IBA Level 1 – Community Bath Master

Three Days of Hands-On Lithuanian Pirtis Training

October 4–6, 2026 | Sauna Garden, Lithuania

You can enjoy a good sauna without knowing exactly why it works. A bath master cannot.

For three days at Sauna Garden near Vilnius, we will move beyond being guests in the hot room and begin learning how to take responsibility for what happens inside it.

• How do you warm another person safely?
• How do you work with steam rather than simply create more heat?
• How do you use your hands and whisks without exhausting yourself or overwhelming the person on the bench?
• How do you turn several separate techniques into a coherent bathing procedure?

This course covers the full practical part of International Bath Academy Level 1 – Community Bath Master.

It is intended both for people beginning their bath-master journey and for sauna practitioners who already have some experience but want a structured foundation in Northern and Eastern European steam-bath practice.

Three days in the hot room

We learn by entering the pirtis, observing, trying, receiving feedback and repeating.

During the three days participants will work with the basic practical elements of a healthy traditional steam-bath procedure:

• gradual and safe warming;
• understanding the rhythm of a complete pirtis session;
• creating and guiding steam;
• positioning a person safely on the bench;
• basic body contact and gentle bodywork;
• working ergonomically in heat;
• introduction to whisking;
• moving steam with whisks;
• warming different parts of the body;
• adjusting intensity to the person;
• communication between bath master and guest;
• cooling, rest and transitions between hot-room sessions;
• bringing individual techniques together into a complete procedure.

The objective is not to memorise an impressive sequence of movements. The objective is to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what the person on the bench is actually experiencing.

Learn in two very different pirtis environments

One of the strongest parts of this training is the opportunity to practise in two contrasting traditional steam baths.

Traditional chimney pirtis – “white steam”

This is a clean, chimney-equipped traditional Lithuanian steam bath. It allows us to work with a controllable hot-room environment, stones and generous steam – what we sometimes call “white steam.”

Here students can concentrate on the relationship between the stove, steam, body position, whisk movement and the person receiving the procedure.

The clean smoke sauna

The second hot room is something much more unusual. At Sauna Garden we use a highly efficient clean smoke sauna designed by Rimas Kavaliauskas. It keeps the essential principle of smoke-sauna firing while solving several practical problems traditionally associated with soot and preparation.

Only three saunas based on this particular design concept have been built in the world. For a bath-master student, the difference is valuable. The same body, the same water and similar whisks can feel very different when the thermal environment changes. Learning to recognise that difference is part of learning the profession.

Not just whisking

Whisking is visually impressive, so it often becomes the public image of Baltic and Lithuanian pirtis.

But Level 1 begins earlier. Before trying to perform elaborate whisking, a bath master needs to understand how to: warm, observe, touch, communicate, use steam and maintain a safe rhythm.

A good procedure is built from these elements. The whisk then becomes another tool in an already functioning system – not a performance added on top of it.

Who is this course for?

The training is suitable for:

• sauna enthusiasts who want to move from experience to practice;
• beginners considering bath-master training;
• sauna hosts and community-sauna operators;
• wellness and spa practitioners;
• massage and bodywork professionals;
• people already leading sauna sessions who want a stronger technical foundation;
• students who plan to continue through the International Bath Academy qualification pathway.

Previous professional bath-master experience is not required.

A willingness to work closely with other students is.

During training, students practise on one another. You will therefore experience the course from both sides: as the practitioner and as the person receiving the procedure.

Important: theory is separate

The €360 course fee covers the three-day practical training only.

The theoretical part of IBA Level 1 is not included in these three days. Theory is taught separately through International Bath Academy and forms the other part of the complete Level 1 programme. This arrangement allows our three days in Lithuania to remain genuinely practical: instead of spending valuable sauna time sitting through lectures, we can concentrate on observation, repetition, correction and real work in the hot room. Students wishing to complete the full IBA Level 1 pathway can add the required theoretical studies separately.

Course fee

€300 per person for all three practical training days. The fee does not include accommodation or the separate theoretical part of Level 1.

Simple group accommodation

International students can stay in a separate house located close to Sauna Garden.

Accommodation is intentionally simple:

• shared dormitory-style room;
• staying together with the training group;
• approximately €25 per person per night;
• close to the main training location.

This is not hotel accommodation. It is a practical, inexpensive place to sleep and stay with the group between training days. For many students, this communal side of the course becomes part of the experience: sauna conversations tend to continue long after everybody has left the hot room.

Make it a four-day Lithuanian pirtis journey

If you are travelling to Lithuania for the course, we strongly recommend arriving one day earlier.

On Saturday, October 3, the Lithuanian Bath Academy is organising Build It Yourself: Lithuanian Pirtis from Fire to Steam in Švenčionys. During that day we will assemble and fire a simple smoke sauna, discuss what actually creates good sauna heat, talk about the craft of the bath master and finish with a traditional guided pirtis session. Then, on the following morning, the focus changes.

October 3: see how a pirtis works.
October 4–6: learn how to work inside it.

Together, the two events create four consecutive days of fire, steam, traditional bathing and practical education in Lithuania. You can attend either event separately or join both.