Humans have been using the earth's natural environments to heal the body in all parts of the world for centuries. In Japan, many people visit onsens (natural hot springs) located throughout the country which is due largely to the fact that Japan is located on volcanic islands. In Turkey, there are hammams (public baths) originating during the Ottoman Empire, and then spreading throughout the Islamic world, and even into Europe and Great Britain. In these baths, people bathe in therapeutic waters. In Scandinavia, there are saunas.
A sauna is a small room, usually built out of wood. The room can be within a structure, like a house or an apartment building, or stand alone. In the middle of the sauna, there is a hot stove filled with stones. The stove heats the stones. Once inside, people throw water onto the stones to produce steam that fills up the room. It can get extremely hot in saunas. The higher you sit, the hotter you get because heat rises.
The most exciting part of the sauna experience is that after getting extremely hot in the sauna, you either run outside to jump in a lake, or in the winter, you go outside in the snow.
