The Upper Bench

Hosts Eero Kilpi (Saunner), Sam Wacha (Saunner), Christopher (Risto) Rice (also a Saunner) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Intro (00:01:30) Therme Introduction (00:06:06) U.S. bathing culture and Therme’s role as an access point (00:08:30) Ways to do sauna, health and fun (00:10:27) Sauna and aufguss (00:14:00) Authentic sauna vs infrar...

The Upper Bench 024: Bryon MacWilliams joins us to discuss the Russian banya and his book With Light Steam. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780875807089/with-light-steam/ bryonmac@gmail.com Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Saunner), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:00...

The Upper Bench 023 Emma O'Kelly joins us to discuss her new book Sauna The Power of Deep Heat. https://linktr.ee/saunabook Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Saunner), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:02:57) Her first sauna (00:04:35) What to look for in a good sauna (00:06:5...

The Upper Bench 022 Juha Ruokangas joins us to share his love of sauna and give us a tour of his backyard garden sauna. Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Saunner), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Ruokangas Guitars https://ruokangas.com Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:01:13) Tour of Juha's sauna (00:04:26)...

The Upper Bench 021: Am I doing sauna wrong? Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Saunner), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Catching up, what's new? (00:02:44) Is it ok to burn pine? (00:07:28) Taking a break from social media (00:09:49) Wherever people are there is drama (00:12:02) Radiant vs convective debate (00:23:19) Understanding saun...

Leontina Piccardi from Peterzen's Marina joins us to discuss sauna and sailing in Finland. Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Saunner extraordinaire), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) TOPICS Sauna and sailing Nakedness Social sauna LINKS https://www.peterzens.fi/ TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Leontina and Peterzen's marina in Finland (00:04:40) Sailing and sauna (00...

The Upper Bench 019: Random Show Eero's going to Finland! Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

The Upper Bench 018: Sauna in the Summer Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Why sauna in the hot summer weather? (00:03:30) Every season is great for sauna (00:06:20) Using a fan to cool your down (00:07:07) Cold contrast in the summer (00:09:05) Thermoregulatory benefits of saunas in hot weat...

The Upper Bench 017: Sauna in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan We recommend watching the video podcast for this episode. https://youtu.be/4bWtEYpKzAg Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Topics: DIY sauna, sauna in the "buckle", sauna priorities, sauna bathing, ILO sauna stoves Theme Music: Conga Se Menne &q...

The Upper Bench 016: Jeff Pyzyk joins us to talk about his sauna and cold plunge practice. He likes his sauna HOT 🥵 and his plunge COLD 🥶 Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Jeff's sauna story on Sauna Digest https://saunadigest.com/my-sauna-journey-ad4580ad37de DIY Cold Plunge Facebook Group https://www.facebo...

The Upper Bench 015: Nils Shenholm and Devin Colman join us to discuss sauna in Vermont. Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Links Solhem Sauna http://www.saunavermont.com https://www.vermontlogsauna.com Devin Colman https://www.linkedin.com/in/devin-col... Woodstock Inn https://www.woodstockinn.com Savu sauna https:...

The Upper Bench 014: We interview one of our own--Eero Kilpi. He tells us about growing up with sauna and becoming the president of the North American Sauna Society. NASS: https://www.saunasociety.org/ Audio podcast version: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-upper-bench Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Eero's early sauna ye...

The Upper Bench 013: Dr. Lassi "Al" Liikkanen is an Adjunct Professor of Human-centered product design at Aalto University in Finland. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings in the fields of product design, interactive technology, music psychology and cognitive neuroscience - and naturally sauna. At present he works full-time in the Finnish ind...

The Upper Bench 012: Sam's sauna, firewood, rocks Test run for our reddit AMA with Lassi Liikkanen this coming Sunday

The Upper Bench 011: Sauna Topics - How well does A.I. understand sauna? We test ChatGPT from @OpenAI Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Risto Rice (Sauna Digest) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Introducing A.I. and ChatGPT (00:08:11) Asking "What is good sauna?" (00:09:36) The tende...

Garrett Conover and Rick Meagher join us to discuss sauna in Maine. Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) https://maineauthorspublishing.com/sauna-magic/https://twitter.com/RickSaunahttps://www.cedargrovesauna.comhttps://www.driftlesssaunas.comTheme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIME...

Repost of Finlandia's Sauna Week panel discussion - Why Americans Compromise on Sauna Quality Panel: Eero Kilpi, Sam Wacha, Christopher (Risto) Rice, Scott Räisänen https://finlandiafoundation.org/programs/national-sauna-week/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgbPg6jjsQ3QJICAS0Tkw8L4iTL3nwBrj

The Upper Bench 008: Sauna Topics - Why Sauna Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna" TIMESTAMPS (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:13) Health motivations (00:04:37) Sauna the Finnish way (00:05:26) Better sleep (00:06:00) Fitness: Warm up and recovery...

The Upper Bench 007: Sauna Topics - Sauna Etiquette Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Topics: Sauna hosting, etiquette as a guest, showering, sitting on a towel, sauna nudity... Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

We interview one of our own--Sam Wacha. He tells us how he got into sauna. Sauna subreddit Youtube video version Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

The Upper Bench 005: Trumpkin's Sauna Notes with Walker Angell Walker Angell shares the story of how he created Trumpkin's Sauna Notes. Hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Topics: 0:00 Walker's history with sauna and his first sauna build, 2:47 Finnish sauna practice vs "sauna looking objects",...

Cheryl J Fish, who writes about sauna in poetry and fiction, joins hosts Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest)  Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

Sam and Risto interview Eero about Finnish Christmas sauna tradition. Hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

Lassi Liikkanen, author of The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design and creator of Saunologia joins hosts: Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher Rice (sauna hound) Theme Music: Conga Se Menne "Guess Who's Coming to Sauna"

Welcome to The Upper Bench podcast. Eero Kilpi (North American Sauna Society), Sam Wacha (Sauna subreddit), Christopher (Risto) Rice (Sauna Digest) introduce themselves and The Upper Bench Podcast. We invite you to explore the world of Finnish sauna with us.