elsewhere sauna ritual technology for healing
Elsewhere Sauna pays respect to sweat bathing traditions around the world. Sauna has migrated from the Finnish culture, stretching this practice globally. We thank the wise women, knowledge holders, numerous cultures and peoples who have kept these traditions alive. The liminal space of sauna is a portal between expansion and contraction, a sanctuary where you may wash off the old, release previous experiences and turn yourself over completely to the cleansing process of the elements to support and permeate your body.
Sauna is a place where we go to sweat, cleanse the body and mind, to cure from illness, socialise and relax… a spirit house that acts as a container for returning to self, and connecting with others. Sauna assists us in recognising our ecological interdependence through enlivening the sensory experience. In sauna we all are equal and vulnerable, the journey is a transformational ritual that opens the heart and calms the nervous system.
reset // rewire // release // re-member
The build journey
In crafting Elsewhere Sauna, we, Selena de Carvalho and Nanna Bayer considered how to approach this creation with care for materials, their origin, learning new skills. Beginning this journey with the purchase of a dilapidated retro-box trailer, we relined the sauna with radiata pine, a low impact plantation timber, the furniture is crafted from recycled western red cedar and the door combines celery top and radiata. We pressed, glazed and fired the tiles ourselves, stripped and lined the interior, rebuilt the floor, re-painted the outer shell of the trailer and worked with artist + blacksmith sculptor Pete Mattila for metal detailing. The canvas awning was end of the roll Australian made cotton canvas fabric. Devoted to the process of breathing life back into this 1950’s council mess room on wheels.
We understand that the secret to sauna is the combustion of stored sunlight, wood ignites to release the carbon energy of heat. The fire wood we choose to heat Elsewhere Sauna is plantation sourced from an accredited member of the Firewood Association of Australia.
Thankful for her foundational contribution, in 2023 Nanna Bayer moved on to pursue other interests. We wish her well in her future endeavours.
Humans have always gathered around fire, it is a deep time companion in our evolution story.
Elsewhere Sauna
Thanks the talented photographers who capture the essence of this space
Michelle Crawford, Jessica Coughlan, Amy Brown & Cassie Sullivan
Alongside the generous bodies who sauna for these images.