The Power of Hot and Cold. From Sauna to Sea: The Finnish Way to a Happy, Healthy Life

Carita Harju, Katja Pantzar

Original title: The Power of Hot and Cold. From Sauna to Sea: The Finnish Way to a Happy, Healthy Life

Authors: Carita Harju, Katja Pantzar

Published: 2024

Publisher: Yellow Kite / Hodder & Stoughton

Genre: Personal Growth & Lifestyle

Pages: 192

Reading material:

English edition

Find out how hot and cold contrast therapy can change your outlook, your wellbeing and your life.

  • The secret to how the world’s happiest nation keeps calm and carries on – no matter what life throws at them!
  • World English rights sold to Yellow Kite / Hodder & Stoughton for UK publication in November 2024 and US publication in Spring 2025!
  • The world’s first international title on Finnish contrast therapy written from an inclusive perspective!
  • Inspiration and practical tools for creating a wellness retreat using the Nordic contrast bathing philosophy, wherever you are in the world.
  • Unique collaboration by Carita Harju, Finnish sauna experience expert, and Katja Pantzar, author of The Finnish Way, sold to 24 languages!

Step into the world of hot and cold, where contrast therapy – pairing a good steam in a sauna with an icy dip in a lake or the sea – is an essential part of life in Finland. More than a trending pastime, the traditional Finnish practice of alternating hot and cold has a range of health benefits that boost mental and physical wellbeing, which greatly contribute to happiness. It’s also a large part of the reason Finland has been named the World’s Happiest Country for the seventh year in a row.

The sauna, the first Finnish element on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, was recently ranked as the No. 1 global wellness trend by the Global Wellness Summit. Cold-water swimming is also gaining popularity around the world and being proposed as a cure for all manner of things from improving mental health to boosting immunity. But why is being hot good for you, and why is submerging into icy water good for you? And what about alternating between the two? What exactly is hot and cold therapy and why is it so vital for physical and mental health?

This definitive guide by two experts takes readers on a journey into the transformative powers of hot and cold by pairing the sauna, that quintessential hot Finnish steam bath, with a cold-water dip. Along the way, it serves up the inspiration and practical tools for creating a wellness retreat using the Nordic contrast bathing philosophy, wherever you are in the world.

The Finnish hot and cold method boosts happiness by increasing wellbeing and encouraging connection with nature. It’s the secret to how the world’s happiest nation keeps calm and carries on – no matter what life throws at them. Now you too can learn their secrets.

At a time when we all need to disconnect a bit more, THE POWER OF HOT & COLD shares secrets of what makes Finland the happiest nation on Earth . . . A fascinating insight into the ancient wellness traditions of a happy and balanced nation.

- Eliza Reid, bestselling writer, public speaker, gender equality advocate, cofounder of the acclaimed Iceland Writers Retreat, and former first lady of Iceland

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Rights sold:
WORLD ENGLISH: Yellow Kite / Hodder & Stoughton (orig.)

About author

Carita Harju

Carita Harju is a Finnish sauna experience expert and marketing professional whose mission is to share the Finnish sauna’s positive health and wellness benefits with the world. She is the founder and executive director of Sauna from Finland, which represents an international network of more than 200 sauna industry companies. The organization’s mission is to create the world’s best sauna experiences, and Harju loves her work, because it allows her to advance an idea that she is personally so passionate about. Carita Harju has always enjoyed saunas, goes to sauna with her family nearly every day and gives talks all over the world.

Her first illustrated guide, Sauna - The Way of Finnish Life (2016), has been published in four languages, including German and Chinese. Her second book, Soul of the Sauna, was released in Japanese and Hungarian, while her newest title Saunafulness (Hyvää oloa saunomalla, 2021) has been sold to 4 territories.

Bibliography


2021, General Nonfiction, Personal Growth & Lifestyle

Carita Harju

Saunafulness


About author

Katja Pantzar

Katja Pantzar –  Katja Pantzar is a Helsinki-based writer and journalist who swims in the Baltic Sea year round. Raised in Canada, with stints in New Zealand and England, she is the author of The Finnish Way (Penguin Random House/2018), a bestselling non-fiction book about Nordic well-being, winter swimming and sisu (resilience) that has been translated into 24 languages. Her second book on sisu, Everyday Sisu: Tapping into Finnish Fortitude for a Happier, More Resilient Life (Penguin Random House/2022) explores through expert interviews and research-based information how we can better support our mental and physical health while taking care of each other and our planet. Everyday Sisu has also been published in Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian. Pantzar’s work has been widely covered around the world in media ranging from Le Figaro, Le Monde, and El Paísto Vogue the Washington Post and the New York Review of Books. . She is also the author of three mini-guides to the Finnish capital, including 100 things to do in Helsinki (Siltala/2024).

Bibliography


2018, Personal Growth & Lifestyle

Katja Pantzar

Finnish Way