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 Lundoxia Presents (1 of 10): Savusauna (introduction to smoke sauna in Finland) and maintaining the Jedi codes of sauna ethos; Plus, the art of Löyly There are very few "sauna-savvy" countries on Earth where the collective population is familiar with the practice and correct ethos; Finland is number 1 and perhaps even on a par with Estonia (called Saun in Estonian.) Russians might argue on this, where it is called Banya; yet Karelia which is in Russia is formerly part of Finland (ceded to Russia in 1939), so it is a misnomer. There are only a wee handful of countries on Earth that sport a collective sauna tradition, and they are all in Europe, and vary greatly in numbers or percentage of frequent sauna goers compared with the total population. In Finland conservative figures indicate at least 80% of Finns are weekly sauna goers and have free access to a privately owned sauna, explaining the near disappearance of public saunas during the post-World War II period due to the rise of purchase power. This is a sharp difference between Finns and Dutch: Dutch rarely entertain at home; they pay money to go out. Finns stay at home or go to friends' places to entertain. On my last Finland trip I entered the incorrect apartment building and was trying to enter the door of the wrong flat; an unknown man opened the door and with a happy face invited me to the party he was having inside his home. Other countries such as The Netherlands and Germany boast a decent percentage or frequent sauna users. Other Germanic nations such as Flemish/German-speaking Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and German-speaking Switzerland also have sauna traditions although much less than Holland or Germany. And I was always stunned at the lack of saunas in the other Nordic nations (or the remaining Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania for that matter) of Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. There are some but again it is hit or miss and very few and far between. It's about uniformity/consistency in respecting the preset codes, maintaining a certain standard, decorum or ambience and concentration of sauna use in a given country. At its best such as Finland or Estonia, it is stoic and thus self-regulating non-verbally. In super-prude Norway, forget it. In Sweden, because it borders Finland, you can find them but it takes investigation (granted, Norway snakes northeast overtop Sweden and Finland with its piece of turf called Finnmark, yet is thinly populated mainly by Sami, or Laps/Lapps.) I go to one in Copenhagen sometimes but it is gender-segregated and totally walled-off creating the vague sensation of claustrophobia. Copenhagen's Frederiksberg public swimming facility with saunas schedules weekly nude swims and monthly sessions where the entire facility is nudity-obligatory (I wish it were the opposite: nude all the time with scheduled slots for bathing-suit clad people!) URL: https://vimeo.com/54637378 (copy and past this link in your upper browser rectangular space bar - many people still don't know this!) As you penetrate eastward into Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine or Hungary you can find some but the ethos really starts to thin out and the sauna loses its meaning somewhat: it is hit or miss. Once in Kiev with a Ukrainian woman we entered into a sauna cabin which dot the city's outskirts. The man says in Russian to my Ukrainian escort: "are you going to fuck in the sauna?", she got angry and we went to another place run by a babushka and it was much better. What is the criteria to a proper sauna? It cannot be sex act-oriented. It must be minimum 80 degrees (I prefer the stronger ones above 100.) You must be fully naked. It should not be gender-segregated as this was never in keeping with Finnish egalitarianism (Finland is the only non-monarchy among the Nordic states except Iceland whose populace is essentially ancient Norse. Note: it is only in the last 100 years or so that public saunas in Finland started gender-segregating, though today there are only about 15 public saunas left in Finland according to a Finn, since most Finns already have their own private saunas.) What if you had a sauna date and the date consisted of both genders? This is the problem. It is a conundrum to contemplate the gender segregation of Finland in this regard, and a tragic betrayal of its social model of egalitarianism. It's a question of objective experience to separate the phoneys from the genuines. A sauna is a sauna is a sauna, regardless what country it is in. If you veer too far outside the parameters of what constitutes a sauna, please don't call it a sauna; call it a hot room, a Banya, a bath house or anything else, but not sauna. For example: the moment a fellow sauna user tells you not to pour water on the rocks for any reason, or says you must ask permission, basically it's no longer a sauna, it's a lunatic box. On a report I wrote in 2014 I interviewed one of Finland's foremost sauna experts. He said: "in some countries like Germany they have it all wrong. They think you can only pour water on the sauna's rocks at specific times or that you must obtain all fellow sauna sitters' permission first. The whole point of Löyly - the Finnish word for pouring water on rocks in the sauna - is that it is a spontaneous non-verbal act, and is repeated. You lose the sense of time and come into the nowness. But by far the best saunas are savusauna (smoke sauna.) It's worth an expedition to Finland to get a taste of it. I think electric saunas are so bad that I no longer categorize them as saunas due to the synthetic heat the electricity produces - heat is not heat; there are all sorts of forms of heat...I think I'd rather take an infrared sauna instead of an electric sauna. Note: granted, there are pockets of isolated exceptions. In certain regions of Canada or the US there may be sauna clubs run by descendants of Finnish immigrants. But these are usually private clubs or between friends and form an extremely low percentage overall. Ditto for nudist resorts; a nudist resort is a private establishment focused on nudism and not authentic Finnish sauna ethos. Just because a nudist resort has a sauna does not qualify it as a genuine sauna. |
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Lundoxia Presents (2 of 10): Delftse Hout Naaktlopers Vrijgesproken 2017 (Naked Walkers of Delft Woods Acquitted, 2017) Delftse Hout Naaktlopers Vrijgesproken 2017 (Naked Walkers of Delft Woods Acquitted, 2017.) Another video by me presenting the legal problems and solutions to public nudity in The Netherlands and the recent acquittal of Delft's naked walkers as a legal precedent. Most likely public nudity in The Netherlands would not be decriminalized, even though it is not a punishable offence in Spain due to accidental omission and we see how public nudity in Spain poses no significant problem. Along all of Denmark's coast it is allowed too. In Finland the land is so sparsely populated there is no need for legislation and many Finns are nude in and around their country cottage saunas. At least items such as this one trigger conversations about it and the fact that these naked walkers were acquitted for being nude in a place not designated for nudity is significant. There are others too, notably the eminent lawyer Gerard Spong in Amsterdam who also walked nude in a place not designated for nudity, was charged, brought it to court and was acquitted. It really boggles the mind why they bother to retain this outdated and invalid public nudity law; each time someone breaks it and brings it to court he or she wins, so what is the motivation to retain it? This law is indefensible and inhumane. Until now nobody can give me a valid argument as to why the sight of an unclothed human body should be subject to any form of punishment. Who knows, just as during the times when people were hanged to death on Dam square hundreds of years ago and it was considered normal, perhaps one day in the future public nudity will be as normal as breathing, a matter of personal choice, and nude people will be seen walking around in public and nobody will mind. |
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Lundoxia Presents (3 of 10) : Amsterdam Paradigm : The Quantum Leap of Public Nudity Another video plugging away at the idea of liberalizing urban public nudity. Will Dutch parliament, the municipality of Amsterdam or even Dutch media support such an initiative? Probably not, but only because nobody wants to listen to nor truly try to understand my rationale which is perfectly valid. But hey it's a free country and I enjoy thinking. So there. |
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Lundoxia Present (4 of 10): Nudist Champion Robbert Broekstra (1938-1999) and the human body A brief 2-minute mini bio on the late Dutch nudist champion Robbert Broekstra (1938-1999.) Broekstra's public nudity stunts in various Dutch localities including Amsterdam prove that public nudity in The Netherlands could work: at the time, Broekstra was not famous and there was no context for his nudity other than he and his members were nudists. This is why I proposed a Gedoogbeleid to the Tweede Kamer (Burgerinitiatief) but in all likelihood I will not receive a reply. It's too bad my proposal is not given serious sociological consideration as it's a scientifically valid experiment. Non-nudists always seem to fixate on body parts, especially the penis. This is often indicative of an infantile mindset. On the other hand with women you could pose the question of breast size, buttocks size and vagina size. I'm uninterested in size; I am interested in the overall form and how the woman walks and talks, how she thinks, acts and reacts. Her way. Once I met a beautiful woman at a nudist resort. She was beautiful because she glowed. Her body parts were of average size, but more importantly, she glowed. Do you glow? |
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Lundoxia Presents (5 of 10): The visual poetry of Andrei Tarkovsky In the real world of daily life, the simplest tasks can become nightmarishly impossible. Often it seems the whole world is blocking your each and every attempt to do practically anything. Hence the relief of cinema where fantasy reigns supreme. Cinema is essentially the modern mythology. An excellent 3-minute synthesis of Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) and the lyrical visual poetry of his films. |
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Lundoxia Presents (6 of 10): The Role of Art in Modern Nudism as a Sociocultural Phenomenon In this short video of under 3 minutes I do a slideshow with text explaining the role of art in bringing about modern nudism, including Ancient Greece as its early champion and ending with the odd case of the DDR (the former East Germany) and the question concerning the next bold step: legalizing public nudity. |
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Lundoxia Presents (7 of 10): Public Nudity : The Physics of a Potential Social Norm In this video I offer my thoughts on public nudity and its potential to become a social norm. Could public nudity become normalized in The Netherlands? It would only be possible if the current restriction (artikel 430a, which subjects public nudity to a fine where practised in areas not designated for nudity) were quashed. But how? Laws do get quashed so it's not impossible but would need to be put to the Tweede Kamer. And currently there is no urgent precedent to review, amend or quash article 430a. Still, I view article 430a as discriminatory against the human body and nudists as a historically established group. And on the basis of freedom of religious worship as a part of the ancient Jain religion, just as a muslim clad in her textile attire or a Sikh clad in his turban attire, as a Jain the Dutch constitution guarantees me to be clad in my Jain attire which happens to be "digambara" ( = "sky clad", or nude.) I have written a proposal in Dutch that I shall soon publish. Although there is no interest or support for my cause, this is no reason not to express it. After all, there was lots of opposition to the introduction of soft drugs and Coffeeshops in The Netherlands, as well as same sex marriage, euthanasia and prostitution. And it still passed. |
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Lundoxia Presents (8 of 10): Jain Digambara Sadhu : Sky Clad Holy Men (Nude Winners) en Het 5e Element: een voorstel om artikel 430a te schrappen A pictorial essay illustrating the plight of a Jain Digambara Sadhu (naked/skyclad holy man) in Amsterdam. In The Netherlands, public nudity in areas not designated for that purpose is subject only to a fine, as outlined in Article 430a (Wetboek van Strafrecht, Derde Boek: Overtredingen; Titel II. Overtredingen betreffende de openbare orde*); the question is this: does the Dutch constitution (De Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) overrule the aforementioned article 430a, thus allowing a person to be nude in public in areas not designated for that purpose in case the person in question is of the Jain Digambara faith (requiring him or her to be nude in his or her attire) for religious reasons since the Dutch constitution guarantees all persons freedom of religious worship and practice? This is a valid question in a democracy. I will have to take the time to consult an expert on this. *Artikel 430a: Hij die zich buiten een door de gemeenteraad als geschikt voor ongeklede openbare recreatie aangewezen plaats, ongekleed bevindt op of aan een voor het openbaar verkeer bestemde plaats die voor ongeklede recreatie niet geschikt is, wordt gestraft met geldboete van de eerste categorie. De meeste efficiënte route zou deze artikel te schrappen (vernietigen). Anders zou men een politie escort moeten aanvragen ieder keer dat men naakt in het openbaar zou gaan als Jain Digambara sadhu, en indien de politie dat niet zou willen dan zou men bij ieder boete in bezwaar moeten gaan. Spanje is een voorbeeld hoe naakt in het openbaar eigenlijk een "meevaller" is; er is geen straf daarvoor. Af en toe gaan mensen naakt in steden op straat in Spanje maar meestal op stranden en het is geen punt. |
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Lundoxia Presents (9 of 10): Een verlichting waarom naakt in het openbaar toegestaan moet worden (ik zet mijn elleboog online) Een verlichting waarom naakt in het openbaar toegestaan moet worden (ik zet mijn elleboog online). An enlightening video explaining why nudity in public in The Netherlands should be decriminalized, or more specifically, removed from Strafwet. |
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Lundoxia Presents (10 of 10): Defining Body Positive, Body Neutral and Body Negative Defining Body Positive (Body +), Body Neutral (Body =) and Body Negative (Body -) |
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Lundoxia Presents (addendum/elf): Het 5e Element : Een initiatief om naaktheid zonder beperking in het openbaar toe te staan en artikel 430a te schrappen (pamflet video) Het 5e Element : Een burgerinitiatief om naaktheid zonder beperking in het openbaar toe te staan en artikel 430a te schrappen (een formele voorstel met 6 redenen): pamflet video. Dit initiatief is humanistisch in zijn aard. Ik heb dit voorstel via een online contact formulier aan de Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid toegestuurd op 8 juni 2017. De volgende werkdag heb ik een uitgebreide antwoord gekregen dat ik contact op kan nemen met de Tweede Kamer. Vervolgens heb ik contact opgenomen met de Commissie voor de Verzoekschriften en de Burgerinitiatieven van de tweede kamer maar heb tot nu toe geen reactie ontvangen. De mensen die zeggen: "het zal nooit lukken" zijn dezelfde mensen die zeiden dat het nooit zal lukken met euthanasie, homohuwelijk en coffeeshops. De "nee zeggers" zijn mensen zonder visie. Net zoals euthanasie, we hebben het over a relatief klein aantal mensen die zullen naakt op straat lopen of in een park naakt zon baden. Het is een meevaller. Het is eigenlijk een zeer esoterisch missie met een exoterisch uitkomst. Het heeft niks te maken met seks, exhibitionisme of hygiëne kwestie's. Maatschappelijk gezien is het natuurlijk een fascinerend experiment. Het is een initiatief dat Nederland opnieuw op de wereldkaart zou zetten. In this video in the Dutch language I list 6 reasons why the Dutch law pertaining to public nudity is outdated and hence may be quashed or amended. *Euthasie (2002); homohuwelijk (2001); prostitutie (2000); soft drugs heeft sinds 1976 een gedoogbeleid en moet nog gelegaliseerd worden. Canada is van plan in 2018 formeel marihuana te legaliseren op landelijk niveau terwijl in de Verenigde Staten gebeurt deze legalisatie per staat. Uruguay was de eerste land ter wereld om marihuana te legaliseren in 2013. Andere landen in Europa zoals Portugal, Tsjechië, Kroatië en Zwitserland zijn ook vrij tolerant qua soft drugs. |
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Lundoxia Presents (The Dirty Dozen): A video about stoicism A 5-minute video about the ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism, which also bears similarities with ancient Chinese taoism. |
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