Вашингтон хотын түүхэн ядуувтар дүүрэгт зохион байгуулсан түр зуурын сауны тосгон нь хотын иргэд болон зочдод эрүүл мэнд, амралтын шинэлэг туршлагыг санал болгож байна.
Өнгөрсөн аравдугаар сард Анакостиа дүүрэгт байрлах хоосон талбайд зургаан ширхэг зөөврийн саун бүхий түр зуурын цогцолбор ажиллажээ. Эдгээр сауныг тойруулан иог, пилатес дасгал, дууны эмчилгээний сургалт явуулж, хүйтэн усны ванн болон орон нутгийн ургамлын цай, хоолны үйлчилгээгээр жуулчдад үйлчилсэн байна. Тус арга хэмжээ нь Сиэтл, Миннеаполис зэрэг хотуудад түгээмэл байдаг “поп-ап” сауны соёлыг Анакостиагийн түүхэн дурсгалт газрууд болох Фредерик Дугласын гэр болон байгалийн цогцолбор газрын ойролцоо нэвтрүүлснээрээ онцлог болжээ.
Тус арга хэмжээнд дүүргийн оршин суугчид төдийгүй хотын захын дүүргүүдээс ирсэн иргэд олноор цугларчээ. Оролцогчдын зүгээс ийм төрлийн амралтын орчин нэн шаардлагатай байгааг онцолсон бөгөөд энэхүү туршлага нь хотын хөл хөдөлгөөн ихтэй бүсээс хол, тайван амрах боломжийг бүрдүүлсэн байна.
Анакостиа нь Анакостиа голын эрэгт байрладаг бөгөөд ой мод бүхий цэцэрлэгт хүрээлэн, ховор шувууд бүхий байгалийн өвөрмөц тогтоцтой бүс нутаг юм. Хэдийгээр тус дүүрэг нь эдийн засгийн хувьд хүндрэлтэй ч ийнхүү соёл, эрүүл мэндийн арга хэмжээнүүдийг зохион байгуулах нь орон нутгийн аялал жуулчлал болон олон нийтийн оролцоог нэмэгдүүлэх ач холбогдолтой байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
In one of the most economically depressed neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., on a warm fall afternoon, woodsmoke rises from a vacant lot. That tells me I am headed in the right direction. Exiting the Anacostia Metro station, on a bright afternoon, I chart a course toward the smoke. In less than five minutes, I arrive at an unlikely scene for this part of town: a bustling pop-up village consisting of six mobile saunas arranged in a loose circle around a patch of astroturf.
Dozens of people wait for their turn in the saunas; in the biggest one, a refitted shipping container with one side entirely made of glass, a lithe blonde woman runs a sound bath class for a full house of about 25 people. In the smaller sauna next door, a friendly yoga instructor from Tampa leads the quirkiest breathwork class I’ve ever experienced: first she asks us to quack like ducks, then buzz like bees. We comply until our buzzing bursts into laughter. “Laughing is breath work!” insists the instructor, Annette Scott.
Over to one side of the village, well-steamed saunagoers line up to dip in a large, wood-sided tub of clear, cold water. Just past that, in a big white tent, more bodies are bending, twisting, and sweating on stretchy mats; the yoga and Pilates classes are packed all day long. There’s also locally-blended herbal tea on tap, a stocked bar, and a barbecue truck offering half-smokes, a D.C. delicacy that is like a chili dog but indescribably better. (If you know, you know.)
A pop-up sauna village is a common sight in hipster havens like Minneapolis, Seattle, and Burning Man. A large and splashy sauna festival, with 16 wood-burning saunas in a park beside the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, wrapped up in March. The one in D.C., held last October, took place in a far less hipster-friendly spot: Anacostia, the historically poorest part of town, across the Anacostia River (a tributary of the Potomac) and worlds away from the monuments and government buildings that we see on the news.
Every afternoon, commuters zoom right past this spot without stopping, on freeways whisking them to greener suburbs. They’re missing out: Anacostia is also known for Cedar Hill, the historic home of Frederick Douglass, as well as the former St. Elizabeth’s mental institution, acres of forested parklands, and the occasional pair of nesting bald eagles.
Today, however, this little corner of Anacostia is jammed—with neighborhood residents, who make up about 30 percent of the attendees, but also with people from the suburbs. I sit next to one father-son duo who drove 45 minutes from Virginia.
Most people are in shorts or bathing suits—which are available to rent—but not everyone is dressed for the occasion. I pop into one of the smaller saunas to find a tall, elegant-looking woman, dressed in voluminous linen pants and a tailored top, both of which are completely soaked—from sweat, or from a trip to the cold plunge, I can’t tell. Maybe both. She hopped into the sauna village on the spur of the moment, as she was headed somewhere else, and now she seems in no hurry at all to leave. Leaning back, eyes closed, she murmurs, “We need this all the time.”
Her wish might come true.
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