Northampton Mind and Body Wellness, LLC

Northampton Mind and Body Wellness offers infrared sauna in one of the more distinctive small cities in New England.

Northampton sits in the Pioneer Valley alongside Smith College, within a few miles of Amherst, Mount Holyoke and UMass. The concentration of colleges gives the town a population and culture unlike anywhere else in western Massachusetts — politically progressive, unusually well supplied with bookshops and music venues for its size, and receptive to wellness practices well before they reach the mainstream.

Infrared heat differs from the traditional sauna in mechanism rather than degree. Emitters warm the body directly instead of raising the air temperature, which allows a much cooler room and a longer, gentler session. It suits regular use and people who find conventional saunas overwhelming; it does not replicate the sharp intensity of a Finnish room, and is better understood as a different practice than as a substitute.

The Pioneer Valley is well supplied with cold water — the Connecticut River, the Mill River, and a good number of ponds and quarries — for anyone wanting the cold half of the circuit in its original form.

Sessions are booked ahead. Confirm availability and length.