June 3, 2017

 

Sweat eBook Now Available Worldwide!

 

Sweat, The Illustrated History and Description of the Finnish Sauna, Russian Bania, Islamic Hammam, Japanese Mushi-Buro, Mexican Temescal, and American Indian & Eskimo Sweatlodge by Mikkel Aaland is now available for the first time in ebook format.

 

From the forward by Leon Elder (a.k.a. Noel Young):

 

SWEAT BATHING HAS BEEN as common to people as the making of bread and the squeezing of the grape. Numerous cultures through history have discovered that the sweat bath, in one form or another, enlivens both body and spirit. Although sweat bathing has only recently entered America’s contemporary life, it thrived here long before Columbus in the form of sweat lodges and temescals.

 

Imagine literally sweating yourself around the world, as Mikkel Aaland did - lying on a marble slab in a Turkish hammam enduring a delicious pummeling by a fierce masseur or basking in the profound tranquility of a mushi-buro in Kyoto. Aaland spent three years on his pilgrimage sweating with people in far parts of the world-in the ancient smoke saunas (savusaunas) of rural Finland, boisterous banias in Russia, neighborly temescals in a Mexican village, and a Navajo sweat lodge in the Southwest.

 

Aaland brought back a rich store of photographs and experience from his world travels. His book is a revelation. “Sweat is beautiful,” he declares. They used to say that only horses sweat, that men perspire and women glow, thereby suggesting that sweating is undesirable and should be suppressed by anti-perspirants.

 

Aaland touches a sensitive nerve in the gentile and those of us who don’t sweat for a living. He explains that if we don’t sweat regularly, we deprive ourselves of a vital bodily function. The skin is our body’s largest and most complex organ and plays an important role in our fitness.

 

Aaland has a vision of public saunas appearing on street corners throughout America, trail sweats glowing in mountain campsites, sweat baths in schools, skyscrapers and factories-a vision of people everywhere basking in the healthful warmth and camaraderie of a sweat bath.

 

Sweat bathing, undoubtedly, is more important now in these seden­tary times than ever before, in the same sense that so many of us have turned to jogging, tennis and jumping rope to keep our bodies alive.

 

 

This edition contains all the text and illustrations of the original 1978 book, widely regarded as a classic and the inspiration behind numerous modern public and private bathhouses around the world. Never before seen color images are included as well as an extensive how to build as sauna/sweat bath section and bibliography. An original Moga Productions documentary series, Perfect Sweat, based on Aaland and his research and travels, will begin shooting this summer in Finland.

 

contact: mikkel [AT symbol] mikkelaaland.com

 

 

Praise for Sweat by Mikkel Aaland

 

"When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s it wasn't a credible hippie household unless there was a copy of Sweat by Mikkel Aaland floating around." --Jessica Kelso, owner Löyly Sauna, Portland, Oregon.

 

"Mikkel Aaland provides a comprehensive, overview of the different forms of sweat rituals, both past and present, used in cultures throughout the world in countries including Russia, Japan, Finland, Mexico, Turkey, Greece, and the United States (1978). This work provides rich description of the cultural importance of sweat rituals." --Stephen A. Colmant, doctoral thesis.

 

"Sweat is the definitive account of global cultures of sweat bathing. Recognized as a classic around the world, the publication of this new ebook is an exciting development that will inspire a new generation of sweat culture. Bring on the heat!" – Jack Tsonis, Sauna Studies researcher and president of the Australian Sweat Bathing Association.