If you look Podunk up in the dictionary, it will tell you it is a hypothetical or insignificant town.
The folks who live there think otherwise. In reality, Podunk is a place name on the map, the location just a short ski south of Trumansburg, New York, where I grew up. The smattering of residents, will all tell you that Podunk is very real and very significant.
In the 1960s, Ozzie Heila settled there with his family on an old farmstead established by an even older Finn who first built his sauna (above) before the house in the 1930s. It is also where I learned all the important things in life. In the 1970s I spent countless winter hours there at the ski center that Ozzie established, becoming a damn good Nordic skier and developing a life-long passion for the sport.
In the summers, I explored the creek with his son my good friend Daniel and learned the value of immersing one’s self in nature. Daniel’s mother, Ethel, was my art teacher in middle school; she helped me become the artist I am today, and we still have wonderful conversations about color theory and art composition. The sauna was the heart of the complex of dated farm buildings; there I learned to channel my need to experience extremes into something healthy and life affirming. We loved going from the hot to the cold.
Jumping in the creek in the dead of winter after a searing round in the sauna, we felt more alive than ever. That feeling has never died; each cold plunge I take during sauna takes me back to that creek.
Today, Daniel and his family were back in the area and we went to Podunk to visit the old homestead once again. This time we took our Finnish Blue mobile sauna and parked it next to the ramshackle old sauna, which is now defunct and awaiting a rebirth. Of course, many things have changed in that memorable place. The trees have grown huge or have died; the old purple Lilac, with the rusty sauna bell hanging from its branches, is gone and the brush has been cleared away from the old sauna, revealing the sagging bones of the century-old structure. But the building itself is as recognizable as the last day I took a sauna there about twenty-five years ago. The inside is a sadder story. It turns out that squirrels like the sauna too, and they have made it their own. In an expression of horror at the mess, the Lämpimämpi stove I welded up for Ozzie in the 90s sits with it’s mouth rusted wide open.
The path through the field to the creek is the same but with a detour to the left towards a new dipping hole: a makeshift stone bathtub—with a strategically placed rock to help keep your butt moored—in the midst of the rushing current. The run down to the creek had an awkward familiarity: running all out before cooling off while maintaining stable footing. Still a challenge. And the sensation! Whoops and hollers of twelve-year-old boys came out of us as we braved the icy April stream.
Real or not, Podunk is the same as it will always be. What are memories but unreal fragments of experience in our minds, ready to be stirred up by whirling waters in a cold stream or by the exhilarating steam of a sauna?
The old next to the new will always appear old, until we make it new again and live our lives to the fullest, with no regrets, in the now, and with dreams, not of memories, but of tomorrows.
New sauna and parked it next to the old sauna near the creek.
A comprehensive sauna building class and workshop with demonstrations, lectures and some hands-on experience. We will cover many aspects of sauna building:
Design and layout of freestanding & electric saunas
Selection of the proper wood and materials
Principals of insulation
Interior finishing of wood paneling
Basics of the kiuas or sauna stove (emphasis on wood burning but electric is covered)
Safe clearances and chimney installation
Floor and stove-wall masonry construction
Mobile saunas
Sauna details: Benches, doors, windows and more
Sauna essentials: usage, customs and etiquette
Sauna business and culture in the US
Sauna construction challenges
Total Class Fee: $975 individual $1850 couple/family rate
A $300 non-refundable deposit (for each person) is due at registration and applied to the total class fee.
Location: At the Shop of Rob Licht Custom Saunas 8 Verizon Lane, Unit 1, Lansing, NY 14882
Class size will be limited to 12. There will be a waitlist. Please email us at contact@roblichtcustomsaunas.com to get on the early registration list for future classes.
Class Schedule: Thursday: 10AM to 5PM Friday: 9AM to 5PM Saturday: 9AM to 5PM Sunday: 9AM to 1PM
Lunches will be provided every day. Throughout the intensive days we will have break-out work sessions, time to answer questions, and coffee breaks. There will be opportunities for socializing after class and the option to take sauna at the shop and by the lake.One evening, we will sauna and picnic at a local park on Cayuga Lake. Significant others are welcome to join us for this event.
Recommended prerequisite: We’re not covering basic carpentry (exterior framing), and basic metal working. If you lack these skills it is advised that you take a hands-on carpentry class.
About the Teacher: Rob Licht has been taking sauna for 50 years and has built and designed hundreds of custom saunas. Rob readily dispenses his knowledge to students and hopes to share his enthusiasm and expert knowledge of sauna with you.
Rob Licht grew up near Ithaca, N.Y., inspired by the bucolic landscape of the Finger Lakes region. He fell in love with sauna and Finnish culture as a teenager at a local cross-country ski center run by a Finnish family. He has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Cornell University and has been a practicing artist and teacher for over 30 years. He taught art at Ithaca College for 12 years and has also taught adult education classes in welding, art, and design. He began combining his love of sauna, his practice as an artist, and his skills acquired from working in the building trades into a sauna building business in 1995. Today sauna building is his primary focus and he is one of the leading east coast sauna builders and sauna building educator offering a plethora of information to his clients, and now students, from around the world.
Terms & Info: A $300 non refundable deposit is due at registration payable paypal/venmo and applied to total class fee. Your balance is due (via mailed check) at least 45 days before class in order to attend. We realize that check writing may be a thing of the past, so are other options via paypal but ask that you cover the 3% paypal fee. We will also accept cash for the balance when you arrive, just let us know if you are planning on that so we can plan for your attendance. In the event the class is under enrolled (6 or less), you will be informed and your deposit of $100 will be refunded. In the case the class is over enrolled (12+) we will put you on a waitlist and we will let you know asap if you can attend. Because of the overwhelming popularity of the class, there is a waitlist, so if you do need to cancel please keep that in mind so we have time to fulfill your spot. Class size will be limited to 12. Class attendees will have the opportunity to buy our sauna building plans at 50% off.
About the Shop: 3000 sq ft with 16 ft ceilings and two large overhead doors and outdoor spaces to ensure good air quality.
Lunch is included: Lunches will be delivered to the shop. We will accommodate basic dietary restrictions with options. Coffee, Tea and snacks will also be available throughout the days of the class.
Sauna etiquette: We allow about 4 people at a time in the sauna. Bathing suits are required; please bring 2 towels (free from perfumed detergents) to sit on in the sauna. Towels will also be provided everyday. Everyone will get a chance to sauna most days after class.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING…
“This was the best weekend. I learned so much and left feeling full of inspiration and conviction. We can do this y’all- the revolution is happening! I am so grateful to you, Rob and Scarlet, for working so hard to put together such a clear and digestible roadmap for all of us. And I am so grateful for having four days with the loveliest people to talk sauna. What a dream.” —Erin, NC
“What an amazing weekend of sauna immersion. It was something special to be in an intimate group of like-minded folk focused on something that brings us such joy. Rob and Scarlet so well prepared and so packed with knowledge and hands-on experience! I was so impressed with the smooth and thoughtful delivery of information. Possibly the biggest take away I got was that there are many right and not so right ways to do things, in the end sauna building is an art as much as it is a science, which is why my sauna is so authentic in the experience.” —Mark, MA
Rob and Scarlet are the real deal! I’m a professional carpenter and builder. I bought and adapted Rob’s mobile sauna plans, and I also did a consult with him. Two years later, and I’ve just had the pleasure of spending 4 days in the shop with Rob, Scarlet, and about a dozen other students, drinking from the firehose of knowledge and experience. They make a great team, both as builders and educators, and they’re just great people to be around. I couldn’t be more pleased and impressed with the experience, and I’m eager to get back to building saunas back on the west coast with my business, Sauna Väki. —Josiah, OR
THANK YOU for you enjoying my blog about saunas and sauna building. If you value the info you glean from my sauna blog consider dropping me a TIP via PayPal @RobLichtStudioLLC or writing a google review. For press Inquiries please contact me directly.
