As we sit cooling between sauna rounds in nature, we look out at the sky and the trees and are filled with calm. There is beauty in asymmetry, a clump of trees off to the right or a cluster of clouds towards the horizon. Then as we look closer, we see nature playing a trick of symmetry in the same scene, each tree offering branches magically balanced left and right and no matter where we gaze across the water, the ripples of disruption are perfectly equal, where all the colors blend, as if computer programmed.
As we sit cooling between sauna rounds in nature, we listen to the silence and are filled with calm. There is beauty in this calm as we are welcomed by a couple simple interruptions like how the breeze ruffles through the trees, a familiar soothing accompaniment that, if we let ourselves think about it, our ancestors have also heard for 10,000 years. Same familiar sounds. Same with the birds. Generations of birds genetically intertwined, us sharing the same space as them for just this moment. Eternally even.
As we sit cooling between sauna rounds in nature, we feel the gentle breeze and are filled with calm. There is beauty in this feeling as our body is warm and the cool tingles of the fresh air against our skin can make us giggle if we allow ourselves to do so. We breathe in the fresh air deeply. One, two, maybe three deep breaths, feeling the oxygen reach deep into our bodies. We may not be a student in physiology or even how to spell the word correctly without autocorrect, but we understand that this is all good for us.
Between sauna rounds in nature, all of our senses are heightened. We are blessed with many health and wellness benefits to sauna and sometimes we want to remind ourselves how wonderfully significant nature is to our sauna experience. When we sauna alone, nature is our friend. When we sauna with others, nature is there with us as a member of our sauna party. Nature and sauna. It is comforting to know that folks all over the world, from Finland to Finlayson, can be in this same moment and share this same, precious experience.
Nature can calm us like no drug.
Is there really an anxiety epidemic? Is ADD really a physical disease that requires drugs for treatment? What about ADHD? What percent of asthma is physical and can these deep breaths between rounds help? And those soldiers back from battle with PTSD in their heads. Sauna in nature may not be the cure for these things, but as we rejoice in our moment between rounds, we can’t help but want to share this moment with those that may benefit, and may have a critical need.
In this moment we are not just taken with the beauty of nature but with the realization that, walking in the shadows, it is bigger than all of us.
Lake Sunset captured between sauna rounds
Brian Peterson photo from his sauna at almost at the same moment 100 miles awayThen out of the blue, one of our sauna playlists produces a timely gem such as:
Sun’s out
Not a thought about the rain
No trace of tears or pain
I hope you’re having
A wonderful life
Reaching out
I’ve thought about you often
My feelings towards you softened over time
I hope you’re having
A wonderful life
Truth be told
There’s gold in growing older
We open like the roses to the sun
OR the hand of a child
Reaching up to mother over time
For a pot of gold
Or so I have been told
Waits at the rainbow’s end
Where all the colors blend
I hope you’re having a wonderful life
I hope you get everything that’s coming to you
I got everything one’s supposed to get
Nothing more and nothing less
Life’s been completely fair
Eternally even
Walking in the shadows I
See clearly I’m
Walking in the light
I see clearly I’m
Out of my mind
Out of my mind
Walking in the shadows I
I see clearly I’m
Walking in the light
Out of my mind
Walking in the shadows I
Out of my mind
Walking in the shadows I
Out of my mind
Walking in the shadows I
Out of my mind