Built forms can offer protection from the elements, invite contemplation or even deepen our awareness of the wildness around us. A bench where steam meets sea breeze. A window framing the horizon. A jetty that dares you to plunge.

Nestled along the icy shores of the Baltic Sea, Helsinki’s sauna culture is a time-honoured tradition that continues to thrive in the heart of Finland’s capital. As home to the most saunas per capita anywhere in the world, here, the use of saunas is embedded into the fabric of the city itself.

While the idea of ‘wellbeing’ is supposed to help us move away from destructive behaviours and move toward a healthier, happier version of ourselves – the commercialisation of what makes us well could be doing the opposite.

The bathhouse invites you to come as you are and take what you need. Building a little slowness and gentle immersion into our routine can create a feeling of spaciousness, but how do you hang on to this feeling?

In Italy, bathing's ancient past is always present

A free publication, straight from the hearts and minds of our team at Sense of Self.

Reasons to relax and unwind in Melbourne’s biggest bathhouse.