The Sauna Project
Words by Jo-Marie Baker, Photos by Ilk Photography
Where fire, water and community come together
Going from extreme heat to extreme cold sounds punishing but thousands of Kiwis are soaking up the euphoric experience every week thanks to three Bay of Plenty innovators.
The Sauna Project offers hour-long sessions where you alternate between an 85°C wood-fired mobile sauna and a plunge into a freezing cold lake, river, harbour or ocean.
It’s a physical shock but surprisingly manageable. Your skin tingles and your heart races, but a sense of peace and calm also descends as you take in nature’s beauty and completely forget about the worries and stress of daily life.
Contrast therapy (hot to cold) is great for your cardiovascular health. It gets the blood pumping in the same way as moderate exercise, and can help improve your sleep, mood, skin and general wellbeing. The multi-sensory experience is enhanced by the addition of essential oils on the sauna’s hot rocks (known as an Aufguss ritual) and is something that people of all ages, sizes and physical abilities can enjoy.
The Sauna Project is the brainchild of three Tauranga friends – David Seidel, Keelan Kanji and Luke Mexted – and has now spread to 28 locations nationwide plus two more in New South Wales.
David grew up in Germany where having a sauna in your home was commonplace. Keelan’s father is one of New Zealand’s leading pain specialists and prescribes sauna therapy for many of his patients. While Luke discovered the power of sauna when living in Queenstown with his wife who worked at Aroha Retreat.
“We started using their sauna one or two times a week followed by a cold plunge. Suddenly our sleep was better, our skin was better, and we were having more in-depth conversations about life,” Luke explains.
When Aroha Retreat’s sauna was occupied by other guests, Luke and David (who was also living in Queenstown at the time) were disappointed there wasn’t another good option publicly available. So when they moved back to Mount Maunganui in 2022 (and into a flat with Keelan) they decided to build their very own mobile sauna.
“We built it in the driveway on a trailer, and the space was only just big enough,” David recalls. “We had this vision for all these beautiful places we could take it to all over New Zealand – lakes, beaches, isolated spots.”
The original sauna was 3m x 2m and featured a secondhand window and door which they refurbished. Luke is a builder by trade so it didn’t take long to figure out how to design and construct a 9-person commercial sauna. Before the trio knew it, they were regularly booking public sessions for their mobile sauna at the Mount, and franchisees have lined up ever since to take the concept further afield.
“It’s absolutely wild,” Keelan reflects. “It just blew up and people got in touch from everywhere. We’ve just moved to a booking system created especially for saunas by a Norwegian company. Even globally, they haven’t heard of a sauna brand that’s got this many franchisees.”
Sauna culture’s popularity has well and truly taken off in New Zealand, driven by health and wellness podcasters, word of mouth, and first-hand experience. “When people start coming to the Sauna Project, the conversion rate is super high,” Keelan says. “It might take four or five sessions for the penny to drop. But once they realise they are sleeping much better and feeling less stressed, you see them every single week.”
Here in the Bay, Sauna Project sessions are available in at least two different locations seven days a week, ranging from Pilot Bay and Clyde St at the Mount, to Pāpāmoa Domain, Omanu Beach, The Strand in Tauranga’s CBD, Ōmokoroa and Waihi Beach.
David says their mission is to have a sauna in every town in New Zealand. “It’s a modality of health that could benefit a lot of different people. We’ve had so much positive feedback and it’s honestly just that classic story of ‘we had a problem that we wanted to solve’ so we just took that Kiwi attitude and ran with it.”
Luke points out there’s so much healing and social connection that goes on around the sauna experience.
“One of the coolest things is typically we have random people sitting in the sauna together and over time they become sauna buddies. When you’re inside, you have really good chats with people and you’re just able to connect with each other. There’s no distractions. Your phone isn’t there, you’re just in a conversation with another person. And we found that so many strong connections and genuine friendships have developed from that experience.”
Building a community around sauna is what Keelan is most proud of. “What people value most about us is the way we go about things – the way we treat people. All three of us still operate saunas on a weekly basis and this is as much a social enterprise as it is a business.
“One of the most special things is the number of people who book and come on their own. They trust this community and their sauna hosts to be welcoming, and know they can find connection here. There’s a lot of good vibrations and positive energy from being in nature. It’s elemental – there’s water, fire and the spiritual connection of being in a beautiful location alongside other people.”
To experience the Sauna Project for yourself, book a session at https://www.thesaunaproject.co.nz