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Are kids even supposed to use those?? (bandsaws or saunas)

Well, it turns out that in Finnish culture, sauna (pronounced “sow-na” — first syllable rhyming with “how”) means something more than a hot, wooden room in a hotel or gym. And yes, kids frequently use the sauna, or as the Finnish-Americans say, “take sauna”.

The Best Part of a Sauna was written by Minnesotan Sheryl Peterson, who grew up taking sauna. For those of Finnish heritage, this book serves as a pleasant and nostalgic reminder of what sauna is about. And for children (and adults) who aren’t of Finnish lineage, this book serves as a wonderful introduction to traditional sauna.

The main character is a young child who is spending some time at the lake cabin with grandma and grandpa. In the evening, they take sauna together. The child recounts all the wonderful things about sauna, and at the end of the story, tells the reader what the best part of a sauna is — which I won’t spoil. You will have to read the book.

The Best Part of a Sauna has whimsical and colorful artwork created by Kelly Dupre. The team that created this book worked very closely to make sure that the artwork details, while stylized, had elements of realism; the trees have the right sort of leaves, and the wood stove looks like an authentic, ‘up-north’ sauna stove.

I recommend the purchase of The Best Part of a Sauna. And if you’ve never experienced the traditional method of Finnish sauna, I highly recommend that you track down a rental cabin by a lake where you can try one; it’s quite different than what you’ve experienced at the gym or hotel. Think of it this way… Saw-na is to sow-na, as a BIC lighter is to a nice campfire. Both are fire, technically speaking, but sitting around a campfire with close friends under the starry night sky is a much fuller and more profound experience than sitting around a big lighter in your basement. And so, authentic Finnish sauna can be a full experience physically, mentally, and even relationally — which might be the best part of sauna for me.

I would like to thank Raven Publishers for sending me a copy of the book. This review is based on the paperback version, but I would recommend that you pay a little extra and get the nicer, hardcover binding.

photos from Ely Steam Sauna facebook and The Opposite of Cold book

Duluth, Minnesota

Garner, Massachusetts

Virginia, Minnesota

Smoke saunas were the most common type of sauna for thousands of years, but quickly dwindled after the advent of the continuous burning wood stoves. In the middle of the 20th century, the practice experienced a revival in Finland; I’ve always been curious why (this book doesn’t really explain why). But Jarmo is trying to spark a similar resurgence here in North America, and I support that effort!

When learning something new, your approach matters just as much as the content. These five pieces of advice will help you avoid blind spots in your knowledge.

1. Abandon the goal of becoming an expert; be a student, and stay a student. Even after you have learned a bunch, refuse to become an expert. Stay humble. Always pay careful attention. Even a long-time expert can discover new things and benefit from correction.

2. Principles are more important than prescriptions. Understanding the basic principles of sauna will result in greater flexibility for sauna builds and help avoid common pitfalls.

3. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Experts will confidently explain that you should trust them because they’ve, “built three billion saunas” or are, “100% Finnish” but this does not guarantee that they are always correct. Many common sauna conventions are just plain wrong. (See #2 for the best approach.)

4. The road of good sauna is flanked by two steep ditches. The ditch on one side is the overly strict, “if it’s not perfect, it’s flawed and bad,” often expressed as a rigid traditionalism. The other ditch is the overly permissive, “Any sauna is a good sauna,” which lacks principles and standards. The road to good sauna is paved with strong but flexible ideals.

5. Go deep. Sauna is a practice with rich cultural roots, and while you might not practice all the possible elements, it is wise to understand as many as possible so that you aren’t unknowingly watering down a rich practice.

STUDY (Be a Nerd)

Books
— The Sauna Is by Bernhard Hillila
— The Opposite of Cold by Michael Nordskog
— Sauna: The Finnish Bath by H.J. Viherjuuri
— Sauna With Finns: Sauna Stories from North America by Warkentin; Kailo; Halonen
— The International Handbook of Finnish Sauna by Allan Konya and Alewyn Burger
— The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design by Lassi A Liikkanen

Watch
- Heating the smoke sauna: https://youtu.be/jj94pxpAFOw
- A January Swim: https://vimeo.com/153813737
- The Truth About Sauna The Truth About Finns: https://youtu.be/i_rNFsHruDU
- The Sauna Experience: https://vimeo.com/151736393

Follow
nochihodosauna on Youtube (the sauna scene in Japan is exploding)
Estonian Saunas : Adam and his wife Anni on Youtube, Instagram
Sauna Sherpa on Instagram

Podcasts
The Upper Bench: https://www.theupperbench.com
The Sauna Trail: https://www.thesaunatrail.com
Sauna Talk: https://www.saunatimes.com/category/sauna-talk-podcast/
Kivia: https://www.kivia.ca

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Facebook: Wood-Burning Sauna, Sauna Construction and Use, Wood-Fired Sauna, Sauna Society
Sauna subreddit

EXPERIENCE

After mindset, this is perhaps the most important area. Sauna is a rather counterintuitive practice, so you are likely to have your opinions change, even if you are well studied. Expect your opinions to change.

Use as many different saunas as possible. Even bad saunas can be instructive. Pay attention to the quality of heat (soft or harsh), how you feel, and the different elements of the sauna. Here are a few sauna experiences to consider: electric, log, savusauna, different settings (remote, by a lake, big city, etc), bad ones, good ones, old-school rustic saunas, modern fancy saunas, infrared (not a sauna!), barrel, mobile, floating, sauna in the U.P., sauna naked, sauna with Russians, Finns, Swedes, Estonians, and others, and pay attention to how they sauna, use a vihta, bathe in a sauna.

You are selling the idea of sauna!

Saunachelin Winners 2022

TEXT LIST

SAUNAS

(1) Spa Metsa Otaka | Nagareyama, Chiba
(2) Thermal Climb Studio Fuji | Susono, Shizuoka
(3) The Sauna | Kamiminochi, Nagano
(4) Kitakobushi shiretoko | Shari-gun, Hokkaido
(5) 8hotel Shonan Fujisawa | Fujisawa, Kanagawa
(6) Kobe Sauna & Spa | Kobe, Hyogo
(7) Sanamane | Naoshima, Kagawa
(8) Saunaland Asakusa | Asakusa, Tokyo
(9) Sankara Hotel & Spa | Yakushima, Kagoshima
(10) The Hive | Tateyama, Toyama
(11) Paradise | Mita, Tokyo

SAUNNERS

Aufguss Professional Team
Shirakaba Sports Whisking
National Sauna Products Exhibition
Shigeo Takahashi — comedian
Tanaka Katsuki — manga author
Tokachi Sauna Council
Shingo Fujinomori — comedian
Mag Manpei — comedian/youtube show
Comprehensive Real Estate Developer Mitsui Fudosan Co
Hironori Yanagibashi — producer
LAST PARADISE Japanese sauna that I want to go to — book

HALL OF FAME

Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel | Takeo, Saga
Yulax | Kumamoto, Kumamoto
SkySpa | Yokohama, Kanagawa

Often, especially as a kid, when going to the dentist for example, or another painful or unpleasant situation, I had a trick. The trick was to think of my happy place.

My happy place is the strawberry fields at my grandma’s place, my mom’s childhood home.

I can almost smell the fresh, bright red, huge strawberries, the grass, the smell of my grandma’s Karelia pies in the oven, or the smell of the wood burning in the red little sauna. The sensation of jumping into the lake to cool off from the summer heat.

This is my happy place, forever.

And when you step from an air conditioned building into the hot, thick air of the outdoors, the humidity groping at you in its unwelcome and invasive way, someone just might say, “It’s like a sauna out here.”

Saunas definitely have an image problem if they are being compared to Illinois summers. Up until a year or so ago, I had the vague idea that pretty much only people in fluffy, white bathrobes with more money than sense would sauna regularly. And crazy Finns, of course. Being neither of those (and not a fan of humid summers), I never considered it.

Then everything changed. My life as an active mom started a slow decline into an illness that refused to fit into any of the boxes that doctors thought it should. What started as lethargy progressed into exhaustion and muscle weakness. Then the muscle spasms started. Head nodding tremors, tongue tremors (Didn’t know those were a thing? Me either.), limb jerking and a strange gait as my legs seemed oddly beyond my control. My legs were weak and unreliable and I started using a cane to walk.

Tasks I didn’t have to think about before now needed intense concentration to complete. Brain fog became so thick that sometimes after just a few halting words , I would be reduced to simply staring at people, open-mouthed. The sentence that I could see in my head refused to line up and march out of my mouth.

It is stunning to me now how bad it got. I could not take care of my family, spending much of my time unable to get out of bed. I was so weak that I sometimes didn’t have the strength to sit upright through an entire dinner time, let alone cook it and serve it. When I would start to list dangerously starboard in my chair during a family meal, I knew it was time to get my cane and shuffle to my room where I could finish the strenuous business of eating while resting between bites.

I thought I must be dying. I mean, everybody is, but somehow I ended up on the fast train to Decrepit-ville. You can imagine my great relief when after years of decline, I finally got a diagnosis. Central Inflammatory Response Syndrome due to mold toxins. Or, by acronym, “CIRS”. Turns out that genetic testing isn’t just for cancer risk any more. Blood testing confirmed that I have really crappy genetics. The “inability to eliminate common, everyday biotoxins until they build up and make you a cripple” kind of crappy genetics.

One thing you learn when you hang out in the online communities of the chronically ill, is that we will try anything to feel better. Anything. Ionic foot baths are wildly popular. Diets consisting of mostly potatoes and positive thinking have their avid proponents. Coffee enemas are commonplace.

Lots of people seemed to swear by their infrared saunas, and I thought it would be worth a try. Saunas didn’t seem as repugnant to me as they used to, likely because my illness had also caused my internal thermostat to go haywire and I was cold all the time. It wasn’t unusual for me to be under a pile of blankets, yet unable to feel warm.

I read everything I could google on saunas and detoxification which is mostly a wild mix of infrared marketing and Scientology drug detox testimonials. Seemed like everyone I found who had detoxed successfully and wasn’t a drug addict had used infrared saunas. But I didn’t have access to an infrared, so thought I should give the “traditional dry sauna” at my local gym a try.

I launched gung-ho into a sauna routine. I went every day the first week, and spent between 2.5 and 3 hours in the sauna, taking a cool down break whenever I felt uncomfortable. I wasn’t trying to break any records, but it was intense. The detox reactions were brutal. My neck was so stiff and painful I dreaded every movement. I would fall into an exhausted sleep most of the rest of the day after sauna sessions.

I really can’t say I recommend starting sauna this intensely, but my instincts said to go for it, and I did. After that first, crazy week, I cut back to half hour sessions 3–5 times a week. Within a few weeks, I started to feel better after a sauna instead of wrung out. I began to experience post-sauna improvement in both pain and the next day’s energy levels.

Often in the sauna, my joints would become very hot and irritated. I started rubbing them with a towel and the increased circulation felt like what I needed. When I came across the sauna tradition of using a whisk of branches, it made complete sense to me. Vihta (or venik or vasta if you prefer) was like the answer to a question I didn’t think to ask. I ordered a birch branch vihta from Latvia right away. Using one feels right, and I was reminded once again that traditions are grounded in generations of accumulated wisdom, and should not be discounted lightly.

My interest in the traditions of sauna led me to try the cold plunge at a Russian banya in London. Well, my interest AND the unsmiling, grizzled Russian man who told me to. Even though the guy at the counter when I checked in told me to complete two sauna rounds before dunking the first time, apparently I am unable to argue with ancient traditions enforced by gruff Russian men, and went down the ladder into the frigid water with no protest whatsoever.

The cold plunge is amazing, like being reborn. The symbol of rebirth seemed particularly compelling since my own baptism took place in an unheated swimming pool on a brisk, fall day. I felt the parallel every time I went under the glacial waters, as if reliving the mark of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on my head and rising a new creature with every dunk. I took pungent sips of kvass in between sauna and cold plunge sessions, and managed to get in 5 rounds before it was time to go. I left feeling both relaxed and invigorated, that state of being that characterizes an excellent sauna.

I have now been using the sauna regularly for 8 months. My sauna situation is far from ideal. I still use the sauna at my gym. There, they frown on both löyly (steam from the hot rocks) and vihta. The benches are never really clean and are assembled with phillips head screws so that you have to be very conscious not spread out carelessly or you will soon be sporting a nice, phillips head shaped burn.

Despite these drawbacks, my health has improved dramatically. I went from being an invalid to fully functioning; from desperate to thriving. I still sauna 3–5 times a week, often with my teenage daughter who inherited my crappy genetics (sorry, kiddo). She also has gone from difficulty forming sentences and holding onto walls for support while walking to nearly normal health.

Detoxification is a way of life for us, and we are learning that there are many stores and buildings that we have to avoid because their toxic load is too great. If we feel the physical effects of a place immediately and struggle for days to recover, it isn’t worth it. Sauna gives me the ability to try new places and have a way to reliably detox if it turns out to be laden with biotoxins. Sauna means I can go to church, restaurants, and birthday parties. Sauna gave me my life back.

In the increasingly toxic world we live in, I believe sauna is a practice whose time has come around again. Our world is ripe for a sauna renaissance. Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and CIRS are being diagnosed in growing numbers, and these sufferers can benefit greatly from sauna. Sadly, I think some people who are part of the long time sauna community perceive those who start to sauna for health as being lesser, somehow. Sometimes, a militant sauna lover will get downright obnoxious if upon hearing the word “detox”, as if being motivated for health reasons makes one unworthy, and only the pure of heart can sit and sweat in honor.

The tradition of sauna is rich and deep, and not diminished in any way by what brings you to it. Even if you started to sauna because you have more money than sense, yet come to love it, that’s probably okay, too. Probably.

If you enjoy sauna and have a friend with a chronic illness, invite them to come with you. Who knows? You might be helping them back to a functionality they had given up hope of recovering. If you have a chronic illness and are wondering if a traditional sauna has health benefits, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”. Don’t hesitate to try it. Don’t think that it is an inferior version of infrared, as the infrared manufacturers seem to imply. It is not inferior, but a different and extremely beneficial modality.

Also, don’t think you need to have a perfect sauna setup to benefit. The saunas I have access to on a regular basis are far from ideal, and yet have changed my life for the better. When I open the door of the sauna and am blasted with a wave of hot, cedar scented air, I feel my whole body relax. It is as if my body has learned it has a good thing going here, and within moments, I am at peace. I am healing. And when the sauna expels me in that same cloudblast of heat, it is now with the ability to move, and live, and give again. Who knew sweating in a tiny room could be such a beautiful thing?

Over the years, the population in the area has declined; the co-op even closed. But there remain many signs of Finnish immigration. Cross-country trails are still groomed, streets have names like Suomi, Maki, and Hannula, and saunas are still fired up on Saturday evenings. This past spring, Julie and I visited Brantwood to see, and use a few of their saunas. We first discovered the area via articles and videos about the double-decker sauna at Palmquist Farm, which is where we stayed. Presented below are a few of Brantwood’s many saunas.

TWO-STORY SAUNA

Jim & Helen Palmquist have hosted scores of travelers over the years. In 1949, Palmquist Farm opened their doors to guests, sharing their 800 acres of land and Finnish heritage with visitors. They have cross-country trails, sleigh-rides, and two wood-burning saunas. The smaller of the two is a ‘sauna cabin’ which combines sauna with your lodging — great for those who want privacy.

Their second sauna, the main attraction for sauna hounds, is a separate building with a large hangout area and two-story hot room. The upper level harkens back to the old Finnish savusaunas that had one elevated platform instead of benches. The Palmquist sauna is definitely a unique experience. The löyly (steam) hits your feet first instead of your head. This makes for a very even heat. The lower level is setup for washing and would be great spot for vihta treatments.

KNOX CREEK & HILL HOUSE

Bill Hoffman (mentioned earlier) doesn’t have any Finnish ancestry. But the combination of growing up in the Brantwood area and his curious nature instilled a degree of Finnishness in him. He was even named “Galvanized Finn of the Month” by The Finnish American Reporter. Bill was instrumental in starting the Knox Creek Heritage Center. Two of their historic saunas are pictured below.

Setting is one of the most important elements of sauna. A sauna enthusiast would rather have a sub-par sauna set in a secluded forest than an amazing sauna in the middle of a big city. When you have both, great location and great sauna, then you’ve got something special! Bill, with the help of his friend Mike Macki, built a special collection of buildings in the middle of the woods. He calls them “Maki Talo” which is Finnish for “Hill House.” It looks like a little Finnish village in the middle of the woods; it even has a small chapel. And no Finnish village in the woods is complete without a sauna.

HAND-HEWN LOG SAUNA

The best sauna heat is achieved with a capable stove and log structure. The large mass of wood slowly absorbs heat, then gently returns it to the sauna bathers. Log saunas take longer to heat (often several hours), but the best things in life take time. In addition to providing the acme of sauna heat, log saunas look great, and sustain cultural tradition. This is why Dan Kivela built himself a log sauna — not just assembled but actually used a broad axe to hand-hew the aspen logs. He has a great setup, complete with rocks from Lake Superior.

WASTI SAUNA

We also had the privilege of visiting Terry Wasti’s sauna — built in 2013. He chose aspen walls instead of cedar. Aspen is a more traditional Finnish sauna material because cedar doesn’t grow in Finland. Terry’s sauna is heated with a Kuuma stove which was made in Tower, Minnesota. We appreciated the decorative touches like the water-tap hooks pictured below. Water is an essential element because historically, sauna was used as a bath — a practice that is still alive and well in Brantwood, Wisconsin.

Special thanks to Jim & Helen Palmquist, Bill Hoffman, Marcie Braski, Ethan & Amanda Bowen, Dan Kivela, Terry Wasti, and Anna Dielschneider.

In 1979, a small publisher in New York Mills, Minnesota, published a rather unassuming and tiny book about Finnish sauna. And while it didn’t receive much press and still doesn’t have much recognition today, it is one of the most important North American books about sauna. To understand why, you need to know who the author was and why he wrote the book.

Bernhard Hillila was an academic, educator, pastor, poet, and slack-liner, but, most importantly, he was Finnish American. Sauna became enormously popular in the 50s, 60s, and 70s in North America. But Bernhard noticed that his beloved cultural practice was often “mistranslated.” So, in the 1970s, he decided to write a book to correct the record and clearly describe sauna (the structure and practice) to a North American audience. He read all he could in German, English, and Finnish and traveled to Finland to consult with experts back in the homeland. And the result of the combination of this research and personal experience is a very accessible but surprisingly deep, introduction to Finnish sauna.

And this is why I have chosen it for our sauna book club this November (2025)! I would love to have you join me in reading The Sauna Is… We will do a weekly video meeting to discuss our thoughts. You can get a digital copy on Kindle.

Link to sign up.

Schedule:

It’s SOW-na, thank you! This is the sauna building I grew up with. I don’t know its exact building date except that it was before 1919. As with so many Finnish immigrant families, it provided living space until a house could be built. My Grandfather and Grandmother lived in this building for several months before moving up to the new domicile. Besides a temporary residency these buildings played many other important roles in Finnish society. In addition to its intended function of providing a method of bathing, it also served many times as a birthing station, part of the remedy prescription for many ailments (sweating it out) and also as a social gathering place — not only for family but for neighbors as well. This particular sauna also served people who would come and stay at my Grandparent’s resort.

My earliest memories include the kerosene lantern that lit both the dressing room and the steam room through a little window that separated the two compartments. The clean smell that came from it cannot be replicated by any other place I’ve ever been. Braided rugs on the dressing room floor and a green Prell bottle with a pearl in it that sat ready for use, decorated the entryway. The steam room had three benches. A claw foot tub sat to the left of the door when you entered. When we were young, we took baths in the tub instead of climbing to the highest position on the benches. As one grew older you graduated to the lower bench, the middle bench and so on. Two little doors called “luuku” opened up to the outside to let the moisture escape after bathing was done. They also provided relief when, as teenagers, Kelly Schjenken and I would try to cook each other out and put our faces up to a luuku for relief! Several galvanized buckets were scattered around the floor and benches to carry water and to soak your feet. When done you would rinse off with a refreshing pail full of cold lake water! Water thrown onto the hot rocks would pop and hiss as steam rushed to the ceiling and spread to anyone on the top bench with enough force to take your breath away. Unlike most saunas, these walls were plaster instead of wood and got very hot to the touch. The hot water tank worked on a gravity system with a pipe that wound its way around the fire box. Water would circulate making a bubbling noise. A clank could occasionally be heard as the metal expanded and contracted. A pitcher pump sat against the lakeside wall to pump water directly from Snaptail Lake. We did not use the birch switch “vihta” although I knew many who did. Later in life I gradually moved to using them, pleasantly surprised at how good they felt and how well they helped clean.

As we were growing up Grandpa would heat the sauna at least twice a week — on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The middle of the week and the early afternoon on Saturday were for the resort guests and called “bathhouse” instead of sauna. Our family time was Saturday evening. As I got old enough to heat it myself I would heat it more, especially in the summertime.

Balsam was primarily a Finnish community at this time, and most of the original families had their sauna. We didn’t partake in many others when I was young but we did enjoy Uncle Otto’s on occasion. I’ve only been in a “savu sauna” twice. This is a “smoke” sauna where an open fire was built inside under a cairn of rocks. When the rocks were sufficiently hot the fire would be put out, the luuku opened to let the smoke clear and then was ready for bathers to come in to use. It was easy to identify a savu sauna by the thick smoky smell and the sooty walls. If you weren’t careful you could come out dirtier than when you went in! I think the one I was in when young was at Willie Erkkila’s — but I couldn’t be sure. I did use one when I was an adult on the shores of Bear Island Lake. That one was built into a hillside and had earthen walls. When in high school many of us would gather at Johnson’s place on Lake 30 and use their sauna. We would go as soon as the ice would leave the lake. There was a giant white pine with a swinging rope out over the water. We would take as much steam as we could handle, run out the door, grab the rope and pendulum over the water and let go! Once committed, we could only grit our teeth and wait for our skin to feel like it was being pricked by thousands of needles as we hit the water that only hours before was covered with ice!

Saunas have become very popular. They’ve changed a lot, with most being inside with electric stoves. It’s a lot better than not having anything, but not like the experience of the old time wood sauna. Do yourself a favor and if you have a chance, take in an opportunity to take some “löyly”, or steam, in a real sauna!

One more thing — there is a word in the Finnish language that is pronounced “sana”. It means “word” but is not the WORD for sauna!

Originally posted on Snotty Moose’s Facebook page.

It’s easier to lower your standards than it is to raise your budget.

That’s today’s sauna thought. Too many people get stuck in the weeds overthinking, overcomplicating, and overspending. When the truth is, you don’t need perfection to start. You just need a sauna.

Ugly saunas are underrated. In fact, I’d argue they should become the new standard. Ugly is interesting. Ugly is UNFORGETTABLE. A sauna built with mismatched boards from your uncle’s garage, a stove that’s a little too big, or benches made out of whatever you could find locally, all of these things tell a story. And when there’s a story, the design becomes beautiful. The quirks aren’t mistakes, they’re signature features.

Take my own shop sauna as an example. It’s about as rudimentary and “ugly” as it gets...local lumber from the hardware store, no finished door, and a new “feature” every time I light it up. It took me about 4 evenings to build it, and its functioning well enough to invite friends over. Some sessions reveal a new bench height, others a different bathing situation. It’s always in motion, always evolving. And that’s the point. A sauna doesn’t need to be polished or final; it just needs to work.

Here’s what really matters: stick to the Big 4.

1. A heater properly sized for your space or build style.

2. Good airflow so the room breathes and dries.

3. Enough rock to make endless steam.

4. A way to cool down—get outside, dunk in the lake, roll in the snow, cold plunge or a garden hose shower.

If you have those four covered, everything else is forgivable. And yet, too many people get paralyzed waiting until they have more money, better plans, or the perfect set of materials. Instead of diving down the rabbit holes, go climb onto the benches of as many saunas as you can. Try different shapes and sizes. Learn by experience.

As a sauna designer/builder, I encourage my clients to do the same: use reclaimed materials, incorporate something local, add an element that has a story. I’ve worked with shipping containers, reclaimed timbers, oddball stoves, even one-off tools or ancient building practices I may never use again. Each of those choices added something memorable. They gave me more to talk about, more to learn from, and more variety to draw on for the next project. Compare that to the rinse-and-repeat builds where everything is safe, predictable, and factory-standard. While those might be efficient and profitable, they’re also forgettable.

And here’s the truth: most of us don’t have $20-40k lying around for a prepackaged sauna. Most of us are working within limits:budget, time, or space. And honestly, those limits are often where the best stories and the most rewarding builds come from.

So lower your standards, focus on function, and just get after it. The health benefits that drew you to sauna in the first place won’t show up until you’ve been at it for decades, so the sooner you start, the sooner those benefits begin. (*side note - I personally take a sauna because I love how I sleep better and it’s a great way to connect with friends and get my bathing in all at once.)

Anyways, you can always fine-tune later, or build another sauna down the road. Every imperfection is just another signature feature. Every build adds to the story.

Good luck!

1950’s

Sauna: The Finnish Bath
H J Viherjuuri - 1952

1960s

An American’s First Finnish Steam-Bath
Bethea Hyypia - 1960

Sauna the Way to Health
S.C. Olin - 1963

1970s

The International Handbook of Finnish Sauna
Allan Konya, Alewyn Burger - 1973

Let’s Have a Sauna
Marjatta Herva, Henrik Tikkanen - 1973

The Finnish Sauna
John O Virtanen - 1974

Sauna Studies
Papers from the 1974 Sauna Congress - 1976

Sauna
Alpo Reinikainen - 1977

The Finnish Sauna in Manitoba
Charles Sutyla - 1977

The Sauna Book
Tom Johnson, Tim Miller - 1977

How to Build a Sauna
Carlton Hollander - 1978

Sweat
Mikkel Aaland - 1978

Sauna for Health
Donald Law - 1978

The Sauna Is…
Bernhard Hillila - 1979

1980s

The Art of Sauna Building
Bert Olavi Jalasjaa - 1981

Suomalainen: The Finnish Sauna
Antti Arstila - 1983

Businessman’s Guide to the Finnish Sauna
Paasilinna, Ovaska, Coogan - 1984

The World of The Sauna
Caj Bremer, Antero Raevuori - 1986

The Sauna in Central New York
Melissa Ladenheim - 1986

1990s

Smoke Sauna
Risto Vuolle-Apiala - 1993

The Sauna
David William Salmela, Joyce Koskenmaki - 1995

The Sauna
Rob Roy - 1997

Sauna Exists. Therefore, I Am.
Pertti Raty - 1999

2000s

Sweating With Finns: Sauna Stories from North America
Warkentin, Kailo, Halonen - 2005

2010s

The Opposite of Cold
Michael Nordskog, Aaron W Hautala - 2010

2020s

The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design
Lassi A Liikkanen - 2021

• Lots of drainage

• Ample ventilation

• Benches up high

• Strong heat

• Rocks for making steam

• Place to relax and chill between rounds

• Facilities for bathing. Sauna is, after all, the Finnish hot air, steam bath.

These should be in every public sauna. There are so many mobile sauna rentals today that are missing one, and sometimes many, of these basics.

In 2021, Knut Lerhol and Hallgrim Børhus Rogn published a book about the Norweigan sauna scene called Badstufolk. Some of the things they cover are: the recent boom in sauna, the history of sauna in Norway, health benefits, badstue practice, building saunas, and examples of great badstue.

Note: It’s difficult to track down in North America at the time of writing, and it’s written in Norwegian (as you can see).

Title: Badstufolk
Publication Date: 2021
Publisher: Frisk
ISBN: 9788284370064

The Northwoods region is home many wonderful saunas. The state of Michigan, surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, has the largest number of Finnish immigrants, and consequently an abundance of unique saunas. These are a few interesting examples.

Sauna in a church

When it was built in the 1970s, Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church in Munising had one rather unique feature. Eino Kainlauri, the Finnish architect from Ann Arbor, included a sauna. While making the plans, he asked the congregation for ideas; one parishioner suggested a Finnish steam bath. Their sauna consists of changing room, spacious hot room, and some nifty artwork. It is heated with an Ilo rock-tower stove made in Dollar Bay, Michigan. What bible passage does the congregation read before saunaing? The story of the three Hebrew captives thrown into the fiery furnace — of course!

Finnish professor’s smoke sauna

It’s fitting that history professor Jon Saari would build a traditional, log Finnish savusauna (smoke sauna) at his camp in the woods. Don’t know what a savusauna is? See this article. While savusaunas have experienced a revival in Finland, sadly, here in North America they are mostly lost to history. Many connoisseurs consider them to be the pinnacle of sauna experience.

Detroit gangster haunt

For obvious reasons, you can’t wear a wire in the sauna. Maybe this is one reason The Schvitz, an eastern European style bathhouse in Detroit, was popular with the 1930s mob. The Schvitz has new ownership which has generated some buzz and is hopefully revitalizing this institution.

Island artist retreat

Rabbit Island is an idyllic, privately owned, artist community. And as if being located in Lake Superior wasn’t inspiration enough, they have a wood-burning sauna for residents to use! To read more about the fascinating origins of the Rabbit Island artist community, see the links below.

On the shores of Superior

No Finnish church camp would be complete without a sauna. Zion Lutheran in Hancock operates their scenic Camp Lahti retreat center on the shores of Lake Superior. Their sauna is large enough for a bevy of campers and is heated with a gigantic, custom made stove. All of this is just steps from a frigid dip in the waters of Gitche Gumee.

Historic saunas

Michigan is home to many historic saunas. A couple examples preserved for visitors to see are: the sauna at Old Victoria Restoration (a restored copper mining camp), and the smoke sauna at Hanka Homestead.

It’s a book…a book about sauna.

You might be wondering, “Why would anyone write a book about sauna?” or “Why would anyone bother writing a review of a book about sauna?” Those are good questions. There’s nothing noteworthy about a tiny, hot cedar room by the pool at the hotel or YMCA. But this book isn’t about just any ol’ sauna — it’s about “the Northwoods Finnish sauna tradition”. You might be wondering “What’s a Northwoods Finnish sauna?” Now we finally arrived at an interesting question worth discussing! So interesting in fact, that it was the inspiration for The Opposite of Cold.

The genesis for The Opposite of Cold was a magazine article written by Michael Nordskog in 2005 for the Lake Country Journal. In it, he recounts how his family lovingly rehabbed their wood-burning, lakeside sauna. For the article, he was paired with photographer Aaron Hautala (notice the Finnish surname). They tolerated each other’s company well enough that they decided to make a book together that would explore the roots and modern expression of Northwoods Finnish saunas.

Five years later, The Opposite of Cold was published as a beautiful, hardcover work. It is often described as a coffee table book, but it is more than that. In its pages, Michael recounts the history of Finnish immigration to the United States — especially to the great lakes regions of Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He describes how Finns brought with them their tradition of sauna and how it has persisted and evolved over the years. Also, a few modern saunas, designed by Duluth architect David Salmela, are featured. The most interesting saunas in the book to me are on opposite sides of the spectrum. I’m fascinated by the old-school savusaunas (smoke saunas) and intrigued by the modern Salmela saunas. One of the strengths of the book is Aaron Hautala’s photography. He does an exceptional job of providing a look inside various saunas — an oft neglected view. He also created many beautiful images of lakeside saunas, demonstrating that the setting of a sauna is as important as the fire, wood, and rocks.

If you are a fan of Finnish sauna or are curious to see what the fuss is about, I highly recommend The Opposite of Cold.

A big thanks to the University of Minnesota Press for sending me a review copy of The Opposite of Cold. I try not to let free swag affect my reviews, but I’m human, so this review is most likely tainted (sorry), which is why you should read the book for yourself.

In 2022, Serlachius art museum opened their sauna, and a year later they published a book that showcases it and the associated artwork. Serlachius is set on the shores of Lake Hopunselkä in Mänttä, Finland (located halfway between Tampere and Jyväskylä).

The sauna, which was designed by Hector Mendoza, Mara Partida and Boris Bežan, can be used for about 14 USD. It has a large hot room, showers, places to relax, and the ability to plunge in the lake!

The book is small, hardcover, Finnish/English, with nice printing. It can purchased here: https://shop.serlachius.fi/fi_FI/kirjat/arkkitehtuuri/taidesauna-art-sauna-2

If I’m ever in the area, I would definitely visit and use the sauna.

Additional Info

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Art Sauna | Serlachius Museums | Serlachius.fi

The Mint of Finland has created a series of collectable, silver sauna coins. The first one was released on Finnish sauna day — June 8, 2018. Erkki Vainio designed the sauna side of the coin, which features a lakseside sauna and several trailing smoke columns from neighboring saunas. The collectable coin is encased in plastic and set in a birch veneer frame made by Finnish carpenters Puusepänliike Wooden Oy.

If you are interested in buying one, I would recommend purchasing the 20€ coin whose diameter is larger than the 10€ version. This fall, they are also releasing a 2€ coin (pictured above) which will be circulated as normal currency. It’s a handsome contrast of copper-nickel center ringed with copper-aluminum-nickel.