I had strictly adhered to the unwritten rules of British sauna etiquette: don’t get too close to anyone; don’t take your clothes off; don’t look at anyone; don’t sweat on anyone; and definitely don’t talk to anyone. But as I sat in the country’s largest sauna on a Monday morning, squeezed together by nearly 50 half-naked men and women, my defenses were not only being tested, they were starting to wear thin.
I’m at Arc, London’s hottest wellness centre, which opened this week. Situated on the ground floor of Canary Wharf shopping centre, the studio is a temple to ‘contrast therapy’. Contrast therapy is the latest buzzword for health fanatics. When not in the gym, it means alternating between a sauna and an ice bath. Arc has eight such contrast therapies, each