Release Well-Being Center opens in Back Bay and brings cold plunging to Boston.
The calming interior of Release Well-Being Center
Linda Townsend was utterly depleted when she had the idea for Release Well-Being Center (releasewellbeingcenter.com) She had a demanding career, first as a journalist for the Boston Globe and WHDH, and then in sales and marketing. She had a one-year-old at home and one on the way. A girls trip took her to Canyon Ranch in Tucson where she enjoyed nutrition classes, exercise classes, had craniosacral therapy to relieve chronic pain in her shoulder and recited positive mantras. On the plane ride home she thought, I may never get back there, but I need this in my life.
“Up until that point, I didn’t know how to take care of myself and I didn’t prioritize it,” says Townsend. “I wanted to bring immersive wellness to places where people live and work.”
She became a yoga teacher and life coach, wrote a business plan and secured funding. In 2017, she opened the doors to her first Release Well-Being Center in Westborough. It was an immediate success.
Palermo body products sold in the center’s retail space.
This spring, Townsend opened her second location at 28 Arlington Street next to Hermès and storied salon Mario Russo. The 9,000 square-foot space has a spa with 11 treatment rooms for massage, facials and alternative healing services such as cupping, reflexology and reiki. And then there is Bliss, a communal area for contrast therapy that features infrared, traditional saunas and cold plunge tubs.
“In Boston, we’re really focused on contrast therapy. I researched what’s trending in the wellness world, what people are most excited about and then I researched what actually works. Cold plunging, when combined with heat therapies, increases immunity, boosts metabolism, reduces inflammation and really impacts mood. It boosts your serotonin and dopamine levels and you feel euphoric,” says Townsend. Guests can experience the healing contrast therapy at Bliss by purchasing passes for one or two hours or when booking a spa service. There are also 45-minute long sessions offered for eight people at a time, facilitated by a coach who guides guests through cycles of 12 minutes in the infrared sauna and three minutes in the cold plunge, while also providing meditation practices and breathwork.
Founder Linda Townsend
“When people have the experience that I once had and leave feeling better, that translates into whatever they do afterwards. They’ll start paying a little bit more attention to themselves and then everybody in their life benefits,” says Townsend.
Photography by: ELISE SINAGRA
