It's Brain Surgery
Welcome to It’s Brain Surgery, where we explore the mental, physical, and philosophical tools that help high performers thrive in high-stakes, uncomfortable, and uncertain parts of life.
I’m Dr. Andrew Brunswick, a neurosurgeon, athlete, and wellness advocate sharing first-hand insights from the operating room and the training ground. Here you’ll find conversations, strategies, and tools to help you:
•Strengthen your mindset 🧘
•Optimize physical and mental performance 💪
•Improve recovery and resilience 🔄
•Learn practical lessons from real neurosurgery stories 🧠
•Explore the latest in fitness, mindfulness, and wellness 🌱
Expect weekly podcast episodes, in-depth explainers, and highlight clips featuring guests ranging from doctors and elite athletes to thought leaders in mindset and recovery.
If you’re passionate about neurosurgery, health, fitness, mindset training, or unlocking peak human potential, you’re in the right place.
👉 Subscribe now and join a growing community of high achievers committed to mastering both body and mind.
It's Brain Surgery
The REAL Sauna Experience: What Finland Knows That We Don’t
Most of us think of a sauna as just “a hot room.”
In Finland, it’s a way of life, a ritual, a community practice, and surprisingly a powerful tool for training the mind.
In this episode of It’s Brain Surgery, Dr. Andrew Brunswick sits down with Lassi Liikkanen, one of the world’s leading experts on Finnish sauna design, tradition, and research. His books The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design and Finnish Sauna: Steam, Wood, Stone, and How to Build Your Own have reshaped how the world understands authentic sauna culture.
We dive into:
• Why Finnish sauna culture is nothing like the “sauna” trend in the U.S.
• How heat trains the mind like surgery: presence, discomfort, clarity
• The true purpose of steam (löyly) and why humidity matters
• Sauna as meditation, community, and digital detox
• Why infrared is not a Finnish sauna—and what the research says
• What Americans consistently get wrong about sauna design
• How sauna shapes honesty, connection, and vulnerability
• Why even infants in Finland go to the sauna
• The right way to think about temperature, cycles, and cooling
• How to build a sauna that actually works (and why most don’t)
If you’ve ever wondered what a sauna really is or if you’re trying to deepen your own practicethis episode will change how you think about heat forever.
Guest Information
Lassi Liikkanen
Author, researcher, and one of the leading authorities on Finnish sauna design.
Books:
• The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design
• Finnish Sauna: Steam, Wood, Stone, and How to Build Your Own