Swimming the Seas of Orkney: Ritual & Belonging with Writer Vik Bennett

I hope you’ve loved our adventures by American bathing tradition. Don’t fear, we’ll be again. We’ll be joined by extra founders and consultants who’re shaping the US’ burgeoning sauna and thermal bathing tradition. I’ll even be sharing a few of my favourite locations to sweat and soak throughout the nation and particularly right here within the Northeast. Keep a watch proper right here on our Substack, the place we publish articles that go deeper into the matters and journey guides from the podcast.

I’m so excited to share this sequence particularly as a result of Scotland is my second residence. My twin sister has lived in Scotland for over a decade. Over these years I’ve lived all around the world, however one factor has been fixed: my common visits to Scotland. She lives in Portobello now—that’s Edinburgh’s seaside. And I’ve fallen in love with the Victorian bathing historical past of that neighborhood. I’ve additionally actually loved seeing the sauna scene develop and evolve in Scotland.

Ireland too is seeing massive progress of their sauna scene—taking form by sea facet saunas, city bathhouses, and a wealthy historical past of historic sweat homes.

I believe you can be delighted to listen to concerning the magic, the whimsy, the romance, and all the pieces that makes this a part of the world so particular.

We’re touring far north to an archipelago off the coast of Scotland. The sea there may be an unpredictable power— chilly, fierce, and exquisite. In the summer season, the times stretch lengthy. And within the winter, darkness overtakes. Orkney is steeped in historical past and folklore. For our visitor at the moment, it’s a spot of returning to herself, her physique, and the land.

With the years of early motherhood and aged caregiving over, Victoria faces a time of change. She and her household resolve to take a leap, transferring 5 hundred miles north of all the pieces they know to the northern Scottish islands of Orkney. Uprooted and in an unfamiliar panorama, Victoria instinctively returns to the work of rising, getting down to remodel her scrappy yard into an considerable apothecary backyard by the ocean, impressed by Orkney’s folklore, historic landscapes and wild nature.

Shaped by tides and storms, wild crops and seaweeds, she creates a biodiverse yard sanctuary crammed with micro-habitats, wildflowers and herbs. Here, in her apothecary by the ocean, she crafts teas, tinctures and balms impressed by the encompassing soil and seas. Victoria finds belonging not solely within the backyard she has nurtured, however within the panorama that has quietly embraced her and referred to as itself residence.

Victoria Bennett 🌼🐝🐺 is a disabled, award-winning author, poet, and literary activist whose work centres on nature, identification, and artistic resilience. Her debut memoir, All My Wild Mothers, gained the Nautilus Award for Memoir, was shortlisted for a number of UK prizes, and was named an Aladin ‘Best Book of the 21st Century’. She is the founding father of Wild Women Press and the worldwide Wild Women Writers’ Salons, dedicating practically three many years to initiatives that nurture artistic neighborhood and amplify ladies’s voices domestically and internationally. Victoria lives in Orkney along with her husband, artist Adam Clarke, and their son, the place she tends her apothecary backyard by the ocean. You can discover Vik on X (@VikBeeWyld), Bluesky (@beewyld.bsky.social), and Instagram (@beewyld). You can even discover her right here on Substack at WildWomanLife.

• What it means to sea swim as a ritual of power, consciousness, and intention

• How tending crops can turn into a type of remembering

• How each the ocean and the soil can maintain us by intervals of change

• The tradition of untamed swimming in Scotland

• The mythology and folklore of Orkney—together with the story of the selkie (my private favourite)

• Vik reads an excerpt from her latest guide, Apothecary by the Sea

• She even shares a recipe to carry the ocean residence and into your private bathing ritual with an excellent bladderwrack salt soak

This episode was edited by Lila Woodbridge.

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Tschüss!

Sarah

P.S. Badii Talk goes LIVE! Introducing reside digital conversations on the enterprise, tradition, and ritual of the thermal bathing & sauna world.

Designed for house owners and operators, ritual practitioners, and bathing fanatics.

Join us for our first reside skilled panel with Sierra Blake, MPS, LADC , a training psychological well being therapist and founding father of Saint Lucie and MacKenzie Boling of Longevity Law. We’ll be discussing find out how to create signature experiences rooted in care, security, and differentiation. These ladies will not be solely absolute consultants of their fields, they’re additionally buddies of mine who carry a lot ardour, care, and intention to their work. It’s going to be a particular dialog.

Join us on May thirteenth at 7pm ET. We’ve stored the pricing approachable at $45, so we hope you’ll be part of us!

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