The Remedy Room at Rimba Sweat: Lux Nomade reviews Sydney’s first communal contrast therapy room

On an unassuming backstreet in Neutral Bay, warm light and the scent of cedarwood pours through an open door and floor-to-ceiling windows, and the faint sound of ambient piano floats into the evening air.

A sign above the door signals the entrance to Rimba Sweat’s flagship studio – a Mediterranean-inspired oasis of calm, and home to Sydney’s first communal contrast therapy room.

The Remedy Room is located at the back of the studio, past the clean, neutral-toned reception space and down a marble corridor lined by sparse organic design features on one side, and five private infrared sauna suites on the other. Inside, stone steps separate two ice baths, a Finnish sauna occupies one-half of the right wall, and behind it, a curved, exposed shower space houses a copper raindance shower and a traditional wooden pail. These three elements form the Remedy Room experience: a type of contrast therapy designed to aid muscle recovery, reduce inflammation, and improve general well-being (benefits of the treatment are said to include everything from elevated mood to improved immune function).

We visited on a Wednesday evening – halfway through a busy week of work, and stepping into the studio were struck immediately by what Rimba founder Lauren Wright refers to as “a sense of slow”.

Our guide for the treatment led us through to the Remedy Room where Turkish cotton towels, bottles of alkaline water, and custom-made Jamu shots – a blend of coconut water, orange juice, lemon, ginger, turmeric, and cayenne pepper – were waiting for us. Declan talked us through the stages of the treatment – 10-15 minutes in the Finnish sauna, a refreshing wake-up with the pail shower followed by 2-3 minutes in the ice baths – before stepping out and leaving us to rinse and repeat.

Though the room was reserved for our use only, it’s generally a communal space – available for up to four guests to book at a time.

Owner Lauren Wright shares that the communal contrast therapy space has attracted a wide array of clientele to date: “We’re seeing both those experienced in ice baths and breathwork come in, alongside those who have never tried it before, so the communal room allows people to learn off each other – many people leave as friends after experiencing the room! I even had one client contact me requesting to start a Facebook Group so they can connect again – the social aspect is a nice added bonus that you wouldn’t expect to get out of the therapy.”

The treatment lasted an hour – sixty minutes of invigorating, healing therapy that left us feeling a glorious, perplexing fusion of energised and exhausted. Afterward, we took a seat on the large MCM House sofa that dominates the soft white loungue area and topped up on electrolytes with ice-cold cans of Nakula coconut water. And though the therapy itself was unquestionably beneficial, the actively calming energy of the space was what struck us most.

Rimba Sweat’s first outpost opened in Manly in 2020 (more about that here), and the luxury infrared studio quickly gained a dedicated community of wellness enthusiasts, not for its infrared sauna offering alone, but the holistically nourishing experience.Owner Lauren Wright says:  “Rimba Sweat’s Mediterranean aesthetic creates a holiday state of mind, it is a space for people to escape and switch off for part of their day and focus on their health and wellness. We want to share this experience with as many people as possible, the vision is to continue to expand throughout Sydney, NSW and interstate in the next few years”.

Having trialled The Remedy Room, we’re happy to attest to that: to the restorative effect of spending time in a space that’s been meticulously designed to inspire a sense of calm.

Rimba Sweat is running a limited-time-only introductory offer for new customers to Neutral Bay – for $99 you can purchase a three-session, all-access pass. For more details, head to https://rimbasweat.com.au/ or follow @rimbasweat on Instagram.