🌿 A Conversation with Esteban on movement, ritual, and sacred moments in the sauna

Esteban speaks slowly, with warmth and precision. He moved to Tromsø in December 2023, from Germany – though his journey spans far more than countries or years. Born in southern Brazil, raised between Chile and Brazil, and now working as a researcher in social and political science at the University of Freiburg, Esteban lives a life that is both rooted and always in motion.

He works remotely, coordinating his team from a quiet apartment in Tromsø.

– I didn’t know anyone when I arrived. My days are often solitary. But the sauna… and the jam sessions… they changed everything.

His relationship with sauna culture goes back to 2019, when he lived with a Finnish family in Lapland.

– They taught me what sauna means to them. It’s where life begins and ends. It’s sacred. A place of bonding, trust. Of family.

He tells a story from that time, when the mother in the Finnish family that had undergone a mastectomy and felt ashamed to share sauna.

-But one day, she did. She invited me to share sauna together. That moment taught me everything. There was no judgement. Only presence. Acceptance. Respect.

The sauna, for Esteban, is not just a place.

It’s a rhythm. A ceremony. A way of resetting the self.

– You are almost naked. It’s intimate. But it still feels safe.

You’re pushing your body into discomfort. And that’s when the connection begins – with your own body, and with others.

Recently, Esteban proposed conducting a survey among members of the sauna community here in Tromsø. As a researcher, his hypothesis is simple:

– We go to the sauna for physical and mental wellbeing. But what it actually does for our mental state… that’s something we can’t even measure. Let’s not underestimate it, it’s a social service.

For Esteban, sauna is a habit, almost a daily ritual.

– It helps me decompress. Sometimes I go right before bed. It’s my healthy addiction.

He’s been to saunas in Finland, Germany, and the US – where he once worked as a ranger for the forest service in remote wilderness. But Tromsø? He smiles.

He’s been to saunas in Finland, Germany, and the US – where he once worked with the reindeer and forest service in remote wilderness.

But Tromsø? He smiles.

– I don’t think I’ve been to a more beautiful place to enter a sauna. The mountains. The northern lights. The wildness of the weather. I love the storms. I love how it changes all the time.

Esteban’s life has moved across at least six countries in less than eight years.

– It’s been quite a journey. You learn to adapt, rebuild your sense of community – and yourself.

When asked what kind of life he’s building now, he thinks for a moment.

– I don’t live an urban life. Tromsø is more wild. More honest.

I feel happy here.

This post is part of our People of Pust series – stories from those who find meaning in stillness, and connection in the cold and heat.

Esteban’s journey reminds us that presence often begins where comfort ends –
in vulnerability, in wild weather, in shared silence.

If his reflections resonate with you,
you’re warmly invited to find your own rhythm here – in the rituals, the cold, or the glowing warmth of the sauna.