Wednesdays, especially at night, tend to be days to ponder vacation and travels of the past for me. The prime-time night event for me is my yoga class at my gym. There's a lot of mental and physical relief from the class, all the way up to the final five minutes of class, when the lights go out and you let energy radiate from your frozen body while you lay on your back with your eyes closed and arms out-stretched. Each time I get into this position, I only think of one thing: my vacation in Portugal back in September. The beaches in southern Portugal (Lagos) were prime territory for yoga. Every day, throughout the day, I would swim out into the water and enjoy the serene environment floating on my back with my arms behind my head and legs stretched out, just like yoga. And I would just breathe deeply and could almost fall asleep out in the cold water. I get back into this frame of mind every Wednesday night and I think about my trip, my stories, and my yoga on the beach, with the only sound being the water lapping on the golden sand.
I dress lightly for the gym, which is only a few blocks away. I wear my warm-up pants and a cotton sweater, gloves, and a beanie and have to practically run to the gym before I freeze solid. Today was no exception - it was cold out there! By the time I got to the gym, my body temperature dropped from 98.5 degrees to about 37 degrees. The light wind went right through my sweater and punished by face, neck, and whole body. So, after yoga, I spent some time going up to Northern Europe - Scandanavia. I do this by heading upstairs and waltzing into the sauna for a session. Considering the weather, I thought I would put my body through an extended session, Finnish style, to see what it would do for my walk home.
In 2001, when I was working in Germany for the summer, some friends and I went up to Finland to visit my Finnish friend Anssi for an extended weekend trip. Anssi is very well travelled and loves to get into discussions about cultures that he's experienced, so he is very good at explaining his own culture. One important aspect of the Nordic culture is their sauna. We took a trip out to his summer home, which was on a lake in the woods and had no running water and limited electricity. And, of course, a sauna. It was a wood-fired sauna and he would bring a bucket of lake water into the sauna and ladel water onto the sauna rocks to raise the temperature inside. He would explain to us the importance of the lake's water's minerals and the elements of the birch branch that we would slap on each other. Once our body temperature was rocking, we would sprint down to the little boat dock on the lake and jump into the frigid water, immediately closing all of the pores that were wide open from sitting in the sauna. We would repeat this process for several hours.
This is all I ever think of when I sit in the sauna - my four days of sauna bliss in Scandanavia. So, for tonight's session, I decided I would heat up, take a freezing cold shower, and then repeat the process a few times. The first shower was painfully cold, and I just stayed in long enough for me to cover my whole body with the freezing water and then jumped back into the sauna. And that's when the amazing events take place - the sauna's warmth quickly dries off the cold water and I start sweating again. The second shower stage was just climactic. It was comfortable being in the cold water and I could stay in as long as I wanted because the heat would just radiate from my body. I knew at that point that the walk home was going to be fun :).
Stepping out of the shower, I dried my hair off and left the rest of my body wet. By the time I had walked to my locker, my whole body was nearly dry from my skin's heat. Amazing. I quickly dressed in my light clothing and headed outside to see how the temperature was. This, my friends and family, is the cure for the common New York winter cold. I was so comfortable outside that I even took off my beanie and gloves and strolled home like it was June....
I also spent some time reviewing picture from my old travels today. I have been very fortunate to spend time in many parts of the world and if I could impart any wisdom on someone, it would be to see as much of the world as you can, especially when you're young and have crazy vacation time as a student. There really is no better time. Going over my photos from my trips to South America and Europe, I was reminded of Roland Vas's words of wisdom regarding taking pictures - they mean nothing without a person in them. I realized how few pictures I have of me and all of my great friends and family members. As I get older, I'm looking back at these pictures and I want to see what we all looked like a mere two, three, four, ten years ago. Sadly, those pictures are few and far between. If I want a picture of Machu Picchu, I can buy a postcard. But I can't buy a postcard of me and some of my best friends goofing off at our hotel with crazy hairstyles (like my mohawk in Brazil)! So, from now on, those will be the focus of my digital eye....
J. Riley
