The Poetry and Power of Peat in the Sauna: A Trip to Montana's Sauna60
Excerpt from Kinship by Seamus Heaney (Photo: Courtesy Cambridge Archaeological Unit) Irishman Seamus Heaney's poem Kinship uses the peat bog as a metaphor for being at one with the ancient and mysterious landscape. In my sauna bathing, that kind of connection is important; whether it's a visual immersion in the natural surroundings of the sauna itself, a rough roll in the snow or a bracing plunge in the nearest lake. When I first heard about a Finnish peat sauna , the thought of immersing myself in "the ruminant ground" from a bog was actually appealing. Admittedly, there is something paradoxical about the bog that, as Heaney points out, is cold, slimy and forbidding and, at the same time, offers softness, peace and insight. The challenge was to find a local experience that combined bog peat and sauna. From the History of Mudbaden , Scott Historical Society Of course, mud and clay are pretty common in spa and beauty treatments. In the earl...
