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Are you enjoying fall saunas? I know. It’s hard not to thanks to the return of “cool water nirvana.”

light steam graphic

We’ve got our way through the heat of summer. It’s getting dark earlier. The breeze now comes with “ahhh” coolness. As we exit our hot rooms, whether we duck under the backyard shower or dive off our docks, we are enveloped with that familiar, welcoming “righteous” coolness. 

Northeast Minnesota is home to a small but loyal sect of sauna enthusiasts who call this experience “cowani” – a Naive American sauna enthusiast abbreviation for Cool Water Nirvana. 

Next time you hear someone “yelp” like a frightened rabbit, as that fresh beautiful cold water hits their body between a sauna round, suggest instead that they reach for a different conditional response. Suggest they shout “cowani!” but from deeper in the diaphragm, less whiney, and with a little bit more command: “co-wa-ni !” 

Next time you’re hit hard by that wonderfully fresh, cold fall water, try “cowani!”   

It’s kind has a ring to it, like “timber!” for when the tree falls.  

What is Cowani? It is a foundation for inner strength. Sisu. In the moment mind fullness that helps us focus on the core of our body, not the skin, stimulating the vagus nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces the body’s fight-or-flight response and all kinds of other goodness that may be better saved for another day.

CO-ol WA-ter NI-rvana

fall sauna cold lake plunge

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3 Comments

3 thoughts on “Are you enjoying fall saunas? I know. It’s hard not to thanks to the return of “cool water nirvana.””

  1. Love it! Beautiful imagery as the season begins to turn.

    “Less whiny” is such a glorious target. I aim for that with my kids and the grown kids that I coach. Well said!

  2. I bought your ebook but did not receive it or don’t know how to access it. Would appreciate any assistance since I am planning on building a sauna this winter and am happy I found this valuable resource for information to help me along… Thanks

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