At first, I thought I was schvitzing in a sauna full of suckers. I was in communion with a diverse group of twenty “journeyers” at Guided All Around: A–Z Emotions, a seventy-five-minute guided class at Othership, the immersive sauna and cold-plunge experience set in the basement of a Yorkville condo. Othership offers self-guided and instructor-led classes focused on emotional wellness, where busy yuppies like me can socialize and destress. (I had no issues whatsoever making this class on a Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.) For nearly an hour, journeyers enthusiastically followed the choreographed exercises for emotional regulation—breathwork, screaming, self-inquiry. I did so with half-hearted obedience. My eyes were open (and rolling) when they were meant to be closed, and I was fidgety when I should’ve been still. Was the modern bathhouse where I’d find community?
The idea for Othership was born in the summer of 2019, when Robbie Bent and his now wife, Emily, relocated to Toronto after nearly two years bouncing between hacker houses from San Francisco to Berlin for Bent’s tech job. While abroad, Bent and his friends would often visit modern bathhouses—alcohol-free social spaces. Upon moving home, Bent, a former addict, was intent on building a healthy, sober community. So the couple installed an ice bath in their backyard and formed a WhatsApp group so their friends could easily coordinate cold plunges—ice-bath immersions thought to improve one’s mood and cognitive alertness.
