Sweating the big stuff
There's saunas and sitcoms, a series about mental health and arranged marriages and...more Yellowstone. Come have a read...
Aiming for the new Sauna Social Club in Peckham I soon realise Citymapper has taken me awry.
My final destination is a housing estate.
I can see on the app that I’m near but this residential block of flats is definitely not where I’m supposed to be.
Fortuitously a man exits the flats wearing short shorts, flip flops and is carrying a towel. It’s the middle of February. I take a wild guess he’s not heading to Peckham Rye for a picnic.
Follow me He says You’re really close.
He walks us back, round and parallel to where I was. We pass by railway arches that are slowly being transformed into uber trendy businesses ~ a pilates studio, an artists residence. With no signage on display, other than Tessa standing outside a nondescript door in a red wooly hat, my flip flopped friend has helped deposit me at the hottest place to be in SE London.
Literally.
As we consciously {or unconsciously} embrace the world of wellness, we are so very deeply entrenched in, sweating has become the new cool thing to do. Unlike pilates, barre, spin, taking collagen insert other wellness phases here, heading to a sauna to sweat out your toxins, reduce your stress, lower your blood pressure and improve your circulation has no gender bias.
All are welcomed to sit and sweat and ~ if you’re brave enough ~ plunge into cold water afterwards. The mood boosting benefits are well documented and, once experienced, undeniable.
The Sauna Social Club is offering more of a community environment too.
We are welcomed into a warm, softly lit, wooden space that has low, comfortable seating and cushions intentionally scattered on the floor. Shoes are to be left at the entrance and library voices are encouraged. There is a bar selling drinks and snacks that are incredibly worthy. We’re also told there are DJ nights we could attend as well as sound baths and meditation sessions.
It’s a beautiful space to step into and we are giddy.
We are also grieving. One a death. The other a demise. We have paid £15 to be present for 50 minutes. To experience something new. To feel anything other than the weight of grief.
The sauna itself is small but full at 4pm on a Tuesday. Being Peckham there are a number of speedo trunks on display which amuses me no end. I thought they were only reserved for gays and Europeans but the comeback is loud and proud in this Gen Z/Millenial hangout. There are also a lot of wedged right up your butt crack bikini bottoms. Prior to attending we are told that bottoms are compulsory {tops are not} and thankfully sitting on a towel is too.
Even though there are a few insanely good looking couples no one is talking to each other….except Tessa and I. The worthiness of the silence and the pure concentration on sweating=health and health=wealth is too excruciating for me. I need to catch up with my friend. Our voices are so low they register as soft burping on the decibel scale.
Once I am the colour of a beetroot and drenched in sweat we decide it’s time to head outside to the cold baths. Ranging from 3-7c we sit in ice cold water breathing heavily and giggling.
We are determined to be like the Finnish.
According to the 2025 World Happiness Report Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the 8th consecutive year. Ranked by citizens perceptions of their quality of life based on access to nature, a strong welfare system, social support, equality, eight years in a row is impressive.
And 90% of Finn’s head to a sauna weekly.
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Wanting the full Norwegian experience in Bergen last year Soph and I book a community sauna for a mere £4.50 for two hours. Inside a rustic, two room, floating space on the edge of the sea we find ourselves in a communal changing area/reception getting ready to sweat it out in 20c heat with fifteen others.
After the Sauna Master inadvertently flashes his wrinkly nutsack to us whilst putting on his trunks he dons a pointy felt grey hat and gets to work. Raising the temperature by pouring water infused with menthoyl, eycalyptus and citrus onto the stove he then wafts the plumes of steam around the room by swinging a towel above his head.
Wanting to get all this holy goodness inside me I tip my head back and take a deep breath in through my nose instantly scorching my nostrils
Fuuuuuccccckkkk I growl holding my face wondering what extra damage I’ve done to my already skewed sinuses.
Small sips in through your mouth, Mate Soph informs me as sweat drips from her chin
I feel like I can smell roast dinner I say looking around to see if anyone has opened some tupperware.
I think that’s us. We’re detoxing all the meat, potatoes and cabbage we’ve eaten this week
Once we’ve sweated our dinners out and I feel like my contact lenses could very well melt onto my eyeballs we head out to the deck and slowly lower our toasty bodies into the crystal clear 7c sea. Swimming in the freezing Fjord waters just off The North Sea, as the sun sets, we feel alive. We are panting and hooting and giddy. We swim three times and once the two hours are up feel unbelievably good.
We are energised and beaming from ear to ear. There is such a strong feeling of accomplishment and self care.
Bergen | November 2024
So the Scandi’s really do know what they’re doing. As do the Turks with their Hammams scrubbing us within an inch of our lives. And the Japanese with their mushiburi {steam rooms} and onsen {hot springs}. The culture of bathing is having a moment and that moment is providing a focus on the present. No phones are taken into these sweaty spaces. A community feel is available and a complete concentration on the here and now.
How hot am I? aka Is there a stream of sweat down my titties?
How cold am I? aka Can I feel my hands and feet?
Back in Peckham our collective grief was sidelined for the best part of an hour. Our sadness momentarily washed away as we focussed on what was important in that moment: Staying present when things get heated.
The Contents of My Consumption
~ Watching 📺~
Queen Charlotte & Bridgerton series 2 & 3 | Netflix
Wanting to get lost in a period drama for the visual comfort I returned to Bridgerton after many years even though I thought the first series was pretty naff. {The main storyline essentially revolves around ejaculation!} Season 2 was a little better with Jonathon Bailey being beautiful Jonathan Bailey but Season 3 won for me. All hail friendship that leads to love and Lady Whistledown with her sneaky, powerful ways.
Intrigued by the prequel ~ Queen Charlotte ~ I binged this 8 part series set between modern {Bridgerton} day and when Queen Charlotte first married King George III. Written by the trailblazing Goddess that is Shonda Rhimes it is full of fabulous female characters, tackles racism head on and delves into the mental health of the King with tenderness and strength. Such great writing and inspiring acting. I would highly recommend.
It took me a long time to get back to finishing the last season of Derry Girls but I’m so glad I did because I absolutely loved it. The mix of humour and adolescent fever, with the political situation in Northern Ireland in the 90s, is executed so well by writer Lisa McGee. I was around the same age as those Derry girls in the mid to late 90s and remember the news as a background to my teenage years. I watched the last episode twice, based on the Good Friday agreement, and bawled at the journey of these gorgeous characters as they navigated an historical vote.
Erin: What if we do it and it was all for nothing? What if we vote yes and it doesn't even work?
Granda Joe: And what if it does? What if no one else has to die? What if this all becomes a ghost story that you tell your weans one day?
~ Listening 🎧 ~
The Official Yellowstone Podcast
I’m sorry but the Yellowstone infatuation continues {More pioneer/Wild West action coming in the next newsletter!} With the last series of the show not available on Netflix I needed more of my western fix and so found the official podcast hosted by Jefferson White who plays Jimmy in the show. If you’re interested in the make up of a $12 million per episode show, character analysis, script chat and much more then head on over and listen to the cowboys chewing the fat.
~ Reading 📖 ~
On getting old by Kim Foster | Substack
A beautiful piece of writing from Kim Foster about how we view and use and live with our bodies. She’s asking what do we want the last third of our lives to be like.
This op-ed could lead to me being deported from the US by Berna Léon | The Guardian
Utterly bewildered and extremely concerned about WTF is going on Stateside I read this op-ed with disbelief. Naively it seems. When your freedom of speech is threatened with deportation and what you study/work means you have to move countries for fear of retaliation then you know something is going seriously wrong in one of the so called super power countries.
Bergen | November 2024
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