In the bleak midwinter, when daylight is scarce and temperatures struggle to rise above freezing, some Mainers have found warmth, solace and rejuvenation in a practice that stretches back centuries: traditional Nordic sauna.
During the cold winter months, stripping down and entering into the dry heat of a wood-fired sauna can set both mind and body alight, sauna fans say. Add to that the traditional plunge into cold water after the heat, and you can emerge feeling totally renewed.
“In the right place, with a well-built sauna, it can be an extremely restorative experience,” said Jackie Stratton, who opened her wood-fired sauna, Cedar Grove, in Montville in 2020.
Stratton moved to Maine in 2012, and made friends with people in the midcoast town of Hope that had a sauna built in a converted woodshed. Over several winters, Stratton felt transformed by the experience, both physically and mentally.
“It just made winters not only bearable, but actually amazing,” Stratton said. “We’d get together weekly, have a sauna and then have a huge potluck afterwards. It was something to help mark the time, through the changing season, and it was really a beautiful gathering place.”
Stratton opened Cedar Grove initially in Waldo County, with a second location in Phippsburg on Popham Beach coming soon afterwards. She also has two mobile saunas that can be transported to other locations around the state, and has visited towns including Rockland, Damariscotta and Spruce Head.
Sauna is an ancient tradition. Some archaeologists believe that Neolithic people built proto-saunas as long ago as 4000 BCE. It’s in Finland, however, that the western tradition of sauna first began in the Middle Ages, eventually spreading to other Nordic regions like Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Russia and Poland. It’s been a part of life for Finns and other northern Europeans for centuries.
Sauna didn’t become widespread in the U.S. until the mid-20th century, though early Finnish immigrants to places like Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota built saunas at their homes in the 19th century. Sauna surged in popularity after World War II, as returning G.I.s came home to the U.S. having experienced it while in Europe. In addition to home saunas, they could typically be found in places like gyms, ski resorts and spas.
In recent years new sauna businesses have emerged across Maine that embrace a more traditional Nordic approach to the practice: one that includes not just the heat element, but also the cold. Sauna operators often have custom-built saunas that are in many cases powered by wood fire, and offer cold plunges as part of the experience.
Stratton said that many new customers to Cedar Grove have never experienced the kind of sauna that she and other newer sauna operators offer.
“I always ask new customers if they’ve experienced sauna before, and if they have, most of them say it’s been at a gym,” she said. “This is a pretty different sort of experience.”
The cold plunge after the sauna is part of the overall ritual, which sauna-lovers say helps to further invigorate the body. While any sort of cold water works — a tub filled with water and ice or a cold pool will do — Stratton said she prefers “wild” water to help connect sauna-goers to nature.
“Wild water, for me, I think, is a really important element, because it connects you to the Earth,” she said. “Our location at Popham is especially great, because that’s such a significant spot for so many Mainers. People will come for a sauna and then do their winter beach walk with their dogs afterwards. It’s a nice little ritual.”
Stratton said she has noticed in more recent years that some sauna-goers tend to treat the experience as a type of exercise or way to get specific health results — a kind of “biohacking” that is more focused on data and timing.
“That’s not at all linked to real sauna culture, which has been around in Europe for hundreds of years,” she said. “I always tell people to listen to your body. We can be really out of touch with our bodies, and this is a way to really pay attention.”
While saunas can now be found all over the world, Stratton said she thinks Maine in particular shares a lot of similarities with the Nordic countries that developed the tradition generations ago.
“Maine is the most forested state in the country, and most of us here live quite rurally. That’s true there as well,” she said. “It gets even colder and darker in Finland, and this is one of the ways they’ve learned to cope with it. There’s so much we can learn from that.”
If you want to try a sauna out yourself, here are some options throughout the state:
Cedar Grove Sauna, 171 Trues Pond Road, Montville, and Spinney’s Restaurant & Lodging, 987 Popham Road, Phippsburg. Sessions start at $30.
Washington Baths, 145 Washington Ave., Portland. Sessions start at $36.
Sea Smoke Sauna, 39 Smith St., North Haven. Private sessions start at $99.
Riverside Lodge and Sauna, 20 Paris Hill Road, South Paris. Sessions start at $35.
Shoreline Sauna, Shoreline Drive, Owls Head. Sessions start at $10.
Richmond Sauna, 81 Dingley Road, Richmond. Sessions start at $40.
Rest Day Sauna, 42 Pleasant St., Monson. Call 207-343-1811 to book a session.
Waterstruck, 600 River Road, Newcastle. Sessions start at $25.
