Winter Wellness

words by annie brown

After a seemingly unseasonably chilly start to winter in our fair capital (or is it normal, I can never remember), it is all too easy to seek comfort in carbs, red wine and our doonas.

Despite knowing this isn’t the best regime for warding off the winter blues and keeping one’s energy up, a big bowl of carbonara on the couch appears like the most soothing thing in the world on a frosty eve.

Will it make me feel better the next day? Probably not. So what’s a girl to do to soothe the soul, calm the farm and be a bustling bundle of energy all winter long? Well, I am glad you asked because Canberra is brimming with businesses that will keep you feeling less drab and more fab in the cooler months.

Let’s explore.

Astral Float Studio
If your day involves not even being able to shower without a child, pet or partner staring or talking at you, it might be worth blocking out the world with a session in Astral Float Studio’s float tank. Floating involves resting on your back in a pitch-black tank filled with salty, skin-temperature water where you experience zero gravity. Floating is said to release muscle tension, increase endorphins and eliminate fatigue. If you’re in need of some Zzz’s, one hour in the tank equates to four hours sleep. Sign me up!

World of Wellness
When I think of a sauna, I picture myself in Scandinavia, sitting in a wooden box full of steam (one can dream). The new wave of saunas, however are of the infra-red kind, no steam or rocks required, and you can find one at World of Wellness in Woden. And they have a host of added health benefits, using infra-red waves to create a dry heat that nurtures the body and promotes detoxification. In conjunction with an integrative health program, infra-red sauna sessions can reduce or even rectify conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and even anxiety.

Live Well Spa and Wellness Centre
Winter is often a time when we indulge in the wrong kinds of foods, pick the couch over the gym and as a result can end up feeling a little blah. If this feeling of being out of balance then turns into ongoing symptoms, it might be worth looking into an acupuncture session at Live Well. Acupuncture looks at fixing imbalance in the body so it can then heal itself. Specific symptoms correlate to certain organs being unhappy and acupuncture is said to target healing in these areas. A surprising deeply relaxing experience, stress melts away leaving you revitalised in mind, body and spirit.

The couch isn’t looking so good after all.