Latest / She’s Smart / Ginger Richardson — The Power of Sauna, Cold Plunge & Community

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Ginger Richardson — The Power of Sauna, Cold Plunge & Community · She’s Smart

• 0:02
  Hey, everybody. Welcome to She's Smart. I'm your host, Maria Robotham.
• 0:06
  Each week, we sit down with incredible women to talk about life,
• 0:10
  work, and everything in between.
• 0:15
  So today's episode is a do-over.
• 0:19
  Ginger Richardson of Kin Sauna and I originally recorded this conversation and
• 0:24
  through a massive technical mishap, the entire episode was lost, gone.
• 0:30
  It was devastating. In hindsight, it felt kind of fitting.
• 0:35
  Ginger's story is about starting again, doing hard things, and trusting the process.
• 0:41
  Ginger founded Kin Sauna, a mobile wood-burning sauna and cold plunge experience
• 0:47
  based in Fairfield, Connecticut.
• 0:49
  Ginger shares why she started Kin, what it really looks like to build a business
• 0:54
  from scratch as a single mom, the physical and mental benefits of sauna and contrast therapy,
• 1:00
  the ancient roots of sauna culture, and how collaboration and community are
• 1:04
  at the heart of what she's building.
• 1:07
  We also talk about fear, growth, reinvention, and what is next for Ginger and Kin.
• 1:14
  This conversation feels like it arrived exactly when it was supposed to.
• 1:18
  So get cozy as we connect, learn, and laugh together on She's Smart with Ginger from Kin Sauna.
• 1:31
  So
• 1:50
  Hi. How are you doing? I'm good. I did a little intro before we started to set
• 1:55
  people up for the fact that this is the second attempt at us doing this podcast episode. Okay.
• 2:03
  Part of what I said, and I'll let you know what it is just so we know as we're
• 2:06
  going into this conversation, while it was devastating, in weeks I tried to get it to work.
• 2:12
  I don't understand. It's crazy. It just would not. It was corrupted.
• 2:16
  I don't know what happened. I was like, you know what, though?
• 2:19
  It sucked because it was such a great conversation. But this is kind of what
• 2:23
  happens in life, right? You get a second chance. You do it over again. You keep going.
• 2:27
  And then the next conversation could be even better than the last.
• 2:32
  That i started going into a sauna oh so
• 2:36
  i went once a week and then i went twice a
• 2:39
  week and i'm three days a week for like 15 minutes each time like at the y because
• 2:45
  that's where i work out now and it is such a great experience it has absolutely
• 2:52
  changed my workouts what have you noticed i have I've noticed that every time I do it,
• 2:57
  I have this tiny bubble of glow that just sits inside of me.
• 3:02
  Oh, I've never heard it described like that. It's a peacefulness that goes throughout
• 3:06
  my whole day. I don't know what it is, but there's something very grounding about it.
• 3:10
  So that is really helpful. It's just affecting your nervous system.
• 3:15
  It's calming your nervous system, basically.
• 3:17
  Stressing up to stress down. So you're stressing the system,
• 3:20
  but then that teaches the central nervous system to come online to combat that.
• 3:25
  Which ends up making your nervous system feel calm.
• 3:28
  You've got a cardiovascular workout, your blood going and dopamine,
• 3:31
  all the things that we know are so good for you.
• 3:34
  Well, I'm feeling it. And thanks to you, I actually made it part of my life.
• 3:39
  The other benefit to this is the community part of it, which we're going to
• 3:42
  talk about later in the interview. But I have met so many cool women who are in the world.
• 3:48
  In the sauna. Yeah. I'm glad to hear that people are using it.
• 3:52
  I have a couple of friends that are members there and they say they use it too.
• 3:55
  And that really makes me happy to hear that you're experiencing what a communal
• 4:00
  sauna can be like. It opens up conversations.
• 4:04
  There's times when everyone's really quiet and we're all doing our own thing,
• 4:07
  meditating or just sitting there.
• 4:09
  Then there are other times when people just start chatting. Conversations happen.
• 4:13
  There was one woman who's from Weston and she is a yoga teacher.
• 4:18
  And she was talking with some of the other women about doing a yoga class at Lachette.
• 4:23
  I was like, that's very interesting. Can you tell me more? Because that's where I live.
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  There's a whole group of people just chatting. It's funny because sometimes
• 4:32
  at gyms, people don't feel as apt to talk.
• 4:35
  I feel like everyone's kind of in a hurry and they're in their own little zone
• 4:39
  where like in my experience, I mean, mine is smaller. So you're kind of forced.
• 4:45
  In a way, you know, that makes me so happy. So let's start from the beginning.
• 4:50
  How did you come to start, Ken? What brought you to that space?
• 4:55
  I have been a health coach, obviously an interior designer before, then a health coach.
• 5:00
  Then I started cold plunge coaching. I'd had a sauna for 15, 16 years.
• 5:05
  I started cold plunging three and a bit years ago and very reluctantly.
• 5:10
  And I, I soon as I got out of the sound, I was like, why have I waited so long
• 5:15
  for this? It was incredible. I felt amazing.
• 5:18
  That was it. I would go home and get in the sauna and then be like, wait a second.
• 5:23
  Sauna cold. I feel really good. And I went back the following week to our group
• 5:28
  at Jennings Beach and said, I would love to have a mobile sauna one day.
• 5:32
  Like, wouldn't that be amazing? I started researching it and found out that
• 5:35
  contrast therapy is a thing.
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  And in Scandinavia and actually Europe in general is just way ahead of us and
• 5:42
  wanted to manifest that.
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  And it just took me that length of time.
• 5:46
  I'm a single mom, don't have a ton of money sitting in the bank at my disposal
• 5:50
  and had sold my house and just thought, you know what, I either have to keep
• 5:55
  working for other people.
• 5:56
  I was already doing my tallow face cream and all of that, but it wasn't enough.
• 6:00
  And I was considering taking a full-time job.
• 6:03
  It was that Lionsgate portal that we had like March of last year.
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  I had a relationship end. My mother had a stroke. I ended up having to move
• 6:15
  from my rental property, which I thought I was going to be there for three years
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  until my son finished high school.
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  My whole world was just like, what a business relationship ended.
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  And I just was like, what am I supposed to do? I was covered in boxes at my
• 6:29
  current house where I am today.
• 6:31
  And I don't know what it was. I woke up that morning and was like, I am going to do this. I.
• 6:38
  Reached out to some people. I knew what I wanted it to look like. I found a contractor.
• 6:43
  I started putting numbers together. Then I found someone to help me with my brand and my website.
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  Hired a professional photographer.
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  You know, talked to all the town departments about getting permitting,
• 6:54
  all of that. And here we are six months later.
• 6:58
  And it's crazy. I sold out yesterday at Penfield Beach.
• 7:03
  So I'm regularly at Penfield Beach in Fairfield now, still hoping to be in Westport
• 7:09
  at the beach. There's lots of things in the works.
• 7:11
  Since I talked to you, do you remember when that was?
• 7:14
  October. So I had just sort of, I really didn't get going until end of July.
• 7:19
  Since I've seen you, I now have a business plan. I have investors I'm talking
• 7:24
  to about where the next steps are with Kin?
• 7:28
  Like, is it a lifestyle brand alongside the mobile?
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  You know, there's lots of conversations that I sort of, you know,
• 7:36
  I really never thought of it in that way.
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  It was like, I just want to have a business that I love. I can earn enough money to survive.
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  Not really thinking about it being bigger than that, but the community has been incredible.
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  And these potential investors or people that are taking part and then are just
• 7:55
  like, I want to be involved in this. Like, how do I help you?
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  Like, this has been game changer for me. And.
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  And, you know, a lot of the conversations are not just around what happens to
• 8:05
  your body physically, but your mental well-being.
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  The surprising thing for most people is that they come thinking sauna and cold
• 8:11
  plunge are all the trend, all the rage, and let's go try it.
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  And they bring a friend or a partner, and the next thing they know, they're saying to me,
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  I just feel not only do I physically feel amazing, but the community that's
• 8:27
  being built around this, and I feel part of a community, has been amazing.
• 8:32
  So that's the thing that really keeps me going. The enthusiasm,
• 8:36
  and now people are cold plunging together.
• 8:38
  They've all got their neoprene booties, and they're talking about electrolytes
• 8:43
  and networking and friendships.
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  I don't know. It's amazing, and I just am so excited about everything expanding
• 8:51
  and growing so that more people can experience it.
• 8:54
  I was looking for a name that was somehow going to embody community and family.
• 9:01
  Kin is in your next of kin.
• 9:02
  I have a very good friend who's in marketing, owns a marketing company. Thank you, Jordan.
• 9:08
  And he said to me, Ginger, you know what? I said to him, I don't like the K-I-N.
• 9:12
  Something about it is just weird.
• 9:14
  And he said, how about two I's? And then I was like, oh my gosh,
• 9:17
  I love it. And it's like the K and the N are capital.
• 9:20
  So the two I's are lowercase and it's like they're inside of a container.
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  It's like, you know, multiple people inside of a safe container.
• 9:29
  So that's kind of where the name came from. But the branding of it, I get it.
• 9:33
  I get creating it as a lifestyle brand.
• 9:35
  I mean, it could go in so many different directions.
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  It really could. It could be brushes, body brushes.
• 9:42
  It could be a whole line of different. I'm seeing it. I'm like seeing it.
• 9:46
  I could see it, which I hadn't thought about that.
• 9:49
  Right. But I think you hear that a lot when someone starts something.
• 9:52
  You don't really have a million iterations of it. You're just like,
• 9:55
  this is what feels good today and this is what I'm going to step forward with. And then things evolve.
• 10:00
  I'm working my butt off to make it successful so I can survive, take care of my son.
• 10:06
  But also now I have the desire to see it grow, which I didn't really think about
• 10:12
  it before. We were up in Tahoe over Christmas and stayed at this hotel.
• 10:17
  It's like, well, it's not a hotel, it's like an inn. And they've started this
• 10:21
  new, it's like a new concept where they're popping up in different mountain locations, basically.
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  But it's inclusive of a gym that's beautiful and a sauna.
• 10:32
  They put it all together. And it's this experience that they're finding that
• 10:36
  when people travel now, they want the whole body experience.
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  And again, in Europe, like you said, Europe is way ahead of us in all of this.
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  They have all of these different hotels that are literally all about your health and well-being.
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  I think that's really important to people now. I think in the U.S.,
• 10:56
  we are not a recovery-focused community.
• 11:00
  It's all about pushing and going, how hard you can work out and how fast you
• 11:04
  can run and how much weight you can lift. Burnout culture is a thing.
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  In this country, we talk about being
• 11:10
  so busy that we don't have time for a relationship. We can't find love.
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  We can't take care of a dog because we're just so busy. and then this person
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  was saying they go to Europe and Italy and they're like the happiest they've
• 11:21
  ever been, you know, because they're just slowed three hours to eat dinner and they nap and rest.
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  I know there's a balance. We can't just be resting all the time,
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  but I think they've done a better job weaving in the recovery and the rest that we haven't done.
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  So that's kind of what, you know, you can still work hard and but still take
• 11:44
  care of your health and your relationships and be more mindful of your time
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  instead of this like push, push all the time.
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  So I think that's the other piece. You're right. They're realizing that you
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  can go work out, but you still need to think about how sore you're going to
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  be the next day or, you know, your brain health or your mental health instead
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  of just your physical health. It's not always about what we look like.
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  Like, of course, everyone cares about what they look like, but they should also
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  care about how their mental health performs.
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  I mean, you could look, you know, one way on the outside and the inside,
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  you're a ball of stress, which affects our entire health, right?
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  Growing up as an athlete, if there wasn't a double day swim meet or an invitational
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  or something we were doing Saturday and Sunday, Sunday we had off.
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  We did nothing on Sundays. Oh, that's good to hear.
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  Unless you were like just going to swim because you couldn't stop,
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  which you are so physically drained after six full days.
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  And some of those are double days of training that your body needs a recovery.
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  So we do that as athletes, but we don't do that as we get older.
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  We might recover for a day physically, but we're not recovering our mind.
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  We're not doing our body. We're not doing the work to recover properly.
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  I will tell you, I do not stretch enough.
• 12:59
  Yeah. I do not get my yoga in and my body feels it.
• 13:04
  Never mind the physical stuff, but things like taking a break from your phone.
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  Yesterday I had someone local who's great at things like doing Instagram lives.
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  He helped me do my first one.
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  And we started off inside the sauna. It was a regular session.
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  And I had said before we went in, like, the phone is going to kick out because of the heat.
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  But we got talking, completely forgot. And I don't know, three minutes in,
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  something like that, we got the emergency thing that comes up on the phone.
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  And I was like, oh, shit. Like, we've now got to step out, wait for the phone
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  to cool down, and then start again.
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  But that's what the sauna also, too, is that you're present with community.
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  Nobody's on there. Like some people might take photos. They kind of take a picture.
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  Sure, do that, whatever. Then put the phone away. You're really present with
• 13:53
  yourself and with other people. I think as much as we need physical recovery,
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  we also need mental health recovery.
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  And the community piece is really helpful for that too.
• 14:03
  So the process of the cold plunge and the sauna, can you tell us what that looks like?
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  Do we do cold plunge first? Do to be sought out first. How does that work?
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  Yeah, basically my ideas and my premise and how I run things is more Scandinavian minded.
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  I'm not running it super like athletic minded in a way. It's just more like listen to your body.
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  I give you some loose structure around what the studies say,
• 14:32
  but everybody can do it different. I get clients that show up.
• 14:36
  I'll just use Penfield Beach as an example.
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  Some people show up and they already have cold plunge. They've already gone
• 14:42
  in the sound. They walk over and they use their time to warm up.
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  Some people heat first, sweat for 10, 15, 20 minutes, then go cold plunge and
• 14:52
  then come back and heat themselves up. I do 50-minute sessions at the beach,
• 14:55
  so you have plenty of time to really get a good sweat on.
• 15:00
  Some people cold plunge, some people just stand outside. This time of year,
• 15:04
  you don't have to cold plunge. You're going to get more benefits from doing that.
• 15:08
  You're going to get more dopamine, more adrenaline, all of those,
• 15:12
  the cold shock proteins, things that you're really only going to get from going in the water.
• 15:17
  But standing outside and cooling off, especially when it's really cold out,
• 15:21
  you're getting contrast. Your blood vessels are opening in the sauna and contracting
• 15:25
  in the cold plunge or in the cold air.
• 15:27
  A lot of people stand outside, they drink tea, they hang out with each other,
• 15:31
  there's steams coming off their body, and then they get cold enough that they
• 15:36
  feel kind of shivery and then they go back in the sauna.
• 15:39
  So my session time sort of allows for, depending on whether you're going across
• 15:44
  the street to get in the sound or not, and of course it's different in the warmer
• 15:47
  months when I have the cold plunge tub, But there really isn't a right or wrong thing.
• 15:52
  There's all kinds of studies, and that's the thing. I can quote studies all day long.
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  How many times per week, at what temperature, what it does to your body.
• 16:00
  Cold first, hot first, doing it after your workout, before your workout.
• 16:05
  There's so much information coming out now in these studies.
• 16:10
  But at the end of the day, I really want people to try different things, listen to their bodies.
• 16:17
  Go home and be like, that didn't feel as good, or I didn't sleep as well,
• 16:21
  or you know, whatever, whatever things for you that are feeling good in your
• 16:26
  body after you've done it, that's what you should be thinking about.
• 16:29
  It's not so much about because everybody's different. And that's the thing with
• 16:32
  these studies is that they're generalizations, but we don't know.
• 16:37
  Men and women are different.
• 16:38
  Women don't sweat as much as men do. Men zonodilate as quickly as women do.
• 16:43
  So they sweat a lot more quickly, which is why they sweat a lot more.
• 16:47
  I didn't really know that until a few months ago. It was interesting.
• 16:50
  It came up on another podcast I was listening to.
• 16:52
  Some people don't sweat. They're in there for 20 or 30 minutes and don't sweat.
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  Some people are really cold tolerant.
• 16:58
  Some people can only go for 30 seconds. Like there isn't a one size fits all.
• 17:02
  I just would stress that people come and give it a try.
• 17:06
  See what works for you. I give you lots of options. I coach you through everything.
• 17:11
  I tell you what's physiologically happening to your body. But at the end of
• 17:13
  the day, I just want you to get out of your comfort zone, do something different
• 17:18
  and meet new people, be in community, and take care of your physical and your mental health.
• 17:23
  I love it. I'm game. I told you, I want to come. I will be there. Okay.
• 17:27
  You'll get there. Once this back and forth from Vermont happens, I'm going to be there.
• 17:30
  But it's interesting that you said just being outside, especially here because
• 17:34
  it's freezing and there's snow.
• 17:35
  I get the difference not having to get into the cold plunge.
• 17:39
  That's my biggest fear. I don't want to be freezing. Yeah.
• 17:44
  But I want to try both. And again, you don't have to cold plunge.
• 17:47
  The problem becomes when we have warmer temperature during the day and the contrast isn't there.
• 17:53
  That's really when the cold plunge comes into play because standing outside
• 17:56
  isn't going to cool you off enough.
• 17:58
  Right. What are the age ranges you're getting for this? Is it younger people?
• 18:01
  Is it older people? Is it in the middle or is it all over the place?
• 18:04
  I can't take anyone under 18 for insurance reasons. Our area is demographically
• 18:10
  set to a certain age range.
• 18:12
  But I had yesterday, I had parents bring their college kids because they're still home.
• 18:17
  I had an elderly gentleman who had had a stroke whose family brought him because
• 18:23
  he had seen it and wanted to go. He wasn't very even verbal.
• 18:27
  And he had a walker and they brought him in and he was so grateful he didn't want to get out.
• 18:31
  And I was like, he's been in here enough. He needs to get out.
• 18:34
  But he's been a sauna goer his whole life and he just hadn't felt that type
• 18:38
  of heat. in a long time and he just wanted to feel good.
• 18:42
  So I get that. I get grandparents. I get, you know, I love the families coming together.
• 18:48
  Yesterday I had a whole family, two college kids and the two parents.
• 18:51
  I get parents of little kids who they trade off. One comes first and then the
• 18:56
  other one, he goes home and then she comes.
• 18:58
  Yeah, it's all over. Men, women, athletes. I get people who are really gym-focused.
• 19:04
  I get the CrossFit crew. I get the moms.
• 19:08
  Yeah, that's what I love about, especially the sauna.
• 19:12
  You know, like, that's really my baby. That's for everyone. I wish I could have
• 19:15
  families like they do in Scandinavia.
• 19:17
  Babies and small children will be on the floor where it's coolest,
• 19:20
  and they usually have buckets of water down there, and they just sauna with their families.
• 19:25
  That's what I wish it could be, but for now, that's not the way it is.
• 19:29
  Maybe in the future, but it's for everyone.
• 19:32
  You have to speak with your doctor about if you've got heart issues,
• 19:36
  high blood pressure, things like that, you definitely have to be aware.
• 19:40
  But in general, if you're of pretty good fitness, you're able to do it.
• 19:44
  And you could go sit in the sauna for.
• 19:47
  Five minutes, eight minutes, then get out and take a breather and go back and
• 19:51
  build your tolerance up.
• 19:52
  You don't have to go straight in there for the first time and stay.
• 19:56
  I think the studies say you get the maximum benefit somewhere between 12 and 20 minutes.
• 20:02
  Not everybody can do that at 200 degrees, and that's okay. How hot is your sauna?
• 20:07
  Yeah, I mean, it ranges between 180 and 10, somewhere in there.
• 20:12
  The top bench is going to be the hottest because heat rises.
• 20:15
  So people can find their sweet spot.
• 20:18
  Sometimes they start up top and then move down or vice versa.
• 20:22
  That's the range and it's wood burning. Infrared saunas can't get that hot.
• 20:26
  It heats you differently from the inside out. This is a traditional Scandinavian style sauna.
• 20:31
  The studies have been done on is Scandinavian or Finnish style sauna.
• 20:36
  So we don't know. Yeah, the dry sauna. We put water on the stones to create
• 20:40
  steam throughout the session, but it's fundamentally a dry sauna, yes.
• 20:46
  So that's really interesting, because the one at the Y does not get that hot.
• 20:50
  Yeah, I mean, they probably have a limit on it for liability reasons,
• 20:53
  so I don't know, but I'm going to guess it's like 170 there or something like
• 20:56
  that. I don't even think it's that hot.
• 20:58
  Okay, yeah. I end up finding, it's funny you said that, I sit on the top in the corner.
• 21:06
  Next to the heat. Because I'm like trying to get in the hottest spot possible.
• 21:12
  Only because if I'm in there, I want to be hot. Like that's the whole point.
• 21:16
  That's the problem with the gym saunas, I guess. They're trying to keep it in
• 21:19
  the middle ground where they can keep everybody happy.
• 21:22
  And there probably is a liability around it. I do hear from everyone that they
• 21:26
  think that whether it's the edge or the Y, it's like hovering around 170 typically.
• 21:31
  I mean, mine is wood fired, so I I can control the temperature and,
• 21:36
  you know, it feels the best to me at around 200 and that's what the studies
• 21:40
  show and that's what the Scandinavians do.
• 21:42
  So I just follow our ancestral ways of doing it.
• 21:47
  I had someone reach out to me about what type of sauna to get for their home
• 21:50
  indoors and we were talking about electric versus infrared and she said something
• 21:56
  that was really interesting.
• 21:57
  She said, you know, I know that a lot of people have infrared and it's a thing,
• 22:02
  but for some reason, it just doesn't feel right to me.
• 22:05
  I just have a gut feeling that I'm supposed to do the traditional way.
• 22:08
  And that's kind of how I feel. I have an infrared too, so I'm not saying it's not good.
• 22:13
  But I just feel there is a difference in the heat.
• 22:16
  Obviously, the air is a lot hotter, but just energetically, like having the
• 22:21
  wood and seeing the fire and the smells of the birch. and I do essential oils
• 22:26
  in the water that goes on the stones.
• 22:28
  It's just got a different experience than being in an infrared sauna.
• 22:32
  Well, yeah, it's coming from the earth. I feel like it's much more grounding in that way, too.
• 22:36
  I've always been curious because at some point I would love to have my own home gym with a sauna.
• 22:43
  A friend of mine has an infrared. She loves it. She uses it all the time. I just want wood.
• 22:48
  Only because I like the aesthetic as well. I like the naturalness of it.
• 22:52
  I like bringing in all parts of nature into wherever I'm at,
• 22:57
  whether that's wood or plants or water, you know, stone.
• 23:00
  I like that. Well, that's because we're human.
• 23:03
  You know, we're not meant to be surrounded by nature.
• 23:07
  EMFs and everything electric all the time.
• 23:10
  That's why when you go off grid, when you're outside and your feet are on the
• 23:14
  ground and you're listening that, you know, you're hearing the nature sounds
• 23:18
  and you're breathing fresh air and, you know, you sleep better,
• 23:22
  you feel better, your brain works better.
• 23:25
  And that's because we are electroelectric beings, you know, and we're affected by all of this stuff.
• 23:32
  It's important for us to be surrounded in nature and ground and remove all of
• 23:37
  that that gets built up with being surrounded by the LED lighting and cameras.
• 23:42
  It's a lot on our systems and we don't get outside enough. We don't move our
• 23:47
  bodies enough, but nature is a huge thing.
• 23:50
  And that's why you're listening to your body when it's telling you that having
• 23:54
  plants around, they clean the air, they provide oxygen, the rocks are grounding.
• 23:59
  It's all of that, that you're, you know, so good for listening to it.
• 24:02
  Yeah, it feels right. We walk out here all the time.
• 24:06
  There's that visceral feeling of the snow crunching underneath your feet,
• 24:10
  super quiet, but you're outside.
• 24:12
  I'm very fortunate. When I'm home, walking in the woods, it's just,
• 24:15
  I've just been drawn to it. And I don't know if that's as we age, we're able to.
• 24:19
  I think you're just more aware, you know, more aware of these choices.
• 24:23
  The other thing about my sauna versus others that are maybe indoor focused is
• 24:28
  that, you know, it was snowing a couple of weeks ago and I had a session down
• 24:33
  at the beach and it was snowing while we were in there.
• 24:36
  And you can look out the window and see the snow.
• 24:38
  It really is, like you said, aesthetically beautiful.
• 24:43
  There's something you can't quantify. I'm sure there's some scientific study
• 24:46
  out there that quantifies it.
• 24:48
  But, you know, being seeing nature, listening to the sound like my my solar
• 24:53
  battery stopped working yesterday.
• 24:55
  So I had no music. I usually have music,
• 24:58
  And yesterday it was quiet. And I sauna in the quiet, usually a lot when I'm
• 25:03
  at home, especially on my own.
• 25:05
  It was interesting. I felt really funny at the beginning saying to everyone,
• 25:09
  oh, there's no music today because they're so used to the music.
• 25:12
  And then after a while, I didn't even notice it. And then I forgot to say something
• 25:16
  to the next group and the next group.
• 25:19
  And it wasn't a big deal. Everyone just talked.
• 25:22
  And it's just funny how we train ourselves to think that we need all of that
• 25:26
  stuff when it's actually really healthy to disconnect from it. Absolutely.
• 25:30
  Okay. So what's next? What is that for you? What's next for Kim?
• 25:35
  Right now, I'm just trying to dial in on my hours down at the beach.
• 25:38
  Still trying to do partnerships. I did a private event last week in Easton.
• 25:43
  And it was so beautiful. I partnered with Nordic Fish, who are the fishmongers,
• 25:49
  as the Brits would say, or the Europeans would say, in Fairfield.
• 25:53
  And Yardar came. He did a caviar-champagne pairing. That was amazing.
• 25:59
  Everybody did sauna. Everything was snowy.
• 26:02
  The chairs had the sheepskins. Everyone got out after an hour of in and out. They did snow angels.
• 26:08
  I had a big fire pit around the chairs. They all got dressed back in their cozy, warm clothes.
• 26:14
  Everyone had a glass. We had tea from Grace Farms and champagne from Harry's in Fairfield.
• 26:20
  I think we had four different types of caviar and he talked about where they
• 26:22
  came from, the regions, how they were fish.
• 26:25
  He educated everyone on all the different types and everything you'd want to know about caviar.
• 26:30
  And we sipped a little champagne and had like little bumps. And then we had
• 26:35
  the blinis and the sour cream.
• 26:38
  He Partnerships and doing private events like that are my favorite thing to do.
• 26:44
  Of course, the community down at the community sessions are amazing, too.
• 26:47
  So dialing in on the hours, the locations, I'm still waiting for permitting
• 26:52
  from the different towns to be actually at the beach.
• 26:55
  Right now, I'm adjacent to the Penfield Pavilion.
• 26:58
  And we're looking for investors. I'm at that place now of thinking about what's to come.
• 27:05
  So there will be some expansion in some way, shape or form. I have somebody
• 27:09
  helping me now down at the beach for part-time hours so that I don't have to
• 27:13
  completely lose my weekends.
• 27:15
  Thinking about the lifestyle stuff, some skincare, some merch, things like that.
• 27:21
  So there's a lot going on. And I'm freaked out on many days,
• 27:25
  overwhelmed, nervous, scared.
• 27:28
  But every time that I feel that sense of fear, I've gotten good at flipping that to, okay, okay.
• 27:36
  You're scared, you think you're not capable, but this is why,
• 27:39
  this is what's going to push you.
• 27:41
  That just means you're doing something in the right way because it's scary and
• 27:45
  it's causing you to second guess your capabilities.
• 27:49
  So 52 years of lessons and sauna, cold plunge, all the tools that I have are
• 27:55
  helping me cope with that, along with my community supportive friends.
• 27:59
  And I have a business advisor who's a friend who's just been,
• 28:03
  I don't even know, he's been away the last few days. And I'm like,
• 28:06
  when are you coming back?
• 28:07
  Because I have to talk to him about like how to pay someone and how many people
• 28:11
  can I take on and all these decisions.
• 28:13
  So, you know, we can't do everything on our own. There's growth happening. I'm excited.
• 28:18
  Thank you for giving me space to share about all.
• 28:21
  I agree with you. These collaborations with other groups, other women,
• 28:27
  it's pretty magical because we're all in this environment now where we're supporting each other.
• 28:33
  We've all started our own businesses, all basically figuring all of this out.
• 28:37
  And I think it's pretty special to have other people say, hey,
• 28:41
  I know what we need to do together. I know how to elevate you.
• 28:44
  I know how we can elevate this.
• 28:46
  I know how we can bring more people to you and get this out there more.
• 28:50
  Partnerships are huge for me.
• 28:52
  I'm really, you know, leaning into them because my clients get exposed to someone
• 28:57
  else's business and vice versa.
• 28:59
  That is invaluable. And hopefully you can make some money alongside that too.
• 29:03
  Partnerships and marketing are super important.
• 29:06
  What has SANA taught you?
• 29:10
  Sonic, I mean, contrast therapy, I have to sort of group them together because
• 29:14
  that's how I use them most of the time.
• 29:17
  So many things. I think the number one thing is doing hard things.
• 29:21
  So doing things that make us uncomfortable, even though the sauna feels amazing,
• 29:25
  it also can be uncomfortable.
• 29:26
  Doing the hard things in a day-to-day way, whether that's exercise,
• 29:31
  whether that's work, whether that's contrast therapy, is having hard things
• 29:36
  in our life make the other day-to-day things easier.
• 29:39
  My number one takeaway from those modalities is I've learned to use my breath
• 29:45
  and my intentional mindset,
• 29:48
  controlling my mind and my body when I'm in those modalities that then carry over into real life.
• 29:56
  So someone upsets me, my kid upsets me, or I have a work issue.
• 30:00
  I'm much better at sort of detaching from the emotion that comes along from that.
• 30:07
  So I get a difficult email and I would normally, you know, years ago get hijacked by that.
• 30:14
  Now it's like, okay, that doesn't feel great, but what's the lesson?
• 30:19
  What is this pushing me towards? Where's the silver lining in that?
• 30:23
  I don't get as afraid of those difficult things anymore.
• 30:28
  I used to get much more worked up about it, fearful. How am I going to handle it?
• 30:33
  Now it's like, okay, I got this. Something else will shift.
• 30:36
  I just flip the dialogue to be able to go from that hijack mode to,
• 30:42
  okay, where are the pros in this conversation? And that's a lot to do with your breath.
• 30:48
  For me, my breath has been super fundamental in not getting as upset about things.
• 30:53
  Listen, we're all human. My son will tell you I definitely get upset with him. But...
• 30:58
  I'm faster at recovery. I'm faster at being aware when I'm getting hijacked.
• 31:03
  I'll be able to, instead of it being 30 minutes later, one minute later being
• 31:08
  like, hey, I'm sorry that that happened. I shouldn't have said that.
• 31:12
  I didn't handle that in the right way.
• 31:13
  These are the reasons why I got hijacked and I'm trying to do better.
• 31:17
  I just have that language now.
• 31:19
  Contrast therapy has certainly been something that has trained my mind to deal
• 31:26
  with discomfort in a way that our society usually medicates,
• 31:31
  whether that's through phone screens.
• 31:33
  Food, alcohol, drugs, whatever.
• 31:36
  We're always self-medicating. And I have definitely noticed that I am less apt
• 31:41
  to reach for those things that I might have done even a few years ago.
• 31:45
  I'm more aware of like, yeah, you don't need to go have a glass of wine.
• 31:49
  Why don't you pour yourself a tea and take a couple minutes to breathe,
• 31:54
  you know, or go connect with friends, reach out to someone and talk to them.
• 31:59
  Community has to be the number one thing.
• 32:01
  Not only owning this business, but being part of the sauna community has created that for me.
• 32:08
  I feel part of something. I feel part of a movement.
• 32:10
  People rely on me. They trust me. So I guess those are my two takeaways.
• 32:18
  Yes yes yes yes yeah i love it this was
• 32:21
  fantastic like i'm not editing
• 32:24
  i'm just gonna put it up it's so good i'm glad
• 32:27
  we got to circle back i'm sad about our conversation that
• 32:31
  was way more like girl chat over a glass
• 32:33
  of wine but we'll have to do that another time absolutely i
• 32:37
  think we talked about dating and divorce you know it
• 32:40
  was definitely more of a chit chat let's
• 32:43
  get to know each other let's hang out yeah the uh for
• 32:46
  almost formality of of maybe it'll
• 32:49
  pop up and you can release 2.0 that's oh my god
• 32:52
  that i save it in two different locations and i immediately download it to my
• 32:57
  editor that's a good idea as the editor there's no mess around anymore well
• 33:02
  that's good look you learned something from it it's a terrible lesson but i
• 33:07
  did learn from it well listen marina i thank Thank you so much for having me on.
• 33:11
  I find talking to you incredibly easy. And I know that if we hung out socially,
• 33:16
  it would feel that way too.
• 33:17
  So I'm grateful for the local support, the female support.
• 33:21
  And please come and get in the sauna. Let me know when you're back and around.
• 33:24
  I would definitely say if you can experience it in winter, it's just a completely
• 33:28
  different vibe than it is when it's hot outside.
• 33:32
  So try to get here before May. Oh, I'll definitely be there before May.
• 33:36
  We're only back in February.
• 33:38
  Okay, awesome. You'll see me in there. Wonderful.
• 33:40
  All right. Thank you, Ginger. Enjoy the rest of your time in Vermont.
• 33:44
  Thank you. I'll talk to you later. All right. Okay. Bye.
• 33:48
  Thank you so much for joining me today on She's Smart. New episodes drop every Thursday.
• 33:53
  Don't forget to subscribe and share. Stay cozy.