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To match the tagline “East meets West” the International Sauna Association could not have chosen a more fitting location for its 16th International Sauna Congress (30 May – 1 June 2014), than the historic city of Trakai, deep in the Lithuanian heartland. Throughout the centuries, the skyline of a medieval castle that mirrors off the surrounding lakescape has been imprinted in the minds of a legion of dwellers and visitors from Teutonic Knights to Crimean Karaites.

For one long early summer’s weekend Trakai once again became its historic self when the members of worldwide community congregated in the halls of Trasalis Spa Hotel to exchange their knowledge and recent proceedings in the manifold arts of sauna bathing. Roughly the first half of the three-day programme was dedicated to talks and presentations and the second half to excursions to local saunas.

An eclectic mix of presentations and international flair

The organisers cannot be blamed for a lack of open-mindedness in putting the conference programme together. Presentation topics ranged from sports medicine and architectural regulations to aromatherapy and Native American sweat lodge rituals. Such an eclectic mix of topics proved that modern bath science is a holistic study where a surprising variety of viewpoints can be equally considered.

Regardless of the angle, everyone seemed to agree on the mental and physical benefits of sauna. This was best exemplified by Japanese manga artist Katsuki Tanaka, who gave a heartfelt account of losing his creative inspiration under the oppression of the modern world, and finding it again in the sauna. Now his new little figure “Coppu no Fuchiko” is selling millions and creativity flourishes. If sauna originally was a hunter-gatherers’ survival technique, it has now fully inserted itself into the 21st century story of health, mindfulness and well-being.

At the front and centre of the congress however, was the rich and vigorous Lithuanian sauna tradition with its strong emphasis on whisking as the backbone of the experience. The art of whisking is an all-encompassing craft, starting with foraging herbs and preparing the sauna, and culminating with choreographing the entire bathing experience with its warm-ups and cool-downs, whisking, massaging and scrub.

Unique opportunity to experience Lithuanian sauna culture

The deep dive continued with an excursion to “Pirties diena”, the Lithuanian day of the sauna celebration set up by a lush creek outside the town. In today’s terms the event could be described as a “pop-up” sauna village, with dozens of stalls and mobile saunas with their bathmasters ready to whisk visitors to an enlightened state of mind. Had this been set up anywhere near London, Berlin or Brooklyn it could have become the trendiest event of the year.

Building upon the group excursion, the last day was dedicated to "try pirtis” – a series of individual field trips to different saunas around Trakai that each congress attendee could book after their fancy. This unique opportunity gave even deeper insight into the variety and practicalities of Lithuanian sauna culture.

The four-year wait for the next congress feels olympic – but with all the knowledge and connections built here, the international sauna community will surely come back together even wiser and stronger in 2018.