My bathing practice, like most, includes heat, water, transitions between hot and cold, and communal spaces but it is far removed from the banyas, sentos and hamams of other countries. I live in Los Angeles and current-day California does not have a significant indoor bathing culture, however, its public beaches offer a bathhouse-adjacent experience. Sunbathing as a bathing practice connects a pleasure activity with health and well-being, and also (to my over-40-self's surprise), my personal empowerment. Sunbathing has historically shaped culture through shifting restrictive moral codes and prejudices and has even been an instigator and technique for civil rights and social justice movements.