GUIDED SAUNA SESSIONS

This session will offer you everything that you may need from kawakawa in a sauna. This is an Aufguss fully dedicated to this taonga native plant. We will deconstruct the traditional Aufguss practice, we will go back to all parts of the plant that treat us with their oils, and follow the meditative process of connecting with our senses and our body. You will have your own sustainably sourced kawakawa to look after you in the sauna. I will guide you through the steps and help you to have the best mini kawakawa Aufguss.

Facilitator bio -
Alsu is originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia, ethnically Tatar, and culturally northern European. She spent her childhood and youth between Saint Petersburg, Tatarstan, and Finland. From early school years, she was passionate about plants and herbs, as well as the human body and mind. That evolved into various professional applications, from a PhD in cognitive linguistics to designing cultural tours in Russia that introduced visitors to Russian sauna and traditional cooking. In the last decade, Alsu has been living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, raising her two children, and learning about the land, water, and plants of her new home. In her paid occupation, Alsu looks after the team of a research-tech startup. In addition, her various interests and passions led her to become a founder of the Kelburn Community Garden, study composition with the New Zealand School of Music, co-create an art act PostBabes, and offer kawakawa venik workshops with the Campfire Sauna on Kapiti coast.

Systemic Constellation is a therapeutic, coaching, and organizational development method. Using spatial representation the process brings hidden patterns, entanglements and barriers to light within subconscious dynamics. The process helps "seekers" to discover resolution by acknowledging a "system's" inherent truth.

Facilitator bio -
Arpége has a background in Māori arts and has worked across podcasts, TV, publications, media, and design. Following major life changes in her early 20s, she embarked on a deep healing journey that led her to a transformative modality - Systemic Constellation. For the past four years, she has trained in this international body-wisdom practice, weaving te ao Māori knowledge systems into her practice.

The first 15 minutes will be a guided meditation that allows participants to explore their Awareness.

The second 15 minutes will be a guided meditation that allows participants to experience a 'no body state' and expand beyond their body's merging with the heat of the sauna.

Facilitator bio -
A former Clinical Nutritionist and founder of a well-known wellness brand, Ben Warren experienced a profound awakening in 2019 that changed the course of his life. Leaving behind the speed and striving of a corporate lifestyle, Ben was called into a quieter, more spacious way of living—one rooted not in doing, but in Being.

From this shift, the Centre for Beingness was born. Now living simply on the Mahia Peninsula in northern Hawke’s Bay, Ben continues to explore what it truly means to be. His days are shaped by presence, community, surfing, meditation, kirtan, and the pleasures of good coffee and nourishing food.

Ben’s work is an invitation to rest in the awareness behind all experience. He shares this through weekly online gatherings, retreats, and live events that are simple, spacious, and quietly transformative—held with warmth, humility, and a deep love for truth.

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Drop deep into a full body sensory experience. Come as you are, and leave feeling floaty with intentional breathwork, supportive meditation techniques and gentle guidance to ground and soothe. A sensory journey that invites you to think less and feel more. Supported with music that will move you deep so the layers of the mind can melt away. Think towel waving, essential oils, fan-work and a full body melt.

Facilitator bio -
Elese is all about cultivating a soothing space so you can mellow out. Known as the heat healer - her style is grounding, nurturing, and welcoming. With a background as a yoga facilitator she brings an inclusive, warm presence to her sessions with a big focus on nervous system regulation. She'll curate a space where you can drop into your body, with offers of gentle challenge to dive a little deeper.

The first session will be at a lower temp at approximately 75C with calming music and soothing essential oils. The second session will be hotter at approximately 85C with faster tempo music and more essential oils.

Facilitator bio -
Before launching my wellness business, Spartan Haus, I worked as an outdoor guide for many years. Leading white water rafting trips, mountain biking tours and sea kayak expeditions

Welcome to this interactive somatic sound journey with harp and sound bowls. Within the breathing heat of the sauna, sound becomes ritual. Steam rises like prayer as voices join in auming, breath slows, and the body is gently opened through deep, somatic listening. Live harp and singing sound bowls weave a luminous web of vibration, guiding participants into resonance with themselves, each other, and the unseen.

I return to the festival once more with the harp, carrying its voice into this inner chamber of warmth. The way this space is held is shaped by a deep listening to the nervous system—how sound, breath, and heat invite the body to soften, settle, and remember safety. Participation is always an invitation: some may offer their voice, others may rest in listening, allowing vibration to move through skin, bone, and breath.
This is a sacred pause in the festival’s pulse: a place where fire and water meet, where sound becomes medicine, and where the sauna becomes a living temple. Participants may experience group toning, live harp, guided breathing, resonant sound, and opportunities for gentle somatic release.

Facilitator bio -
Jessica Browning is a harpist, singer, somatic yoga teacher, and postgraduate music therapy student born in the United States, has lived in and traveled through many countries of the world and is now based in Aotearoa. With over 15 years of experience, her work weaves live harp, voice, breath, and gentle movement to create spaces of deep listening, nervous-system regulation, and embodied safety. She arrived in Aotearoa by sea with her family, sailing here on their waka, and draws deep inspiration from water, journeying, and sound as medicine.

Guided intense aufguss with an set intention and maybe a little humour.

Facilitator bio -
I currently run the Mount Sauna and have been honing in on the perfect technique and hope to bring the heat.

This 30-minute immersive experience is designed to regulate the nervous system using the power of contrast therapy.

Part 1 (15 min - Inside the Sauna): We begin with an aromatherapy-infused guided meditation. While the heat begins to work, I will lead the group through somatic self-massage techniques to release tension in the fascia and improve circulation.

The Transition: During the cool-down period, I will guide the group to the cold plunge, facilitating functional breathwork to help participants navigate the "cold shock" response with calm and control.

Part 2 (15 min - Return to Sauna): We return to the heat for a final integration, focusing on deep stillness and the euphoric "sauna glow," leaving participants feeling grounded and revitalised.

Facilitator bio -
'Well with Justine' is a somatic facilitator and wellness practitioner dedicated to the art of deep relaxation and contrast therapy. With a background in healing therapy, I specialise in creating "micro-retreat" experiences that combine mindfulness with the physical power of the sauna. I am known for a calm, grounded facilitation style that helps participants feel safe while exploring the edges of heat and cold.

Utilising the natural rhythm of the Aufguss to deepen body awareness, soften the nervous system, and invite genuine healing and restoration, Kate will lead an imaginative exploration of the chakras.

Drawing on Yoga Nidra and polyvagal-informed breathwork, each round is accompanied by a carefully chosen essential oil intended to complement the chakra healing journey.

From the place of the intuitive third eye, we will intentionally open our heart centre, then move down through the body centre, opening the root chakra, our place of safety and connection, the sacral chakra, home to creativity and sensuality, and the solar plexus chakra, where transformation and our inner fire reside.

The session is particularly well-suited to those experiencing chronic pain or injury, CPTSD, perimenopause, or anyone simply in need of deep nervous system restoration. No prior experience with meditation, breath or bodywork is needed.

Arrive. Breathe. Let the heat and your heart do the rest.

Facilitator bio -
Dr. Kate is a Nelson-based yoga teacher, meditation guide and somatic practitioner currently completing counselling training. She holds a PhD in biomedical research and has spent over three decades exploring and researching the complementary space between ancient holistic practices and modern health sciences.

Kate’s yoga journey began in Christchurch in the 1990s with the Iyengar tradition, and continued across Aotearoa, the UK, Australia and India, where she completed her Yoga Synergy teacher training with Simon Borg-Olivier in 2017.

Kate’s current focus is the restorative intersection of Yoga Nidra, chakra awareness, somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory and internal family systems therapy. Much of her work has been shaped by her own lived experience of healing from CPTSD, chronic pain and perimenopause through somatic practices, hot and cold water therapy, and restorative breathwork.

Kate has led yoga, meditations and guided visualisations at festivals and retreats across Aotearoa, and is well versed in the use of essential oils within somatic and energetic practice.

Kate brings both scientific grounding and compassionate trauma-informed awareness to everything she facilitates.

This is a very hot sauna with plenty of steam. We’ll have a medley of wood based and herbal scents, which will ground you and give mental clarity. As a group we’ll try to push into the endorphin zone for an extra couple of minutes of heat before taking earned breaks. Duration is personal, you can break as needed, but we will safely push your limits.

Facilitator bio -
Malcom’s a sauna-meister and co-owner of Campfire Sauna in Paekakariki. He creates spaces that invite connection, reflection and spontaneous joy. Always curious and cheeky, Malcolm loves art of creating individual but communal experiences and spreading the sauna love Campfire style.

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A Blue Lotus guided sauna experience designed to support deep relaxation and presence. The session includes sipping Blue Lotus tea, inhaling the essence of Blue Lotus, enjoying Euphoria with guided meditation and mantra chanting to connect deeply to our breath and our centre. Supported by sound vibrations of drums, singing bowls and voice to calm the nervous system, elevate mood, and raise your vibration.

Facilitator bios -
Nila & Matthew are the founders of Kiss The Earth and deeply connected to the Blue Lotus flower.

Nila is a Yoga Nidra instructor & Blue Lotus ceremony facilitator. Her work integrates ancient traditions & plant medicines, bridging mysticism & modern neuroscience, to reach deep into the realms of the subconscious mind and bring us closer to our true nature.

Matthew is a resonant designer. He supports the session through sound vibrations, drumming, singing, and mantra chanting, using rhythm and voice to guide participants into deeper states of relaxation, connection, and energetic alignment.

Ra's Aufguss is gently primed through mindful guidance, inviting the mind and body to slow down before the heat rises. Ra leads each session with calm cues for breath, posture, and attention, helping you soften tension and settle your nervous system so the warmth can be received — not resisted.

As natural aromas are released and the heat is shared through flowing towel work, you’re guided to let go, trusting the process and your own limits. The experience is steady and grounded — creating space to relax into the heat, rather than push against it.

Guests often describe leaving feeling calm, open and unexpectedly light.

Starting with a calm arrival into the sauna, brief description of the session - music, scents and fanning (towel and fan). Some grounding words, sprinkled with some breathwork. Finish with a little bit more upbeat tune to give everyone good energies for the rest of the festival.

Facilitator bio -
Hi I'm Simon from Melbourne. Lived in Copenhagen for 3.5 years where I fell in love with saunagus. Upon returning back home to Melbourne, my partner and I started our own sauna - Sauna Goose.

From the food forest jungles of Northland, Billy Wowden brings a mix of the latin house and afro music he loves to play with!

Carl o Yāng, is an alternative indie artist hailing from the small town of Blenheim, in the picturesque South
Island of New Zealand.

Carl’s music is a sanctuary of reflection and invokes a sense of presence and stillness in the listener.

Carl’s mission is to help encourage positive change and spiritual growth through his songs. His voice and
musical performances have the ability to bring a sense of present awareness to the listener and his songs speak straight to the soul.

His live performances are an enchanting experience due to his relaxed humor on stage, balanced exquisitely with emotional and heartfelt music and vocals.
Carl performs and sings with his soul and brings a fresh new perspective to the world of contemporary music.

With a passion for sonic & somatic alchemy, DJ Cym∆tics rooted in Ecstatic Dance culture brings his years of experience mixing the latest global bass and transformational medicine music into deep, playful and intention rich, low end sonic soundscapes.

Based in the coastal rhythms of Mt Maunganui, REBEL HEART is a sonic storyteller who understands that the dancefloor is a space for both movement and medicine. Having trained in the art of Ecstatic Dance DJing two years ago, she brings a unique intentionality to her craft—weaving sets that are as much a journey for the soul as they are for the body.

REBEL HEART holds a deep passion for the full spectrum of Drum and Bass, masterfully using melody and lyricism to inject depth and emotion into every transition. She crafts a seamless journey through soulful liquid, layering elegant, uplifting melodies over a foundation of deep, rhythmic grooves.

It’s an immersive soundscape designed to get you moving, punctuated by raw, grunty bass undertones that vibrate straight through to your bones. From the first beat to the final drop, REBEL HEART invites you to lose yourself in the music and find yourself in the flow.

An uplifting musical journey through organic/melodic house. Expect a blend of lush, transportive synths, intricate melodic beats, and positive, emotional energy, all expertly crafted to take the listener on a captivating voyage.

Shaped by the UK's early-nineties acid house scene, Mapper found his calling in electronic music during his teenage years, spending formative weekends at Fabric London where Sasha and Lee Burridge's Tyrant Saturdays offered masterclasses in musical progression and atmosphere.

Now known for his uplifting, organic house sound, mapper builds journeys that balance emotional depth with dance floor energy. His sets weave together melodic synths and intricate rhythms, creating spaces where positive energy and musical storytelling converge—connecting with dancers on multiple levels.

Juliana Botero known as Dj MoRpHo, being in love with music her whole life, intrigued with spinning records and making crowds of people dance, began in the electronic scene in 2004, identifying with funky electronic, tribal, Latin and fusion of sounds in her mix. With the addition of her saxophone .
Currently DJ MoRpHo combines her healing through vibrational sounds and movement, combining music for celebrating life, moving energy and empowering human beings, surfing waves of awakening.

“Let's dance without judgment, without fear, barefoot and free… and be happy”
DJ MoRpHo

Nebulix crafts hypnotic journeys where deep groove meets psychedelic drive. Blending psy-tech textures with rolling basslines and subtle trance elements, his sets evolve patiently—building tension, releasing energy, and guiding dancers into a focused, elevated state.
Expect a carefully controlled flow, tribal undertones, and a sound designed for open skies, late nights, and collective movement on the dance floor.

Nebulix is a New Zealand–based DJ known for crafting immersive psy-tech journeys where deep groove and psychedelic energy move as one. His sets unfold with patience and control, guiding dance floors through rolling basslines, hypnotic rhythms, and carefully timed lifts.

Having performed at respected events such as Arkadien, Lost in Paradise, and Twisted Frequency, Nebulix brings a strong understanding of flow, atmosphere, and dance floor awareness—delivering sets that feel intentional, connected, and made for the moment.