We sauna enthusiasts are easily amused.

• We smile when we see it snowing outside.
• We laugh between sauna rounds.
• We are happy just looking up at the moon.
• We like the base line in Elvis Costello’s “I don’t want to go to Chelsea.”

Chris at Saunascape provides a guide to sauna etiquette. These are public sauna tips: like sit on a towel, don’t spit on the rocks, and shower before entering sauna as “if you’ve been swimming, there is chlorine on your body that will volatilize in the sauna and can irritate everyone’s eyes and lungs who shares the sauna with you.”

All great tips.

However, with your own sauna you don’t need signs or a list of rules, it’s back to pioneer days.  As my then 10 year old son noted in his school report: “There are no rules to the sauna except no yelling, keep away from the stove and most importantly DON’T leave the door open. So that’s the end of my project hope you learned a lot.”

No rules.  Reason number 14 to get your own authentic Finnish sauna idling in your own backyard.

Living in the moment, being present in the “now” is philosophy well suited for the sauna experience:

In the hot room:

• Enjoying the hot room experience.
• Loyly: steam created from water being tossed on sauna rocks.
• The endorphin rush of sweat.

And then the cool down:

• The invigorating feel of a cold water plunge.
• That calming state of equilibrium sitting outside between rounds.
• Fresh air.

• Mountain climbing.
• Bicycling.
• Running.
• Soccer, Ice Hockey, heck, ALL sports!

Fall down?  Let in a goal?  Get tired?   You brush yourself off and move on.  Look ahead.  What’s next, what can we do next?  Who’se ready for another sauna round?  Hey, who took my spot on the bench!?

Life gets better when we move forward.

A car has a bigger windshield than a rear view mirror.  Where are you looking?

My Favorite Wood to Burn:

1. Birch – burns fairly fast, but hot.  BONUS:  birch bark is nature’s gasoline.
2. Red Oak – a great winter burning wood.  Long lasting, compact fire, clean hot burn.
3. Maple – not as intense as oak, yet similar properties.
4. 2nd LAST PLACE: Jack Pine – takes up space in the fire box and emits little in return.
5. 1st LAST PLACE: Wet wood, or unseasoned wood, or dried out lifeless wood.

What is your Favorite Wood to Burn in Sauna?:

We were back to Buffalo, NY and I found myself at his health club a couple days after his funeral.  I had been to the Aquatic & Fitness Center a few times before.  My Dad loved the facility and especially the sauna.  He’d tell me about his sauna sessions and how he enjoyed chatting with other folks during his sauna rounds.

Yea, it’s a health club sauna “Absolutely no spitting water or water on the sauna rocks at any time”.  Yet after the few days I had, it sure felt nice to experience some sauna therapy, with or without Loyly.  After round one, I slipped out the pool patio door for cool down.  The day was blustery, 40 mph winds, and there had been snow flurries in the air.  As I stood on the patio outside, I felt the stares of people sitting warmly in the hot tub inside as well as the ice cold wind chilling me down.

Round two started with a few others, but I soon found myself alone in the sauna.  We all know that sauna is a spiritual experience, and  though this may sound hokey, I started to hear my father’s voice within all this silence.  I heard him clearly, right there within these same cedar walls:

“ah, this feels nice, but my son has a sauna on an island in Northern Minnesota.  It’s wood burning and…..”He took great pride in my saunas.

I thought about him and I taking a sauna, how he’d be more of a “low bench Larry” and he’d screech like a child with any amount of cold water on his body.  I tried to teach him about the “rubber band theory” of temperature extremes.

But he liked sauna well enough.  And this was good enough for me.

It was a spiritual sauna that day.  Alone, hearing his voice.  Round three: instead of sitting quiet in the sauna, I turned to the guy sitting in the opposite corner, and what came out of my mouth was just what my Dad would ask: “So, think the Sabres can pull it off tonight?”

1. Authenticity wins over a latest craze.
2. We need a break from a mobile device, whether we realize it yet or not.
3. Driving: we all need to get away from insanity behind the wheel.
4. We love nature and will work hard to try to find it, even if it’s just looking up at the moon between sauna rounds.
5. Our parents took 2 week vacations, we strive to fit in two hours.
6. Beyond having a “Euro cool factor”, saunas outweigh hot tubs.
7. We will ‘staycation’ more and strive for simple, authentic ways to escape.
8. Rising property taxes force us to think about how we can better use our entire lots.
9. Like enjoying a good cup of coffee, we will seek out quality: authentic saunas will win out over health club saunas or infrared light bulb closets.
10. We will recognize that our best investment is in our health, tapping into the benefits of an authentic Finnish sauna.

Sauna is freedom.  This is why I know that the authentic sauna experience will become more popular and more appreciated by us, those that get it, those that understand the health and wellness and escape attributes of ‘checking out’.

2nd irony:  We are early adopters to a centuries old tradition.  No apologies needed.

Glenn Auerbach outside his mobile sauna.

Southwest’s sauna evangelist

By Sarah McKenzie

KENNY — To say that Glenn Auerbach is enthusiastic about saunas would be an understatement.

He owns three saunas, has a special sauna blog called “The Sauna Times,” and belongs to an informal club of local sauna lovers he often has over for sauna parties in his backyard in the
Kenny neighborhood.

He takes saunas year around, usually three times a week, and often with his family — his two sons and wife. It serves as a special bonding time. His sauna ritual usually lasts anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours. To be truly authentic, the experience has to end with a blast of cold — usually a quick rinse under a shower or a leap into a snow pile.

“The fun thing about the sauna ritual is that there really is only one rule: ‘Close the sauna door!,” he said. “Outside of that, it’s a lesson in freedom. If you’re hot, you leave. If you get cold, you go in.”

He first became infatuated with saunas more than 25 years ago while traveling in Scandinavia. He was hitchhiking with a friend. The weather was cold and rainy. They were soaked, hungry and tired. A kind couple took pity on them and invited them over to their home to warm up. They were also encouraged to take a sauna at the couple’s house.

“The first blast of dry warm air felt wonderful against my clammy skin and as my tight muscles started to loosen up, I quickly realized that I just found heaven on earth, in a small cedar lined room in a little town in the middle of nowhere,” he wrote of the experience on his blog. “After a couple 15–20 minutes rounds, showering between, I felt clean, refreshed, and as an even unfathomable bonus, all our mosquito bites were miraculously gone.”

These days, Auerbach, 47, has become something of a sauna evangelist and would love to see a sauna movement catch on in Minneapolis. It’s not necessary to drive all the way to the north woods to enjoy the experience, he noted.

“I really think we are on the cusp of urban saunas,” he said. “It’s in our blood as Minnesotans. It’s bringing the up-north vibe to the backyard.”

Besides his backyard sauna, his family has a sauna at their cabin on Lake Vermilion in Tower, Minn. It features a stove made by an authentic Finnish stove maker. He also has a “mobile” sauna currently on display at Uncommon Gardens, 5750 Lyndale Ave. S. The sauna has been an attraction at events like the City of Lakes Loppet and the New Year’s Day Polar Plunge on Lake Minnetonka.

Auerbach has also found some kindred spirits who share his love of saunas.

Clint Carlson, an Armatage resident who has a sauna in his garage, found Auerbach by stumbling on his sauna blog. “I’m a sauna freak. I often go online and see what’s been happening in the news,” he said.

He started corresponding with Auerbach a couple of years ago and soon started going to his sauna gatherings.

“By far the best way to embrace the Minnesota winter is to own a sauna,” he said.

Tom Rolando, another friend of Auerbach’s, also connected with him through his blog, “Sauna Times.” He had Auerbach build him a sauna in his backyard in Maple Grove.

While many lament the piles of snow that have fallen on the Twin Cities in recent weeks, Rolando isn’t complaining. “The worse the weather, the better the sauna,” he said.

Auerbach says there a few things to keep in mind to ensure a good sauna experience. First, he said there’s something “magical” about allowing enough time for three complete sauna rounds. Round one is typically a dry round where water is slowly added to the sauna rocks (loyly); round two involves adding water to the sauna rocks right away to get a blast of steam going; and for the third round, you let your body relax completely and sweat away the toxins.

It’s important to stay hydrated during the process. Auerbach typically drinks at least a quart of water during a sauna session.

And finally, the cool down is key.

“People may think a true sauna enthusiast is crazy for jumping in the snow or jumping through a hole in the ice, but this is when magic happens,” he said. “In order to appreciate the heating up in the sauna, it’s critical to allow enough time for the body to cool down. I try to spend at least the same amount of time cooling down as I do heating up, even in winter with the steam billowing off my body.”

Besides being a good way to connect with loved ones and the benefits for the body — detoxification and improved circulation — the sauna experience helps calm the mind.

“It’s a meditative place,” Auerbach said. “We all need an escape.”

• Time, which is true.
• Rest, which is true.
• Exercise, which is true.

There is for me.

Any thoughtful doctor/expert will tell you ‘That’s all it takes’”