A story of a young girl bounded by the inherited contract of cultural traditions. A weaver of cloth. Not out of creative pursuit, but out of family obligation. From a small farm town, Chongming, nestled beside Shanghai. Where marriage for a young girl can only happen after she has weaved enough bundles of cloth to offer as a dowry.
Music: Alvina Seron by @lsaachaines 🙏
Nestled between the lines of apartments and ground floor shops of the East Village, Russian and Turkish Baths stands as a relic of bathing history in New York. Built in 1892, and taken over by the Tuberman and Shapiro families in 1985, Dmitry now operates this local bathing treasure.
The Banya is heated through a fire that heats the surrounding volcanic rock. It takes a full week for that room to cool down. There’s also a Finnish sauna and steam room. All your sweat needs within a few strides. Contrasting the heat in a cold plunge pool that looks as vintage as the patina of its brass railings.
Once the heat has asked your body to call it a day, then you’re left with the convenience of walking right into their kitchen for a home made menu of European delights - borscht, sausages & sauerkraut, and pirogies & dumplings.
Big thank you Dmitry for the NY hospitality. Despite you not calling it that ;).
The warm hug of an Oak forest.
The slow care of steam masters.
The embrace of two friends.
The sounds of earthy textures and physiological release.
This is Banya.
It was a fragile fall.
1 - Dylan taking a pause before starting a tobacco ritual.
2 - A misty sunrise in the Yukon after field dressing a moose overnight while underneath the northern lights.
3 - “If you take from the land, you must also give back to her.”
4 - Tyler feeling the cauldron of simmering emotions surfacing after 5 cold days on the river and bush.
5 - A fragile heart.
6 - Mavic working on a blacktail and against time as heavy snowfall approaches.
7. A black bear paw.
8. 2.5 years post bilateral hip surgeries and feeling grateful to be back in the alpine with friends again.
A life long student to cold water. What started as a routine for pain management became a perpetual lesson of listening. Practicing in Europe has taught me a more grounded, honest and felt approach to sauna and cold plunge culture. This is the kind of spirit we’re wishing to infuse into @aetherhaus as we open on June 18th in the West End. This will be a space that considers the balance of opposites while honouring old traditions and the elements themselves.
To sit in dark silence with a heavy blanket of warmth and the nostalgic scent of smoked wood.
To share sauna rituals inspired by Aufguss and Banya as we journey together in music, steam and breath.
To create a culture that feels less like “wellness” and more like “hospitality and home”.
To have social hours where being | creative, mindful, kind, weird and curious | can all live together.
We aren’t here to speak at you or to take away from the work of the heat and the cold. We are not interested in using numerical metrics, studies, or wellness trends to sell you on our cold pools. (We can geek out on science with you too if that’s your thing).
We are here to host. And I am immensely grateful to be hosting alongside a team of friends who have all come together with a shared interest in creating something meaningful for our neighbours. We hope you feel at home with us.
Our Haus, your Haus.
📸: the wildly beautiful @lumberjackskin
Sauna culture is rapidly growing in the Western part of the world. There will surely be an influx of innovation, creativity and unique iterations to what the world of Sauna may look like in the next decade. As excited as I am for this future, I also find myself drawn to the old traditions of any practice including its cultural beginnings. For this reason, I was elated to hear my dear friend @thefinnishsauna.ca and @lindahelisto would be hosting the first West Coast Sauna Summit.
Owners of sauna businesses from different parts of the world came together for their shared passion of this ancient form of leisure, connection, and medicine. I always appreciate an environment where Iearning accompanies laughter. I learned that most Finnish babies and children grow up using saunas and can result in a more positive relationship with body acceptance. I learned a Russian Banya experience typically includes a cold dip immediately after a hot massage with Venik (bundle of birch or oak branches). As someone who favours the cold, I found a new reverence for sauna culture after this weekend. Thank you @westcoast.saunasummit ✨.
I’ve been interested in learning to hunt for what felt like a long time but the barrier of entry always seemed daunting if you didn’t grow up around it. After some steady Google time, I found a local education company with a strong set of ethics and values in their approach to hunting. It’s been a year now since I took Dylan and EatWild’s 2 day CORE course.
It’s strikingly obvious the love Dylan has for everything around hunting and fishing. This extends to how it brings people together, how it deepens relationship to land & sea and all sentients, how it asks for our attention, and how it questions our consumptive behaviours.
He’s too modest to say it himself, but he’s a fantastic teacher who I’m immensely enjoying the learning process with.
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Sun filled January day on the water with Dylan and Tome.
🎶: Doll Bones by Ben Rogers
Today marks a year of sans alcohol. At first, time began to unfold with less distractions. As the noise settled on the surface, there became enough silence to finally listen to underneath. There was no more ignoring the waves of unfelt sensations, memories and uncomfortable truths that have been trying to make their way to shore.
I used to think life was simple. Smile often. Lend a hand. Love lots. Be as wild as nature intended. Do more of what feels good. Do less of what doesn’t. However, the current sobering reality is that I was getting complacent in a set of stories that no longer served their original purpose. Pausing booze didn’t provide a surge of anything significant. It simply provided the time and space to tune in further to myself and this miraculous world. It’s a recalibration in process.
This year hasn’t been full of the usual excitement yet it has somehow felt more nourishing and whole. Along with a deeper quality of presence that I try to meet each conscious moment with. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to unraveling new truths, dusting off the ice saw into winter, witnessing the growth of Ritual Urban Retreat, spending time cooking over fires with friends and a pint of Asahi/shot of sake after a day of snow and Onsens in Japan.
If you’ve been on the fence about kicking the can, keep listening.
Thank you @lumberjackskin for your captures and your beautiful spirit.
Kade and Lockie are a pair of good friends from their Engineering school days. Along the way since then, they’ve learned to cook. And cook well. A Sunday evening dinner with them summed up why I love being behind the camera - to witness people enthralled in their passion. They sourced high quality ingredients from the local market and flowers from the garden, used kitchen tools and techniques that aren’t found in your typical home, and creatively put together a freestyle menu that indulges all of the senses.
They run pop up events @assemblypopup where they serve intricate multiple course dinners. Think good food amongst good company. See you at the next one, hopefully.
A lineage of healers. Passing down traditions and knowledge. Working with nature and not against it. A true medicine woman. Delsy is her name. Thank you for giving me the blessing to capture this moment.
On Fire In Ice - @thevimff 2024 Official Selection
Fighting a rare and unrelenting disease, a man suffering from chronic pain finds solace in frigid waters.
Watch our new film ON FIRE IN ICE on the big screen at the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival! Join us on Feb. 25th for a live screening of the film, or head to vimff.org to watch the festival online.
Screening Info:
February 25th, 2024 - Mind Vs. Mountain show
Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver, BC
See the festival lineup and get your tickets at VIMFF.org
#cold #coldplunge #wimhof #vimff #documentary #coldexposure #coldplunges #cinematography #film #filmmaking
