The first version of Plunsana existed only as a problem I kept thinking about.
I had been doing contrast therapy for years. Heat and cold, done right, with breath, changed things for me in ways that other wellness practices had not. Not changed in a vague, feel-good sense. Changed in a way I could measure and describe. My recovery time, my stress response, my sleep, my relationship to discomfort.
And there was nowhere to do it in St. Petersburg.
Looking for a Space
The problem sent me to Google Maps first. I looked for places in St. Pete that offered both a proper sauna and a cold plunge in the same space. There were a handful of gyms with steam rooms. A spa or two. Nothing that matched what I was looking for.
What I wanted was specific. Not a spa where the sauna was an afterthought wedged between the lockers and the eucalyptus steam. I wanted the real thing. A dry sauna you could actually stay in, running at temperature. A cold plunge that was genuinely cold, not a glorified cold shower. Both in the same space, set up to move between them with intention.
I started looking for space in 2022.
The real estate part of starting a business is the part nobody romanticizes, and for good reason. We looked at a lot of properties. Too big, too small, wrong neighborhood, wrong layout, impossible parking. I kept a list of requirements that seemed reasonable until you tried to find a space that met all of them at once.
What we landed on was 2300 26th St N, Suite B. The bones were right. Enough square footage to build both indoor and outdoor experiences. A courtyard in the back that nobody had thought to use as anything other than storage. That courtyard is now our outdoor space.
What We Built and Why
The indoor space was designed around one idea: deliberate transition. Most people experience temperature the way they experience most things in life, passively. Too cold, find warmth. Too hot, find shade. What we wanted to create was the opposite of that. A space where you chose the temperature, moved between extremes intentionally, and practiced the transition.
The sauna runs at 185 to 195 degrees. The cold plunge sits between 39 and 51. We built the cold plunge into the floor so the entry is steep enough to be real, not a wade-in experience. We brought in red light therapy because the science on recovery and mitochondrial function is hard to ignore. We built a dedicated breathwork space because breath is the variable that determines how well you do everything else.
The outdoor space happened because the courtyard refused to be ignored. It became a barrel sauna, two cold plunges, a stage, and seating for events. It holds about 100 people. We have run retreats, corporate events, and community sessions out there. That part of the build was not in the original plan. The best parts usually are not.
The First People Through the Door
The first members were mostly people who already knew what they were looking for. They had been doing cold plunges at home. They had read the research. They wanted a consistent, professionally maintained space and a community around the practice.
What surprised me was the second wave. People who came in with no background, no protocol, no preconceptions. People who walked in because a friend mentioned it. People who were dealing with anxiety, sleep problems, burnout. They did not know the terminology. They just knew something in them was not working and they were willing to try something different.
Those members are the ones who taught me the most about what we had actually built. Because for them, it was not about optimization. It was about getting back to themselves.
That is what contrast therapy does when you do it right. It does not just improve your metrics. It changes your relationship to discomfort. And that change has a way of spreading into everything.
What I Know Now That I Did Not Know Then
The build took longer than projected and cost more than budgeted. That is true of every build ever attempted. The timeline we told ourselves was optimistic by design because optimism is what gets you to start.
What I underestimated was how much community would matter. I thought we were building a wellness studio. What we built was a place where people come back, not just for the equipment, but for the feeling of being around other people who take their health seriously. There is something that happens when you are shoulder-deep in cold water next to someone who is also choosing to be there. A kind of respect without words.
We are still building. The work does not stop when the doors open. It just gets more interesting.
At Plunsana in St. Petersburg, FL, the door is open during our regular hours. Walk-ins are welcome. If you want to see the space before you commit to anything, schedule a free tour.