elsewhere sauna ritual technology for healing
we make
with our heart in our hands
Elsewhere Sauna pays respect to Palawa land sky and sea Country
Always Was Always Will Be
We pay respect to sweat bathing traditions around the world. Sauna has migrated from the Finnish culture, stretching this practice globally. We thank the wise women, knowledge holders, numerous cultures and peoples who have kept these traditions alive. The liminal space of sauna is a portal between expansion and contraction, a sanctuary where you may wash off the old, release previous experiences and turn yourself over completely to the cleansing process of the elements to support and permeate your body.
Sauna is a place where we go to sweat, cleanse the body and mind, to cure from illness, socialise and relax… a spirit house that acts as a container for returning to self, and connecting with others. Sauna assists us in recognising our ecological interdependence through enlivening the sensory experience. In sauna we all are equal and vulnerable, the journey is a transformational ritual that opens the heart and calms the nervous system.
reset // rewire // release // re-member
……………………..
The journey
Elsewhere Sauna is 100% female owned and operated by
artist, designer, maker, risk taker
Selena de Carvalho
We never do anything alone.
Crafting Elsewhere Sauna was a considered approach with care for materials, their origin and learning new skills. Beginning this journey with the purchase of a dilapidated retro-box trailer Selena found on gumtree. The original trailer was stripped to a shell, rebuilding the floor, painting the exterior. The sauna is lined with radiata pine, a low impact plantation timber, the furniture is crafted from recycled western red cedar and the door combines celery top and radiata. Handmade tiles feature around the hearth, originally crafted in collaboration with Nanna Bayer, for the most part Nanna’s foundational contribution has been replaced and remade as time wears it’s mark and the roads are windy. Blacksmith Pete Mattila made the metal detailing on the doors and Ben Beams crafted hooks other detailings. The canvas awning was end of the roll Australian made cotton canvas fabric. Fully devoted to the process of breathing life back into this 1950’s council mess room on wheels. Elsewhere Sauna is an artwork and a sanctuary.
What is the fuel we feed the fire of our lives…
Elsewhere Sauna understands that the secret to sauna is the combustion of stored sunlight, wood ignites to release the carbon energy of heat. The fire wood we choose to heat Elsewhere Sauna is plantation sourced from an accredited member of the Firewood Association of Australia.
Humans have always gathered around fire, it is a deep time companion in our evolution story.
We are embedded within a community of talented photographers who capture the essence of this space. Grateful to Michelle Crawford, Jessica Coughlan, Amy Brown & Cassie Sullivan alongside the generous and beautiful bodies who sauna for these images.