Ever been in sauna?

mini

I have

bassie

Yes! I go at the Y and I love it! The best is taking a super cold shower right after. And they just redid it so it smells of lovely cedar.

The unabashed nakedness despite age, size, shape, weight and various philosophies on how modestly to sit or lie down took some getting used to.

disco_che

The first time I almost fainted but got used to it with the time. I heard Sauna is serious business in Finland. My photography teacher lived there for some months and has become a sauna fanatic.

johmbolaya

Briefly, when my dad was helping in building a Gold's Gym out in Wahiawa (early 80's).

I think I wanted my first sauna experience to involve this:



28 years later, this will only happen if I make the kind of music Black Eyed Peas make here:
http://bit.ly/8mvQP

or if I pay for it. I have a lot of recycled cans to go.

Secret_Chimp

I feel like a million bucks after I get out of the sauna.

Unfortunately they seem to attract all the weirdos.

waxjunky

Better question is if you've ever peed in a sauna. I did when I was a kid. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Mjukis

for surviving the scandinavian winter!

deathvalley90210

Better question is if you've ever peed in a sauna. I did when I was a kid. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

i did it when i was 23. i peed on the rocks. it was pretty awesome.

Secret_Chimp

Better question is if you've ever peed in a sauna. I did when I was a kid. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

i did it when i was 23. i peed on the rocks. it was pretty awesome.

Haha, danger! I think in a lot of saunas those rocks are actually fake and you could end up electrocuting yourself in a really bad way.

True (and gross and disturbing story): Years ago I was sitting in a sauna at my healthclub. There were maybe 5 people in there. I wasn't really paying attention to anything, but then I looked over and was horrified to discover this big, fat, hairy dude jerking off and looking RIGHT AT ME. I couldn't even believe it. I started raging on the guy and telling him to get the F*ck out of there, and he didn't even stop! And all the rest of the dudes in there just looked the other way and pretended it wasn't going on. I couldn't believe it. So I had to go downstairs to the front desk and have them remove the dude. f*ckin' a that was traumatizing.

Sorry for sharing that with you.

waxjunky

Better question is if you've ever peed in a sauna. I did when I was a kid. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

i did it when i was 23. i peed on the rocks. it was pretty awesome.

Haha, danger! I think in a lot of saunas those rocks are actually fake and you could end up electrocuting yourself in a really bad way.

True (and gross and disturbing story): Years ago I was sitting in a sauna at my healthclub. There were maybe 5 people in there. I wasn't really paying attention to anything, but then I looked over and was horrified to discover this big, fat, hairy dude jerking off and looking RIGHT AT ME. I couldn't even believe it. I started raging on the guy and telling him to get the F*ck out of there, and he didn't even stop! And all the rest of the dudes in there just looked the other way and pretended it wasn't going on. I couldn't believe it. So I had to go downstairs to the front desk and have them remove the dude. f*ckin' a that was traumatizing.

My bad.

Secret_Chimp

LOL

You had me shook for days, dude. Thanks.

markus71

The former owner of our house had built in a professional sauna. It's really nice but I have to say we rarely use it, although I really like it.
It takes about an hour and a half to heat up (your energy bills sky rocket!) so I rather go to a sauna close by.
we filled the whole damn thing up with boxes and shit as we ran out of space to store stuff.

white_tea

Love saunas, but really only get to use them whenever I stay at a hotel.

Part of the plans for my dream house is to include a steam room in the master bath -- just a small, stall shower-style job. My girl swears that steam rooms are better than saunas. What's the Strut consensus?

Sauna v. steam room???

AKallDay

i prefer a steam, with eucalyptus and lavender and i like to make my own sea salt scrub for my skin between rounds in a steam.
also when i was just in mexico i did a mayan sweat lodge in which they poured sea water on fire hot rocks in a pit and it was completely dark. we were given bundles of rosemary to swat ourselves with to stimulate circulation. we did 4 rounds of the sweat with some chanting and drums and a 're-birthing' ceremony, as the sweat symbolizes a womb of cleansing and re-birth and then when we left we ran down to the sea and jumped into the water as the sun was setting.

eroberts

Love saunas, but really only get to use them whenever I stay at a hotel.

Part of the plans for my dream house is to include a steam room in the master bath -- just a small, stall shower-style job. My girl swears that steam rooms are better than saunas. What's the Strut consensus?

Sauna v. steam room???

i think it's harder to find a really good steam room. assuming equal quality i can't decide.

JRoot

Love a sauna.

Best sauna I ever had was in Zimbabwe -- heated by fire. We had to get out in the middle to add more wood.

Awesome.

Lucious_Fox

Yup. This hippie dude outside of my college built a sauna next to the stream in his backyard. You sweat out in the sauna and then jump into the stream to cool off. Good rush when on shrooms.

twoply

Saunas are great for fighting off colds, too. Drink plenty of liquids and sweat it all out.

Sooks

I spent a couple of months working in Finland - those dudes love a sauna. First of all, my apartment had it's own sauna in it! And then there was work-party sauna - something I cannot imagine happening here (Canada)!

There was a common room with a fridge full of beer, two separate saunas for men & women, with a common room in the middle. Basically you grab some beer, go hang out with your same-sex coworkers in the sauna (completely nude), get out of the sauna, grab a towel, go hang out in the common room with the opposite sex (while drinking more beer), and repeat as many times as you can handle, until you're climbing out the window to go roll around in the snow and your Finnish coworkers start lipsynching to heavy metal.

eroberts

sauna complex / restaurant in northern ontario. bottle opener was installed on the wall. milkshake was delivered via room service. the finnish style breakfast was great as well.

Soulhawk

one time I made a bad mistake & wore my glasses into the sauna - I took em off after literally 30 seconds but it was too late - I dumped a cup of water on the rocks & the steam melted the F*ck out them



it's best if you strip your own switches off a tree to whip yourself when you're in there too - in the UP they call the branches a 'VUSTA' or something like that - I'm not sure how it's spelled exactly

Danno3000

I just got out of a sauna not five minutes ago! My building has a small but nonetheless awesome sauna and I have been loving rotating between the unheated outdoor pool and the 90 degree sauna. Awesome!

selperfuge

i have a british friend who has russian friends and basically four years ago they introduced us to the crucial schvitz spots.

try to go twice a year, once on the first break of cold and another when it starts warming up. havent done it yet this spring but need to get on that.

one time my man's friend bought a platzka. i could be getting this wrong but its a tied bundle of imported oak leaves. this dude offered and beat the shit out of me with it in the turkish steam room. my circulation went into overdrive and i had to ask him to stop. a minor panic attack i guess then we all chilled poolside. the intense trip then inverted and i was the calmest i've ever been. like my head was an olive on a toothpick bobbing around and the rest of my body was a vodka martini. an almost psychedelic experience on no drugs whatsoever.

AKallDay

this thread inspired me go for a steam on my walk home this evening for 20 mins and it was hard to focus when i first went in because there were 3 of us in there:
me
a lady in her 50's who was breathing super loudly
and brooke shields.

Soulhawk

i was the calmest i've ever been.

yeah, it's just an otherworldly calm - total peace

Horseleech

this thread inspired me go for a steam on my walk home this evening for 20 mins and it was hard to focus when i first went in because there were 3 of us in there:
me
a lady in her 50's who was breathing super loudly
and brooke shields.

I met Brooke Shields years ago backstage at MSG. We were both fiending the same
hors d'oeuvres and talked for a few minutes. She was cool.

I used to hit up the hot room at the 10th st russian baths (it's dry, so I don't know if that's a sauna or not, but shit is HOT) - I have to get back into that.

LokoOne

Me and some mates got our hands on the keys to a full spa, pool and suana facility when we were younger. We ran amuck in their and used to chill in the sauna alot, we were even dumb enough to try and spark up some weed in the sauna (not a good move!)....

But the thing we discovered was the crazy feeling/sensation of sitting in the sauna for a while then running out and jumping str8 into the cold pool (and repeat numerous times!).....

Years later, and much older, we used to use the sauna in hotels we hired after a big night out...that shit is awesome for recovering and ridding your body of lots of the shit you might have indulged in the night before...

Deegreez

There are some record spots that feel like a sauna. Sometimes.

But definitely not a cool sauna with chicks and Brook Shields and stuff, more like a sweaty dusty YMCA in Detroit that smells like socks and ammonia.

youngEINSTEIN

hell yes. i gets saunafied every chance i get.

peace, stein. . .

dukeofdelridge

i been in sauna

Secret_Chimp

What's the deal with the switches? I've never heard of that.