EDITOR’S NOTE: If you have any health issues, you should consult your doctor before using a sauna.
For some, the idea of sweating among semi-naked strangers in a small wooden box as hot as 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) might sound more like a sadistic form of torture than rest and relaxation. But others just can’t get enough of the sauna.
“I’m addicted to it,” says Taeko Takahashi-Williams, 22, who works at the Community Sauna Baths in the Hackney Wick neighborhood of East London, as she emerges, beaming, from one of its seven sauna cabins. “I get so high from the sauna.”
Around the world, people are getting the hots for sauna. In the UK, the number of public sauna sites has jumped from 45 in 2023 to 147 so far this year, according to the British Sauna Society; and in New Zealand, the US, and Australia, demand for sauna experiences is reportedly also increasing.
Charlie Duckworth, 36, co-founded the Community Sauna Baths in 2021. The not-for-profit business offers wood-fired and electric saunas, and cold plunges, as well as events like sauna meditation and breathwork sessions, yoga, and queer poetry readings.
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