***MANDAY launches on Blue Monday in support of Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)***

***Slomo, the wellbeing brand from DJ and wellness practitioner Rob da Bank and designer curator, Josie da Bank returns to King’s Cross for an extended six-week period***

*** Also on offer: sauna sister and sauna master sessions, hot yoga and chill out slots with playlists by Rob da Bank himself – new for 2025***

***January-March 2025, book via the King’s Cross website: https://www.kingscross.co.uk/event/slomo-sauna ***

Thursday 16 January: Mind Your Brain, the wellness campaign by King’s Cross is returning this year with MANDAY, a new initiative aimed at supporting men’s mental health and shining a spotlight on self-care.

Launching on Monday 20th January – known to many as Blue Monday and the gloomiest day of the year – MANDAY coincides with the highly anticipated return of Slomo Wellbeing’s saunas and forms part of an unmissable line-up of wellness and brain-boosting events and experiences.

Men are invited to recharge and open up about their mental health in dedicated men-only saunas and cold plunge pools, which are known to boost people’s brain and mental health. Tickets are £9 with £1 from the sale of each ticket being donated to CALM, the suicide prevention and helpline service for anyone struggling or in crisis.

Professor Green, musician and CALM ambassador who attended the launch, said: "Mental health is vital, yet it's often misunderstood and stigmatized, especially for men. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 . We need to spread the word that it’s okay to talk. MANDAY celebrates men’s self-care - it's a safe space for men to recharge, reflect, and talk about their mental health. Let's break the stigma and support each other.”

MANDAY sessions will take place every Monday at 10am and 2pm for 50 minutes. Tickets are now live and can be booked here: www.slomo.me/slomo-kings-cross

Mind Your Brain and Slomo Wellbeing

Returning for the second year, Slomo Wellbeing @ King’s Cross is part of the Mind Your Brain campaign, running from January 17 to March 2, 2025. This extended six-week initiative, curated by Slomo co-founders and wellness practitioners Rob da Bank and his wife Josie, promises a soothing retreat from bustling city life.

The experience features two wood-fired saunas, three cold plunge pools, and an ice tank that seats six people, all centred around a roaring fire. Visitors will have an hour to use the saunas and cold plunge pools, which can reduce inflammation in the brain, improve blood flow, and enhance cell function. Afterward, they can enjoy an exfoliating salt scrub and shower, leaving them feeling stress-free and relaxed.

In 2024, the sauna sessions sold out in just 48 hours. To ensure everyone has a fair shot at grabbing a slot this year, the organisers are running a tiered ticket system. Prices are £9 for off-peak sessions and £12 for peak and programmed sessions. The saunas will be closed on Tuesdays.

New for 2025 – dedicated sessions for all

As well as the MANDAY initiative, 2025 promises an unmissable new programme of wellbeing and brain-boosting activities, including warming hot yoga for those cold winter days; leaf whisking, body scrubs and the multi-sensory Aufguss ritual by experienced sauna masters; dedicated ‘Sauna Sisters’ sessions; and silent saunas for those who would like some much-needed quiet time.

Each Sunday, the week will close with a special Sunday Best sauna session. Sunday Best is the club and record label that Rob and Josie have run since the 1990s. Think regular sauna but accompanied by either a gong bath, a chillout playlist, an acoustic band, Aufguss, comedy or chanting around the fire.

Rob and Josie da Bank, co-founders of Slomo, said: “At Slomo we are all about creating social spaces and encouraging community through our wellbeing practices; the sauna environment is such a great leveller and we see people slowing down, chilling out and opening up to chat

as a result. Which is why our male only sessions are a brilliant way to support King’s Cross’s Manday initiative, and they will run in addition to our regular Sauna Sister slots.”

The next wave of tickets is now live and can be booked here: https://www.kingscross.co.uk/event/slomo-sauna

The science behind contrast therapy

Dr. Susanna Søberg , the visionary founder of The Søberg Institute and the globally recognized Søberg Principle, endorsed by Stanford University's Dr. Andrew Huberman, has identified the optimal duration for sauna and cold plunge sessions to enhance health. Her findings, now widely adopted, recommend 1-2 minutes for cold plunges per session, totalling up to 11 minutes per week. For the sauna, 10-15 minutes per session is optimal, adding up to 57 minutes weekly.

This recommendation is based on extensive research, including the Finnish cohort study, which found that deliberate cold and deliberate heat exposure can improve metabolism, cardiovascular and brain health, balance hormones and decrease inflammation. Deliberate cold protocols can improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity and trigger release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine which enhance energy, mood, and focus. The key is regular, moderate exposure.

f these powerful health practices.

Chrissy Cullen, place marketing director at King’s Cross, said: “MANDAY is a fantastic new addition to our Mind Your Brain programme which launches on Blue Monday. Last year’s campaign was a huge success, so we decided to take it one step further in 2025 with this new initiative that encourages men to open up to one another. We’re donating £1 from each MANDAY ticket sale to CALM so we hope many of our residents, our brands, Londoners and visitors from further afield get involved to support their vital work.

“As well as MANDAY, we are excited to also be offering women only sessions, hot yoga sessions and much more. For those not able to join us at Slomo Wellbeing @King’s Cross this year, we have plenty of all-year-round wellbeing options across the estate including Self Space, TEN Health and Fitness and Facegym.”

For more information, please visit https://www.kingscross.co.uk

ENDS

For further information including imagery please contact:

Lydia Ball Smyth, Four Agency,

T: +44 (0)20 3103 9599 E: lydia.ball-smyth@four.agency

King’s Cross

King’s Cross is home to 67 acres of outstanding architecture, destination restaurants and a vibrant cultural scene. At its heart is the Heatherwick Studio-designed shopping district, Coal Drops Yard, housed in a pair of artfully reimagined industrial Victorian buildings. The area’s industrial past has inspired the 50 new and repurposed buildings, which are surrounded by beautifully designed green spaces and public areas, including Granary Square and its iconic fountains. This bustling creative neighbourhood is a lively place in central London to visit day and night and has a deserved reputation as a culinary hot spot.

King’s Cross is somewhere you can live, work and play – over 20,000 people now work in the area, and it has close to 2,000 homes. This includes landmark development Gasholders London, comprising 145 new canal-side apartments within a triplet of Grade II-listed cast-iron gasholder frames.

www.kingscross.co.uk

@Kingscrossn1c

Coal Drops Yard

Coal Drops Yard is a vibrant shopping and restaurant district in London’s King’s Cross. Coal Drops Yard was originally established in 1850 to handle the eight million tonnes of coal delivered to the capital each year and was latterly the location of nightclubs Bagley’s and The Cross. The area reopened in October 2018, reinvented by the acclaimed Heatherwick Studio, which has interwoven a contemporary design with the surviving structures and rich ironwork of the original Victorian coal drops.

Located within a reimagined set of historic buildings and arches directly adjacent to Granary Square and Regent’s Canal, Coal Drops Yard houses over fifty stores from a unique mix of established and emerging brands, along with cafés, bars, top independent restaurants and new public spaces.

Rob and Josie da Bank’s Slomo Wellbeing

Robby and Josie started meditating together 30 years ago and still do to this day. Their Slomo wellness brand has been popping up at festivals (including their own award-winning, Camp Bestival), retreats and all the right places for the last few years offering every imaginable element of wellbeing and healing from meditation and yoga classes to sauna and ice baths, sound healing and breathwork.

www.slomo.me

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is a suicide prevention charity fighting to reduce the devastating impact of suicide in the UK. They run a life-saving helpline for anyone affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts. It’s free, anonymous and open from 5 pm to midnight every day.

Their website has loads of tools and resources packed with practical, non-clinical advice to make talking and managing mental health easier.

CALM also run vital campaigns to increase awareness, smash stereotypes, and change the culture around mental health and suicide.

www.thecalmzone.net

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