Can you name a few of the health benefits from using a traditional sauna? Do you know the difference between a traditional sauna and an infrared sauna or steam bath?
What temperature and how much humidity is ideal for proper sauna use? What types of essential oils may be used how are they applied when using a sauna?
These are just a few topics of discussion from the Sauna Course that is part of Guy VOYER DO and his 3-year SomaTraining program.
The difference between sauna and a steam bath (hammam)… a sauna is dry heat with very little humidity. The steam bath is WET Heat, the air is saturated with water vapors.
The actions and effects of the sauna and steam bath on the human body are very different. The physiologic effects of different sweat baths are not the same, due to variations in heat and humidity. For example, the body sweats more profusely in the hot (80-100 degrees Celsius) and dry atmosphere of the sauna.
In the steam bath where the moisture in the air is high and temperature is considerably lower, the sweat is often merely condensation. The temperature in a steam bath is also lower (40-55 degrees Celsius).
SOCIAL SWEATING-
“The idea is not to have the best sauna on the block, but to get the entire block in the sauna.”- Professor Harold Tier and President Finnish Sauna Society.
The medicinal and spiritual values of the sweat bath are furthered by is communal character. The sweat bath is a social event like the coffee shop, neighborhood bar or picnic- and is probably the healthiest ever offered to a group of people.
Early in its history, sweat bath ceremonies and rituals were strong expressions of the community. Elders of the Cherokee tribe used the sweat bath as a hallowed schoolhouse where the teachings of their forefathers were passed on to their young. Groups of Finns would gather inside the sauna to talk, to escape the Nordic cold to soothe aching muscles. Turkish women would congregate for hours in their steam bath, the only place their men allowed them to socialize. The gregarious Romans would throng by the thousands to their lavish thermae.