I have enjoyed being a part of the growing interest in sauna here in the US, in particular Minnesota since returning from studying at the University of Tampere in January 2012. I somehow took it on as my personal mission to operate as a volunteer Ambassador of Finnish culture and that includes sauna, of course. My first sauna experience was in a community sauna at Salolampi Finnish Language Village in Bemidji, MN. To say that that experience was transformative is lacking the true intensity of the life-altering moment I first experienced löyly (that is steam produced in the sauna - and only the sauna - otherwise it is höyry for the non-sauna steam that gets produced in other contexts like cooking or powering of old-timey trains).

I reinvigorated the Gustavus Adolphus College Sauna Society (after working through the inagural year of risk management for student organizations — the people in Public Safety were so good to me for helping me navigate that complicated process and now I happen to know about a million things that could go wrong in sauna causing liability here in the good old USA…) After Gustavus, I was the lucky benefactor of public and semi-private sauna access in Oulu, Finland where I studied in an international Master’s degree program for two academic years. Both of my student apartments had multiple semi-private sauna spaces and a reservation system to help ensure you didn’t have to sauna with strangers if you didn’t want to. I was in sauna heaven and these were just basic, albeit excellent, electric sauna rooms in rent-controlled student apartments.

My very favorite sauna is located in Tampere, Finland. It is along the shore of Näsijärvi and called Rauhaniemi (or Peace Cape for the Finnish-curious). It has been community owned and operated since 1929. I have never been anywhere like it - downright heavenly. Oh, did I metion it only cost me 5 EUR as a student to visit and there was no time limit or anyone trying to tell me what to do or how to be in there? Yeah. Like I said, heaven. Anyway, I was so happy to take guests there like my friend Liisa (friend from Salolampi and now MD at Mayo) and my Dad (he has proven to be up for nearly anything when it comes to his daughters’ academic pursuits and I appreciate him so very much, Mom too!). The main thing that makes Rauhaniemi so special is that it is what it is in the best way possible. There is access to the lake water at all times of the year (they keep a bubbler in the lake to keep the water open and prevent it from freezing over) for between steam dips. It is in no way a fancy “treat yourself” luxury spa personalized and curated experience, but rather for the people and by the people, as Finns like it.

Pretty sauna spaces have their place, but more often than not, I have found these pretty sauna spaces to be lacking in true sauna spirit, which I believe not to be one of competition and brohood, dominated by big money, social media, and fancy imagery and velvety, highly-curated words, but rather one of openness and extreme vulnerability. Sauna is, after all, just a bath and Finns prefer to take their bath with as little clothing on as possible. How can you be real and authentic with layers of professional marketing? How can you be naked in America? Now before you go calling the authorities and moral police, let me clarify that Rauhaniemen sauna as a mixed-gender environment requires bathing suits for all guests. The single-sex saunas though do not and actually often have signs with graphics to show no swim suits are allowed. Now how to make that happen in America is a totally different question that would likely take decades to solve via bureaucratic means and I do not have the time for that. I don’t need to be naked in public THAT badly…

After living in Oulu, I came back to the Twin Cities and was warmly welcomed into the (re)emerging sauna “scene” here at home. Taking sauna with a few sauna enthusiasts who had been able to study for a semester or two in Finland allowed me to share my excitement and passion for Finland and Finnish sauna culture with people who got it because they had lived it too. I was delighted that there was the fire inside the community stoked by dedicated local sauna leaders like John Pederson and Glenn Auerbach and countless others to convert sweat and people power into our very own cooperative - 612 Sauna Society - and together we built our Forge mobile sauna unit in winter 2016, still in operation today. If you are steeped in Finnishness, you probably connected how relevant it is that this was established as a cooperative. Finns are rockstars at forming, running, and maintaing cooperatives of all kinds - food, education, industrial supplies, and sauna, etc.

I have personally noticed that surviving winter is only possible for me through visiting a quality sauna on a weekly basis (when at all possible). My long term sauna advocacy plan is to help work with medical professionals and insurance companies to make a prescription to sauna available to all community members as part of medical care. I hope to serve as a consultant for saunapreneurs as they are calling themselves these days to help ensure that American sauna culture is not devoid of the deep culture that Finnish sauna has brought to the people of Finland and those who take the plunge to throw steam and make waves in the chilly waters of a lake or river reflecting the blue and white skies of our collective world.

I have been so excited to see the rise of women-owned sauna businesses, especially in Minnesota. Through many heartfelt discussions with Megan of Sauna Du Nord about identity and what it means to be a saunapreneur in 2023, I have been motivated to continue with my work as an ambassador of Finnish sauna culture. This weekend I am looking forward to spending time near Grand Marais via Duluth to experience the first floating commercial sauna in the US, owned and operated by Sisu and Löyly. This woman-owned business honors Finnish sauna tradition by keeping it simple, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries as an industry leader in public-access sauna spaces. Their original location in Grand Marais has fast become a favorite destination for locals and tourists to the North Shore and I am thrilled that I get to share this experience with a few of my closest friends this weekend. Look for our review in the near future. I am sure it will be great!