I'm sitting stark naked, sweating profusely, as a woman in a bikini enthusiastically wafts steam infused with the scent of cinnamon in my face with a towel. It's taken me two days to work up the courage to enter the infinity sauna, or “show sauna”, where my very British anxiety about naked sauna-bathing is not being lessened by colourful lights and loud music.
This is aufguss, a sauna ritual where the host – that's the woman with the towel - pours water and essential oils over the hot stones and then fans the scented steam onto the rows of naked people sitting on the stadium-style seating. The modern version is set to music and incorporates lighting.
