The forest scent of cedar greets you as you disrobe. It feels a bit strange to be naked, but you get over it. You leave the changing room, enter the sauna and are greeted by a blast of heat. Within minutes, a trickle of sweat streams down your spine. Before long, every pore is dripping perspiration.

To steam things up even more, you throw cold water on the pile of hot rocks, making them hiss warm vapour into the air. With your heart racing, you make a beeline for the outdoors where you submerge yourself in an icy lake.

You repeat the cycle until you can't possibly feel more invigorated.

To 52-year-old Sulo Hovi, this process is more than a good time; it's a religious experience. Hovi, an ex-fisherman and owner of Gold Coast Retreat in Tofino, B.C., can't imagine life without his wood-fired sauna. "The benefits for me are incredible," he says.

Born in Finland, where saunas are a way of life (there are approximately 1.6 million saunas in Finland -- or one for every three people), Hovi has reaped the benefits from an early age. However, it wasn't until later in life that Hovi took to the sauna for health reasons.

During his 25-year career as a fisherman, Hovi's body endured plenty of wear and tear. "I'm a bit of a physical wreck. I completely ripped all my tendons herring fishing," he says. To relieve the pain of his tendonitis, he began using the sauna as a form of therapy on a daily basis. "I still have tendonitis, but I can swing a hammer all day."

Now that his tendons are in better shape, Hovi has a one-hour sauna twice a week to "cleanse" his mind and body. He says the sauna is a great place to rid the body of toxins. "It fixes a hangover like you wouldn't believe."

Some claim it will also fix a cold. At the first sign of the sniffles, Denise and Jamie Rodda, who built a wood-fired sauna at their cottage in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, stoke the fire. "This is a very effective method of sweating out toxins and germs and recovering quickly from colds, says Denise who is a registered practical nurse. Aside from the mental and physical benefits, saunas are a great place to socialize, say the Roddas.

"Our family and friends enjoy an evening social scene with the sauna being the focus. On snowy nights or during a heavy rainstorm, it is uplifting to have a sauna, refresh outside in the snow or rain while watching the steam surround your body," says Denise.

There are different types of saunas, including those that use electric heat, gas or infrared heat. For people like the Roddas and Hovi, nothing compares to an authentic Finnish wood-fired sauna.

Sizing a Sauna
A wood-fired sauna can make a wonderful addition to a cottage, especially if there is a lake nearby and a good supply of wood. But, like any major addition, it has to be a well thought out decision.

When determining the size, ask yourself if you will be using the sauna on your own, or as a place to socialize with family and friends.

A good size for a cottage sauna is 6 X 6' (not including the dressing room), which fits about four average-sized people.

Although many sauna kits do not come with dressing rooms, some enthusiasts say they are essential -- especially if the sauna is in a separate building from the cottage (as it should be if it is wood-fired). Aside from a place to change, the dressing room can be used to cool down. Some people, who don't have access to a nearby lake, install a shower in the dressing room.

Materials
Hovi, who constructed his 10 X 10 X 8' cedar sauna from scratch, says when it comes to building materials, it's wise not to go cheap. His sauna cost $5,000 to construct 15 years ago. It is made from Western red cedar -- inside and out.

"Red cedar is ideal because it will adapt to almost anything. It's got its own oils in it, so you can soak down red cedar, and dry it and it's not going to affect the wood. It's made for the weather," he says, adding that tongue-and- groove cedar should be used for the walls.

When it comes to choosing the cedar, the clearer the better, because knots get hot, especially on the benches, he warns. Another perk to using cedar: it smells great.

Hot Stuff
The heater, or stove, is the heart of the sauna, and therefore, the most important element. "You should look at your stove as something that will still be there if the sauna burns down," says Hovi.

Because of the size of his sauna, Hovi built his own wood stove using a boiler cut in half (he needed lots of heat), but for safety reasons, you might want to purchase a pre-made heater. Various sauna companies, including Saunacore Inc. and Finlandia Sauna and Steam, carry wood heaters. They start at $535 plus freight.

Rock Talk
Rocks are an important feature in any authentic Finnish sauna, because they store heat and provide a hot surface for water to generate steam. By throwing water on the rocks, loyly (lou-lu) -- a Finnish word for the hot hisses of steam that emanate from the rocks when water hits them - fills the room. Any sauna enthusiast will tell you that good loyly is key. Throwing beer on the rocks makes the room smell like baked bread, says Hovi, and a drop of peppermint or eucalyptus oil in the water is great for the sinuses.

Ideal sauna rocks are peridotite, which is a quarried Finnish rock, or freshly quarried basalt and igneous rocks, such as granite. Hovi uses tight-grained river rocks in his sauna -- each being about the size of a fist.

If you are buying a pre-made heater or stove, rocks will most likely be included.