Tag: Seasons

Sauna sanctuary

A year of healing “Löyly”

At the end of August we celebrated a year of having our wonderful barrel sauna in our garden.

Experiencing the change of seasons, with 68 saunas during that time, has brought something new to the appreciation of our garden and nature. Not only through the varying vistas seen out of the windows, as we relax in the hot fragrant atmosphere inside, but also from the different felt sensations being outside.

Installed on the hottest day in August 2025 our first sauna seemed to have very little contrast between inside and out.

Whereas in February we had to break the ice on our dip tank, for that refreshing (albeit brief) plunge after coming out of the sauna.

Sitting on the decking in front of Studio Hundy for a quiet breather between sauna sessions, the senses seem to be heightened, picking up seasonal smells ranging from the fragrance of honeysuckle, through the freshness of damp light rain, to the sharp crisp numbing of frost.

The sauna has been the focal point of a lot of creative additions during the year, both inside and out. Clare refers to this continuous activity on my part as “dressing the set”!

Drift wood pegs for robes and towels have been crafted; a terracotta bead sauna-count abacus created; wooden hooks above the windows for winter lanterns installed; a tile from our local pottery (Kinsman-Blake) given pride of place inside the barrel; a fishy soap holder accompanies the cold shower and, the most recent, a set of 7 five-pointed stars constructed around a string of 200 firefly solar lights. At night these create a beautiful “fleur de lys” reflection in the stainless steal chimney assembly.

And not to forget the mystical “Löylynhenki” – sauna spirit – sculpted from soapstone (by hukka.fi).

She sits on the igneous rocks (olivine diabase) that fill the chamber above the firebox of the woodburner. Her little hollow lap is filled with water and a few drops of an essential oil, which slowly evaporates with the heat.

I’ve made a short recording capturing the contrast therapy: water ladled onto the stones inside the barrel sauna, forming a wave of steam; cold outdoor shower and then cold emersion in the dip tank – all with the background of a gusty day! Listen on headphones if you can.

Sauna sounds: Steam/Shower/Dip tank

The regular repetition of saunas for a full year has enabled us to value the process as a ritual – stacking wood in the sauna store, preparing the woodburner, lighting and waiting for the space to gently heat to 50-60oC; the (often) 2 hours dedicated to 4 or 5 sauna sessions of 15 min with 5-10 min outside (cold shower, cold emersion and rest); even the closing down time (dip tank covered, sauna buckets emptied, towels hung ….) is part of the whole experience; each time followed by the delightful tingling feeling returning into the house.

Thank you sauna spirit for your gentle relaxing presence throughout the last 12 months.

68 great löylys – Iso kiitos !

Four seasonal mandalas

Responding to the changing light – Autumn / Winter / Spring / Summer

Accompanying the change of light throughout the year, a small group of us have been taking the same walk to a nearby woodland, making seasonal mandalas with found materials provided by nature.

We started at the Autumn equinox in September 2022, repeating the same walk on the Winter solstice and then again in Spring, and finally on the Summer solstice that has just passed.

We tried to be sensitive to the qualities of the day light at each of these 4 points in the calendar, as well as the weather, atmosphere and to the changes we observed in surrounding nature. Responding to these we collectively choose a spot, in or near the woodland, making our mandala using the variety of materials that nature provided at the time.

Photographs do not do justice to the 3 dimensional, sculptural forms that we created. They can only hint at the different locations, materials and qualities that each of the four mandalas revealed.

Autumn Equinox

A large expansive mandala formed, within the woodland itself, beneath the canopy of leaves still present on the trees. The transition here from the dominant light of the summer – diminishing to meet an equal proportion of darkness in the night – felt significant as a backdrop to our form. Similarly the differentiation of light and dark within the mandala was so subtle that it seemed to merge with the natural undergrowth on which it had been created.

Found materials reflected the summer growth that had not yet come to a complete hault, and yet we could also feel the movement in nature towards winter.

Winter Solstice

In contrast the site for this mandala was nestled within a cluster of now bare birch trees.

An old mossy stump centred in this small grove was our focal point. A moist misty day gave plenty of opportunity for using mosses, lichens, rotting leaves, ferns and more. Whilst the mandala was concentrated on the tree stump, it rayed outwards beyond the cluster of trees as if dissolving into the rest of the woodland.

To acknowledge the time of least daytime light, we placed a small lantern in the centre and lit the candle.

Spring Equinox

Our chosen spot for this mandala was on the edge of the woodland. On the boundary between bare branched deciduous trees and the “devastation” in the open area, fairly recently cleared of (mostly) pine trees.

This position felt more open and bright compared to inside the woodland and suited the sense of an increasing light, growing into and through the spring equinox. Our mandala gradually formed out of crumbling bark, cones, branches, feathers, stones, moss and lichen.

Summer Solstice

Finally we returned to the same woodland at the summer solstice. We were aware as a group that we found it hard to find a place or focal point for the mandala. We explored the area for some time before agreeing to use a large upturned stump of a pine. This was in the open area of “devastation” from previous felling. The bare barky ground now beginning to “green”, populated with small creeping plants and other seedlings.

The beautiful stump, with its gnarled roots protruding skywards, acted like an “altar” on which we placed, wove and threaded our summer finds.

A rhododendron bush, growing on the boundary, provided flashes of colour amongst the greenery, grasses and ferns.

Four seasonal mandalas created collectively, without much planning or discussion, responding to nature’s rhythm within the cycle of the year. Thanks to the freinds that participated in this creative, and quite magicial process.