The Real Finnish Sauna Culture and Tradition 

Updated April 14, 2008
"Happiness is summer and a lakefront sauna"
"Onnea on kesä ja rantasauna."
There may be very good reasons why you should own a real Finnish sauna.
Contents:
Sauna definition

The sauna is a specially built insulated room or cabin which is heated to 71 - 100 degrees Celsius (160 - 212 Fahrenheit) by means of rocks heated by preferably wood, but also by electricity and gas. It is used for bathing nude in the hot air, and periodic wafts of steam from water thrown on the rocks, which stimulates circulation and deep cleans the skin by opening the pores, resulting in mental and physical relaxation and well-being. It is a place to purify the body and soul. But there is more to it than that.


When is a Sauna not a Sauna?

What is a Finnish Sauna? A "sauna" by definition is a Finnish Sauna because the word sauna is from Finland. What kind of saunas then are from Finland? There are two kinds of saunas: 1)the smoke sauna, 2)and the regular kind. So anything different is something else. Just because a room is built to look like a Finnish Sauna, it does not automatically make it so. Excluded from being a Finnish Sauna under this definition, are such rooms as infra-red "saunas." They are called "saunas" because nobody has coined another word for them, yet. Now, there may be a place for these "saunas" and even steam rooms, in the market, but they should not be confused with the proper Finnish Sauna. If you prefer either of these other types of rooms, you are welcome to them, but we would like to show you what the difference is, and how you can benefit from a real, proper Finnish Sauna, instead of the competing forms. Finnish saunas try to limit all forms of radiation, especially direct, including electromagnetic, light and infra-red. Infra-red (heat) in the traditional Finnish sauna is soft, more difuse, eminating from all sources including the walls, ceiling, stove, and especially the air itself. A direct source of unshielded electric heat is also a direct source of electromagnetic pollution, which we must avoid at all cost as pointed out by Dr. Robert O. Becker in his book Perils of Electropollution. "We are literally living in an electromagnetic stew, which is all the more insidious because it is invisible. We can't see it, but it is everywhere, and by no means altogether benign." Probably the most frightening and appalling part of Becker's story is the ongoing pattern of deceit and cover-up on the part of the industrial, governmental and military entities which produce, traffic in, or regulate electromagnetic products and services. It is very important that electric heaters must be designed, through proper shielding of the heating elements and wiring, to avoid electromagnetic radiation.EMF (not connected to company, but they have some good info) Here is a video clip of the oldest public sauna in Finland.