The circuit is the spine of the building, and it is included with every treatment we offer — but it is also bookable on its own, and roughly half of our members never book anything else.

The sequence is simple and old. Heat until you want to stop, cold until you want to stop, then stillness until your breathing settles, and then again. Two hours is enough for three full rounds at an unhurried pace, including the time it takes to change, rinse and sit down properly between them. There is no attendant telling you when to move and no recommended interval printed on the wall, because the honest answer to how long you should stay in the sauna is: less than you think, and you will know.

What the rounds do is train a response. The cold well is ten degrees, which is cold enough to make your breath catch, and the entire skill of the circuit is learning to let the breath settle while you are still in it. People who arrive able to do this for ten seconds can usually do it for a minute within a month, and they tend to report that the composure follows them out of the building.

Two rules, both worth stating plainly. Finish on heat rather than cold — ending cold feels heroic and then leaves you clenched for an hour. And do not do a full circuit on an empty stomach or after drinking; the heat is more demanding than it feels, and the cold is not the place to discover that. Tea is at the end of the bench, and it is free, and it is meant to be sat down with.