A few excerpts from his 1979 book:

• Time:  “The sauna was not built for saving time, but for spending it well.”
• Honesty:  “Perhaps the setting is conducive to honesty and getting at the bare facts of an issue: rank and status disappear with the clothing, and one must communicate simply as one imperfect individual who must accept another individual.”
• Sleep:  “After a sauna one does not worry about insomnia.  And one doesn’t need a prescription for a tranquilizer.”
• Scalp:  “Bathing… in sauna is, in fact, and excellent first step for good scalp care, which contributes to healthy hair.”
• Skin: “The sauna does give the skin an aura, and it is said that a woman looks her most beautiful an hour after sauna.  In the sauna… dead skin is removed, and live skin is rejuvenated.”
• “In this age of slick promotion, the concept of the sauna has at times been misunderstood and misrepresented.”
• “The acme of the sauna experience is achieved when the shower is replaced by a dip into a lake and when one can sit outside in the altogether, dried by unpolluted breezes.  Some brave souls enjoy a roll in the snow or a dip into a hole in an ice covered lake.  While contemplating such an experience can be a shock, the sensation itself is delightful.”
• “Many persons find it particularly enjoyable to combine exercise and sauna bathing.  A good workout in tennis, swimming, bowling, or jogging, followed by relaxing and cleansing heat, is a most satisfying  experience.”
• “In Finland it is very natural to ask friends or neighbors to come for sauna.  As more Americans build saunas, this custom will develop naturally.”
• “In the sauna a very unusual combination of processes develops: a person sits peacefully at rest while his blood vessels, nerves, and glands work hard.  After such an experience, the person may well feel that he has had a strenuous workout, even though he has been quite relaxed and at ease.  It is difficult to gain a greater senses of physical renewal than that which is provided by this unique combination of exertion  and rest.”

• “There is no rigidly prescribed procedure – one should use the style he enjoys most.”

I will leave my comments to a minimum.

This is beyond funny, and it’s all true.

Buddy Clint and I were talking about sauna door etiquette…. it’s like Pay it Forward, if you show up to a sauna party, DON’T open the sauna door and greet everybody.  Instead quietly get undressed, grab your towel and before opening the sauna door ask the crew in the sauna: “does anyone need anything?”

You’ll be a hero.. just by grabbing a fellow sauna party member a towel, a beer, or their forgotten jug of water.

As Clint says: “it’s just another sprinkling of good vibes.”

Fabulous article here from USA Today on sauna parties and Finnish corporate culture.  The writer relates his experiences first hand, but I have a heard a great story, second hand, about a Dutch friend who was at Nokia’s headquarters in Finland for some high level negotiations.  After hashing out some details, he was invited by the top brass to sauna.  I think this is an excellent business technique.   Here’s the article. or the gist of it:

Naked truth on Finnish business strategy: Start with sauna

I had come to the Finnish Embassy to meet Linus, perhaps the world’s most famous Finn and the progenitor of the Linux computer operating system.

This little party here, co-hosted by Wired magazine, is partly to show off Finnish technology but is largely for Linus, because he’s on the cover of Wired’s November issue.

I was looking forward to talking to him about Linux’s growing success, the SCO lawsuit that threatens it, and how a country with 5 million citizens, who live in the same neighborhood as Santa’s workshop, has managed to become a tech powerhouse.

But Linus couldn’t be here. Had to go to a wedding or something. So I have to make do with the father of the father of Linux. His name is Nils Torvalds, and in Finland, he’s a well-known TV reporter, now assigned to cover Washington. Kind of a Nordic Sam Donaldson.

And he’s in the sauna.

In fact, the first thing I learn from Nils is that the sauna is part of Finland’s competitive advantage — one reason, for instance, that Nokia dominates in cell phones. Most Finnish companies, even small businesses, have a sauna on the premises, he says.

The Finnish Parliament has a sauna. Nokia has a sauna in its headquarters. Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila built one of the world’s largest saunas at his summer home.”

Sauna etiquette:

Rule #1:  “don’t drip sweat in the cold water bucket!”

Rule #2:  don’t open the sauna door unless:

1. You’re coming into the sauna
2. You’re leaving the sauna

If #1 above, before opening the door, ask those inside the sauna if anyone needs anything. If #2 above, grab anything you need in advance (towel warming on a hook, empty water or beer bottle, etc.)

We’re all guilty of breaching #1 or #2 but for a good sauna party, close the door!!!!

Yes, that’s NOT a typo!!!

It was that cold.  5 guests showed up for this sauna party.  Dan waltzed in at 10:30 pm “somebody has to be on the late shift” as three of us were deep into our 2nd full round of this sauna party.

Let me try to sum up what a 20 below sauna party is like: I started the Kuuma Stove around 8 pm, then watched some of the Minnesota Wild hockey game back in the house, while riding the stationary bike.  Around 8:30 my 9 year old appears in his bathrobe, wanting to take a sauna party with Dad.  So, we hit it.  Sauna party temp: already 140 degrees f. inside, about 10 degrees f. in the changing room, and -20 degrees f. outside.

Around 9 pm, Chuck and Matt arrive the sauna party.

Let me describe what dumping cold water over one’s head standing outside in -20 degrees f. feels like.  Well, you need sandles on or your feet want to start sticking to the ice/snow outside.  No damper to the sauna party!  You step outside and steam billows off your body like a clothes dryer vent.  You splash water over your head, and as cold as the water is, it feels warm because the air temp. at this sauna party is so brrrrrrrrrr..  Now most folks would run back inside to the sauna party, but if you stand outside for a moment, something wonderful happens.

The water on your skin starts evaporating, blood flows freely around your body, and the heat mass from your body gives you a warm tingly feeling as it hits the cold air.  What a sauna party!  A friend likens it to dipping an ice cream cone in hot chocolate.  Your outer skin has a nice crisp layer feeling to it.  When ice starts forming on your hair, well, it’s time to get back to the sauna party and hang out in the changing room and grab a beer.

The changing room of the sauna party has its own compelling climate.  The steam in the chilly room gives a tropical feeling, a rainforest but fresh and cool.  No rush to go back into the sauna.  The sauna party is now in the changing room.  King Tubby, Radiohead, and Theivery Corporation shuffle mix on Rhapsody music player.  A quick flip of the bottle opener and the sauna party is in full force.  Lots of ice cold water to help keep the hydration happening.  Nate’s gone to bed and 2 more arrive for the sauna party.  Nice thing about a sauna party:  you can casually socialize with whomever you wish.  Good one on one time either in the sauna, hanging in the changing room, or outside sharing a cold beer after a water plunge.  175 degrees f. back in the sauna.  Let’s go back in the sauna!

The Kuuma Stove fought back vigorously with each door opening.  Take a moment to consider this:  if the changing room is, say, 20 degrees and your sauna is, say, 170 degrees, you don’t have to be a thermal mass scientist to figure that there’s quite a blast of cold air and heat loss going on each time someone opens the sauna door at a sauna party.  5-6 people at a sauna party can create quite a test to maintaining an adequate temperature in a sauna.  I started the Kuuma Stove with 4 pieces of firewood, and added 2 more throughout the night.  That’s pretty efficient for a long sauna party!

I was told that after an especially grueling negotiation with Nokia executives, vendors are invited to take a sauna with the top brass.  Now, talk about building vendor relationships!  sauna party!  Brush up on sauna etiquette, close the door!!

TIP: If you sell to Nokia, get a sauna and start enjoying your own sauna party!