If you were at the Student Involvement Fair last week, you may have noticed a single table with a large, plain banner lying across it. The banner read, “Join the Gustavus Sauna Society.” It might have been the simplicity of the display, or the energetic board members standing behind it, or just the mention of sauna, but the table was swarming with interested undergrads.

By the end of the day, the Gustavus Sauna Society, a group that hadn’t even set a date for its first meeting this year, was among the largest student organizations on campus with 144 prospective members.

The Gustavus Sauna Society, first created in 1996 by a student named Lars Hammer, has been resurrected from its decade-long hiatus by Sophomore Kimberly Braun and Junior Environmental Studies Major Lucas Neher, with the help of proclaimed “sauna connoisseur” Music Professor Patricia Kazarow.

The statement of purpose for the Society is to “educate the Gustavus community about the physical and spiritual health benefits of the sauna.”

“I don’t even think that most of the students here are aware that we have a sauna,” said Committee Member Junior Biology Major Adam Strand. “We need to spread the word that it’s here and promote its healthy use.”

But why the sauna? Why not hot-tubbing, or something else? “It’s a celebration of our Scandinavian heritage,” said Co-founder Sophomore Kim Braun.

Despite being a fledgling organization, the Sauna Society is not limiting its goals to just trying to get people to sit around in saunas more often. There is a project in development to make Sauna Society calendars, which would feature pictures of sauna club members.

The executives claim that the pictures will be “edgy, but in good taste.” Profits from the sales of the calendars would help fund Sauna Society activities, and possibly other nonprofit organizations, as well. “So with the environmental stuff and the fundraising from the calendars, we’re actually a social justice group,” said Braun.

The Society is also planning on resurrecting a feature of the original Sauna Society: The Sweater Letter. This monthly newsletter would feature sauna-related news stories, promote usage of Gustavus sauna facilities and help educate its readers on the health benefits of using saunas. The society will also organize sauna-related seminars, speakers and special event “theme saunas.”

Kazarow shared some tips on what to do on a typical sauna outing: First, sit in the sauna. Then, jump into some cold water (when applicable, you may substitute a “roll in snow” for a “jump into cold water”). Then, return to the sauna.

Keep repeating this cycle until you get bored, or until your body temperature becomes irreversibly screwed up. Then, have someone come in and pour water on the coals. You may add oils or fragrances to the water, which provide an aroma-therapeutic effect.

Also, have the person pouring the water bring you a towel and use it to blow the steam at you so you can breathe it in. This procedure is called an “aufgiessen.”

According to Kazarow, eucalyptus oil is a popular additive to the steam because of its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and sinus-clearing properties, but other oils like pine can be used as well.

The Sauna Society encourages anyone interested in experiencing and learning more about the science of the sauna to join, as well.

“It’s just another way to have fun with people at college without needing alcohol,” said Braun. “It just proves that if you want to organize something on this campus, no matter how unique or ridiculous it is, it can happen.”

Photo By: Sarah Cartwright