Three Kiwi friends are putting a local twist on the centuries-old Scandinavian tradition of sauna with mobile steam rooms that can be towed and parked up anywhere.
The idea of building a handcrafted mobile sauna was at first a "garage project", says Luke Mexted, co-director of The Sauna Project.
Photo:
There are proven health benefits to sweating it out at high temperatures, he tells Kathryn Ryan.
“I think the first one that people think of is being in a hot box and getting quite sweaty and that is a big part of it - the detoxification is very important.
“But we've got a lot of other benefits and there's a lot of supporting research around it with blood flow, increased immune function, improved sleep, stress management and also cardiovascular. [benefits]”
Luke and his friends David Seidel and Keelan Kanji first got into saunas while living in Queenstown.
“We moved back to [Mount Maunganui] and were using a sauna that was kind of tucked away in the male changing room. And it was just not really promoted in a way that was accessible for everyone.”
