A members-only bathhouse on Manhattan Avenue with three cold plunges, two wood-fired saunas, and one steam room. We are not a spa. We are a club for the deliberate practice of contrast bathing, run by people who do it daily.
The hardest plunge on the floor — single occupancy, deep enough to fully submerge while standing. Triple-filtered, UV-sterilized, water replaced once weekly.
The everyday plunge. Wider, shallower, for shared sessions and for the first weeks of a new practice. Most members spend their first month here before trying The Crevasse.
Wood-fired Finnish sauna built by a Karelian sauna master. Two-tier benching, full Aufguss steam ritual on the half-hour. Closed-door policy: once it starts, no one in or out.
The smaller, silent sauna. Posted rules: no conversation, no phones, no löyly without permission. Reserved hourly. Used between Aufguss rounds in the main sauna.
Tile-lined steam room with eucalyptus oil infusion at the top of every hour. Lower core temperature than the saunas, but full saturation — sweat-out feels deeper here.
Where you go between rounds. Twelve heated chaises, blankets, water, tea on tap. Lighting kept under 30 lux. Speak in whispers; or, ideally, not at all.
A single two-minute plunge at 6°C triggers a measurable spike in norepinephrine — the body's focus-and-mood neurotransmitter. Effect lasts hours.
Regular cold exposure has been shown to reduce systemic inflammatory markers. Especially relevant after heavy training or long workweeks.
Sauna sessions above 80°C upregulate heat-shock proteins, which assist with cellular repair and longevity markers in long-term sauna populations.
The contrast cycle — heat, cold, rest — trains the parasympathetic response. Members report deeper sleep and a calmer baseline within four weeks.
The cold is harder than you think and easier than you fear. The first ten seconds are loud — the body shouting at you to leave. The next thirty are negotiation. After a minute, on a good day, there's a kind of quiet that we built this whole place to find.
You do not need to be in shape. You do not need to last the full three minutes — 30 seconds counts. You should not plunge if you are pregnant, have a heart condition, or have been drinking. You should breathe out, not in, on the way down.
We run a free first-timer's walk-through every Saturday at 9 AM. Bring a swimsuit. We provide everything else.
I thought it was going to be the cold that did something for me. It turned out to be the rest between rounds — the five minutes of sitting wrapped, doing nothing, that I'd been trying to find for years.— M. Aldana · Member since '24
Open seven days a week, 6 AM to 10 PM. Members get the building to themselves from 6 to 8 AM and from 8:30 to 10 PM.
87 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn — G train to Greenpoint Ave.