Why we fought to Save Our Sauna
by Milly Day | SOS — Save Our Sauna
TOWARDS THE END OF LAST MONTH, NEWS broke that the health suite at Stratford Park Leisure Centre would be closing while the centre was being refurbished, and that there were no plans to reopen it.
Ashley Loveridge
To many, this may seem like a trivial issue, or a ‘first-world problem,’ as someone in a Facebook group put it. However, for many others, it was of great significance, which became apparent when over 120 sauna users took to social media and campaigned to “save our sauna”.
Much to our relief, the campaign was successful in convincing the council to rethink their decision and the health suite has since reopened.
Saunas are generally renowned for their benefits to physical wellbeing, including easing pain, improving cardiovascular health, and even reducing the risk of dementia (MedicalNewsToday).
What the sauna, and the steam room, at Stratford Park offer goes beyond just this though. The first time I used the health suite was in May last year, when my friend Ricardo invited me along.
Initially, I thought it was a bit of a random suggestion to meet in a sauna instead of a cafe or the park, but I went along with it because I’m always up for trying things.
After being in there for just a short while, I got it; here was a communal setting where many of the usual social norms did not seem to apply.
I felt comfortable joining in with other people’s conversations, some of which were utterly ridiculous, whilst others went very deep, and equally comfortable sitting in silence with my eyes closed, not talking to anyone.
There was a sense that ‘anything goes’ and that this was truly a judgement-free zone. A year and a half later, after hearing news of the planned closure and thinking I might lose access to this precious space forever, I wanted to try and convey exactly why myself and so many others felt compelled to fight to save our sauna.
What makes a Sauna special?
The tribal aspect
Humans have an innate need to feel that they belong to something and finding one’s ‘tribe’ is hugely important for emotional wellbeing and resilience.
Guy Winch Ph.D.
What is it that makes something tribal?
For me, it’s a coming together of people of different ages, nationalities and walks of life, people with varying perspectives and worldviews, bound by a common thread.
The sauna provides an opportunity to connect with people outside of our usual circles, and these sometimes turn out to be the connections we value the most. Christine Beadle, a woman in her 70s and sauna user for the past twenty years, wrote the following:
“There are few places where such diverse people of varying ages and stories can meet to exchange views and information. This is such a necessary facility for Stroud.”
Another sauna user, Hugo Kirkwood, summed it up beautifully in his letter to Stroud Times, in which he described the sauna as:
“a social club … where someone struggling with substance abuse can chat with a police officer candidly, somewhere a teenager can get advice about his workout from a man in his forties, somewhere a lady in her 70s who’s suffered years of domestic abuse feels safe enough to chat to a bald, bearded, tattooed, biker.”
Open conversations
In the sauna, people feel comfortable opening up in a way that we simply aren’t accustomed to in everyday life.
This is no doubt due partially to the intense heat - sweating alongside others helps to create social bonds and facilitate empathetic connection. (Source: ScienceDirect)
Generally, people bypass small talk and plunge straight into more meaningful conversations (much to my approval). I have often heard people compare a visit to the sauna with a therapy session, as it allows them to process and make sense of troubling thoughts and worries with others (in some cases, complete strangers) and leave them behind.
Accessibility
Saunas and other spa facilities tend to be regarded as a luxury in this part of the world, making them inaccessible for a large number of people.
That said, there is nothing at all luxurious about the health suite at Stratford Park (and I mean that in the most positive way).
Its shabbiness only adds to its charm, and the fact that access costs less than a fiver means that it is not a privilege reserved for the comfortably well-off.
Regular sauna user, Caroline Molloy, describes it as “a very normal sort of place”, commenting on the fact you don’t have to book slots using fancy apps, like so many other places. Caroline adds:
“For all of us, but especially ordinary / lower income people with sometimes unpredictable work and care schedules and fluctuating energy levels, this is an all too rare state of affairs”.
Her sentiments were echoed by Benjamin Parker, whose post in the SOS save our sauna Facebook group reads:
“I really need this facility for my health. I realise it has been poorly maintained and has been run down but it helps me. I use it regularly for my physical and mental health. It's a reasonable price.”
A great leveller
Whether or not we like to admit it, we all form judgments about other people, consciously or subconsciously, almost everywhere we go.
This is where saunas are unique: when all external markers of wealth and status - clothing, jewellery and accessories, etc. - are removed, we cease to make these judgments and find ourselves on a level with others.
I believe this may be the reason some people favour going to the sauna over other social settings, such as Charlotte Turner, a 20-year old, who stated that she would rather use the sauna than go out with her friends and visit pubs.
According to Charlotte, many of her friends would choose the sauna as an alternative option too.
A device-free zone
One of my favourite things about the sauna and steam room is that these are places people enter without phones, tablets, or any other devices.
This means conversations don’t get interrupted and people remain present and connected to themselves and to one another. Fellow sauna user Sym Roe said the following:
“The sauna is about the only place that forces me to leave my phone behind and just sit with my own thoughts (or more commonly, other people's thoughts!). It's a nice dynamic that's hard to get anywhere else.”
He’s got a point - where else, in this day and age, do people go device free?
My only other experience of this was during a 10-day silent meditation retreat, where I felt deeply connected to the other participants, despite not talking to them, as we shared an experience for which each one of us was truly present.
Milly D
For me, the same thing can be said for the sauna: strong bonds are created through the shared experience of sitting and sweating together, free from the distraction of phones.
It really touched me that the sauna tribe came together to fight for the health suite to stay open, as it emphasises the strength of our little community. Many of us wrote to our local councillors, one of whom, Fraser Dahdouh (LAB, Cainscross), understands the significance of this potential loss. In his response to me, he wrote:
“I fully agree with your profiling of what the sauna provided for the community as someone who has regularly used it in the past.”
Thank you to Fraser and the council leaders that played a part in keeping the health suite alive. I'm sure I’m speaking on behalf of all of us when I say we are truly grateful for what you have done.
Milly Day writes about addiction, self-development and conscious living and has had her writing featured in Cosmopolitan UK and Glamour UK.
You can find more of Milly's writing on her Medium blog.
Milly D
Amplify Stroud is supported by Dialect rural writers collective. Dialect offers mentorship, encouragement and self-study courses as well as publishing.
You can find out more at https://www.dialect.org.uk/
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