the piece above is from robyn lea. Finland is the land of sauna's. And yes sauna means baking yourself with absolutely no clothes on! I must confess before finland I would never be caught dead in a sauna....more because of the fact that it meant i had to take my clothes off, even though i didnt, i mean, doesnt it just feel rather a bit too revealing to be just lying around in a towel...!!!?? Once here, boy wasnt i baptised by fire. I found myself with all my clothes off and sitting in this boiling hot sauna. And they call the ones in kenya sauna's, those things are like freezers compared to what temparatures the finnish sauna's put you through. But hey, what do you know! I kinda like them now. I shed off all my clothes, get in there....(for all the girls, its a great place to treat your hair!!), and just relax in temparatures that average between 60 to 100 hundred degrees celsius. The most I've done is possible in the 70's. Boy its hot. But its great for bonding. I can sit in there chatting away for ages. When i get out, i have a nice shower and I'm so relaxed its amazing. Laze around in my towel while I'm sipping on something and there I've got myself a great evening. Plus its done alot for my inhibitions about my body! Its not that i go around stark naked, but I'm actually more comfortable with myself. Gone are the days where even alone in my room I would jump into my clothes coz being naked was just not the thing to be!

She lives a sophisticate's life among worldly people. At the slightest excuse she steps out of civilization, naked and relieved, as I should step out of a soiled chemise.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek