Sauna Talk

Have you ever sat on the sauna bench with someone who has created a product that hundreds of millions of people have experienced? During this episode of Sauna Talk, you will be able to get into the head and mind of serial entrepreneur Scott Olson. Thanks to extended sauna rounds on the bench, we will get deep into Scott’s mindset at the time when inline skating was just an idea. We will learn about what it took to turn a vision into a prototype, then into trial, and finally into a product that you either own or have experienced many times. Polyurethane wheels hold an edge, able to push off, like on ice. The story of Rollerblade is fascinating. What is equally fascinating is Scott Olson’s approach to creative thinking: how to turn ideas into marketable products. These tips can apply to inventors, dreamers, or just anyone looking for a more creative approach to their day.  We will learn more about Scott’s fitness based products. You have to have a lot of confidence to walk into a bar wearing a sarong. Overlyin

Dan Baruch has spent most his life researching and developing methods for health, vitality and performance.  After working with people in-person for over 10 years in nutrition, training, bodywork and other disciplines, he began work on a holistic program for absolute beginners to advanced athletics.  This work now exists through www.baruchealth.com an Online Education platform.   BARUCHealth is a growing organization changing the way people think about health.  BARUCHEALTH provides health based education in Nutrition, Movement, Self-Therapy and Meditation.  The programs create a positive total health experience.  BARUCHealth's mission is to inspire and enable people to practice the most effective and natural ways of achieving greater health, vitality and performance.  BARUCHealth thrives on helping people successfully become superior versions of themselves and transforming students into teachers and one day activists.     Dan was born and raised in Plymouth Minnesota and continues to reside in the twin citie

As Saunatimes expands into the realm of public sweat bathing, there is no better place to start the journey than in Chicago at Chicago Sweatlodge.  This is a well thought out facility offering an authentic banya experience via two hot rooms:  the wet sauna and the dry sauna. The stoves are top notch.  5,000 pounds of rocks in each.  Matter of fact, in summer, Chicago Sweatlodge switches out the rocks once a year.  It takes four days for the rocks to cool down, and even then gloves are needed to take out the old rocks.  Imagine the sweat the workers get switching out the rocks at Chicago Sweatlodge. We experience dense heat at Chicago Sweatlodge. Bill Trotter and I have a great visit and I am pleased to bring you this episode of Sauna Talk.

In this episode of Sauna Talk, we get to hear why six of the 612 Sauna Society Steering Committee members believe in the sauna experience so deeply. In Minneapolis, MN, there is a 2,000 member strong sauna community, called the 612 Sauna Society.  For the past couple years, folks have signed up and gathered for sauna sessions in a mobile sauna.  The mobile sauna was hauled around to "residencies."  While the sauna was parked in public places like brew pub parking lots, frozen urban lakeside shorelines, and along the sidewalk of a downtown city street, our king Sauna Meister JP would organize time slots for 612 Sauna Society participants to partake in their own sauna experiences.  Often this involved taking a sauna with folks they didn't know. People were very receptive to this concept, especially during the frosty cold months December through March. Now, something more magical and substantial is underway.  The 612 Sauna Society Cooperative. The 612 Sauna Society is looking for folks to pledge as foundin

Terry is a career handyman and caretaker. His territory is the islands of Lake Vermilion, Tower, Minnesota.  Terry was brought to Pine Island in diapers.  He endured small stretches of time away from Lake Vermilion, with his family living in Hawaii for a few years and a career with the Duluth News Tribune in Duluth. Yet, primarily, Terry has spent his life on the lake.  He has been an invaluable help to many dozens of Lake Vermilion cabin owners.  His skills as a handyman and builder are infinite.  He has hands in 40-50 different cabin projects.  He manages 40-50 cabins, which includes such tricky annual work as docks in and out, water systems shut down and opened up, plus the myriad of things that come up from roof leaks, to bees nests, to, well, you name it. If you’ve had anything weird go wrong at your home, chances are Terry has encountered exactly this, and many times over Terry, just like myself, has built about a dozen saunas himself.  I’ve learned some tricks from him, and i’d like to think he’s learn

Jeff Hill has lived a few lives: A realtor and property developer for 30 years, mailman for 20 years, 20 years with the Tower fire department, and his latest venture is undertaking a Tiny House Village, USA concept for the Northland. Jeff is well familiar with sauna culture.  Never lock your sauna, experience jumping through a hole in the ice, and try his low blood pressure cocktail for tossing onto sauna rocks.  I picked up Jeff at the mainland public access, and took him by boat to our island cabin in Northern Minnesota.  Jeff came prepared and spent the night at our "insta-cabin". A good sauna session is about relaxing and having fun.  Jeff knows how to do both.  Often outspoken, always with a big heart, please welcome Jeff Hill to Sauna Talk.

It was a warm day in Northern Minnesota.  I hopped into my fishing boat and headed about 5 miles across Lake Vermilion into the river inlet to Tower, Minnesota. Daryl Lamppa picked me up at the dock, and we drove in his pick up truck to his corporate headquarters, a few blocks off Main Street, Tower, Minnesota. Daryl was pretty animated this day.  He was excited to Sauna Talk and shoot the breeze about a day in the life of running a business that has had his family name on the front his entire life. We were able to relax and get into our conversation without distractions or feeling rushed.  Regarding the chemical principle’s of burning wood: “without temperature, none of the reactions go forward”.  And old school sauna stoves that fed from the outside were inefficient in many respects, including the heat from the front part of the stove, that was “wasted to the world.”  I had a great time asking Daryl questions for Sauna Talk: One of the more special parts to this episode of Sauna Talk, was when Daryl told u

  Maob, Utah.  The mobile sauna has received official dispensation, and has been trailered up to the summit shelf. The Canyonlands National Park District Director is sitting on the sauna bench to our left.  His hat and uniform hang on a hook in the changing room, where a candle glows softly on the window sill.  The candlelight sheds enough glow for us to see a big smile on his face.  "I'm so glad you guys convinced me to do this!." You are sitting with us for a pre sunrise sauna and the director is telling us stories about the majestic park.  We hit a generous splash of water on the sauna rocks.  We take it all in.  Then we exit the hot room to this: Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah. Photo: Justin Evidon     The air is crisp, below freezing, but your body is radiantly warm.  The endorphin rush buzzes, akin to the feeling after your favorite exercise.  You've heard stories and have untangled some wires in your head on the sauna bench and now it's time to let nature do it's magic. Canyonlands Natio

What's your favorite sweat bath?  "The one I just took, and the one i'm going to take next."  Into sweat bathing and all the variations underneath. Defining what a sweat bath is:  Some kind of a chamber where the air is heated, purpose to induce sweat for bathing. A Finnish style sauna as part of the neighborhood swimming complex at a public space in San Francisco.  North Beach Pool.  It helps create neighborhood and community.  Interacting in a positive, life affirming way. Getting the (neighborhood) block into the sauna instead of the best sauna on the block. Lived and travelled extensively.  Prague, Washington DC, Norway, San Francisco. Sweat in the '70s.  An exciting time for counter cultural views of the world.  Renewed interest in bathing.  Hot Tubs, sweat lodges, saunas.  Wet Magazine.  The tragic tale:  AIDS epidemic.  Shut down public bathing almost overnight.  Mini dark ages of public bathing culture. Today: we are back into the renaissance.  Mikkel had started receiving calls from all over.  A whol

Four of us spent a rainy early June afternoon enjoying a sauna session at my cabin.  We road tripped together to experience National Sauna Day in Embarrass, MN.  What better way to get right into nature, and all get on the same page than a great sauna session? We start on the bench with Garrett Conover. 1,200 miles from Maine to Northern Minnesota. Cotton grass and tamarack sets my heart aflutter. Sauna and nature. Joined by John Pederson and Lee Sarkela. Us 4 characters as long tail sauna enthusiasts. Tracing the steps back to Pine Island as the island or origin for us being together. 612 Sauna Society parables behind the scenes.  Gas fire going out, trailer jack breaking. 2,100 visits to Little Box Sauna, 612 sauna society 2015/2016 this winter.  600 return visitors. A lake plunge, then Round 2: Sauna a Tick Removal Strategy after a hike. The universal feel of water being tossed on sauna rocks. Elements of sauna are basic:  a throwback to simplicity.  Stove, rocks, benches. Wood burning sauna stoves:  

It was a cold Minnesota winter's evening when we gathered in my backyard sauna.  We get started talking about the cold, sort out our beers for the night, talk about making nICE mugs, and Minnesota Wild apparel. Please stay with us as we settle onto the sauna bench. Though he grew up with sauna, Scott landed in Finland on his 20th birthday, and gets seasoned to sauna in the 'ole country. As commercial Sales Manager Tylo/Helo, Cokato MN.Scott has seen his fair share of sauna:  "If you don't have a good sauna heater, you don't have a good sauna." "I've walked away from sales because it wasn't done correctly." A kick ass sauna:  It's the price of a car.  What's the big deal? Rule of thumb:  At the lake, never lock your sauna building.  It's good karma to have a sauna ready in case someone runs into problems on the lake. The 2' wide sauna door. 612 Sauna Society - bringing sauna to unexpected places. The ultimate mobile sauna:  built on a trailer where the wheels can tuck up underneath, allowing the sauna to sit o

Music for the heat: Danny Sigelman reporting COULD BE SAID MID TEMPO IS THE WAY TO GO WHEN IT COMES TO A SAUNA. Every genre has some slow jams. even the most aggressive music, be it The Clash, Hold Steady or Fela Kuti can turn their angst or knack for protest into a groove that goes well with clearing the mind. In the end, a center is met when the two are mixed, just like a hot and cold rinse.  With The Clash it’s easy to find a more traditional approach to groove, be it a reggae infused rave up; “Guns of Brixton“, “Straight to Hell”, their luscious cover of “Armagideon Time” or the R&B influence in “Jimmy Jazz”. Ultimately The Hold Steady is a sound that bonds.  Reflections of High School, meeting friends and rocking out, or gallivanting about the celebration of something.  Sauna is a bonding thing too because there is a physical closure to the space you and your buddies are enjoying: the hot room.  Then you escape the heat by going outside, cooling down and feeling the expanse like the loud pressure C

We are joined on the bench with Brian Peterson, acclaimed photographer.  Honored nine times as Minnesota Press Photographer of the Year, Peterson has covered major stories including; Russia before and after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Exxon Valdez oil spill,  the 1987 and 91 Minnesota Twins World Series victories, Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, Salt Lake City and Vancouver just to name a few. Recently Peterson has focused his camera on environmental issues, including a six-month study of the pollution in the Minnesota River.  The yearlong feature called “Voices for the Land”, explored the issues surrounding land use and urban sprawl in the state. On the bench, we discuss his latest book project “State of Wonders”.  A fabulous book illustrating the four corners of Minnesota during the four distinct seasons of the year.  

I couldn't be happier to share this inaugural episode of Sauna Talk.  We are joined on the bench today with Tom Rolando.  Tom is best known as Chief Operating Officer for Wisdom Adhesives. During this episode we Sauna Talk about topics including: How to manage 2,000 customers in your Iphone.  "Get with it, get on with the task." The Iron Range:  218 natural history and culture.  Sauna is what you did. International Falls:  Frostbite Falls. Pooner:  Tom's father and example of "Do what you love, and you'll be great at it." Daryl Lamppa and the Kuuma Stove. The magic of Lake Superior.  "The body of water is like non other." Building the Lake Superior Sauna.   Tom's sauna build was the foundation for the Saunatimes' Build your own sauna ebook.   Documenting and focusing on the complete process, start to Finnish, about building your own sauna. As we talk about Tom's sauna build we uncover how we talking sauna building in phases: I built from the hot room out.  Everything was a feel.  A number of phases, always