I Visited The UK’s Very First Dedicated Contrast Therapy Space – Here’s What Happened

As Canary Wharf continues to diversify its business-centric image – welcoming buzzy restaurant openings and hosting a plethora of fun pop-ups throughout the year – the wellness scene is positively booming. Barry’s, Sweat by BXR, Third Space and Ultimate Performance all call Canary Wharf home, as do Get A Drip, Randox Health and Le Chalet Cryo. The latest member of this elite club? ARC, London’s very first communal contrast therapy club. Here’s what it’s like.

Inside ARC, Canary Wharf

Puzzling your way around the metropolis of Canary Wharf is always a challenge, but for Elizabeth Line travellers, ARC is an easy find. Hidden beneath Crossrail Place, ARC’s neighbours are Barry’s and an Everyman cinema, setting the affluent tone. By the door, smiley staff greet you, hand over two towels (one for the sauna, one to shower later) and explain the concept from behind a standing desk, before gesturing left, where the mixed-gender changing space unfolds.

A wall of private changing cubicles is reflected by large central mirrors rimmed with make-up worthy glowing lights and flanked by hairdryers. On the opposite side, spacious shower cubicles await, tiled top-to-toe, with fragrant Malin+Goetz products waiting to rinse off the nasties once you’ve worked up a sweat. As one class transitions to another, there’s a lot of coming and going here but, once changed with your belongings stowed in a locker, step around the corner and enter a haven of tranquility: the lounge.

Each ARC journey begins and ends in the tranquil lounge. (© Felix Speller)

With a large box of herbal tea bags ready to be plundered, water cups and boiling water taps, the lounge is arranged around a monolithic altar: a big black slice of a tree, where each ARC journey begins and ends. This is orbited by terracotta cushions to perch on and a softly floating curtain blocking out the world, boosted by the subterranean location. The senses are heightened, picking up on wafting herbal scents from other people’s cups, skin acclimatising to balmy air, noticing minute breezes.

We’re here for a ‘Breathe & Ground’ class, and we begin with a briefing from ARC co-founder Alanna Kit – sauna master, wellness researcher and all-round expert in exercise psychology, breathwork, meditation, yoga and functional movement. She opens the class before guiding us to the sauna, which boasts the heady fragrance of natural wood. The coals crackle as we clamber in and settle on our towels; there are 10 of us, though up to 60 people can fit in here, coincidentally making it not just the largest sauna in London but the entirety of the UK.

Despite the size, it’s of course baking hot in each and every corner, with fresh heat climbing up to 88°C. We settle in for 15 minutes – muscles softening, mind quietening – as Alanna drops aromatic snowballs onto the coals to a sizzle, creating humidity that feels like 93°C, and unleashing soothing scents into the heady air. We’re guided through gentle stretches as well as breathwork, and I approach a slight lightheadedness as our time ticks away.

Alanna leading a session in the sauna. (© Des Iles)

Then to the scary part: ice baths. I’ve tried cold water swimming before, and even contrast therapy from a floating sauna on the Oslofjord – but as somewhat of a frigophobe, the promise of the sauna afterwards has been a very crucial part of my success in cold water. ARC is no different and after rinsing off our sauna-sweaty skin, we enter a dark space where eight custom-made baths are kept icy cold – between 2 and 5°C. Sometimes, sheets of ice dance across the surface.

Mind over matter, we plunge into the metal tubs in pairs, nudged long by peer pressure and a desire to really understand what it’s all about. Our frigid hands grip the bars along the sides of the tubs, the breath the only possible point of focus to lure the mind away from the icy tingles erupting across the body. We’re motivated through the two minutes by Alanna, who knows exactly how we feel as each 30 seconds passes. After the first 30, the hard part is over. After the second 30, you’re in the final stretch. When we burst from the tubs after two minutes, a kind of delirium takes over: gasps, wiggles, giggles, sighs. All of the endorphins. Contrast therapy is also thought to increase prolactin, which quickens brain function – and the sudden inner silence, the clarity, is undeniable. Improved attention, reduced inflammation, growth of neurons, resilience to stress, and a stabilised autonomic nervous system (controlling functions like heart rate and digestion) are all also thought to result from contrast therapy.

We take a moment to acclimate to the room temperature before returning to the sauna for some closing breathwork. What was a slightly coy and quiet group of strangers before was transformed into a group bubbling with chatter: observations, laughter, curiosity. It’s a world away from the stern and silent demeanor Londoners are known (and ridiculed) for across the UK – but it does align with the city’s changing face: sober curious, wellness-obsessed run clubbers.

Sometimes sheets of ice dance across the surface of the ice baths, which are kept between 2 and 5°C. (© Des Iles)

Spearheaded by ex-Soho House Director Chris Miller (who now runs White Rabbit Projects) in his first move into the wellness space, ARC Canary Wharf joins a zeitgeisty scene of sauna/contrast spaces in the capital, with Slomo Sauna, Community Sauna Baths, Sauna & Plunge, Rooftop Sauna and Sauna Social Club already serving London’s wellness cult. Best of all at ARC, classes guide you through the whole experience – so self-discipline isn’t so much of a requirement. For contrast connoisseurs, self-governed sessions are also available.

Another ARC branch is set to open in Marylebone in the summer, cementing contrast therapy’s status as the must-do wellness trend in London right now. So whether you’re hot on it, cold about it, or even lukewarm, it’s time for the uninitiated to hop aboard.

BOOK IT

Guided sessions at ARC Canary Wharf cost £28pp and can be booked at arc-community.com

Find It: Unit 46, 2 Crossrail Place, London E145AR