Hot sauna, cold plunge: Pause, in West Des Moines, promises better wellness
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A float therapy pod at Pause in West Des Moines. Photos: Courtesy of Pause
A new West Des Moines franchise markets itself as a wellness "one-stop shop," where customers can lounge in a sauna, plunge in cold water or float and meditate inside a clamshell pod.
Driving the news: Pause expects to open next month off University Avenue in West Des Moines near Jordan Creek Parkway.
How it started: We live in an active community with lots of gyms and boutique fitness spaces, but Pause franchisees Josh and Nikki Russell want to focus on the other side of wellness — rest and recovery.
State of play: The 3,100-square-foot facility will feature one of today's hottest trends: cold exposure. It's touted by wellness experts, including Andrew Huberman, who say it can do everything from releasing dopamine to increasing metabolism.
- Pause will offer "contrast therapy," a room with an infrared sauna and a cold plunge bath where you go back and forth between the extremes.
- It also will offer compression, cryotherapy and IV therapy.
The big picture: Spa and sauna culture have taken off in recent years as people place more emphasis on well-being.
- In Minneapolis, more than a dozen "sauna-preneurs" have set up shop.
- Pause has nine other locations, primarily in California.
What they're saying: Josh and Nikki say they're betting on Des Moines developing a similar culture, where friends skip their Sunday mimosas to instead sauna together.
- "Our facility is going to be state of the art," Josh says. "And that comes with a pretty big price tag for the investment. So, we're a little bit nervous about the size of the investment and bringing something so emerging to Des Moines."
If you go: 7120 University Ave., #104, West Des Moines. Opens mid-February.
