Soaking up history in Italy’s ancient bathing waters

BAILEY MEREDITH: It’s interesting to reflect on but I feel like I’ve had a connection to bathing ever since I was a small child. As I’ve grown up, the meaning has changed but ultimately it’s always been a way to recalibrate. I was a highly anxious child and I think getting into the water was a really nice way to just calm and be still. I’ve always seen it as a restorative act. Whether it’s drawing a bath or jumping in the ocean, it’s a moment to do something really intentional for myself that feels quite accessible.

FREYA BERWICK: Yeah, I feel quite similar. It’s a real circuit breaker for me. I own a bathhouse so it’s quite a particular luxury that I have. But water has always been a really big part of my life. I grew up in northern Queensland swimming every day, multiple times a day, in the ocean and in fresh water at Mossman Gorge. And it’s when I’m at my happiest. Particularly in nature, that’s a really big part of it for me.

BM: Accessibility to the ocean and bodies of water growing up in New Zealand is definitely a factor in my feelings towards bathing. But it also comes down to the ritual of drawing a bath. From a very early age, it was a significant part of my daily routine in our family home.

FB: As I mentioned, I grew up swimming and always around water – I literally had to row to school. There are so many lessons that I’ve been taught by water. I also spent some time in Norway and that was another shift in my thinking around bathing. It’s where I really understood how temperature can impact the body. I would run this quite steep path in the mountains and then I’d jump into a river that came off the glacier. It was so bloody cold. But it was like a release.

BM: It’s so true, it can be a real tool to help understand how I’m feeling and what I’m feeling, especially when I’m not connecting with my body and mind. I think it holds a bit of a paradox in the sense that bathing can be soothing but also sort of awakening and invigorating. It really can appeal to all the different senses in the body.

FB: Yeah, I think it can be a means of transition – a thing for changing states in any form. Drawing a bath is often associated with rest and winding down. But having a shower in the morning is usually about waking up. If I have a bad day, I’ll come home and have a shower. It’s like I need the energy to shift, I can’t sit in it. Scent and sound are both really big parts of the immersive experience for me, too.

BM: Yes, completely. They’re both huge elements. Bathing is a sensory experience and being able to enhance all the different senses in that practice creates a more ritualistic experience. Scent is such a transformative element. When I’m in the ocean the smell of salt water, and the feeling on my skin. It all helps me to be present.

FB: Actually the one product we’ve really developed for Sense of Self is scent. We have different scents for different areas – the steam room, the bath, the change room. But our house blend uses frankincense, labdanum and rose. It’s sort of woody and warm. And a little bit nostalgic. BM: I’m so drawn to woody, earthy scents, especially in a hot bath. It all comes back to keeping things simple.