I’m in Hackney Wick for my first festival of the year, sitting in a container with 15 other people and wearing a swimsuit — it’s hot, about 87°C — others are wearing less, but everyone is donning a woolly hat. Guitar music plays from a Bluetooth speaker and a man starts to whip a towel around in the air above our heads. Some whoop, others chant and begin to stamp their feet on the wooden benches. Welcome to Saunaverse, the UK’s first sauna festival at the Community Sauna Baths in east London — and my first aufguss ritual.
“Aufguss” is from the German word for “infusion”, and our aufguss master Chris explains the ritual is a multi-sensory experience which combines heat therapy, sound and smell to coax you into a relaxed and meditative state. As he douses essential oil-infused water onto the hot stones and waves his towel in circular motions, the even hotter steam catches my throat and eyes — but it does seem to bring with it a weird sense of calm.
