Summertime Sauna

With the awesome spring we’ve had and temperatures soaring near 90F and with the Twins on a miniature roll , what better time then a late afternoon summer-time sauna?   Three rounds, complete with intermittent dips in the pool between rounds to properly cool down, another successful sauna in the books!  Now it’s time for some pizza and beer.  Even though the motto of “the worse the weather the better the sauna” remains paramount, sometimes, with the better weather your better off saunaing.  Enjoy the good weather and good times.

Sometimes a sauna works well when you’re having a bad day.


You don’t need to have your vehicle slide down a cliff to realize you’re having a bad day.  Hey, there’s worse things in life than almost losing your life, but this Norwegian could sure use a sauna.

“It’s ridiculous how good that feels”: snow falling on bare skin between sauna rounds.

It is often noted how the worse the weather, the better the sauna, yet there may be an exception:

10:30 pm Minneapolis, MN.

30 degrees f.  no wind.

Snow falling steady, and settling everywhere.

2-3″ fresh snowball type snow on the ground.

Emerging from sauna after round 2.

Snow settling on head, shoulders, arms, and melting.

“it’s ridiculous how good that feels”.

BONUS:  Rubbing and scrubbing fresh snow on the body after a nice hot sauna round is nature’s Luffa.

A hot sauna on a hot day?

It’s 102 in Minneapolis, MN today and I’ve mentioned to several people that I’ll be taking a sauna later, in case they’d like to join me.

“What? Are you crazy? It’s 102 today!”

Exactly. It’s 102. Just as some runners use saunas to train for hot weather running, I use saunas to tolerate hot weather in general. It works remarkably well.

When you’re first introduced to the sauna, your inclination is to head for the hills when the steam comes barreling toward you. After a few sessions you start to realize that, not only is it quite tolerable, but it actually feels gooooooooood! When the steam hits, you learn to just let it in.

And so it is when I walk out of my 73 degree air conditioned house into 102 degrees…

I just let it in.

The Best Bad Weather For A Sauna

When you own a sauna you find yourself getting excited about bad weather. You’ll be driving home, watching other people scurry to their car with disgruntled looks thinking, “It’s going to be a great sauna tonight. I hope the weather gets worse!”

I stood in my yard last night with a good friend, watching some of the worst storm clouds I’ve ever seen between sauna rounds. It was a breathtaking, memorable experience. It got me thinking, “What’s the best bad weather for a sauna?”

Here are my top three:

  1. A Blizzard. Hands down the best sauna you can have.
  2. Pouring rain in the summer.
  3. Blustery, cold sleet in the spring or fall.

What’s your best bad weather sauna experience?

Sauna ice skating plunging and vodka

this man needs a sauna:

-13 degrees Fahrenheit = -25 degrees Celsius

Today’s Temperature, January 21, 2011.

I have seen exactly one person outside today.  It’s sunny, bitter cold and he was dressed appropriately with all his skin covered.  Later today, there will be 5 more of us outside.  But instead of bundled up like Eskimos, we will be almost naked between sauna rounds outside my backyard sauna:

  • Steam will be billowing off our bodies.
  • We will be smiling.
  • We will gaze up at the full moon above.
  • We will embrace what winter throws at us.
  • Cold weather will not get the better of us.

I can’t wait to get out there!  As you look at your thermometer, or watch the weatherman on TV, I hope you will smile with us.  As you look at your life, I hope you can think about joining us with your own authentic Finnish sauna. I can help you get there.

Currently

-13°

feels like -13°

Humidity 76
Windchill -13
Wind direction N
Wind Speed 0
Visibility 9
Pressure 30.09
Sunrise 7:44AM
Sunset 5:04PM

Buried in the blizzard, literally

Indeed: the worse the weather, the better the sauna.  Wouldn’t you like to do this in your own backyard?  (Note the 1:10 mark – Clint was diving champion in high school).

Sauna in the snow

Dec.  3,  2010  We’ve talked about Friday afternoon saunas, and the beauty of this Friday sauna session was a heavy dose of snow falling.  Here’s an email dialogue with my friend Brian on his way to my backyard sauna to join this sauna party.  My laptop was streaming music for the sauna. He was in stopped traffic, pulled out his laptop and typed:

  • 4:40 Brian:   “I’m on my way.  I could walk faster.  Forgot my cell at home.”
  • 5:02 Me:  “just finished round one with a buddy; park out front … 5621 dupont.  Drive safe, plenty of sauna time.”
  • 5:51 Brian:  “I’m on 50th and 100, getting off at 50th and using side streets.  I hate winter drivers.  I left Cabellas in Rogers at 3:30.  I need a sauna!  Keep it going.”
  • 6:13 Me after another round: “10:4, mebbe turn right at Xerxes or Penn down to 56th then turn left there.”

A few minutes later, a determined Brian arrived.  We took 3 rounds, celebrating all that fresh snow outside the backyard sauna.

You know that feeling: falling snow tingling on your skin.

And it feels so good, you lay down in it.

Perfect weather for a sauna

Saunas are most popular in Scandinavia, Seattle, Minnesota.

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!