Europe's new steamy, semi-nude wellness trend

As saunas gain global popularity, a hypnotic offshoot involving theatre, music and towel-twirling known as "Aufguss" is attracting wellness-seekers across the world.

My fellow sauna-goers and I drip with sweat while a semi-nude man prances around the room with arms extended, twirling a white towel like a matador rousing a bull. The aromas of patchouli and grapefruit tangle in the cloth, and as oil-infused ice sizzles on the scorching rocks in the centre of the sauna, the exposed performer flicks and spins his towel, fanning hot steam towards our faces. We raise our arms, submitting to the power of the heat.

Dramatic orchestral music crescendos from the speakers while a lantern illuminates the naked bodies beside me in the darkness, each glazed over with perspiration. With every whip of the towel, waves of steam surround me, welcoming me to an entirely new dimension of heat.

This is Aufguss ("infusion" in German) – a multisensory journey that blends performance and thermal wellness whereby a sauna master (Aufgussmeister) directs rising steam by artfully spinning a towel in a hypnotic dance, accompanied by scents and sounds that set the mood. An Aufguss session can last between 10 to 15 minutes and is made up of three rounds of slushed ice balls being crushed over hot rocks. With each round, fragrance-infused steam rises and is channelled with elegant and precise towel movements, causing heatwaves of increasing temperature.

I'm being guided through this experience for the third time today in South Tyrol, part of the Italian Dolomites. It's common to partake in multiple Aufguss sessions in one day, and I see the same faces queuing up beside me to participate again and again. Between the hourly 15-minute sessions, our Aufgussmeister instructs us to cool off by plunging into the icy lake outside. Since discovering this communal ritual just a few days earlier, I've become hooked – and I'm not the only one.

Aufguss is quickly spreading globally as an offshoot of traditional sauna culture. As a frequent sauna-goer, I find Aufguss much more entertaining than merely sitting in a classic sweatbox. Fifteen minutes pass much faster when you are enthralled by a fusion of smells, sounds and towel-spinning skills rather than left alone with your thoughts. What's more, unlike many other wellness rituals, the direction and guidance allow for a shared experience.

While the act of pouring water over heated stones to create wafts of steam in saunas goes back thousands of years, modern Aufguss is only thought to have originated in the 20th Century in pockets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Italian Dolomites. The practice stemmed from a simple need to replace the stagnant air with fresh air from outside, and channelling steam towards participants was found to create a more intense heat. As towel-waving techniques evolved, the tradition blossomed into a full sensory performance that has spread around the world alongside the rise of traditional saunas.

Today, many hotels and spas across the German-speaking territory where this sauna offshoot started offer classic Aufguss experiences, such as Aqua Dome in Längenfeld, Austria; Therme Erding near Munich; Germany; and Dolce Vita in South Tyrol, Italy. Many places outside Europe are also developing their own programmes.

Spas such as Sauna Tokyo in the Japanese capital; Peninsula Hot Springs in Victoria, Australia; Thermea Spa Village near Toronto and Nordik Spa Village in Quebec, Canada; and Awana Spa in Las Vegas, US are just a few of the international spas embracing Aufguss. In the UK, sauna-goers can experience Aufguss at places like Rudding Park in North Yorkshire and St Andrews Lakes in Kent.

A variation of Aufguss has also developed called "Theatre Aufguss" (or "Show Aufguss"). In these theatrical shows, Aufgussmeisters not only twirl towels but also act out a narrative within the 15-minute sauna experience.

This version has inspired its own annual world championships, known as Aufguss WM. While its inaugural iteration in 2009 saw only six Austrian and four German Aufgussmeisters compete, the 2025 championships held in Verona, Italy, welcomed 160 competitors from 18 countries. This year's Aufguss WM takes place at the Satama Resort Berlin in September and is expected to be the biggest competition yet.

"Aufguss is a thing where sport, art and theatre and wellness come together," said Sigrid Van Rijswijk, a theatre worker-turned-sauna master from the Netherlands who became the third woman to win the solo competition at the 2025 championships. "I caught the Aufguss fever. I love creating stories, and I have found this new way to create stories, to create atmospheres."

Van Rijswijk's winning performance featured an eccentric fortune teller who encounters a spirit that leads her on a journey of discovery. Along with the character, Van Rijswijk incorporated scents that matched the energy of the performance – earthy sage, woody copal, rose and hibiscus – as well as correlating music and narration. In addition to appearing to control the lights with her mind and making steam appear by magic, Van Rijswijk said, "I even did a trick that has never been done before where I reach out with my hands and two towels get thrown to me by a machine. It was like a football stadium, everyone stood up and cheered."

When she's not competing in the Aufguss championships, Van Rijswijk travels the world training new Aufgussmeisters. After a recent training programme in Mauritius, she stressed how important it is to adapt Aufguss to the local culture. "Every time I visit a country for training, I look at what they are already good at and let that be their signature. Earth, air and fire were a common theme in the wellness in Mauritius. As soon as I saw this, I knew we had to incorporate this into their Aufguss routine."

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Across the Atlantic, Travis Talmadge, co-founder of Bathhouse in New York tells me about his own style. "It's a little bit understated, but cool. We use modern music, anything from trancey house music to R&B." With the biggest Aufguss programme in the US, and hosting the country's first-ever national competition in 2025, Talmadge and business partner Jason Goodman are pioneering the sweatbox culture with their own American flair.

While twirling a towel the way a pizza maker spins pizza dough serves as a creative outlet for sauna masters, the ritual provides something quite different for participants. Deborah Carr, director of the British Sauna Society, explains why Aufguss seems to be resonating with sauna-goers these days.

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"It allows you to switch off from your phones and your technology, but it still takes you on a journey. You still have somebody there that's showing you something – you're feeling something, you're smelling something. On the other hand, it does allow you that time to reflect, to check in with your own body."

Carr adds: "Everyone comes out with a beaming smile. They've taken 15 minutes just for themselves – no phone, no to-do list, no nothing. It can be very powerful. It's a privilege as a sauna master to provide that."

As my Aufguss experience comes to an end, our sauna master takes a bow and the door swings open to let cool air rush in. After a rollercoaster of joy, discomfort and lots of sweat, I begin to realise the power of Aufguss. We come into the sauna as strangers, but after sharing the space, being still and taking time to reflect, we come out as a collective having overcome a challenge.

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