I was in Hackney Wick for the first festival of the year, sitting in a shipping container with 15 other people, all in bathing suits. It was hot, about 87°C. Others were wearing less, but everyone was wearing a hat. Guitar music came on through a Bluetooth speaker and a man started waving a towel over our heads. Some people were cheering, others were singing loudly and stomping their feet on the wooden benches. Welcome to Saunaverse, the UK’s first sauna festival, held in a public sauna in east London, and my first aufguss ceremony.
“Aufguss” comes from the German word for “infusion,” and our Aufguss master Chris explains that the ritual is a multi-sensory experience that combines heat, sound, and scent to lull you into a state of relaxation and meditation. As he poured essential oil-infused water over the hot stones and swung a towel in a circular motion, the steam hit my throat and eyes, but it seemed to bring a strange sense of calm.
London is home to the sauna movement, thanks in part to the rise of Community Sauna (community-sauna.co.uk). The sauna opened in early 2022 on a disused site behind a 1930s public bathhouse. For just £10 (or £15 at peak times) outside of festivals, you can enjoy a 90-minute wood-fired sauna and a cold plunge.
My partner and I arrived at 11am on the second day of the festival, and I saw a flicker of confusion in his eyes as he took in the stage in the open-air Astroturf sauna area, with a DJ booth playing house music, a bubble machine and everyone milling around in their bathing suits in mid-February. There are 10 saunas of varying sizes, from converted horse-drawn carriages to traditional Finnish-style saunas, all categorised as “wearable” or “must-have”. Cold water lovers dove up and down in converted whiskey barrels for a post-sauna plunge into the icy water, one sitting in a relaxed meditation for over six minutes. There’s little in the way of fancy decoration, but on a crisp, winter morning, it all feels like it’s been processed through an Instagram filter.
Charlie Duckworth, who co-founded the community sauna with four others, had always loved sauna culture but was disappointed with the sauna offerings in London. “It’s either too crowded or not hot enough and there’s no place you can go regularly without spending a lot of money,” he said. “We have a lot of repeat customers – it’s rare that someone just comes once. At first we were attracting people like me who were looking for a sauna in London, but recently we’ve found that a lot of people are coming to us for the first time and the feedback we’ve had is that saunas have quite a transformative effect on mental health and mood.”
Claire Bracegirdle, who lectures on the UK’s emerging sauna culture and runs the Wild Saunas (@wildsaunas) Instagram account, said saunas make it easier to socialise with other people. The brain relaxes in a sauna, which can help ease social anxiety. Tom de Wilton, a “sauna fanatic” and owner of The Saunaverse, who helped organise the festival and has built several saunas himself, agrees: “Once you’re in the sauna, all the names stop existing. There’s nothing to do in a hot room except chat.” He also points out that if you find yourself sitting next to someone boring, there’s an easy way to escape: “You just say, ‘I’m too hot!’ and walk away.”
The last time I was here, my friends and I went to a 2pm party on a Saturday to catch up. It was so much better than going to a bar, and the 90 minutes went by quickly. That’s the whole point, Duckworth said. “Saunas are great for your health and they’re really fun, but I don’t drink, so it seemed like the only really social place to meet new people without your phones – where else can you do that without alcohol? The festival does serve alcohol, by the way, it just doesn’t feel like the focus.
He said bookings for the sauna had been “a bit crazy” over the past few months, and there was already another project in the works – the team was currently preparing a new location in Stratford. “We thought it could be a really interesting option for underused space in London, and mobile saunas are perfect for that market.”
So, what are the benefits of regular sauna use? Sauna is an integral part of Scandinavian, Baltic, and Central and Eastern European cultures, but it is probably most closely associated with Finland. Finnish research has shown that regular sauna use may protect against dementia.
It increases your heart rate similar to gentle exercise, helps heal sore or tight joints and muscles, promotes better sleep, and many people report glowing skin after using a sauna.
For best results, “try steam rooms and vapour baths, take a cold plunge, relax outdoors, get some fresh air and repeat,” advises Mika Meskanen, co-founder and president of the British Sauna Association, a non-profit organisation that promotes sauna culture in the UK. “After three or so rounds of the circuit, you’ll feel amazing. There’s a word in Japanese for this feeling: ‘totonotta’, which roughly translates as ‘everything back to normal’. So you’ll get the benefits of heat and cold, aerobic exercise, ‘happy hormones’ and the most obvious benefit: a feeling of relaxation.”
He’s right. After a two-hour sauna and a soak in the wooden tub, we wandered back down the River Li. The sensation was very similar to the warm, fuzzy feeling I get after an acupuncture session. We were both very hungry (thankfully the bathhouse now offers wood-fired pizza to satiate our post-sauna hunger), and naturally we were woken by the noise. The Sunday anxiety that had plagued us that morning had completely disappeared.
It insulates and regulates heat in the head, and also protects the hair and ears (which can get very hot).
Always shower first and then sit on the towel. Each sauna has its own dress code (optional or not) – please follow it.
Take your time when using the sauna. About 1.5 hours is a good starting point for three hot and cold relaxation cycles.
Sauna use is more of a reflective practice, like yoga, than a competitive sport. Instead of counting the minutes, listen to your body and understand how much (or how little) is beneficial to you throughout the day.
For those looking for long-term, lifelong health benefits, it’s worth developing a sauna habit. Finnish research suggests that sauna use should be four or more times a week. Find your sauna community and share it.
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