Lots of people get SAD when the days get short and dreary. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a seasonal depression that makes you feel sluggish with low energy.
COVID has kyboshed the go-to cure for SAD: a trip south to the sun. The Omicron wave has many people scrambling. Or sitting on the couch eating another bag of chips.
But there’s another cure, and you don’t have to travel to find it: a good sweat in a sauna. And a new Comox Valley business is betting folks will love it.
A pandemic may seem like a tough time to launch a new sauna business. Big saunas are in gyms and hotel pools. Not everyone wants to get sweaty with strangers. And small ones are expensive if you want to install one in your house.
But how about a wood-fired sauna on a trailer that can be delivered to your front yard?
That’s what Nomadic Sauna is all about. A Courtenay couple is launching this new business that will do all the hard work. Nomadic brings the sauna to you.
For $150 per night mid week and $175 per night on weekends (minimum 2-night rentals,) Nomadic Sauna will drop the sauna off at your place and pick it up when you’re done.
The barrel, Finnish-style sauna is designed and built by the Parksville-based custom woodshop One of a Kind. They use fragrant western red cedar. It fits four people with some wiggle room and is heated by a small woodstove. It’s also a wet sauna so that you can pour water over rocks on top of the stove for lots of steam.
Even if you’re a newbie, make sure to pronounce sauna like a Finn–”sow-nuh,” not “saw-na.”
That matters because Finland is the global champion of sauna culture. Today, there are 5 million people and 3 million saunas in Finland. Most houses have one built-in. Finns think of it like the poor man’s pharmacy.
The Finns are among the happiest people on earth. Maybe we could learn something from their love of saunas.
The sweat lodge is important to BC culture as well.
For Indigenous peoples, sweat lodges have deep spiritual, cultural, and wellness benefits. They’re where many First Nation people go to connect with their Creator and the four elements (water, air, fire, and earth).
It helps them restore order and balance in life.
You don’t have to connect to the Creator to enjoy a good sweat. (But if you start seeing things in the sauna, it’s probably time to get out).
The sun isn’t coming back for a few months yet. And flying to Mexico isn’t a great idea right now. So why not book Nomadic Sauna for a quick stay-cation?
