About
The most trusted, not the biggest.
The Art of Sauna is a knowledge platform on the Latvian sauna. Our aim is not to be the biggest, but the most trusted.
Sauna master and editor
Matīss Vilde
Matīss is a sauna master and the editor of the Sauna Academy magazine. He learned in the Lielzemenes sauna tradition and leads sauna rituals in Latvia and Spain. His aim is roots: to bring people back to the meaning the ancestors kept in songs about the sun, Laima and the sauna.
In the sauna he teaches what the magazine teaches: listen to the body, give it time and know where the line is.
“The sauna is not a collection of techniques. It is a practice for life.”
How we work
Five principles.
From the teaching of the Lielzemenes sauna school.
- Sequence before intensityThe body first warms up and gets to know the room; only then comes the great steam.
- Gradual before heroicNo one wins in the sauna. The aim is to recover, not to endure.
- Safety before symbolismThe ritual is never a reason to go on when the body says “enough”.
- Consent before touchWhisk, water and touch are agreed before the sauna, and “no” can be said at any moment.
- State before techniqueThe best technique does not help if the person is tired, ill or anxious today.
Contact
Write to us.
About the school, the magazine, rituals or working together.