Contrast therapy and the coolest place to try it: Elemental
Gwyneth Paltrow swears by contrast therapy. Cristiano Ronaldo made it a cornerstone of his post-match routine. And Metropol editor Nina Tucker believes that Hanmer Springs’ new contrast therapy experience, Elemental, rivals the most premium of celebrity wellness rituals. She takes you inside the guided 75-minute session inspired by the alpine village’s elements.
Can one justify a trip to Hanmer Springs every weekend? Fresh from my first contrast therapy experience, I’ve decided that in the name of wellness, one can. Hanmer Springs is famous for its exposure to the elements – alpine air, geo-thermal water, steamy surroundings – but never as authentic as this.
Fire, air, ice and water inspire Elemental, a contrast therapy experience made up of a sauna, steam room, snow room, and private geo-thermal pool to earn the benefits of quick, alternating exposure to hot and cold temperatures. If anywhere in New Zealand was going to marry that classic small-town Kiwi ingenuity with their unique alpine surroundings, it was Hanmer Springs.
Here’s an edited version of what I tapped into my notes app – the takeaways, wellness benefits as explained by our guides Kim, Roz and Andrew, and where I was transported to when I closed my eyes.
Fire: To start, the sauna. It was the most cathartic fire I’ve ever been engulfed in, after I got my breath back from the heat’s initial shock. Dry heat opens pores, blood vessels, sweats out toxins, and releases tight muscles. Sitting with myself in that heat was a challenge, thrilling, and quite euphoric.
Spiritual location: Alaska, in winter. A wooden log cabin with a roaring fire.
Nina’s note: Don’t wash your hair the night before. You’ll sweat right through it.
Air: We moved to the steam room where I felt my every impurity wash away, plus the sweat from the sauna before, in an ingenious reimagination of the air element. A wet fog blankets the room and blurs your senses leaving you to focus only on what you can feel. Hot, humid steam clears sinuses and calms the mind as the water-like vapour falls in droplets down your skin, the emerald green tiles around you, and the glass door – chic, right?
Spiritual location: Happily lost in warm rainfall in the Amazon.
Nina’s note: Nothing. It was perfect.
Ice: From two environments of extreme heat, the snow room that followed put the contrast in contrast therapy. A sharp shock hit me, as did real snowflakes falling from the ceiling, and my poor feet faced the freezing cold. What settles on the ground clumps just like it would on the mountains. It was like magic (and an ice wall you can write on invited sweet pangs of nostalgia).
Spiritual location: My childhood home the last time we had snow that settled.
Nina’s note: Keep your jandals near if you have cold-averse feet like me.
Water: To balance the body and complete the therapy, we finished with a 40-degree soak powered by geo-thermal energy. Can you really complain when in a private pool, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and birdsong, sipping on iced tea? Bliss, really.
Spiritual location: Hanmer Springs, because geo-thermal energy belongs, and is best experienced, here.
Nina’s note: You’ll want to open the bi-fold windows to the beautiful view, (just don’t forget to close them like we did).
I found my element, and I’m ready to rebook.
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Find your element
Until 26 September, book Elemental at a special launch price of $99 for the full experience.
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