Summer 2021

Creativity and Calm at City Cave

Carlie Wacker steps inside the home of health and wellness. A destination that brings creativity and calm together – City Cave. 

Athletes and active people have long known and practiced the art of rehabilitation, recovery and relaxation to improve performance physically and mentally. It is only recently that I’ve discovered their secret ingredient and wanted a bit of what their having (albeit without the gruelling training and serious elite sports competition). I have discovered you can have it all at a wellness destination called City Cave which houses Float Therapy, massage and Infrared Sauna.  Singularly or combined, these therapies can have magnificent benefits on the body and mind (including those that aren’t very sporty or focused like mine). 

It’s all very exciting to think that access to these important wellbeing tools is at our fingertips on the Sunshine Coast. In fact, City Cave have locations in Noosa, Maroochydore, Kawana and soon one will open in Caloundra. My experiences at City Cave make it feel like a home away from home. I say that because I cannot think of any other place that I have felt more relaxed than at home. It’s hard not to be lulled into a sense of complete calm at the Cave. 

The lighting and mood set the scene on arrival at all their locations, it’s tranquil, quiet and places you in readiness to let your mind and body rest and reset. I am ready for the Complete Wellness Package which included a 45 minute Infrared Sauna, 45 minute Massage and 60 minute Float Therapy. 

The Infrared Sauna is something I have used in the past but since I started back at the gym (not at full gym junkie stage yet) I have realised just how beneficial these sessions are. Not only can you burn up to 600 calories in one sitting (or lying which is how I roll) but it truly helps with joint pain and muscle recovery plus detoxifies and improves your mood. 

Once you feel the fresh buzz post-sauna you will soon become addicted which is why I became a member (yep, I joined the club). 

The next stage of my City Cave adventure was a massage treatment.  Each of the locations offer a range of massage therapies that can help you improve your health and achieve deep relaxation including remedial, sports, pregnancy and relaxation massage therapies. 

Float Therapy offers the equivalent of 4-8 hours of sleep with benefits that last for days and when paired with a massage and Infrared Sauna, are amplified considerably. Floating before a massage will speed up the process of your muscles relaxing and Float Therapy post-massage will further treat the specific areas your therapist worked on. Add in the detoxification benefits of Infrared Sauna and you have the complete package.

Following the massage I went into my private Float Therapy room. Several studies reinforce the belief that Float Therapy can result in muscle relaxation, better sleep, decrease in pain and decreased stress and anxiety, amongst others. It is believed that Float Therapy takes us from a ‘flight or fight’ stress response into a ‘rest and recover’ phase.

The benefits of Float Therapy arise from sensory deprivation or the more popularly termed REST (Restricted Environment Stimulation Therapy) with the basic premise is that if you remove external stimuli to the brain (such as gravity, body temperature regulation, sight and sound), then it can get to work on other important activities such as repairing the body, rejuvenating cells and recovering from injury or exertion. 

Some people have told me they fall asleep during Float Therapy. I found myself in a creative little pool of non-specific thoughts. I was floating around, experimenting with positions of
comfort in this new experience but
also challenging the water to a competition to see if I could beat it
and sink – I couldn’t. 

Before I knew it relaxing music brought me back to reality and my creative little float bubble was done.  

It is widely supported that Float Therapy enhances creativity while also improving sleep – if only you could read my imaginative mind while I was in that pool of pleasure (had some sweet dreams that night too). 

With services including Float Therapy;  Infrared Saunas and massage all under one roof, City Cave is a destination for health and wellness with a supportive and nurturing team. 

If it was an Olympic sport, they’d be the Gold Medal winners.