'Primitive rhythm' of wild saunas hailed by MSP in new book

Now, Scotland’s public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad has written a love letter to the growing number of wild saunas scattered across the country, describing them as a way of reconnecting with the land and getting closer to nature.

Ms Goodlad, who was elected earlier this year as Shetland’s first ever SNP MSP, said the network of saunas across the Scottish mainland and islands was a way of offering not just comfort to people, but reminding them of the impotence of wild places.

The 36-year-old, who started out working for the energy firm, Equinor in Oslo, and later moved to Aberdeen and then London, said that while her career to date had been a privilege, with enough experiences to last anyone a lifetime and worldwide travel, it had also been “corporate in the heaviest sense of the word,” with numerous red-eye flights, hotel rooms, deals, speeches, and award ceremonies.

As a result, she said, the wild - something that was inherent to her sense of self while growing up in Shetland - at times felt “unreachable,” with the freedom it offered little more than “a shadow of what it once was.”

Read more: I tried the serene and restorative new wild sauna at Scotland's best hotel

Despite finding comfort and “moments of stillness” through the likes of hiking, crafting, cooking, and spending time with her family,” Ms Goodlad said she still felt an “edge.” But while on a business trip to Lithuania, she recalled in the new book, ‘Sauna Land: Scotland’s Wild Sauna Culture’, “everything changed” after she stepped into a sauna, and found herself “hooked” on the experience.

“The simplicity of the space instantly calmed me,” she wrote. “A small dim room, wooden walls, the scent of birch, the steady hiss of steam. Life, in an instant, was stripped back to its essentials.

The Scotsman’s daily newsletter brings you the best news - subscribe now

“No screen, no emails, no deadlines. Just the heat, my heartbeat, and the steady inhale and exhale of my presence. I became quickly aware of the primitive rhythm of it all. My breath had become my anchor and the silence of the space, my guide.”

Read more: Tunnels are part of Shetland's future' - islands' new SNP MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad

The book documents Ms Goodlad’s journey around numerous different wild saunas in Scotland, from a handmade Danish bolthole on the shores of Arran to a Siberian cedar structure on the Granton waterfront in Edinburgh.

She said she believed Scotland was now on its own journey towards “rediscovering its forgotten, ancient tradition of heat,” pointing out that many northern cultures have had connections with heat that have transformed societies for the better.

She also writes about the business, Haar Sauna Ltd, she launched with her husband, during the pandemic, describing it as a “labour of love.”

The firm began with a small, six-seater horsebox based on St Ninian’s Isle beach in Shetland, the largest sand tombolo in the UK. It now extends to multiple locations across the archipelago, capable of hosting up to 45 people.

In the book, Ms Goodlad also recounts taking part in an ancient Celtic sweat lodge ritual on the shores of Oslofjord in Norway, entering a rudimentary lodge with fire-heated rocks that are sprinkled with herbs. During the so-called death ceremony, she said the heat was "overwhelming," and she described the four-hour long ritual as “a slow unravelling towards the edge of existence”.

Saunaland: Scotland's Wild Sauna Culture by Hannah Mary Goodlad is published on September 17 by Birlinn, priced £25. Available for pre-order now.