{"id":17977,"date":"2026-07-20T18:52:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=17977"},"modified":"2026-07-20T18:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:52:06","slug":"why-a-tech-founder-is-building-edmontons-first-social-sauna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=17977","title":{"rendered":"Why a tech founder is building Edmonton&#8217;s first social sauna"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marissa McNeelands knows the customer she\u2019s building for, because she used to be her. A decade in tech left the Edmonton entrepreneur burned out, and she found what helped in a hot sauna and a cold plunge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now she\u2019s building it into a business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first time she walked into Othership, a social sauna in Toronto, they turned off the lights, started hitting a gong, and the whole room began yelling into the dark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was like, oh yes, this is exactly what I need in this world right now,\u201d she told me over video. It was years ago, when she was living in Toronto and running a company in tech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othership gave her a way out of the tech grind, built around something called contrast therapy, which is a stretch in a hot sauna followed by a plunge into cold water, repeated a few times over a session. McNeelands had tried the destination version before, at Kananaskis Nordic Spa outside Calgary, but that\u2019s the kind of place you visit once or twice a year. The Toronto version was different and offered a weekly ritual rather than a retreat, so she leaned on it the whole time she lived there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It \u201cliterally helped me to survive that time of my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She and her husband, Kevin Prasad, have since moved back to Alberta where they are building Circa Thermal Studio. Slated to open in January, Circa will become the first social sauna in Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before Circa, McNeelands founded and led the women-in-tech talent and community platform Toast, where she bootstrapped the company past $1 million in revenue in under two years, then sold her stake in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What she is building now is aimed at a specific group of people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCirca isn\u2019t created for the wellness people,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s created for the high achievers, the high performers, the perfectionists, the people that are running themselves into the ground and only have 75 minutes once a week to devote to themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Marissa McNeelands and husband, Kevin Prasad are the founders of Circa Thermal Studio, a social sauna opening in Edmonton. - Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal\" class=\"wp-image-3856224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-2-2.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marissa McNeelands and husband, Kevin Prasad are the founders of Circa Thermal Studio, a social sauna opening in Edmonton. \u2013 Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands holds a Master\u2019s in Management and Artificial Intelligence, and part of what drew her to a physical space was how hard it is to copy. The barriers to building a software company have fallen so far, she says, that the competitive moat is gone, while a sauna and a membership built on ritual can\u2019t be copied the same way. Circa is that bet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The permanent studio will open in the Keswick area of southwest Edmonton, with construction slated to start in August pending city approvals. It will have a 35-person sauna, four two-person cold plunges, and a membership model built around weekly 75-minute sessions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, McNeelands is building an audience with a mobile version of the experience, a 16-foot wood-burning sauna towed to events around the city so people can try the hot-cold loop before the permanent space opens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its first 10 days on the road, at run clubs, block parties, and pop-ups, 130 people came through the guided loop, and a later Sauna Sunday drew more than 100 people on a rainy day, including some of the Edmonton Elks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands is building for a customer she knows from the inside, and one Canadian data says is struggling. Technology posted one of the lowest mental-health scores of any industry in the country last year, and the people running those teams are the ones McNeelands wants on the bench.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa's wood-burning sauna trailer draws a crowd at an Edmonton event, part of the run-up to the studio's January opening. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-5.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa\u2019s wood-burning sauna trailer draws a crowd at an Edmonton event, part of the run-up to the studio\u2019s January opening. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-burnout-canada-barely-measures\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The burnout Canada barely measures<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands started Toast in 2022 because the systems in tech weren\u2019t built for the women working inside them, she says, and she ran it as CEO through its expansion into the U.S. The longer she spent trying to fix those systems from the inside, the heavier the work got.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s definitely very big, very powerful systems that are not made for us,\u201d she says. \u201cThe amount of burnout, the amount of women going on stress leave, the system is just so deeply embedded. It honestly felt most of the time, working in tech and also trying to reform tech, was like pushing a boulder up a mountain. It\u2019s heavy, and it\u2019s lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That experience is what Circa is built to answer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Guests take in a session at Circa Thermal Studio, the social sauna opening in Edmonton in January. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Guests take in a session at Circa Thermal Studio, the social sauna opening in Edmonton in January. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s a big connection between the burnout that people in tech experience and the solution that is being provided here,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hot-cold ritual she\u2019s built the business on goes back centuries, rooted in Nordic and Finnish sauna culture where a sweat followed by a cold lake or snow has long been part of life. Contrast therapy alternates the two, with time in a sauna widening the blood vessels and a cold plunge narrowing them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The longest-running research on the health effects of sauna use comes from a study out of eastern Finland that followed more than 2,300 middle-aged men for two decades. It found that men who used a sauna four to seven times a week had lower rates of sudden cardiac death and all-cause mortality than those who went once a week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cold does something different. Immersion drives a sharp rise in norepinephrine, the surge behind the alertness people report after a plunge. A 2025 systematic review from the University of South Australia, drawing on more than 3,000 participants, found that cold-water immersion reduced stress in the hours after exposure and improved sleep quality, with no measured effect on mood and a short-term rise in inflammation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"A guest tries the cold plunge, half of the hot-cold loop at the centre of Circa's social sauna. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A guest tries the cold plunge, half of the hot-cold loop at the centre of Circa\u2019s social sauna. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The stress the research measures is showing up sharply in Canada\u2019s technology workers. Canada does not track that burnout cleanly because no public study isolates the corporate technology sector, and the closest signals come from broader data that breaks the industry out as a segment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TELUS Health\u2019s Mental Health Index scores the mental health of 3,000 working Canadians out of 100. In early 2026, it put the technology industry at 59, the third-lowest of any industry, down 4.5 points in six months and one of the steepest declines in the survey. Professional, scientific and technical services, by contrast, held at 69.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across the wider workforce, about a third of workers report feeling anxious, a third isolated, and a third say their mental health is dragging on their work, with anxiety and isolation the weakest measures for nearly four years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robert Half, a global talent and recruitment firm, tracks the wider trend across all industries, and its 2025 survey found 47% of Canadian professionals reporting burnout, up from 42% a year earlier and 33% in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The numbers point to a real need, and the people building businesses to meet it keep coming from the same place McNeelands did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She points to Othership co-founder Robbie Bent, an early Ethereum employee, and counts herself in the same group. These are people who worked in tech, felt what the pace does to a person, and went looking for a better way to manage it. When she describes the customer Circa is for, she is describing the version of herself that first walked into a sauna in Toronto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was that person in tech saying, \u2018save me,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Guests gather at a Circa event, part of the social side of the sauna-and-cold-plunge experience. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-6.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Guests gather at a Circa event, part of the social side of the sauna-and-cold-plunge experience. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-how-the-numbers-work\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the numbers work<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The social sauna category is pulling in venture money that a business built on saunas and cold water would not obviously attract.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands says the model charges premium wellness prices while running on far less labour than a spa. A traditional spa needs close to one staff member per customer, she says, while a 35-person sauna room runs on one instructor and one front-of-house, which puts the nearest comparable in boutique fitness, where the sauna and the plunge are the workout and the membership is the model.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Circa is raising a friends-and-family round and has $650,000 committed against an original $700,000 target, which it is now expanding to $850,000. Othership in Toronto has raised over $8 million to fund its U.S. expansion, and Bathhouse in New York raised $35 million in a single round led by Imaginary Ventures, the firm behind Skims and Glossier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands is also clear that the target market is not the one people picture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When people hear wellness, she says, they picture a women\u2019s spa, but the urban version draws a different, and more male, crowd. She got into it through Kevin, whose colleague was an early Othership investor.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa's wood-burning sauna trailer draws a crowd at an Edmonton event, part of the run-up to the studio's January opening. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-4.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa\u2019s wood-burning sauna trailer draws a crowd at an Edmonton event, part of the run-up to the studio\u2019s January opening. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s less of a spa and more of a kind of weekly ritual, or something that\u2019s part of your everyday fitness routine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At Toast she put money behind paid advertising to build an audience fast, and at Circa she is doing the exact opposite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a marathon, not a sprint,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s more value in a smaller audience that is highly engaged and can convert than there is in a large audience that is passive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until Circa\u2019s physical location is built, the mobile trailer serves as the company\u2019s marketing vehicle, getting people through the hot-cold loop to build demand before the studio opens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alongside it, Circa will run an unplugged supper club through the winter, a phones-away dinner series meant to build community, with one dinner planned at a Japanese restaurant where guests take off their shoes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plan from there is unhurried, with a second location self-funded by year three and a third by year five. McNeelands is also not franchising for now because she wants control of the experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Guests gather at a Circa event, part of the social side of the sauna-and-cold-plunge experience. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-7.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Guests gather at a Circa event, part of the social side of the sauna-and-cold-plunge experience. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-from-software-to-a-physical-space\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">From software to a physical space<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move into a physical space is one McNeelands has thought through in detail, and it starts with what she learned about where technology is heading.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI started Toast well before ChatGPT, well before AI was democratized in the way it is,\u201d she says. \u201cThe barriers to entry on building an AI company, building a software company today are so low.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. - Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. \u2013 Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where software once gave a company something defensible, she says that edge is gone. As AI floods the world with digital content, she sees the value shifting to what it can\u2019t replicate, like a sauna, a cold plunge, or human presence in a room.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve basically eliminated any competitive moat,\u201d McNeelands says. \u201cHaving physical infrastructure is a competitive moat, but it\u2019s obviously capital intensive upfront compared to building software.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeelands is also considering building technodelics into Circa, a category of wellness technology that uses sensory input, synchronized sound, light, and vibration, to shift the body into a calm, parasympathetic state, aiming to mimic the feeling of a psychedelic without any drug. She came across the idea in the RE:SET chair at Supernatural, a Toronto longevity studio where users recline in a zero-gravity chair wearing an eye mask and headphones through a guided session.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. - Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-3.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. \u2013 Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe first time I did the RE:SET chair at Supernatural, I thought, wow, that can cure depression,\u201d she says. She hasn\u2019t committed to it, weighing it against simpler options like massage, but a proprietary sensory experience would be harder for a competitor to copy than a room with a sauna in it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is one of many details she obsesses over, and anyone who knows her has seen this before. She did the same thing at Toast, sweating the small parts of the experience that most people would never notice, because to her that is the whole point. What makes people come back is in those details, and paying attention to them is how she works.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Building a physical space has also stretched her in a way software never did. At Toast she could run the whole business herself, while a sauna means trades and systems she has to defer to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI definitely cannot install an HVAC system,\u201d she says, laughing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. - Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Image-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-2.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa Thermal Studio brings the guided sauna-and-cold-plunge ritual to Edmonton, opening in January. \u2013 Image courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The situation reminds her of moving from human resources into product management years ago, when she stood up the first software development team at ATB Financial without a technical background.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were speaking two different languages, but I got by because I could ask the right questions,\u201d she says. \u201cI had a strong vision, and I leaned on the experts.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-why-circa-is-launching-in-edmonton\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Circa is launching in Edmonton<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea for Circa came from something McNeelands ran into as a customer. Back in Edmonton last November, she wanted a sauna and called around, but the places advertising one were selling something else. Nothing in the city ran the guided hot-cold loop she had relied on in Toronto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou see a lot of people moving away, finding the thing that\u2019s really cool, and then coming back and bringing that to the community,\u201d she says. \u201cThat was really the moment where I thought, \u2018why not me, why not us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Circa co-founders Marissa McNeelands and Kevin Prasad (left) with Trevor Bills (right), the company's first founding advisor. Bills is an entrepreneur, pharmacist, and board member joining to advise on operations and growth. - Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio\" class=\"wp-image-3856235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photo-courtesy-Circa-Thermal-Studio-8.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Circa co-founders Marissa McNeelands and Kevin Prasad (left) with Trevor Bills (right), the company\u2019s first founding advisor. Bills is an entrepreneur, pharmacist, and board member joining to advise on operations and growth. \u2013 Photo courtesy Circa Thermal Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She and her husband Kevin were both raised in Edmonton and left about 12 years ago, and they are moving back to build. They left, found something good elsewhere, and are bringing it home, and she is betting on having a first-mover advantage in Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She calls the city one of the largest underserved wellness markets in Canada, with no thermal concept operating at the scale she\u2019s planning, and she\u2019d rather prove the model in a lower-cost city with a young, growing population than fight for space in Toronto or Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is a sober dimension to it as well. Edmonton\u2019s social life runs heavily through bars and restaurants, while alcohol consumption in Canada has fallen for four straight years, with the steepest drop among younger adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Circa is betting that people will choose a sauna and a cold plunge with friends over a night at the bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For McNeelands, it\u2019s personal before it\u2019s commercial. She is building the place she went looking for when she was burning out in tech, and opening it in the city she left, for the people still living at the pace she knows.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h-final-shots\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Final shots<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Marissa McNeelands spent a decade in tech before opening Edmonton\u2019s first social sauna, and she is building it for the people she worked alongside, the high performers with 75 minutes a week for themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Circa is one of a wave of social saunas drawing real venture money, a category betting that a physical room people gather in is worth more than the apps that used to attract that capital.<\/li>\n<li>McNeelands and her husband Kevin left Edmonton 12 years ago and are moving back to open Circa there, choosing a smaller Canadian city over Toronto or Vancouver on a bet that it has room for whoever builds first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Why a tech founder is building Edmonton&#8217;s first social sauna<br \/>\n<br \/>#tech #founder #building #Edmontons #social #sauna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marissa McNeelands knows the customer she\u2019s building for, because she used to be her. A&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[799,12841,5931,14472,406,984],"class_list":["post-17977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-building","tag-edmontons","tag-founder","tag-sauna","tag-social","tag-tech"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10.jpg",1600,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10.jpg",1600,900,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-1115x715.jpg",1115,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2014-Photo-by-Jennifer-Friesen-Digital-Journal-10-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}