be applied in multiple context:

I wish I had a live link for you to experience the richness of this song, especially between rounds:

but a nice outdoor sauna is surely a Sweet Thing:

The fields are always wet with rain
After a summer shower
When I saw you standin’
Standin’ in the garden
In the garden

No Guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature and the father In the garden