Sauna Talk

What happens when two lifelong sauna enthusiasts, longtime friends, and thermal soul brothers decide to write a book celebrating sauna culture? In Sauna Talk Episode 142, Glenn Auerbach sits down with Tom Rolando at Sauna Days 2026, on the shores of Lake Superior at Larsmont Cottages, to introduce their new book, Sauna Life: From Heat Up to Cool Down. This conversation is especially meaningful because Tom was the very first guest on Sauna Talk. Now, 142 episodes later, they're back together, sharing stories, laughs, and reflections on a friendship that helped inspire not only the book but Sauna Days itself. Sauna Life is more than a coffee table book. It's a celebration of the sauna community. Three years in the making, the book brings together hundreds of photographs, personal stories, and reflections from sauna enthusiasts around the world. Organized around six contrasting themes — Heat, Cold, Nature, Build, Friendship, and Solitude — it captures the beauty, simplicity, and shared experiences of authentic sauna culture. Recorded live before a Sauna Days audience, Glenn and Tom explore: How their friendship began with a wood-fired sauna build. The surprising connection between Tom, Glenn's first sauna-building book, and the origins of Sauna Days. Why they invited the worldwide sauna community to help create Sauna Life. Favorite photographs and stories from the book. The importance of hot, cold, nature, and the cool-down experience. Why good sauna is about more than temperatures, timers, and health metrics. How sauna creates lasting friendships and a sense of belonging. Along the way, audience questions spark conversations about sauna traditions, the importance of community gathering spaces, and why the simplest sauna experiences are often the most rewarding. As Glenn likes to say, "Good heat knows no borders." Get your copy of Sauna Life! Discover Sauna Life: From Heat Up to Cool Down and the limited-edition Sauna Life Gift Set, featuring the book, premium Sauna Life zip-up hoodie, beanie, and a personal thank-you note from Glenn and Tom. Explore the book and Gift Set at https://saunalifeshop.com/product/gift-set. Connect with SaunaTimes Website: https://www.saunatimes.com More Sauna Talk episodes: https://www.saunatimes.com/category/sauna-talk-podcast/ Whether you're a lifelong sauna enthusiast, building your first backyard sauna, or simply curious about this wonderful thing we do, there's a seat on the bench for you. Enjoy sauna! #SaunaLife #SaunaTalk #SaunaTimes #SaunaCulture #WoodFiredSauna #SaunaDays

In this episode of Sauna Talk, Glenn Auerbach sits down with Risto Elomaa, outgoing president of the International Sauna Association, on the eve of the International Sauna Congress in Oslo. After 16 years as ISA president—and two decades on its board—Risto reflects on a lifetime shaped by sauna, beginning with his first smoke sauna at just four weeks old. He shares stories from decades of sauna culture around the world, from Finland and Germany to Japan, South Korea, China, and beyond. The conversation explores what defines a real sauna, the importance of good löyly, European sauna standards, the future of sauna research, and why Risto believes researchers need common protocols if sauna science is going to advance responsibly. Glenn and Risto also discuss Sauna Aid and its work supporting Ukraine, the growth and regulation of Aufguss, sauna diplomacy, birch vihta traditions, raising children with sauna, smoke sauna culture, and some of the memorable people Risto has met on sauna benches around the world. And when asked what matters most in a good sauna? For Risto, the answer is simple: good löyly, good löyly, and good löyly. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with one of the most influential international voices in modern sauna culture as he prepares to pass the torch at the International Sauna Congress. For more sauna stories, resources, and authentic sauna culture, visit SaunaTimes.com.

In Sauna Talk Episode 138, Glenn sits down with longtime friend and fellow "thermal soul brother" Jeff Pyzyk—a Wisconsin sauna enthusiast with more than two decades of experience and an estimated 3,500+ sauna sessions under his belt. Jeff shares how one lakeside sauna and a cold plunge in 1998 turned into a lifelong pursuit. From building his own saunas and experimenting with wood-fired heat to helping inspire the low-profile Kuma stove, Jeff has developed his perspective the old-fashioned way: through years of time on the bench. The conversation moves from good heat, löyly, rock mass, bench height, and cold plunging into some unexpected territory: pizza, espresso, vintage Volkswagens, and why hands-on experience matters more than internet theory. At the center of it all is Jeff's simple message to anyone suffering from sauna analysis paralysis: There is no perfect sauna. Build your damn sauna. Glenn and Jeff also talk Sauna Days, friendship, the growing North American sauna community, and that special moment a few rounds into a sauna session when the fire settles, the rocks are hot, and everything just clicks. This episode is sponsored by Sauna Build: From Start to Finish by Glenn Auerbach. If you've been thinking about building your own sauna, Glenn's book is a practical guide designed to help take you from idea to finished hot room. It draws on years of hands-on sauna building experience and covers the key decisions that matter most—from layout and bench design to heaters, ventilation, materials, and the details that help create good heat. Buy the physical book here. Buy the e-book here. For anyone feeling stuck in research mode, it pairs perfectly with Jeff's message in this episode: learn what matters, make a plan, and build your sauna.

In this episode of Sauna Talk, the roles are reversed as Mossy Ben interviews Glenn Auerbach about Sauna Days 2026 at Larsmont Cottages on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Glenn shares the origin story of Sauna Days, from a small gathering of roughly 25 sauna enthusiasts to a sold-out celebration of sauna culture featuring mobile saunas, presentations, breathwork, cold plunges, artisans, builders, operators, and sauna people from around the world. They discuss the beautiful weather, the importance of maintaining enough bench space, the soul of the original Larsmont sauna, and the delicate balance between commerce and "kumbaya." Most of all, they reflect on the community that forms when people gather around good heat, cold water, and a shared appreciation for authentic sauna culture. You'll also hear stories from the benches, the shoreline, the Lake Room, and the spaces between sauna rounds—where strangers quickly become friends and conversations move well beyond sauna. Topics include: The origins and evolution of Sauna Days Sauna Days 2026 highlights Sauna culture in Northern Minnesota The SaunaTimes tribe and spirit of community Mobile saunas, sauna builders, and vendors Lake Superior cold plunging The balance between business and authentic sauna culture What makes Larsmont Cottages an ideal home for Sauna Days A look ahead to Sauna Days 2027 Learn more about authentic sauna culture, sauna building, events, and the Sauna Talk podcast at SaunaTimes.com. Until next time, we'll see you on the bench.

Today, on Sauna Talk, and almost on the sauna bench, I'm pleased to bring you the folks behind the three major American sauna stove makers. American manufacturing at work! Garrett, Lamppa Manufacturing, Tower, Minnesota, Population 421 Philip, Nippa, Beulah, MI, Population 303 Lynn, Ilo, Dollar Bay, Michigan, Population 1,070 We talk through what their company looks like, their community, and what their opinions are on the North American sauna industry. Small town manufacturing. Direct to consumer, factory direct. Products Made with quality with longevity in mind. A couple of terms: Cost engineering: Designed in a way that reduces manufacturing costs—sometimes at the expense of quality, durability, or performance. Margin stacking: When every step in a product's journey — manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer — adds a profit margin, and those margins compound into a much larger final price. More here.

Today on Sauna Talk, we are joined by the dynamic duo of researcher from Emery University, Deanna Kaplan and Roman Palitsky. Deanna Kaplan Deanna Kaplan, PhD is a clinical psychologist with expertise in digital health technologies. She has more than a decade of experience using wearable and smartphone-based technologies to study the dynamics of health processes and clinical change during daily life. Her research is grounded in a whole-person (bio-psycho-social-spiritual) model of health, and much of her work focuses on investigating the dynamics of change of integrative interventions, such as psychedelic-assisted therapies and contemplative practices. Dr. Kaplan is the Director of the Human Experience and Ambulatory Technologies (HEAT) Lab, a multidisciplinary collaboration between the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Emory Spiritual Health. More information about the HEAT Lab is here. Dr. Kaplan is the co-creator and Scientific Director of Fabla, an unlicensed Emory-hosted app for multimodal daily diary and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. Fabla is an EMA app that can securely collect voice-recorded, video-recorded , and photographic responses from research participants. More information about Fabla is here. Dr. Kaplan holds an adjunct appointment in Emory's Department of Psychology and is appointed faculty for several Emory centers, including the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory Spiritual Health (ESH), the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality (ECPS), and the Advancement of Diagnostics for a Just Society (ADJUST) Center. She also holds an appointment as an adjunct Assistant Professor at Brown University in affiliation with the Center for Digital Health. Dr. Kaplan received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Brown University, where she received an F32 National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her research is funded by the NIH, the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance, the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, and the Vail Health Foundation among others. She was named as a 2025 Rising Star by Genomics Press for her work in mental health assessment innovation. Roman Palitsky Roman Palitsky, MDiv, Ph.D. is Director of Research Projects for Emory Spiritual Health and a Research Psychologist for Emory University School of Medicine. His research program investigates the pathways through which culture and health interact by examining the biological, psychological, and social processes that constitute these pathways. His areas of interest include biopsychosocial determinants in cardiovascular health, chronic pain, and grief. In collaboration with Emory Spiritual Health, his research addresses cultural and existential topics in healthcare such as religion, spirituality, and the way people find meaning in suffering, as they relate to health and illness. His work has also focused on the role of religious and existential worldviews in mindfulness-based interventions, as well as implementation and cultural responsiveness of these interventions. Dr. Palitsky's academic training includes a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona with a concentration in Behavioral Medicine/Health Psychology, and a Master of Divinity from Harvard University. He completed clinical internship in the behavioral medicine track at Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Deanna and Roman were in town attending and speaking at the 2025 SSSR Conference, Society for the Scienific Study of Religion. And as you will hear, we get deep into the spirit of sauna, a spiritual connection we allow ourselves to have, presented to us through the wonderfulness of time on the bench and chilling out in the garden, all misty wet with rain.