The floor is gray and smooth, like the imagined floor of a cavern, and wet, as you step out of the coed locker rooms of the JOY Wellness Club/Urban Social Spa. The transition from the rainy sidewalks of Montreal’s streets is seamless, as your shoulder muscles relax in the humid warmth of the angular spa at the new downtown sauna-spa-club.
City life is inherently uncomfortable. Crammed into Aritzia suits, pressed up against one another in tiny elevators and on tiny, slippery, shiny plastic subway seats. At JOY, we wait for the start of the “Positive Thinking” guided circuit on warm wooden benches wide enough to sit comfortably, our bare feet relaxed above the wet floor.
JOY is the brainchild of Anne Joyal (Strøm Spa) and her sisters, and is located right in the heart of downtown, where the former café of the luxury department store Holt Renfrew used to be.
A Social Spa for Life in Steel and Glass
For the vagaries of modern life, there are modern solutions. There are guided meditations—today’s theme is positive thinking—and light therapy, and a soothing of the nervous system based on scientific principles. In the sauna, the guide says, “Relax your shoulders.”
She pours ladles of water onto the sizzling sauna stones, infused with essential oils: eucalyptus, geranium, bitter orange. She says, “Place your hands over your heart.”
After the sauna comes the cold plunge and JOY’s small stone baths are just big enough for two—for those who come to the open “social” sessions—where you can talk, there’s music, it’s relaxed… Experts who manage to keep their cognitive functions intact during the recommended two minutes in the icy water can whisper secrets to each other.
There’s also a thermal bath, in the former kitchens of Café Holt, for chatting and relaxing in the warm water—because Spa Social Joy is designed to be like a social club with drop-in visits, HIIT classes to squeeze in between meetings, and super-healthy coffee. In the coming months, the thermal bath will move outside the building, and you’ll be able to bathe in the open air.
It’s a bit like a gym, but much, much better. And we really want a membership card. We can also go there to;
- family sessions
- silent breathwork workshops and
- soundbath, DJ nights, and events
- specials such as sauna raves, rituals of
- new moon, etc. private events for
- corporate groups and events
Practical Information
Where? JOY Urban Social Spa, at 2200 Rue de la Montagne
Website? joywellnessclub.ca
