Hot Take
From the outside, Circle Wellness looks a little like a collection of very chic shipping containers dropped onto the shores of Lake Union. Located in Fremont, not far from Gas Works Park, the new spa is surrounded by all the usual signs of city life. Then you step inside and, almost immediately, everything goes quiet.
Circle’s first U.S. location offers completely private, clothing-optional thermal circuits for one or two people, with an illuminated road map gently guiding you through the experience. After an open-air shower, the first stop is a cedar soaking tub filled with perfectly hot, fresh water. The smell of the cedar, the smooth wood and the buoyancy of the water combine to create the distinct impression that staying there indefinitely would be a perfectly reasonable life choice.
Eventually, however, the WellPod beckons. Circle’s reinterpretation of a sauna is lined with heat-retaining salt tiles, with soft light and music creating a warm, cocoon-like space.
From there, those made of sterner stuff can move on to the cold plunge—a slate tub filled with 40-degree water. The Finns have been following sauna sessions with icy swims for generations, and modern research suggests they may be onto something. Studies have shown that cold-water immersion can help ease post-exercise muscle soreness and support recovery.
The next stop on this journey turned out to be my favorite part of the entire circuit: a floor of smooth river stones heated from below. I stretched out and stared through the open roof at the clouds drifting past. The heat worked its way through me until whatever I had been worrying about before I arrived became very, very distant and largely unimportant.
The 90-minute experience is self-guided, so there is no rush to move along and certainly no reason not to get back into that cedar tub for more bliss, like I did. For research purposes only, of course. Some assignments require sacrifice.
