When I was out for drinks with a friend last night she randomly asked me if I'd ever been in the sauna at the ARC, and I had to respond no and that I had completely even forgotten there was one there. This made me feel extremely forgetful because I worked at the ARC the summer before it opened and was actually one of the first people to stand in the sauna when the director gave me and another intern a tour of the whole facility. Now that I've been reminded, however, I am so thankful! I had a great workout today and while I was stretching, decided I should try out the sauna for the first real time.
I made my way through the locker room towards the pool where the sauna also is and almost didn't go in because there were just two guys in there when I first walked by. After a brief moment where I almost just turned around and went back in the locker room, I decided to give it a go. The heat instantly hit me, and I wasn't sure how long I would last. One guy was meditating and an older guy was just sitting, so I decided to climb up and sit down on the open side and close my eyes like I was meditating too. Granted I was "technically" meditating, but once I shut my eyes I did try to focus on my breathing and find a sense of peace by thinking of how great my workout had been and other positive thoughts about myself.
At first the heat was overwhelming, but after sitting and breathing for a bit, it was so nice. I felt like I was super flexible because my muscles were already warmed up and then I was sitting literally in extreme heat, so I stretched a bit and then returned to my "meditating" cross legged seating.
I used to go tanning once or twice a winter to get over the winter blues, but the sauna is definitely the new beat the blues spot. It completely beats tanning considering it's free and actually good for you. Sitting in sauna felt like being in one of those ridiculously hot days in the summer that you complain about at the time but dream about in the dead of winter. I'm so glad I was shown how to randomly insert 10 to 15 minutes of scorching summer day in to the coldest days of the year. I will definitely be a return visitor to the sauna.
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