Singles night at Kolm sauna.Lindsay Elliott/Definitely Real
Rosa Borkowicz was tired of dating apps. The constant swiping, the ghosting, the back-and-forth messaging without any follow-through – it sucked her time and energy with seemingly little upside.
So in June, she quit them altogether and instead decided to “go out into the world,” she says. One of her first stops for seeking in-person connection was a singles night at Kolm, a sauna and cold plunge studio in Vancouver’s Cambie Village.
“It was easy to start talking,” Borkowicz recalls of the event. “If you were done chatting to somebody, you could say, ‘Okay, I’m going to go cold plunge now,’ and then you might meet someone else.” Although she didn’t find love that night, she enjoyed the experience and plans to attend another.
At East Vancouver’s the Good Sauna, singles events start with an ice breaker – literally – in its cold-plunge tubs.GRADY MITCHELL/The Good Sauna Vancouver
Many people might think of the sauna as a place for silence – a respite from a busy life. But these phone-free environments full of sweaty bodies in bathing suits have become a hot – pun intended – place for single people looking for new (and sober) ways to connect.
The global sauna market is expected to reach US$1.27-billion by 2030. In Canada alone the number of sauna businesses has ballooned, with the national market projected to grow by 6 per cent a year over the next five years. Along with offering guided classes, tea lounges and cold-plunge tubs, some saunas are now also hosting curated events catered to those who want to meet in the heat.
For Squamish, B.C.-based single and sauna regular Ian MacKay, the idea of finding a partner during a sweat session is a refreshing one.
“Saunas invite vulnerability,” he says. “They can create honest connections, and that superficial aspect of dressing in designer clothes or driving a nice car is taken out of it.”
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Part of what makes the sauna so primed for human connection is its lack of distraction, says Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, an Ottawa-based clinical psychologist and the author of I Didn’t Sign Up For This: A Couples Therapist Shares Real-Life Stories of Breaking Patterns and Finding Joy in Relationships . . . Including Her Own.
“In a sauna, you are not with your phones,” she says. “You’re focused inward on your own breath and what’s happening for you moment to moment. By being more centred within yourself, a sauna is inviting people to be more authentic and vulnerable.”
Saunas have long been touted for their detoxification and muscle-relaxation benefits, and studies have shown that cold plunges can help with mood and stress levels. It’s no surprise, then, that the combination of these two elements can make people feel happier, more open and more willing to connect with each other.
Most sauna singles events on the market right now cater to heterosexuals, but The Good Sauna hopes to start hosting queer singles events in partnership with local members of the LGBTQ community.GRADY MITCHELL/The Good Sauna Vancouver
This vulnerability is key, Dalgleish says, when it comes to forming authentic, long-lasting relationships.
“When we think about what’s required to build a healthy connection – a deepening in a relationship – it is that deeper sense of connection to yourself and having the space to share that,” she says. (Dalgleish does, however, caution that endorphin-fuelled adventures such as cold plunges shouldn’t become the only way for a couple to exist in their relationship: “You still want to be able to sit side by side in the everyday moments of life.”)
Othership, a Toronto-founded sauna and ice bath studio with outposts in New York, hosts singles events at all of its locations, along with couples classes designed to strengthen existing relationships. When it comes to building intimacy in a sauna environment, co-founder Emily Bent points to norepinephrine – a neurotransmitter released when someone submerges in an ice bath that can increase alertness and sexual arousal – as a key component.
“It makes you feel really good and happy and open,” she says. “It totally brings people out of their shell. It’s almost like you’re having a couple of drinks.”
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At East Vancouver’s the Good Sauna, singles events start with an ice breaker – literally – in its cold-plunge tubs. From there, staff ask everyone a question (“Where’s next on your travel bucket list?” “What was the last trip you took?”) to gently encourage conversation.
“It’s immediate camaraderie,” says owner Oliver Farrell, who has been hosting singles events every few months since last October. A couple who met at the first one are, in fact, still together. The Good Sauna’s events have a 50-50 split of women and men to ensure that both genders have an equal opportunity to meet someone.
Most sauna singles events on the market right now cater to heterosexuals, but Farrell hopes to start hosting queer singles events in partnership with local members of the LGBTQ community.
In Vancouver’s West End, a new Eastern European-inspired sauna called AetherHaus recently hosted a queer session – and though it was not specifically for singles, organizers have plans to offer dating events in the near future.
It’s not only single people who are harnessing the romantic powers of the sauna, either: Torontonian Michael Moses proposed to his girlfriend, Erika Saari, at Othership’s Yorkville location earlier this year. Saari grew up immersed in sauna culture (her background is Finnish), so Moses figured it would be the perfect place for a meaningful engagement.
“I tell my single friends frequently to check it out as somewhere to foster a connection,” Moses says of the sauna. “Because both of us have seen how good of a job it does.”