Finland is absent every July - Innovation Sauna Heating Up!

(Updated 13th March 2008). I am back from holiday. With tens of hours spend in the sauna and in lakes with family, friends and colleagues. What? Spending precious time in a sauna? I am not kidding !

Okey, sauna is our fixation. There are several millions of saunas in Finland (almost every household has one + saunas at summer cottages  + public saunas).Some of our 150.000 lakes are even overpopulated by saunas ;-) 

Traditionally in July Finland is closed, at least in business terms. Foreign business partners are wondering, why it so difficult to reach a Finn in July. When you compare yearly work productivity hours, we are far away from Chinese and even behind many European countries. Still, our innovation (invention) rate per capita has been the 2nd highest. Why? I  would claim that is partly because of sauna. We have spend a lot of time in the idea-nurturing phase or as psychoanalyst Kubie calls it "preconcious state". I say "have spent" because the understanding of the importance of sauna in creative work processes has diminished in the current Finnish work life.  Just recently I got the chance to comment the 'Creativity Strategy of Finland' draft for the Ministry of Education. I emphasized the importance of sauna in our creativity culture and indicated some underused resources. OK, sauna is our competitive edge, but it is really difficult for other countries to 'copy' or 'imitate' sauna culture. What we Finns could do better, is to introduce immigrants and foreign visitors to sauna culture and let them enjoy it their way.

There is an expression , or a joke -- "as talkative as a Finn" -- meaning, of course, just the opposite :-) Yes, we don't always prefer chit chat or small talk. We Finns dislike formalities and get easily confused when somebody asks " How are you?" and we are not allowed to say how we really feel, " I am fine" is not enough (in that sense we are similar to Russians :-) We like solitude and space around us. But we do like to talk as well, especially after the the sauna when we are cooling up, sitting on a bench and looking at the lake ;-) It is great to let your mind wander...and talk. Business talks take traditionally place in  saunas in Finland. (Foreigners (especially Conan O'Brien ;-) do not need to worry about nudity any more, we have even adapted a swimming-suit-on policy in public saunas ;-)

Tampere Area has the densiest winter sauna (or winter swimming) concentration in the world (some examples here).  I am glad that my region has that kind of culture and resource. Great lake scenaries (picture), friendly people, fantastic feeling, pure awareness all year round :-) I have never met a sulking or angry people in the winter sauna. Maybe it is because those very stressed people do not visit winter saunas and do not make a splash in an ice hole?  BTW, the Wikipedia article about sauna does not mention at all winter swimming and health benefits. Therefore I updated the Wikipedia Ice swimming page ;-)

It would be great to integrate Creativity and Innovation Workshops with sports and (Winter) Sauna for foreigners. It is a long term plan.  (Summer is definitely time for crazy ideas and I am waiting for winter to make them true :-)

Comments

[Brenda Johima]

Hello Mikko, and thank you for your interesting post on the sauna and creativity. As a Finnish Canadian, and sauna-lover, I fully agree with you, and in my mind, creativity, the sauna, and swimming, simply go hand in hand.

There is nothing more powerful than a Finnish sauna, especially if it is in nature, to let the mind unwind, to cleanse the body and to allow the natural flow of the creative thought process unfold. Just as important to me, is swimming. I get my best ideas during swimming, or after a sauna and swim.

The only thing I find "too bad" about your post, is the following: ";-) do not need to worry about nudity any more, we have even adapted a swimming-suit-on policy in public saunas ;-)"

The nudity of the Finnish sauna experience is a crucial part, in my opinion, of truly letting down barriers, letting go of control, and that in turn, allows true creativity to come to the forefront. It is also such a large part of the Finnish culture.

Brenda Johima
Creativity Coach and Creativity Consultant
CREATIVE NUDGE
www.creativenudge.com

[Mikko Ahonen]

Hi Brenda

It is nice that someone in Canada shares my hobby :-)

It would be interesting to hear more about the sauna tradition in Canada (Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Thunder Bay etc.) and in the USA (Hancock, New York, etc).

About swimming: Indeed, swimming is just great before, after or between sauna :-) I should have emphasised that part in my original story :-\ I dislike swimming in swimming halls and spas, because it is so crowded and you can not select your own route. It is always more enjoying to swim in a lake, in a river or in a see :-)

About "too bad": In public mixed saunas (where men and women are in the sauna at the same time) folks in Finland normally have their swimming suits on. Traditionally, when you are with your family, relatives or close friends, no swimming suits are needed in the sauna or outside ;-)

In Germany, the public mixed saunas are more liberal, please, check: http://www.saunaindeutschland.de/

BTW, I updated some time ago the Ice swimming -page of Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_swimming ). I try to make that article even better later this year. Ice swimming hobby is booming here in Great Tampere area. Winter saunas, the best I can recommend :-)

Take care

Mikko

[Xia Qiaoring]

Dear Sirs :

Good days !

We understand from your information posted on internet .you are sauna product seller in your here. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce our product to you and hope we may work with you in the future.

We are a foreign-oriented enterprise which is specialized in manufacturing sauna suit , and our main products include ADDICT brand (portable steam sauna room , portable far infrared sauna room , foot massage ,sauna loss weight belt and so on ) Until now, our factory has six production lines and now has many old clients.

We depended good quality and reasonable price the product is good seller . we export more than three 40 high containers everymonth .
I regret that I cannot be of more assistance in this matter, and should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to connect me .

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Forward you will reply me ! & hope we will cooperation in the future !

Thanks &Best Regards,
Xia Qiaoting
Tel:0086 579 87192399
Fax:0086 579 87192198
Mobile number:13085674232
Email:dingda@cndingda.com
MSN:ykxiaqiaoting@hotmail.com
Yahoo:Xiaqiaoting
Company web: http://www.cndingda.com
Address :baiyun industry zone yongkang city zhejiang province china

[Mikko Ahonen]

I was puzzled when I received this previous comment from Mr Qiaoting and Cndingda Ltd. My first reaction was to delete it.

BUT I left it here. Why? This Chinese concept of sauna is so different from Finnish sauna. It even opened my eyes and gave me insights how to create new type of saunas ;-)

Please, note: I will definitely delete all extra commercial / advertisement "comments". The previous Chinese sauna comment was really an rare exception :-)

Take care ,

Mikko

[Escale]

Congratulation, it was very succesful writing, Thank you very much

[Sauna]

thanks

[Mikko Ahonen]

Hello Escale

Definitely the Turkish sauna (Hamam, or Hammam in arabic) tradition has a long history. I have visited Budapest and in those spas you still can experience Hamam sauna. Please, check an interesting mixture of Finnish and Turkish sauna: http://www.toffsworld.com/the-home/sauna/finnish-saunas-and-hammam--turkish-baths/

By the way, today 13th March 2008 I updated the page.

I added a picture of a sauna designed by my brother, architect Timo Ahonen. This smoke sauna is built in tradional Finnish sauna style.

Cheers

Mikko

[Sarah]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.craigslisttool.info