Spas
Nakedness – PART 1
The road to self-esteem and acceptance?
Let me ask you something: Have you ever experienced a German sauna? I now have.
Are all German saunas created equal? Does every German feel the same about saunas? I do not know. All I can tell you is about my sweaty and steamy experience in this fantastic sauna SPA on the Tegernsee in Bavaria, close to Munich.
Perhaps I should start by saying that I have already been in mixed naked saunas before and that I have always enjoyed them.
I have stopped being a prude and perhaps even ashamed of my body a long time ago.
What defines me?
I forgot when it happened or even how, but at some point in my life I had decided that every soft corner of my body was a testament to the love I have for life, people, and food, of course.
I remember, though, that I have given up on the shame I felt about my shape because I just got too lazy to care. Too lazy to continuously take into consideration what others thought about my voluptuousness.
As I became more aware that I am defined, besides my lavish looks, by who I am in my entirety, my perspective on the world and myself slowly started to change too.
It was a gradual change, a slow progress of acceptance and pride: punctuated by weight gain and weight loss. Then came a time when I discovered how powerful my body could actually be!
How much and how intensely I could feel through my body, my skin, my nerve endings. How the sense of touch, of union and bonding, can cause you to feel alive. How much I enjoy hiking and running.
How the connection with our mind, heart, and body enhances the experience of our life. But, this is another story.
German Sauna
I went with a friend, a German friend, who had invited me to tag along on her SPA day.
Oh, dear, I was so excited! A German sauna! I love the body-image freedom the German sauna goers seem to enjoy! I thought I was already a seasoned sauna goer myself, open-minded, and totally open to this experience.
As I really enjoy to sweat all the toxins out and the ritual of the sauna in itself, I believed I knew all there was to know about saunas and how they work. I did not.
Oh, Boy! Was! I ! Wrong!
From the first steps into the SPA, I started to bombard my friend with unbelievably naive questions. She had the grace and patience to accompany me on this journey of new discoveries.
It all started when I first noticed that the “mixed-experience” already commenced in the changing rooms. So to my first questions, “why are we changing in the same area?” my friend simply replied: “well, we are not actually changing… we are getting naked…and we will all be naked together anyway!”
And so we were.
Lessons
One of the most critical aspects of the sauna experience is general cleanliness!
- First lesson: you have to take showers and cold baths and rinse! Constantly: before and after each sauna. Always! I’m sure that some sort of unspoken rule reins in German saunas of who watches whom to make sure that all are squeaky-clean and immaculate before they enter a sauna room.
- Second super important rule: your naked buttocks or any other bare part of you (including your feet) shall never, never EVER touch anything else than your own towel! NEVER! You might sweat like a pig under the desert’s sun, you might accidentally sweat on others, but you shall never let your sweat touch the wooden planks of the sauna. NEVER! I am serious, you shall do all that is in your power to never EVER let a droplet of your perspiration touch the wood.
- Third rule: small talk is also frowned upon in this sea of uncensored nakedness. Especially when a Sauna Master is present. You heard me: such a job as a Sauna Master exists!
Naïveté
The sauna sessions are so loved and appreciated that people crowd the sauna already 15 minutes earlier. I had counted over 50 people, having a sardine-like experience, eagerly awaiting the Sauna Master to roast them or, in this case, steam them to near death.
In my glorious naïveté and curiosity, I started to chat up the people sitting next to me and pester them with questions on what was about to happen.
They all had been gracious enough to give short and concise answers: “Now, wir werden schön schwitzen….sweat?!”
I thought that since we were already naked, baring our souls would not make much of a difference. My friend kindly informed me later that to go to the sauna is a solemn relaxation business.
“We go to the saunas to relax, and our relaxing is sacrosanct to us. No chit-chatting.”
Furthermore, she also informed me that they probably indulged me because of my accent and had felt the need to educate me on this very relaxing, very somber sauna affair.
What happened in the Sauna Master Session and my Final Lesson learned, I will share with you next week. Stay tuned!
To be continued….
May you always live in The Golden Moment of Now and see you next week!
