Sauna Life: The Transformative Power of Deep Heat

In many countries, the sauna is sacred. Nothing beats the camaraderie of congregating in the steam, sharing beers and tears, and plunging in an ice bath when it gets too hot to handle. Sauna Life highlights the benefits the sauna brings to body and mind, its connection to nature, its history and mythology and its compatibility with another great invigorator - cold water swimming.

In recent years, Scandinavian countries have jostled for top spot in the United Nation’s World Happiness Report, and the sauna plays a key role in the region’s mental and physical wellbeing. How and why? And who invented the sauna? Sauna Life explores the health benefits of the sauna and its origins; was it Finland, Estonia, Japan or Russia who came up with the first ‘hot caves’? It will look at the ancient rituals and remedies that the sauna inspired; babies were born in its gentle mist, bodies prepared for burial, evil spirits banished.