There is a continuum of practices available when preparing to work with psychedelic medicine. Within this continuum there are multiple dimensions to consider. One has to consider financial barriers and physical limitations amongst other issues related to accessibility, readiness, and risk. I’ve come to view sauna as existing within a kind of goldilocks zone in terms of balancing a variety of factors. The physiological effects and risks of sauna are well treated elsewhere so here I’d like to focus on other less familiar aspects of a sauna practice such as its psychological and spiritual dimensions. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the risks associated with sauna before trying it. For anyone in a higher-risk demographic you may want to consult a physician before trying sauna. Note that nothing I write should be taken as medical advice. As with psychedelics, you should consider starting sauna at very low “doses” and slowly working your way up to longer durations of time or higher temperatures. This gives you the opportunity to learn how your body uniquely responds to sauna and how to best prepare for it.
One of the most notable aspects of sauna is that the extent to which it is therapeutic is correlated with the discomfort one experiences. One can experience elevated heart rate, increased circulation, sweating, labored breathing, difficulty focusing one’s attention, and other types of autonomic stress responses. In this way it has—at a minimum—an experiential similarity with the psychedelic experience. The fact that benefits of psychedelic medicine are directly connected with a mystical dimension of experience is well documented. In both cases, there is a zone of tolerance beyond which the therapeutic benefits can be lost and one is more at risk of experiencing harm (the “ekstasis” provoked by psychedelics can be very challenging). In the sauna, one has the opportunity to practice staying within a zone of tolerance during an experience of discomfort that can be tightly regulated. By managing the breathe and harmonizing with a meditative state of mind, the manner of self-regulation within the sauna resembles that of a psychedelic journey.
The discomfort of both sauna and the psychedelic experience seems to be a necessary pre-condition of a process of spiritual cleansing. This is notable in many purification rituals the most common being religious fasting. I’m also reminded of the breakthrough associated with the runner’s high.
At some threshold of discomfort within the sauna, our physiology changes. At just the right dose (for the person), a particular kind of effect takes place: purging. Purging is a term used in psychedelic medicine communities to refer to an experience of psychic and energetic release. Purging exists on a spectrum. It can be subtle (like the effects of gentle massage) or acute and dramatic (like the retching that sometimes comes with drinking ayahuasca). While it can be challenging, purging is often accompanied by a sense of intense relief (physical, emotional, and spiritual) once it passes.
The conditions (e.g. heat) and culture (e.g.. quiet) of sauna can provoke a state of consciousness that facilitates a form of purging. Purging within the sauna is more subtle than “getting better” during an ayahuasca ceremony, but many of the same dynamics are in play. For instance, within the sauna one frequently encounters the ego in full display. The ego behaves similarly within the sauna as in a psychedelic ceremony. It may express some fear and trepidation - working with this can be useful. On the other side, the ego commends itself for its own efforts at bearing the discomfort of the sauna. In either case, the presence of the ego can be taken as a signal to practice surrendering further. Clearly, this must be done carefully especially for anyone with limited sauna experience. If you’re alone you should be extremely careful.
I’ve come to understand the purging associated with the sauna as something akin to a survival reflex. When you find yourself in a threatening situation, your psyche is inclined to focus your attention and efforts on the present moment - little else is relevant. In the sauna, thoughts and memories tend to leap into ones attention and then melt away - like they are being tested for continued validity under the new conditions imposed by the sauna. You are involved in this process and can learn to enhance it with practice.
This psychic purging has been studied in other circumstances:
The doorway effect suggests that there's more to the remembering than just what you paid attention to, when it happened, and how hard you tried. Instead, some forms of memory seem to be optimized to keep information ready-to-hand until its shelf life expires, and then purge that information in favor of new stuff. Radvansky and colleagues call this sort of memory representation an “event model,” and propose that walking through a doorway is a good time to purge your event models because whatever happened in the old room is likely to become less relevant now that you have changed venues. That thing in the box? Oh, that's from what I was doing before I got here; we can forget all about that. Other changes may induce a purge as well.
— Why Walking through a Doorway Makes You Forget
There is more going on than a simple “forgetting” but to a first approximation this is a useful model for thinking about what’s happening.
From the emptied place that we arrive at through spiritual cleansing, we are better able to receive divine guidance. This can be better understood by studying the wisdom of the Inipi and Temazcal ceremonies.