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“Let Me Tell You” is a series of columns from our expert editors about NYC living, including the best things to do, where to eat and drink, and what to see at the theater. They publish each Tuesday so you’re hearing from us each week. Last time, Food & Drink Editor Morgan Carter took her dog to the SoHo house of dog daycares.
Picture it: wall-to-wall bodies, sweating and grooving. Thumping house music. And when things get too hot, the cold plunge is here to cool you down. Meet Heatwave by Daybreaker, where the club meets the sauna.
Since its inception in 2013, Daybreaker has been known for its sunrise get-togethers, whether it be yoga sessions at the Edge or silent discos at Rockefeller Center. In January, the global dance community went dark for the first time, hosting a nighttime party at Flatiron’s “out of this world” sauna, Othership. The one-off turned into a monthly sauna series, now held both day and night, inviting all to shake off the chill outside and sweat it out. Earlier this year, looking to mark the end of a very successful Dry January, I slid on my swimsuit under my puffy coat and set my sights toward Flatiron.
Inside the lobby of Othership, the excited energy of the crowd was palpable—enhanced by the muted thumping of tunes beyond the wall. Check-in was relatively swift and easy, as I was given a few towels (one for sitting, one for sweat) and was directed to the locker room. A tight fit is the best way to describe the locker situation as plenty of winter shoes were stacked on top of each other and the back wall swelled with black puffy coats. An attendant manning the room kindly announced that we all had to find ways to “be creative” when it came to storing our things, which was a nice way to say that all of the lockers were taken. My friend and I explored our “creativity” by storing our bags and purses on top of the lockers.
As I turned the corner, the house music thrummed even louder as I entered the spa facility. At first glance, the 7,000-square-foot sauna is truly a beautiful space to behold, with earthy, amber-colored walls, a cedar sauna and a softly illuminated, brick-lined room that houses various cold plunge tubs. The amphitheater-style lounge usually reserved for calm socialization served as the dance floor for the evening, as bikini-clad bodies danced around the DJ booth and on the cushioned, bleacher-style seats that surrounded it. I grooved for a bit around the edges, but wasn’t too keen on sliding past sweat-slicked people to get to the center.
As the dance party spilled out into the hallway, I figured I’d find a bit of relaxation in the sauna room. Instead, I found a neon-lit room packed with people you’d likely find at Burning Man, grooving in their seats and yelling at each other over the music pumped inside. Soon, two instructors, known as “Shipheads," entered the room, armed with aromatherapy ice balls. Throwing the balls onto the hot coals, the two began whipping the towels to the music, wafting the scent in the process. Like a go-go dancer made to electrify the crowd, the room responded in suit, sprouting another dance party. Looking for a bit of solace, I most often found myself near the self-service station filled with tea, water and Hopwtr, where I felt most out of the way.
Perhaps I had wrongly imagined there was a place to enjoy the calming properties of the sauna when I wanted it and to enjoy the party when I didn’t. Yet, as I walked around the space, I quickly found each corner full of people and house music. There was even a point in the evening when I overheard a conversation between two people who were clearly working the event. “Isn’t this a fire hazard?” one asked, only to be answered with a laugh. Of course, I reasoned, this was a rave after all, the loud music and sweaty bodies were to be expected. But with Daybreaker’s ethos of connection and community, I wished there was at least one semi-quiet space to do so.
Surprisingly enough, I finally found my bit of solace in the cold plunge. At the time, I only had a few plunges under my belt, most of them awful, and most of them under 30 seconds or less. As I eyed one bath bobbing with ice cubes, contemplating skipping it all together, an instructor who I recognized from Othership’s Instagram page approached me. Sensing my hesitation, she offered to walk me through the process. First, we took a deep inhale together and shook it out, releasing my expectations. With another inhale, she guided me to visualize what was about to happen with the intention that I could do this. Guiding me through one more inhale, she instructed me to breathe out and immediately sit into the tub as fast as I could. It took a second for my body and my brain to react as I plopped into the cold water below, but soon the deep chill hit my core, a rush of blood shooting to my head. Instead of immediately following my response to leave, the instructor was right there with me, gently affirming with phrases of “You can do this” and “You can do hard things," while encouraging me to take in air. Eventually my mind’s urgency won out, but not before I held an entire minute in the water.
I ended up staying near closing time, which proved a bit more breathable as the crowds eventually thinned. As the time neared midnight, the DJ held the music. The MC invited everyone to hold up their hands to give energy to the evening and set intentions for the year ahead. As I left back to the cold streets of the city, I reasoned, that maybe a sauna rave isn't exactly my speed (hi, old). But thinking back to the happy, sweaty faces around me and the bit of post-cold plunge clarity I experienced, I could see the benefits of bringing the party to the spa.