GNP Morgan County Podcast
The Good Neighbor Podcast... Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Morgan County!
GNP Morgan County Podcast
Sauna Suites And The Power Of Heat
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You’ve seen saunas tucked in the corner of a gym, but what happens when the sauna becomes the main event? We’re talking with Brandon Taylor, who along with his wife owns Sauna Suites in Martinsville, Indiana, about bringing a private, traditional sauna experience to Morgan County and why he believes rural communities deserve wellness options that feel clean, calm, and genuinely accessible.
Brandon shares the origin story behind Sauna Suites, from moving to Martinsville and falling in love with small town charm to spending months renovating a space designed around privacy. Each suite pairs a traditional heat sauna with a private shower and thoughtful amenities, so you can actually relax without worrying who’s walking in next. We also get into the educational side of sauna bathing: how long to stay in, what the heat feels like at first, and why many first timers hit a brief “I need to get out” moment before the calm kicks in.
Then we dig into the big reasons people book again and again: stress relief, heart health, muscle recovery, and skin health. Brandon explains the heat therapy science in plain language, including the body’s cortisol and endorphin response, the circulation and cardiovascular effects that can feel like mild cardio, and why heavy sweating is central to detox and skin support. If you’ve been curious about sauna benefits, traditional sauna vs infrared, or you want a simple wellness routine that fits real life, this conversation will give you a clear starting point. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review telling us: what would you want to feel after your first sauna session?
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_00This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Serber.
SPEAKER_02Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to the G uh the uh Good Neighbors Podcast, Morgan County. The show uh where we sit down with people building real businesses in our own backyard. I'm Tim Serber, the host, and today we're talking about something a little different. Not a contractor, not a restaurant, not a retailer. We're talking wellness. Specifically the kind of wellness that happens when you step into a room, close the door, and let the heat do what heat has done for human beings for thousands of years. Our guest today is Brandon Taylor. Him and his wife own Sauna Suites right here in Martinsville. Uh and Brandon, welcome to the show. Yeah, thank you. It's good to be here. We're glad you're here. And and you know, let's just jump right in because you know, Sauna Suites isn't a national chain, right? That's correct. Yeah, this is a Morgan County business. Not yet. That's right. This is a Morgan County business. You know, it's owned by somebody who lives here, built for people who live here and what matters. So, Brandon, let's start right here. Tell us you know who you are and what brought you to open sauna suites right here in Martinsville.
Why Sauna Suites Opens Here
SPEAKER_01Yeah, of course. So my name is Brandon Taylor. Um, I've lived in Martinsville for about five years. I've lived all over the place, but um in the end of 2021, we moved out to Martinsville and fell in love with the town. I have long felt a desire to give back to the community and to do something positive for the people that I'm surrounded by. I think that rural people deserve nice things. And um, I was on my own wellness journey uh at the end of the or during the COVID era, and I came across the saunas and um discovered that there's a ton of health benefits that I thought would be really powerful as a tool for people to combat the environment that we're living in. So um saunas are not just for relaxation, they're truly a full-body therapy. Uh, they are good for your mental health and your physical health alike. Um, it's backed by very well-researched long-term studies. And um, what I'm trying to do here is create an accessible place for people to get natural, drug-free uh healing in a very comfortable and unique way. A lot of people have seen saunas, they're kind of like an afterthought at a gym or a hotel, but no one really makes the sauna the main event. So that's what I tried to do. And I wanted it to be truly unique in terms of the privacy, the cleanliness, and um just the way that it was set up. So starting in 2025, I got the keys to our shop. We spent about seven, eight months doing renovations. I pulled every lever that I had to bring this to life. Um, I'm a veteran and I know that there's a heavy veteran concentration here in Martinsville, and I feel like the veteran community especially needs more resources to address their mental and physical health. And so um I wanted to create a space that felt comfortable for everybody from all backgrounds and demographics. But personally, I use the sauna for the mental health benefits, and um, I'm trying to promote this as a therapy for other people who also struggle with mental or or physical ailments.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, you know, you you you covered some of my questions there, but so we may we're gonna be hopping here a little bit. Uh, but you know, um when you when you looked, I mean, you've been here five years, what in the world made you think Martinsville is a great place to open up Asana?
SPEAKER_01That's a really good question. I like I said, I I kind of fell in love with this small town. I had moved from Indianapolis before then. I lived in Noblesville. It was very busy, uh, lots of traffic. And I I grew up in a small town, a place called Thorntown. Yeah. Um, and I have always been attracted to the small town simplicity and the charm. The people are just friendly, and the scenery here is gorgeous. And uh it was just a place for me to say if I can start this in this community, then um it can expand from there and become something greater. And Martinsville has received us very warmly, and uh we're we're you know doing something unique and new. So there's a big part of this journey, which is educational. And so I I love the opportunity to talk about the benefits um for saunas and why I think everybody should at least try it and and for for themselves and see if it can help them. Martinsville seems to be growing, and I really like the direction that it's going in, the investment that I've seen coming here, and it's a it's a place I want to call home for a long, long time.
Privacy And The Suite Setup
SPEAKER_02Oh, good. All right. Well, we we we're glad you're here too, trust me. Uh, it is a neat place. I've been there, but you know, a lot of people hear sauna and and they picture a cedar box at the gym. Right. You know, what's different about what you've built at sauna suites?
Stress Heart Skin Recovery Benefits
SPEAKER_01So the main difference is probably the privacy factor. A lot of the saunas that you can find in public areas, um, you don't get an education, you don't get a personal sort of guide on how to do it, the most appropriate way to get the most benefits. So, what we've done is I've taken uh six barrel or six-person barrel shape saunas uh and added audio and visual elements to it, and then put that into a private suite room. And inside that room, you have access to your own shower, uh, lotion, shampoos, towels, everything that you could need to enjoy the sauna kind of in a private way, in the way that it's supposed to be enjoyed. When you're in a public sauna, you don't know who's coming in, you don't really get to relax as much because you're, you know, you're worried about who's talking or what's happening. Uh, and there's a cleanliness factor too. We clean before and after every guest, and we just try to make it something that you cannot find anywhere else. We've got people that come from Franklin and Bloomington and Plainfield and um far away on a routine basis because they can't find the traditional sauna experience. And um, for me, the traditional heat versus the infrared sauna is the way to go just because you get the benefits so much quicker than you would find in an infrared sauna.
SPEAKER_02Well, and and you know, that's kind of I want to kind of go into the benefits now. The four wellness pillars that you have you have stress, heart health, muscle recovery, skin health. Uh let's let's let's touch on each one uh individually. So, how does a sauna heat actually work on the body to melt stress away?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a great question. So, what what's happening is you're subjecting your body to heat stress, and your nervous system has certain reactions to that heat stress. So, effectively, when you get into this warm environment, um you immediately kind of have a temporary cortisol spike. So your stress hormone goes up just slightly, which triggers your body to have a reaction. That reaction releases endorphins, and so you're you start to get uh an endorphin flood throughout your body, and that's your feel-good hormone. So that's kind of where the mental health benefits come. When you get out of that sauna, your cortisol drops below baseline what it started. So you have an increase of your feel-good hormones with a decrease of your stress hormones. So that's on the mental health side. For the heart health side, the research that's coming out now is suggesting that sauna use is just as good for your heart as exercise. Um, I wouldn't make the claim that sauna can replace exercise, but your heart has to pump harder in order to cool your body. And the heat actually acts as a dilator for your blood vessels. And so it's good for people that have high blood pressure because as your blood vessels expand, that pressure reduces, but then you're getting a mild cardio, essentially a cardio experience while you're in. And when you get out, you kind of have this cool down effect that is like a post-exercise euphoria. If you've heard of the runner's high, you get the same effect, if not greater, from being in the sauna between 15 and 20 minutes. From a skin perspective, you are sweating like you probably not sweat doing any other activity. And I've been in high school wrestling, I've been uh to deserts, I have been in the military in basic training, and I've never sweat in any of those environments like I do in the sauna. And that helps remove toxins and the forever chemicals. There's actually research coming out that says that it's really good for firefighters who are exposed to the smoke from fighting fires. Um, you get the best detox effect from being in a sauna over any other uh thing that you can do for detox purposes. And the fourth pillar is the muscle recovery, and the heat actually acts as an anti-inflammatory um agent. So your muscles start to relax, it helps the inflammation in your joints. So if you have chronic pain, um, it really does almost make an immediate difference. We've had customers come out of the sauna and tell us they've had chronic pain for months and months, and when they step out of the sauna, it's like the first time they notice that that pain has diminished or subsided. So the more you use sauna, it's it's called a dose-dependent response. So the more you use it, the more benefit you get. But the science is basically saying those that sauna between four to seven times a week at 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, over 20 year of the 20-year study, they saw a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality. So that's reduction in cancers and strokes and heart attacks. Um, you name it. There, there's more science I could go into related to heat shock proteins and how heat shock proteins are that stress response. They go out and they start finding damaged cells in your body and start repairing them or eliminating them. Um, and that's a that's another really big benefit for your immune health and how you can actually be more capable of fighting off uh colds and things like that.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That that you know, and and I just remember seeing them at the WMCA when I was a kid, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's it's shocking to me that more people don't know about these benefits. You know, a lot of people just think it's something to do after, you know, a hard day outside, or if you're at a ski resort someplace, like that's how I found it. Um, but it's more than just relaxation, there's a plethora of really solid science-backed benefits that um I think need to be made available to as many people as possible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Now, did you get trained on any of this?
SPEAKER_01Um, not formally. My wife is a PhD researcher in public health, and so I I like to use her credentials when we talk about the research because not all research is created equally. Um, however, the best research is done with random controlled trials over long term, and that's the research that we cite when we um give this evidence. So it's not just me saying this, there's a growing number of um researchers and influencers that are talking about the benefits of sauna, and you know, I have my own anecdotal experiences that prove these things, these claims that that I'm hearing. So that's my background.
Who Comes In And Group Events
SPEAKER_02Nice, nice. Well, do me a favor, who's your typical client?
SPEAKER_01Well, that's a great question. We've had uh customers from all different backgrounds, we've had um, you know, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, couples. We've had people that come after workouts, we've had people who just enjoy the warmth. We've had girlfriend groups, um, and we've had people in like police officers, firefighters, um high school athletes even have been. So I would say probably the most common would be um the female demographic, probably between 40 and 60. But we sauna is good for generally everyone, um, except for if you're pregnant or if you have a serious heart problem, and we generally cut off the age limit to about 16. The younger kids have a different heat response, and we're very concerned about dehydration. But um, most of the time, yeah, it's either couples or girlfriend groups that are coming in to try it.
SPEAKER_02So you you just said girlfriend groups, and while you were talking, I was thinking about this would probably be a great wedding party place and event for people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we've we've tried to do some uh we we have hosted some private events and they've been very well received. It's a really unique experience. Um, we do rent out the entire space so we could accommodate uh effectively up to 12 people. Um, if we had four to five people in in each sauna. So I would like to explore more and to get more into that space as well and make this something that is an event that you do a healthier way to do a bachelor or bachelorette party, you know. Instead of consuming a lot of toxins, you know, you detox and and then maybe you go out and you retox. But um, this could be the starting point because you're you're gonna feel great. I mean, the customer feedback has been incredible. People come and say for you know five, six, seven hours after they get out of the sauna, they they had never realized that they could feel so good just by spending 20, 30 minutes in a sauna.
What First Timers Should Expect
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Well, we got just a few more minutes here. Walk me through um uh a nervous first timer. What can they expect?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good question. So when we have first timers come in, we listen to their concerns. A lot of people are really worried about the temperature. 180 degrees seems very warm. Um, so I just set the expectation. You it will be warm. It's like being kind of wrapped in a warm blanket. You may have a little tingling in your nose from that temperature, but you you know, you can make it through that. There does come a point, maybe about seven, eight minutes into the session, where your brain starts to say, I don't know if I can do this. I don't, I need to get out. I, you know, it's a self-preservation response, but that's your nervous system reacting to the environment. And if you can push through that temporary feeling and you can endure the heat for a little bit longer, um, it helps you accomplish other tasks that are stressful. It increases your resiliency. And so um, the first timers usually have some apprehension. Once they get in, they realize it's not nearly as intimidating or uncomfortable as what they thought it would be. And then once they get out of the sauna, their whole demeanor changes. People come in nervous and anxious when they leave, the anxiety is completely gone. They are relaxed, they feel good, and it's almost a disbelief that I see in their faces that they could have had such a positive experience.
How To Book And Find Them
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, yeah, I I do remember being in there. I think it's a very neat place. You've done a great job on that. Uh, you know, so let us know how can people find you? What's the best way to contact you or get started?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, uh our website is um saunasweets-tw.com. That's the place I recommend. Most people go. All of our information is on the website. We're also on Facebook, Instagram, uh, even TikTok. We are located on 86 West Washington, which is is kind of hard to find. It's behind the candy kitchen on the back side of the building um that faces Washington Street. So on the front side of our building, there's a driving school and a beauty salon and a church. We're on the back side of that building. So we're a little tucked away. We kind of have that hidden gym vibe. But um, find us on our social media, find us on our website, and uh, we would love to have you in and give you this experience. Awesome.
Support Local Businesses And Closing
SPEAKER_02Well, let me just do this real quick. Uh, you know, um if you've got a Morgan County business and you're listening to this and you'd like to be heard just like Brandon was, uh, reach out to us. The Good Neighbors Podcast, Morgan County, is produced by the Red Wine Marketing Group, uh, which is my wife and I's business right here in Perrigan. And we run the Morgan County Business Directory at Morgan County Business.com. It's a real place for local businesses to be found, and we produce this podcast for business owners who want their story told straight. And that's what we like to do. And Brandon, I appreciate you being here. Sauna Suites in Martinsville. Go check them out, everybody. It is a very neat place. Uh, and it's it's a place that I think you truly enjoy, and I bet you keep coming back, which is what Brandon has has built. So, Brandon, I appreciate it. Uh, any last words?
SPEAKER_01Uh, Tim, I really appreciate you having me on, and um, I look forward to maybe having you and your wife come in sometime soon if you need a quick getaway. Uh, we do room rentals 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 60 minutes. Again, there's a private sauna in every room, a private shower in the room. We provide the towels and all of the amenities that you could want. Um, so we we try to make it as easy as possible. And whether you're doing it for a gift or just as a self-retreat, you're you're gonna love it.
SPEAKER_02Everyone does. Awesome. Well, Brandon, thanks again, and uh we look forward to seeing you soon. Okay, thank you, Tim. Have a good day. You too. Bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpmorgancounty.com. That's gmpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2058.