PUBLISHED -
December 15, 2025
Why Heat ...
Heat
Heat exposure at Threshold is more than sweating—it’s a practice of release and renewal. Guided sessions in heat restore cardiovascular health, flush toxins, and calm the mind as you surrender to the element.
Stepping into the sauna combines deep relaxation with discomfort.
Maybe the heat overwhelms us upon entry, maybe draws us in. Most initially experience the calming effect of what’s ahead. The weight of the air, the smell of the cedar, the sound of water sizzling on stones focusing us on the importance of rest we’ve poorly prioritized. We sit, and the many benefits commence. When alone, healthy introspection dawns. When together, deep conversations have a way of percolating to the surface. Yet as the temperature rises and time accumulates, so beat faster our hearts, and so comes discomfort. With our bodies drenched in sweat, we long to be cooled. Yet now is the time to remain.
Breathwork + Heat
For most, the easy part. Finding your steady breath feels intuitive at first, no guidance necessary. You can almost immediately feel peace on your skin (though it could just be the sweat). Embrace at the beginning how much you have needed the rest. Soon your body will question why you have remained inside so long. The peace you have experienced will carry you through this next phase.
Practice Your Heat
Studies show a 40% reduction in all cause mortality rate with a consistent sauna practice. Astounding! Your vessels dilate and blood rushes more freely through your system opening loose potential problem areas and providing a steadier supply body-wide. Your risk of dementia decreases by potentially more than 65%. Your cardiovascular system is ignited, and toxins are seeping out through your skin. And all this from a consistent practice 4-5 times per week for 15-20 minutes at temps from 175-200 degrees.
Learn from the Heat
How do we respond when our bodies pick up the pace from calm to discomfort? A sauna practice illuminates the power of remaining when our peaceful moments turn to stress. When life makes this shift, it is the strength of our breath which carries us grounded over the threshold. When the ease of life gives way to the difficult, and our minds try to convince us to run, intentional breathing in the sauna becomes your teacher.
Saunas have been studied since the 18th century (as far as we know), but potentially date back as far as 4000 BC—or so imply the unearthed, curious looking domiciles with purposefully fire-scarred rocks—and practiced throughout history by many different cultures. Without proper study, all types of people everywhere have intuitively understood the benefits of high temperatures endured over time on their bodies and their well being.
And over the past 70 years, science is catching up with experience.
Prepare for the Calm
Knowing discomfort will come, allow yourself the gift of relaxation headed your way first. Rest is paramount for health. Benefits don't flow from discomfort alone.
Enter with Awareness
The best use of the sauna is found in consistency. You have made it today, and you will need to keep returning. Trust the historical evidence, the emerging science, and commit to showing up.
Find Your Breath
As discomfort heats up, keep to your breath. This transition from relaxation to tension is critical. If your breathing is too shallow, you'll force your way out. But if balanced and integrated, your rewards abound.
Exit with the Cooling
With the hard, psychological work behind you, calmly rise for the door. Emerge to the outside world and feel nature's calming effect, the air running over your wet skin. Enjoy the process of your body regulating back to itself.
At first when sitting in a sauna, most feel the benefits of relaxation on the mind & body. A little break from the chaos beyond the sauna doors. But as temperatures rise & time extends, the body responds. Heart rate increases. Sweat deluges. Vasodilation initiates.
As a result, blood flow increases through wider vessels and sends more nutrients throughout the system, on par with low-to-moderate exercise. Trace amounts of toxins escape through the skin. And quite possibly our susceptibility to cardiovascular disease begins its plummet.
Many who consistently practice sauna therapy experience reduced muscle tension, deeper sleep (praise be!), increased athletic endurance, and enhanced mental clarity.
I suppose I wonder: who wouldn’t want this? :)
where's your Threshold?
