ARC is probably the country’s coolest sauna.
Sorry, poor choice of words – it’s scorchingly hot, but most importantly, it’s the nation’s first communal contrast therapy club. It’s got 5,000 square feet of space to play with (making it the UK’s largest sauna) which they’ve packed with all manner of wellness wizardry, as well as communal spaces for some good ol’ fashioned human-to-human connection.
The whole thing is the work of Chris Miller, ex-Soho House Director, and Alanna Kit, who has a PhD in neuroscience. Together, they’ve poured their talents into a gorgeous, community-minded space specialising in guided contrast therapy, in which you alternate between climactic extremes, unlocking a cocktail of health benefits. Apparently, it increases all manner of feel-good endocrine activity, from massive doses of dopamine, to endorphins, prolactin, norepinephrine, and many more scientifically named boosters.
So what can you expect from a visit? Well, first you need to make your way to Canary Wharf. That’s right, they wisely picked the spot with the highest concentration of burnt-out, highly stressed workers in the city to open, so it’s a bit like opening a sweet shop in a toddler daycare. (There’s a second branch planned for Marylebone later in the year, though). You’ll find the massive space underground, buried under Crossrail Place.
Inside, the venue is roughly split into three main areas: the lounge, the sauna, and the ice baths. After changing, and making your way through their chic shower room, you’ll start things off in the stunning communal lounge area (or ‘Colosseum’, as the instructors call it), where the class begins, working whatever that particular session is focused on, from breathwork to meditation, mobility, etc.
After that, you’ll move into the gigantic sauna, which is large enough for there to be a noticeable temperature gradient from the lower (cooler) benches to the heat-trapping higher benches. It can move up to a downright biblical 93 degrees at the top, and it’s sweaty, intense, and slightly euphoric. After that, you’ll head to the next room for the ice baths, which are kept as close to freezing as possible while still remaining liquid. After three minutes immersed in them, you’ll head back to the sauna to warm back up, and then through to the lounge to decompress with your fellow survivors.
And genuinely, you will be chatting to the strangers next to you – something about contrast therapy, and the pseudo-ordeal-like nature of it that creates an instant, weirdly intimate shared bond between you all, and allows conversation to flow in a way that Londoners normally avoid at all costs.
In fact, that lounge space actually becomes the heart of regular evening social events, with DJs too.
In short, it’s the hottest place in town.
NOTE: ARC is open now, seven days a week. You can find out more and book a class at the ARC Community website.
PREVIOUS PERK: Nudge Members got 50% off their class packages (1, 3, or 5 classes) from 13th Feb until March 13th.
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ARC Canary Wharf | Minus Level 2, 1 Crossrail Place, E14 5AR
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