Sauna Days 2026 Recap: Good Heat, Cold Water & the SaunaTimes Tribe with "Mossy" Ben Beresh | Sauna Talk 136 Video

In this episode of Sauna Talk, Glenn Auerbach sits down with Risto Elomaa, outgoing president of the International Sauna Association, on the eve of the International Sauna Congress in Oslo. After 16 years as ISA president—and two decades on its board—Risto reflects on a lifetime shaped by sauna, beginning with his first smoke sauna at just four weeks old. He shares stories from decades of sauna culture around the world, from Finland and Germany to Japan, South Korea, China, and beyond. The conversation explores what defines a real sauna, the importance of good löyly, European sauna standards, the future of sauna research, and why Risto believes researchers need common protocols if sauna science is going to advance responsibly. Glenn and Risto also discuss Sauna Aid and its work supporting Ukraine, the growth and regulation of Aufguss, sauna diplomacy, birch vihta traditions, raising children with sauna, smoke sauna culture, and some of the memorable people Risto has met on sauna benches around the world. And when asked what matters most in a good sauna? For Risto, the answer is simple: good löyly, good löyly, and good löyly. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with one of the most influential international voices in modern sauna culture as he prepares to pass the torch at the International Sauna Congress. For more sauna stories, resources, and authentic sauna culture, visit SaunaTimes.com.

What happens when we stop performing and start remembering who we actually are? In this live conversation from Sauna Days 2026, Glenn Auerbach sits down with longtime friend Harvey Martin for a wide-ranging Sauna Talk about performance, identity, intuition, nervous-system regulation, and the role sauna can play in bringing us back to ourselves. Harvey has spent years inside the world of high performance. After playing professional baseball, he worked in player development and spent four seasons doing human performance coaching with the San Francisco Giants. Today, he works privately with elite athletes, musicians, and other high-level performers navigating pressure, identity, and life beyond the performance itself. But Harvey came to Sauna Days with one word on his mind: Remembrance. Remembering who we are underneath the noise. Underneath the information. Underneath the algorithms, expectations, status, and constant pressure to perform. Glenn and Harvey explore what happens when a profession becomes an identity, why facts alone rarely change human behavior, the difference between performance and presence, and why intuition becomes increasingly important in a world built around information and algorithms. And, naturally, they bring it back to sauna. Harvey shares the story of his wood-fired horse trailer sauna in Arizona—with an office in the front and hot room in the back—and why building a fire, tending it throughout the day, and making your own heat forces you to slow down. As Harvey puts it, there's something different about heat you make yourself. In this episode: • Harvey's journey from professional baseball to the San Francisco Giants • Working with elite athletes and musicians under extreme pressure • Separating performance from identity • Why emotional experience changes behavior more than information • Intuition, presence, and nervous-system regulation • What algorithms may be doing to our awareness • Sauna as a practice of remembrance • Why wood-fired sauna naturally slows us down • Harvey's Arizona horse trailer sauna and writing space • The value of making your own heat • Why sometimes "it takes all day to live" Recorded live at Sauna Days 2026. Learn more about authentic sauna culture, sauna building, Sauna Days, and the Sauna Talk podcast at SaunaTimes.com. This episode of Sauna Talk is supported by Kuuma Sauna Stoves, built by Lampa Manufacturing in Tower, Minnesota. Until next time, we'll see you on the bench.

In Sauna Talk Episode 138, Glenn sits down with longtime friend and fellow "thermal soul brother" Jeff Pyzyk—a Wisconsin sauna enthusiast with more than two decades of experience and an estimated 3,500+ sauna sessions under his belt. Jeff shares how one lakeside sauna and a cold plunge in 1998 turned into a lifelong pursuit. From building his own saunas and experimenting with wood-fired heat to helping inspire the low-profile Kuma stove, Jeff has developed his perspective the old-fashioned way: through years of time on the bench. The conversation moves from good heat, löyly, rock mass, bench height, and cold plunging into some unexpected territory: pizza, espresso, vintage Volkswagens, and why hands-on experience matters more than internet theory. At the center of it all is Jeff's simple message to anyone suffering from sauna analysis paralysis: There is no perfect sauna. Build your damn sauna. Glenn and Jeff also talk Sauna Days, friendship, the growing North American sauna community, and that special moment a few rounds into a sauna session when the fire settles, the rocks are hot, and everything just clicks. This episode is sponsored by Sauna Build: From Start to Finish by Glenn Auerbach. If you've been thinking about building your own sauna, Glenn's book is a practical guide designed to help take you from idea to finished hot room. It draws on years of hands-on sauna building experience and covers the key decisions that matter most—from layout and bench design to heaters, ventilation, materials, and the details that help create good heat. Buy the physical book here. Buy the e-book here. For anyone feeling stuck in research mode, it pairs perfectly with Jeff's message in this episode: learn what matters, make a plan, and build your sauna.

What does it mean to be "3 Percent Finn" yet feel deeply connected to Finnish sauna culture? For Sauna Talk Episode 137, Glenn sits down with Michael Nordskog, author of The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition, recorded live at Sauna Days 2026. Michael grew up in the heart of North American sauna country, and his work has helped document a sauna tradition that runs deep through northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and the greater Lake Superior region. In this conversation, Michael and Glenn get into Finnish ancestry, Northwoods sauna culture, the traditions that took root around Lake Superior, and the way sauna gets passed down through families and communities. It's also a conversation about place, identity, and why authentic sauna has endured in this part of the world long before the current wave of sauna popularity. For those of us who believe sauna is more than a hot room, Michael's perspective is an important reminder: the buildings matter, the löyly matters, but so do the stories and the people who keep the tradition alive. Recorded live at Sauna Days 2026. This episode of Sauna Talk is brought to you by Homecraft, makers of quality sauna heaters and sauna equipment. Homecraft has been building sauna products for generations and continues to support the culture of good sauna across North America. Learn more about Homecraft at homecraftsaunas.com.

In Episode 135 of Sauna Talk, Glenn Auerbach welcomes psychotherapist Sierra Blake for a live conversation recorded at Sauna Days 2026 on the shores of Lake Superior. Sierra brings a graduate background in mental health psychology from the University of Minnesota, along with clinical experience working in trauma and addiction medicine. Her work explores the relationship between mind and body, including the potential psychological effects of sauna and cold-water immersion. This conversation moves beyond the usual discussion of what heat does to the body and asks a bigger question: What can shared sauna experiences do for our relationships, our communities, and our sense of belonging? Sierra explains how heat and cold create manageable stress, followed by a calming nervous-system response that may support openness, awareness, and connection. She also shares emerging research suggesting that the benefits of communal sauna may come not only from the heat itself, but from ritual, emotional synchrony, shared challenge, and the feeling of belonging to something larger than ourselves. Glenn, Sierra, and the Sauna Days audience explore: • The connection between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems • Sauna, cold water, and the mind-body relationship • Why shared challenge can bring people closer together • The difference between routine and ritual • Sauna as a generator of "loose ties" and everyday community connection • The role of mindfulness, meaning, and intention in sauna practice • Sauna as a third space outside of home and work • The potential for sauna to become part of a healthier social infrastructure • Why there may be no single "best" way to sauna Across cultures, sauna and bathing traditions have long served as places for healing, reflection, storytelling, and community. This episode offers a thoughtful look at why sauna's deepest value may lie not only in what happens inside the body, but in what happens between people. Recorded live at Sauna Days in May 2026. Learn more about SaunaTimes: https://www.saunatimes.com Subscribe to the SaunaTimes newsletter: https://saunatimes.substack.com