How To Sauna

The 101 On How To Sauna

These warm-up and cool-down cycles carry several health benefits! Follow steps 1-7, and then repeat steps 5-7

Step one: Warm it up

The Birch Sauna stove burns kiln-dried wood – you will want to make a fire to warm up the stones in the fireplace and get the sauna hot.

Step two: Hydrate

Since your body sweats a lot in a sauna, you need to hydrate beforehand.

Step three: Shower

Cleanse your body of dirt, oils and makeup. Your pores will thank you!

Step four: Prepare

Get into a swimsuit and grab your sauna towel, vihta, sauna hat, dry brush, and water or tea. The experience is almost ready…..don’t forget to fill your dump bucket and hop on in!

Step five: Pick your bench

You can find benches on two levels. The higher ones are hotter. Choose based on your preference, and don’t be shy to relocate if it turns out to be too hot.

Step six: löyly

The steam will suddenly increase the temperature. Make sure you first throw one spoon of water and wait for the effect. Never pour the water from the bucket and don’t pour water on yourself.

Step seven: relax

Enjoy the tranquility or chat with your friends.

Be happy. Relax. Breathe.

15-20 minutes is normally good, listen to your body then it’s time for a break.

Step Eight: Cold Cycle

After about 15 minutes, your body needs time to cool down. Go outside, dip into cold water, jump into the snow or use the dump bucket to cool down.

Drink water & breathe.

Then repeat!

löyly

The Finnish word ´löyly´ is the name for the evaporating hot steam that rises from ´kiuas´ stoves after water has been carefully thrown on top of them. It is precisely this löyly that turns sauna space into hot and humid paradise, capable of slowly relaxing even the most tense muscles and worried minds.

What is the origin of the word löyly?

According to old Finnic spirituality, all humans have at least three souls or three parts to their soul.

These are ‘itse’ (self), ´luonto´ (nature), and ´löyly´. Yes, you noticed… The last one is our familiar löyly, which is used to denote ´life force´ of any living thing.

You and I, we all have this löyly according to ancient Finnic faith, and if we lose it, we die.

Hence, while the self (itse) and nature (luonto) souls take care of things like personality, charisma, luck and so on, <löyly> is the one we depend on for dear life. It makes our hearts pump, our blood flow, our bodies warm and so on.

In Finnic tradition, this idea of life force is anthropomorphically extended to saunas as well, so as we throw water onto the hot kiuas stones, what rises up is the life force of sauna itself, the healing löyly of gods, which is often called the “sweat of Väinämöinen”.