Sauna is booming. Who is it for?
Sauna shouldn't be a special occasion. We signed a charter committing to keep it that way.
The best things in a neighbourhood aren't special occasions. They're the rink you skate at every Saturday. The market where the vendors know your order. The places you go back to because they're good, they're close and they're for everyone.
That's what public sauna should be in Toronto. It's why Kotisauna is one of nine founding stewards of Sauna for All, a new global movement to keep public sauna accessible, well run and rooted in community.
Saturday mornings in the Beaches
Before Kotisauna, there was Sedar Sauna: a black wooden hut on wheels, parked on a quiet street by the lake. Every Saturday through two winters, people showed up in toques and parkas, walked into Lake Ontario, then warmed up around a wood fire.
The regulars included a Montessori teacher, a health worker, a documentary filmmaker and a toy designer. Mothers of young children took an hour for themselves. Some people never went in the lake at all. They just came for the heat.
Jessica Hein grew up with her Finnish Canadian family's sauna outside Sudbury. When she found the black hut, she told The Globe and Mail what it reminded her of: "It's not extravagant. It's part of life." Her point was that sauna should be something you can afford to do every week, not a spa day you save up for.
Mary Munro, a Beaches local, described the mixed, multi-generational crowd this way: "There are connections made in there that you otherwise wouldn't."
That's the sauna we want more of. The Charter is how we protect it.
Where we spend, and where we don't
We'd love sauna to be free. It isn't. We're trying to keep our prices about 30% lower than other saunas in the city, and we'd go further if we could. That's only possible because of the community partners and sponsors who help carry the cost. We're grateful for every one.
The setup is simple: a hot room, a cold water shower, a place to sit outside. We work with the seasons at Evergreen Brick Works. Sessions run at set times, so the room is full and the costs are shared.
We invest where it matters. Our hosts are CPR certified. We clean regularly throughout the day. Our water system is designed around fresh water, which cuts the complications, cost and chemical balancing that pools need. The details are in what actually makes a good sauna and what values-led looks like when nobody's watching. Better yet, come try it.
The point is one bench that fits everyone: kids with an adult, grandparents, first-timers, neighbours, strangers of every kind of body and background.
Why a charter
Sauna is growing fast, and fast growth quietly decides who something is for. In June, we sat on a World Sauna Forum panel in Finland with operators from the UK, Ireland and Canada, and people who keep sauna traditions alive. On 23 September, that conversation became the Public Sauna-Bathing Charter, announced in Oslo at the International Sauna Congress. Thirty-two organizations across 12 countries have signed so far.
What we've promised
Two of the Charter's ten principles are the ones we'd ask you to hold us to:
Anyone can come. Clear public sessions. No membership, hotel room or extra purchase needed.
Access comes first. We still have to cover our costs. But when we make a decision, access gets the first say.
It's voluntary. Nobody hands out certificates. It's a promise, made in public, by people who do this work every day. We also track who comes and who comes back each season, so we can tell whether we're keeping it.
"Our job is to make sure it reaches far beyond the few and the Instagram feed, and becomes a simple part of life for anyone who needs it."
Jason Wong, Founding Steward, Kotisauna
Where you come in
Make it your place. Come back. Make it a rhythm, not an outing. Bring someone who's never been. Sessions and booking at kotisauna.ca.
Follow the Charter. Read it and sign up for updates at saunaforall.org.
Public sauna. Common good.