Sauna Talk

What is Sauna Talk?

Sauna talk is a different kind of talk. It is casual talk between a father and his teenage son, and reconnection talk with a friend you wish you could see more frequently, or collaborative talk amongst NHL hockey players or business partners working through a strategy. This happens because we have no distractions and we are relaxed in mind, body, and spirit.

The endorphin rush – like after a good workout – gives one a positive feeling, a natural high and clarity. In this environment, problems or constraints become blessings in disguise because they foster opportunities for new ideas and solutions. Sauna talk can get crazy. Sauna talk can foster “out there” thinking, like building a mobile sauna or making a drinking glass out of ice. But we need more of these kinds of things.

Is It Any Different Than Bar Talk?

On the sauna bench or between rounds, anything seems possible. With a well set up sauna: hot room, cool down, chill out, we allow the space to breathe and allow thoughts and ideas to develop on their own. We can get going with Sauna Talk. And it can start to sound like bar talk. For in a bar:

“Well a person can work up a mean mean thirst

After a hard day of nothin’ much at all

Summer’s passed, it’s too late to cut the grass

There ain’t much to rake anyway in the fall”

• Here Comes a Regular, The Replacements