Midsummer Sauna Calm – Hawkhill’s Sauna Guide
Greetings from the Midsummer sauna
As you settle into the calm of the sauna in the heart of nature, you become part of time itself and of simply being here. You might hear the evening call of a flock of ravens, catch the scent of frostbound snow or an autumn forest rich with mushrooms, and meet the first mosquito of early summer with a peaceful mind. From the heat you can step into the cool. You can slip into the pond and hope the loon keeps swimming around you, untroubled by your presence.
How to find your own sauna bliss
- Set aside enough time for the sauna. Forget your schedule and the feeling that you need to be reachable.’
- Fit your sauna into your rhythm of eating, so that you’re neither hungry nor too full. Bring something fresh to drink if you sauna and sweat for a long while.
- Match your company to the mood you’re after. You can sauna alone, as a pair, in quiet company, in a larger group… The sauna can be a social occasion or something private.
- Focus on yourself and on the warmth of the löyly. Open your senses to the sauna and to the nature around it.
- Find your own rhythm between löyly and cooling off. You can repeat the cycle of sweating and cooling as many times as you wish.
- Use the vihta (leafy birch whisk) at your own pace. If you have company, you can whisk one another.
- If you sauna for a long time, take a small break now and then with light food and drink.
- Enjoy the surrounding nature and the act of observing it. Open all your senses to it. Focus on the scents, the sounds, the views.
- Refresh yourself by washing with natural, lightly scented soaps.
- Thank the sauna in your mind and store this experience in your memory. Pause for a moment on the sauna steps or in front of it. Be part of your surroundings, enjoying and respecting them
