The Perfect Sauna Routine!

My sauna is the one place I can fully relax and decompress. I find it hard to slow the roll of my thoughts and the mental running to-do list I always have going. The sauna gives me that space to be present in the current moment and practice gratitude for all of the lovely things and people in my life. :)

With a sauna routine of 4-5 sessions per week pretty consistently for the last 6 months, I have perfected my own personal routine that I find to have the best flow and the best outcome.

I get off work at 4:15pm. I head home, and start drinking water with electrolytes as soon as I arrive, refilling every hour and a half or so. Around 8pm, we kick on the sauna to start the heating process. HUUM has a genuinely awesome app that allows you to start your sauna from your phone and set a desired cap temperature. We usually set it to about 185 degrees Fahrenheit. By about 8:45pm - 9pm, the sauna has reached around 170 degrees F., which I find to be the ideal temperature to hop in.

I find that when you still have 10-15 degrees of heating up to do when you get in, your body works up a sweat quickly but then it feels like less of an abrasive heat when it reaches the cap temperature, because your body is used to the steady temp. increase. I have always preferred an intense sweat in the sauna, (similarly to the workout classes that I love to frequent) to really feel like I'm getting an intense detox session in addition to all of the cardiovascular benefits.

As far as music goes... I think that this varies day to day for me. As a current teacher, I find that if I have had an overstimulating day, pure silence in the sauna is EXACTLY what I need. On the weekends I prefer to listen to jazz house or BALTHVS to really make my experience feel intentional like the space is mine to own.

My sauna has genuinely changed the way I view the end of the day, a practice that I'm so passionate about and will be a huge part of my life forever!