TIME TO RELAX
As modern life gets busier, the juggle of work and family commitments can be a real struggle. Even trying to fit in time for you to relax and switch off can be a challenge.
If you’re new to a sauna practice, stepping into a sauna full of strangers might be a little daunting. Sauna helps us to get out of our heads and into our bodies, but what if it does the opposite? With anxious thoughts and questions running through our minds.
How long should I stay in for? Should I use the egg timer? But what if I get too hot before the time is up? Should I push through or should I listen to my body?
Then perhaps comes the worry of the peer group pressure
Why can they stay in longer than me? Why can’t I handle the heat? Is there something wrong with me? Will they judge me for getting out too soon?
Before you know it, you’re full of worries and now you’re halfway through your sauna session. So much for it being a relaxing evening of me-time!
STEP IN SAUNA GUIDE NICK T!
Now imagine the warm welcome you get when you arrive at a Nick T sauna ritual. He invites you to step into the sauna. He might even ask you to climb through a Willow hoop – your first connection with Nature in the sauna.
You’re instantly at your ease and you join the other participants on the sauna benches. Nick explains that everything is an invitation. You can always step outside and cool down if the heat gets too much.
He then guides you on a two-hour journey through a multi-sensory bathing experience.
SETTING INTENTIONS
Starting a ritual with an intention brings focus to your practice. Perhaps you have had a stressful week at work, or the kids have been particularly challenging. You might want to release that into the fire or intend to bring clarity to a difficult situation. You might simply want to bring peace and tranquillity into your time in the sauna. Whatever, your needs, a ritual is the perfect place to give that to yourself. The sauna and the guide will hold you. There is nothing to worry about, you can let go and be completely in the present moment.
THE FIRST SWEAT
The first round can be the most challenging. As we begin to land in the sauna, we release both the toxins in our bodies and the stresses of our day. Often the skin begins to itch as the heat increases and we start to sweat. With cool water, we wash it all away. Cleansing the toxins and shedding a layer of anything we need to release.
THE LÖYLY & THE SPIRIT OF THE SAUNA
At the beginning of a ritual, Nick will make the first pour with a ladleful of water. As the water hits the stones, steam is created. In Finnish sauna tradition, a sauna isn’t a sauna without steam. The Finnish call it Löyly and believe it creates the Spirit of the Sauna, and enlivens it.
Nick might even sing a song to the Löyly. A Finnish rune set to welcome in the hidden energies and spirits present in the sauna.
The steam will envelope you, gently guided by a sauna fan.
As you move through the rounds, the heat increases. Yet somehow your body has adjusted to the temperature. What seemed impossible at the beginning of the session, now feels more manageable. You can finally relax into the heat.
HANDMADE BODY SCRUBS
Next come the body scrubs. Handmade scrubs using salt or sugar, and foraged plants and herbs, gathered and made by Nick.
These scented scrubs fill the sauna with the aroma of seasonal herbs and plants. Taking you back to another time and place when people came together in community to bathe. Helping to scrub away any remaining toxins and nourish the body.
A welcome wash in cold water, cleanses the skin leaving you feeling refreshed and renewed.
WHISKING
There’s something primal about the whisks that Nick brings into a sauna. Gathering tree leave and twigs before a ritual begins, he ties them together to make sauna whisks. Each species of tree will have different healing properties. All are nutrient-rich with mood boosting properties that can help you relax. Oak, Birch and Linden are most commonly used, and you can find out more about their specific benefits here.
ENRICHED EXPERIENCE
A sauna ritual is designed to enrich your sauna experience, and the sauna guide is there to help.
This is your invitation to join a Nick T sauna ritual.
Let the sauna hold you.
Let the Löyly enliven you.
Let Nick T guide you through two hours of multi-sensory bathing.
An experience that will leave you refreshed, relaxed and rejuvenated.
Now that’s what I call me-time!
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