Have you ever seen so much naked flesh in one room?
Naked in a mixed Austrian sauna, I sat across from two dozen other naked people on wooden benches.
Even after more than a year of living in Europe, as an American, I still felt a little uncomfortable sitting there in nothing but my own skin.
The sauna master came in to warm things up.
Tall and lanky, wearing only a towel around his hips, he carried a cart with several grapefruit-sized balls of crushed ice infused with essential oils such as black pepper, lime and eucalyptus.
After a brief speech telling us to leave immediately if we felt dizzy, he placed one of the ice balls on a tray of hot coals and it began to sizzle.
Alpentherme Gastein, about 90 minutes south of Salzburg, Austria, offers a festive version of the sauna ritual known as aufguss.
Photo Alpentherme Gastein/Wolkersdorfer
The smell reminded me of an expensive scented candle: a touch sweet, a touch spicy.
He turned back and forth and to the sides with a large towel in his hands, like a half-dressed matador, moving the air around the room with one goal: to get us very, very hot, as part of a sauna ritual called
aufguss.
, German for "infusion."
As I watched, mesmerized, I began to forget my discomfort, or even that I was naked.
Swimsuits are not allowed
In Austria and Germany there are many spas called
thermen
:
resorts with swimming pools, saunas, lakes, restaurants, bars and treatment areas.
They usually have a warm mineral spring and a section where nudity is required.
Walk in in a swimsuit and you'll get stares and maybe even reprimands.
I had traveled to St. Martins Therme & Lodge in Frauenkirchen, a small town about an hour southeast of Vienna.
St. Martins sits next to a serene, shallow lake where guests can swim in the summer or take a cold dip in the winter.
At the center of the spa is an atrium with a pool that has indoor and outdoor areas connected by a tunnel, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake, and several levels of balconies with rows of lounge chairs.
The complex has five saunas and a steam room;
11 thermal pools;
a treatment area with massages, facials and more;
a restaurant;
and a cafeteria.
A one-day pass costs
53 euros
(about $58).
After about five minutes of intense sweating in the sauna, we move on to the second stage of aufguss:
Still naked, we walked out onto a patio with a hot tub and vine-covered walls.
My skin was so hot that the normally stinging 4.5-degree November air felt like a balm.
Therme Erding, an hour northeast of Munich, Germany, has 24 saunas and a large indoor and outdoor pool.
Photo Therme Erding
An assistant handed each of us balls of a salt and coconut oil scrub, which we diligently rubbed into our skin.
After a thorough cleaning, we returned to our positions inside, where the sauna master brought out a large fan and we spent the next six or seven minutes in a
crescendo of hot air.
After about 15 minutes total, the aufguss ended and we headed back out the door, our bodies bright red and smoking.
Sit back, relax and "don't stare"
Aufguss is just one of the pleasures of a day at the thermal baths, which may also include a body treatment, a swim in a heated outdoor pool with rotating jets, and a fresh schnitzel with a chilled glass of wheat beer or apple juice with gas.
For residents of German-speaking countries, aufguss is a very popular pastime, especially in late autumn and winter.
"I really enjoy it after a week of hard work, or when I just need to relax, or if my body is very tense and my muscles are very stiff," said Laura Blumenstiel, 29, a psychologist from Freiburg, in the southwestern corner of Germany. , who has been a frequent visitor to the hot springs for about a decade.
Typically, a thermal complex is divided into two sections:
one with several heated indoor and outdoor pools, where swimsuits are required and children are allowed, and a second usually containing all saunas, where clothing is prohibited.
For some Americans, including me, nudity, especially in a mixed environment, can be
extremely uncomfortable
at first.
Keon West, professor of social psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, explained that cultural standards often affect the level of nudity that people find tolerable:
In some places, seeing women with their hair uncovered may seem risqué, while in others, stripping off on a public beach is perfectly acceptable.
"You might think the Germans are a little bold, while they think they're normal, and you're a little silly," West said.
In countries like the United States, he said, there is a “highly sexualized and puritanical culture, where sex is strictly controlled.
Attitudes are generally much more conservative regarding what women do and their bodies.
In Europe that tends to be less frequent.”
In several studies, West and his team have found that being naked in front of other people can increase self-confidence and life satisfaction.
"If you go to a naturist event, you see a lot of normal people, people who aren't airbrushed and aren't Beyoncé, and you realize that
you don't look bad
compared to the average person," West said.
“And you spend time naked in their company and nothing bad happens.
Nobody says anything bad to you, nobody laughs at you.”
Some Americans have discovered that the discomfort of being naked in the sauna
is temporary
and has a worthwhile reward.
After moving to Graz, Austria, Amy Feineman, 38, a chair assembler originally from Colorado, made the hour-long drive to Rogner Bad Blumau, a colorful, eye-popping thermal bath and hotel designed by
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
, an Austrian architect who He believed that “the straight line is the curse of our civilization.”
At the thermal baths (one-day visit, €57), this philosophy translates into undulating floors, circular buildings with irregular roofs, and bright orange, blue, and green mosaics.
On their first visit, Feineman and her husband skipped the nude sauna area and instead explored the outdoor pools and gardens partially clothed.
But on their second visit they felt
brave enough
to lay it all out in the sauna area.
“It took us most of our first day there to get up the courage to check it out, and then we spent most of our time there,” Feineman said.
“I am a plus size person and in the United States I would never wear a bikini in public.
Here, I am happily walking through the nude zone.”
Feineman and her husband are now regular guests at the Rogner Bad Blumau.
His biggest advice to other nervous Americans?
"Don't stare," he said.
"And don't worry about being judged either."
The most basic entrance to a thermal bath, with the sauna section included, usually costs between 40 and 65 euros, depending on how elegant or large the complex is.
Typically, hot springs offer at least three ticket options:
a three or four hour pass, a day pass and a night pass.
For example, Therme Erding in Germany, about an hour northeast of Munich, has 24 saunas and a large indoor and outdoor pool in the nudist section, and costs 62 euros for a full day weekend.
The best way to experience a hot spring is to relax and settle in for at least half a day.
Bring a book.
Schedule a massage, facial, or "soft pack," a treatment in which a masseuse rubs a moisturizer into your skin and then leaves you ensconced in a contraption that's a cross between a sleeping bag and a waterbed tibia.
Hot springs often offer packages that encourage one-day retreats.
For example, St. Martins, where my aufguss odyssey began, has an option that costs 107 euros and includes a robe, slippers, unlimited towels and snacks.
Sweltering with a soundtrack
The sauna master played Austrian pop music and handed out bottles of cold non-alcoholic beer to the 40 or so of us gathered at Alpentherme Gastein, about 90 minutes south of Salzburg (day visit, €45.50), for an evening theme.
aufguss.
The crushed ice balls sparkled with the lights shining beneath them and encouraged us to
chat
, something unusual in most saunas.
Aufguss sessions are of different types.
Some sauna masters play Metallica, while others prefer relaxing rhythms.
Some dress up as Vikings.
But there are two immutable rules:
Do not wear clothes and do not enter an aufguss once it has started (you can leave at any time).
Some other tips: always sit on a towel in dry saunas, claim your spot in an aufguss a few minutes before (the higher you sit, the hotter you will be), don't take your phone into nudist areas, and shower before entering.
I had come a long way to embracing my naked self when I sat down on the party-themed aufguss and started dancing to the music.
It required a bit of letting go: of my fears, of my ego, and of my control.
Looking around, without staring, of course, I could see that no one around me looked like Jennifer Lopez or Jeremy Allen White.
We were all just beautiful lumps and bumps.
Was someone judging my body?
To be honest, I was too hot to care.
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