During the fight against the pandemic coronavirus, almost all of the public sauna places around the world are closed. Learning to do sauna in nature from the squirrel.
The photo was taken in early Spring 2021. A squirrel having “sauna” in the morning at the temperature slightly below zero Celsius. The steam comes from the heat produced by the composting process of the dead trunk; it gets warmer under the direct sunshine.
The early decomposition of the plant debris (mostly carbon, nitrogen, and lignin) can produce heat which is used by squirrels as well as other living creatures in the forest. In the past processes, the fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over millions of years are then used by humans and increase global warming.
That squirrel, when it is a sauna while sunbathing, can straighten its hair in the cool weather. This is so that the heat and steam become easier to penetrate the body. The squirrel can do it, but the human cannot.
The inventors of the sauna are the Nordic or Scandinavian people, especially the Finns who are famous for their Finnish saunas. The temperature of the sauna can be up to 100 degrees Celsius. In this condition, it can even make them addicted and healthy.
It is recorded in World War 2 the Nordic army made a place for a sauna. During the war, they continued to do a sauna to be more energized and relaxed.
In the native or origin of the sauna country, a sauna without even clothes, often mixed between the opposite sex, several times in and out of the sauna room to swim in the freezing lake, while occasionally drinking some soft alcoholic drinks, so as not to freeze.
My most memorable experience of having a sauna indoor and outdoor was at the northern of Jyvaskyla in Finland near the Lapland areas about a quarter of a century ago. This practice continued until the coronavirus hit the world.
Humans should still have a speck of the squirrel gene, if they are afraid, then the hair on their nape of neck will stand up. Human’s sixth sense is still very sensitive to microscopic creatures such as the coronavirus. Sauna and sunbathing are good for health during this pandemic.
Nothing to lose, natural decomposition of the plant debris or “natural sauna” can make the forest warmer and keep the planet cooler.
We hope this year the Covid-19 will be under control soon after we change our bad habits in disturbing nature, applying the basic coronavirus response program (using masks, washing hands, wearing gloves, social distancing), and having the vaccination.
Expecting the public sauna to open normally during the new normal. Although in the new normal it is difficult for people to do sauna together again in the public recreation areas.
-Bintoro Gunadi
burnabyredwigglers 