Sauna. I was invited by a friend “to sauna”. I didn’t realise that sauna was both a noun AND a verb, but hey, I am always open to learning new things. It sounded like an amazing selfcare opportunity, and being the self-proclaimed queen of selfcare that I am, of course I said yes. Some days later, my friend asked me to confirm if I would “sauna and lunch” or if I just wanted to go to lunch. I confirmed I was going to join for both the sauna and lunch. It struck me as an odd question but I dismissed it in the moment. In hindsight, I should have asked at that point what she meant by “sauna”.
Sauna Sunday arrived and so did I, at Østerport Station where we were meeting another friend to join our Selfcare Sunday. Not sure who, but one of the ladies asked me if I had “sauna-ed” in Denmark before and at that point, I was a bit concerned. A sauna is just a hot room that you sit in and voluntarily roast yourself. Right? So what is so special about “sauna” in Denmark? It was quite clear that I was missing something so I asked. And as it turns out, I was indeed missing something. My friend had neglected to tell me that before the hot room sauna, there would be a dip… in ice cold water. More commonly referred to as “winter bathing” (vinterbadning in Danish) or “cold water swimming” (sidenote – isn’t all open water swimming cold?). And apparently also known as “sauna”.
It was too late for me to back out. The train had quite literally left the station. My friend’s friend was there and I didn’t want to look like a wuss in front of this new person. I also thought it would be a little too cliché for me to be the black woman refusing to go in the water once I knew that was what it involved. At that point, all I could do was try to prepare myself for what was in front.
To think I had almost made it to seven years in this country without experiencing winter bathing. So close! But seriously, I’ve wondered about it – though never tempted! – but admittedly I’ve been intrigued by the concept. There are many trumpeted benefits of winter bathing (or vinterbadning) – it’s good for circulation, improves your immune system, releases dopamine and other happy hormones and makes you more alert (although it’s freezing so of course it does!). All these great things provided you don’t go into shock! The way to do winter bathing is either to join a bathing club so you can go for an icy dip and then go into the sauna afterwards or just bring warm clothes and warm drinks to warm you up after your dip. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that the traditional form of winter bathing involves dipping in the water in the nude. Yes, in your birthday suit. And on this particular day of the Lord, folks were out in all their glory. It was a wow.
Since my friend was a member of the local bathing club, we used the changing rooms to get changed into our swimwear, have a preparatory shower rinse and then head to the water. The closer I got, the more I wondered if I was in over my head. I was so scared of going into shock upon contact with the water. Watching the ladies dip first, I gave myself a Rocky Balboa style pep talk, and all too quickly it was my turn to enter the ring the water.
It might seem contradictory, but one big no-no for winter bathing especially as a first-timer is jumping into the water. You are more likely to go into shock that way because your body would have had less time to adjust to the cold temperature. With this in mind, I had to ease myself slowly into the water, walking in step by freezing step whilst wanting to back out with each icy step I took. Once completely in, boy was it cold. Cold to the point of pain; I felt like my toes were going to break off! I came out quickly and headed to the sauna to warm up and have a toasty chat with the girlies. After that, maybe it was bravado, short term memory loss or delirium, but somehow I came out for another dip. I’d like to say it wasn’t so bad the second time around but it really was. Mad!
I have to say, I’m super proud of myself for going through with it, even though as God is my witness, if my friend had outright invited me to go winterbathing I would have declined straight away and made it to seven years uninterrupted with playing with the prospect of an icy demise. I’m glad I did it, and I can definitely see how one can get into the habit of doing this on the regular. Who knows, I might go for a dip again. Not any time soon though. Let’s ride this high for now.
