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Why Steam?
I have been building spaces to sweat in for about 15 years. I am setting up this site as a way to share some
of my ideas and experience with others who might like to build something for themselves. Ultimately I would like to present
technical step by step directions for fabricating the dome, and for assembling the other components of the steam bath. The
portable geodesic dome has some use beyond steaming, and the components that create the steam could be installed into some
other appropriate space (i.e. permanent home sauna), so as it develops this site could be of interest to dome enthusiasts
with no interest in steam baths or to steam bath enthusiasts who have no interest in domes.
Steam baths of one sort or another have been used by peoples all over the world for a long time. In modern Alaska many people live without municipal
water supply. They are more conscious of their water use because they have it delivered or carry it themselves. Many people
can get clean in a sauna using less water than a single shower, so saunas in one form or another are quite common. When I
was visiting there, I was invited to participate in what my friends called a “Sweat Lodge”, this involved crawling
into a little wigwam made from blue tarp pulled over bent sticks. Inside were some red hot rocks which had been heated outside
in a big fire. When all six of us had huddled into the space, the tarp was pulled shut. I was warned that I better not wimp
out, and then they began putting water on the rocks. It got unbelievably hot.
From black rock to copper pipe
A true Native American Sweat Lodge involves putting water
on rocks as well many other ritual practices and specific ritual aspects of the space. I have never trained in any of those
rituals. I am emulating a Finnish style wet sauna. http://www.finlandsteambaths.com/steambaths.htm That site is really very informative, and if you don't live near Boston it should make you want to visit. Much of the design of my steam bath was driven by my plan to participate
at the Burning Man Festival in Black
Rock City, Nevada. www.burningman.com/. That festival happens once a year and I have set up my geodesic steam bath there five times including
august 2005.
BURNINGMAN 2006
The Steam Bath Project (SBP) is pleased to announce its intention to be mapped at Burning Man 2006, either as an art project
or a theme camp. SBP is also seeks ongoing collaboration with other burners, yo.
click here to learn more
Steam Bath Project welcomes each one who visits to share a steam bath experience: a hopeful ritual embodying the possibility
of transformation. Visitors are invited to enter the geodesic dome and relax on wooden bench where boiling water produces
steam and negative ions that fill the dome. Negative ions are known to cause the overall good feeling we notice after a summer
thunderstorm or while feeling the drops from a waterfall. Heat in the steam bath ebbs and flows, and varies from one spot
to another within the dome. Almost anyone can find comfort. The steam bath process results in a clean body, improved respiratory
function from cleaning playa dustcake boogers from the nasal passages, cleansed pores, a relaxed mental state and community
with other steam bathers.
In his book Sweat Bathing and the Body, 1999, Mikkel Aaland cites the medicinal value physicians throughout history have
recognized from use of the sweat bath in its various forms, such as the Finnish sauna, Russian banai, Islamic hammam, or the
American Indian sweatlodge.
The dome shape of the structure provides resonant acoustic effects; some groups of steam bathers are inspired to chant.
The dome use is open to use for ritual as appropriate to the overall hopeful theme of the Steam Bath Project, particularly
as it encourages community and friendship.
Local hot springs are closed, too fragile to handle visitors, but the Steam Bath Project can provide a similar experience
without damaging the native ecosystem. And compared with single showers, more people can get clean in the Steam Bath using
less water.
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