thread: 2013-08-01 : A Guide to the Sauna for Shy Americans
On 2013-08-02, finn wrote:
Having spent my recent years with role play gamers, other geeks, and Finnish scouts/guides and travellers that are abroad, coed sauna has become the way #1 for me. However, the largest Finnish newspaper (Helsingin Sanomat) conducted a questionnaire about it and wrought an article. According to it half of Finns have never been in a coed sauna, 16 % has done it many times and only 3% do it regularly. Some even claimed they believe coed (public) saunas are a myth. So it seems there are plenty of shyness, shame and maybe even sexual tensions even amongst many Finns, at least when they think about coed sauna (I bet they haven't ever tried it or either been in a very bad company).
Personally I think having shifts in sauna is just plain dumb. At worst it practically prevents communication with half the people in the sauna event and it also creates a schedule for relaxing in sauna. I hope not having coed saunas doesn't mean there are so many untrusty people around that it wouldn't work out in public. :(
Oh, and to be honest, I believe there are always some small tensions even in sauna. However, processing those is easier in sauna, so it sometimes works as a place for personal growth. One of them is the body image of course. Sauna is beautiful thing on many levels, and it should be shared with as many and different people as possible.
Also, if you get the chance, try sauna right next to a lake with clean water. Anything cooling works but after a lakeside sauna everything else feels so much less. _Very_ hot sauna with short intervals and short swimming trips give enormously strong good feel. The feeling is extremely clean and relaxed and no shower can give you that.
