Ancient Ritual makes a customizable at-home sauna experience with immersive features including heat, light, and sound.

Ancient Ritual is a wellness company committed to improving people's lives through profound health experiences. In 2023, the company launched the world's first experiential sauna, a multi-modality well-being tool rooted in mindful technology. Since then, Ancient Ritual has continued to explore how advanced tools of empathy help people discover their most vibrant and resilient selves in an evolving world.

Matthew Schwab

David Bladow

Ancient Ritual

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I visited Ancient Ritual's showroom located at a home in LA. From end to end, the experience was lovely. I started by checking in on an iPad answering questions about my current mood, and experience level with infrared saunas (mine was none!), and chatting with Jzenai about the product. Then I was brought upstairs to a private room to test the brand's Arc sauna. I was taken through a 30-minute beginner-level experience by 3 virtual guides. The experience was fully immersive with light, sound, and infrared heat. It felt a bit like a James Turrell exhibition (I later found out that the light feature was created in collaboration with one of his proteges). I was taken through a 10-minute meditation followed by a 10-minute breathwork session. After the session ended, I exited the sauna to find a tray on the bed with an electrolyte drink, cold towel, and a piece of paper to jot down three words to describe how I was feeling after the experience. 

Afterward, I was able to take a quick cool shower followed by using the body care products stocked in the bathroom. 

Overall the experience was incredible. The sauna itself felt really high quality. I was nervous that it might feel claustrophobic having no glass door, but instead, it felt calming to be separate from the outside world. I don't spend much time in saunas and I'm not great at meditating or doing breathwork exercises, I but I noticed I felt lighter and more balanced for the rest of the day. I came into the experience overwhelmed and anxious and left more calm and centered. The guidance from Clarise and James, my virtual guides, felt approachable and safe. I would love to repeat the experience. 

Because this was simply a showroom demo, I am not able to comment on things like the technology of the sauna and its corresponding phone application or the maintenance of the equipment over time. That said, I really appreciated the attention to detail throughout.... and I just might meditate again some time soon.

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