There is something immediately extraordinary about Nell Rueckl’s Watershed Spa in Minneapolis.

Maybe it is the proximity to the mighty Mississippi River and the Stone Arch Bridge in the Riverfront District. Maybe it is the history that permeates the Switch House building (which used to be the Soap Factory). Maybe it is that the owner is so keyed in to the power of water and the power of community.

Or perhaps it is all those things and a dozen more.

The Watershed Spa is a place designed for healing, a place designed for people to gather to renew their bodies, spirits, and relationships. It’s a place where intentionality is built into every room, piece of furniture, color, wall hanging, and service.

Spa Profile: Watershed Spa

Here’s what you’ll love about Watershed Spa: 

• It is a spa designed with an environmental aesthetic that invites you to harmonize with nature. It is built with organic curves, eschewing the right angles that are rarely found in the natural world.

• The communal bathing is the first of its kind in Minneapolis—an experience popular in Europe and gaining ground in the United States. It’s an experience you can do at your own pace, moving through different temperatures.

• Everything about Watershed invites you to slow down—to de-stress, to connect with others, with your spirit and with the world.

• Hector is the resident dog who will happily greet you and accept any pets you want to share.

One enters Watershed by traversing a longish walkway up to the Switch House building and turns into a spa that makes free use of wood in its décor. The interior architecture of the first floor makes use of circles in literal and symbolic ways.

My friend and I arrived on a day when the air was filled with the choking smoke from Canadian wildfires and Watershed provided a respite where we could breathe freely and deeply.

Retail offerings climb the walls and halls of the entryway and reception area, all offerings that support the mission and goals of the spa, ways for guests to take home services or purchase gifts and mementos that promote self-care.

Some of the first retail offerings one encounters is a collection of clothing. There are T-shirts, towels, and robes with Watershed monogramming. It serves a practical purpose for those who forgot their swimsuits but want to participate in the bathing ritual—suits can be purchased here.

Another wall showcases the carefully curated products that meet the owner’s standards—products that are organic in nature, products that she tested at the first Minneapolis spas she opened: Spot Spa. They’re also building an adaptogen and herb section to support internal as well as external health.

Taking center stage is an open and comfortable lounge designed more for communal connections than for retreating into oneself. Hemp ropes are draped across the ceiling and hanging down one wall, framing a space that emphasizes the natural with its coloring, candles, and plant life.

Off to the side are wooden loungers covered in cushions and pillows, and circles of pillows and rugs for those who wish to sit on the floor and meditate or share intimate moments with friends. All these areas are lit with natural lighting, surrounded by plant life and accented with woods that invite a connection with nature.

After taking a tour of both levels (and I’ll talk about the lower level later), I entered into a peaceful room where I met my therapist, Stephanie. The theme of nature continues into the treatment room, with tall plants commanding sections of the room, bowls of hemp rope on the floor, and flickering candles.

Stephanie brought a great deal of intentionality to the massage, paying attention to my body and responding to its needs. As someone trained in shiatsu, she took the time to apply deep pressure with her forearms, elbows and knuckles in places where she found knots and blockages.

In keeping with the spa’s themes, Stephanie incorporated water into the service through copious use of wet, hot towels. She wrapped my feet, immediately making me feel safe, snug and well-cared for. At various points during the service, she placed hot towels on my back and legs, pressing them in to help relax my muscles and open them to her attention.

Stephanie also did something that many massage therapists neglect: she spent time on my face and scalp, massaging out the stress and tension that collects there. After the massage, I donned my bathing suit and a robe and headed downstairs to where my friend was having her massage. I sank into one of the couches and savored a glass of water.

While each guest is given a tour and an explanation of how to use the communal bathing area, they also have hanging banners outside the bath area and instructions written on a circular slab with pictures in the bath area that offer suggestions for a bathing ritual along with the reassurance that there is no wrong way to do it. You are encouraged to listen to your body and encounter each of the waters according to your needs.

An attendant escorted us to the bath area and suggested one way to go through the baths. She also pointed out important details like where to hang robes or set glasses, places to find water and what the temperatures of each of the rooms and baths were. The experience starts and ends with a shower, and bowls of salt are available for scrubbing and exfoliating your skin.

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There is a table that separates the showers from the baths. On that table are the bowls of salt, instructions, drinking water and a gong. The gong is a friendly way of reminding guests that while the experience is a communal one, silence is an integral part of the experience. Guests are asked to speak in low voices and if talking gets too loud, an attendant will strike the gong which lets out a low, reverberating ring to restore quietude.

Projections on the wall provide a relaxing backdrop of moving images, rotating patterns that offer a multi-sensory experience. After the shower, we moved to the hot pool, one filled with benches so you can sink into the water, sit or float as desired. The pool envelops you in a clean, clear warmth that is comforting and relaxing. We took our time here—and there are no clocks or anything to remind you that schedules exist.

The next step was one I’m quite fond of: the steam room. Theirs is a long room with benches, a room thick with the rejuvenating steam that opens the pores and restores the lungs.

Immediately across the hallway from the steam room is the sauna, a room filled with dry heat that calms your muscles and has the added benefit of drying your bathing suit when you are ready to move to the relaxation room.

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However, we weren’t quite ready for that yet. While my friend re-entered the warm pool. I headed to the cold plunge, which has recently become one of my favorite things to do. There is something invigorating and awakening about a cold plunge.

Afterward, you feel more alive and awake. Most of my cold plunge experiences involve relatively quick dips in and out of the water, but this was Minnesota and Minnesotans are hearty folks who swim regularly in the chill waters of Lake Superior. I stepped into the cold plunge and joined the others there who envisioned the pool as a soak rather than a plunge. We sat in cold water up to our necks for several minutes.

Scientists and healthcare professionals extol the virtues of cold plunges, explaining that they stimulate leukocytes and force fluid through your lymph nodes which increases your immunity. They regulate hormones and can even boost sexual wellness by helping you produce more testosterone. The Mental Health Center of America says they produce hermetic stress which increases production of a neurotransmitter that helps with focus, attention, mood and stress tolerance.

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Those aren’t things I knew when I started doing cold plunges, but I can certainly testify that they leave me feeling better and more invigorated. Since I was there in early summer of 2023, Watershed has added two individual cold plunge baths.

As Watershed encourages you to do, my friend and I repeated several of the steps as felt good to us. The room is softly lit with electronic candles and hues of blue. Throughout the bathing area are loungers and benches to rest on between soaks.

At any point during the nearly three hours that guests are allowed for their bathing ritual, they can move to a relaxation space connected to the baths. On the way to it is a table with infused water, reading material, and pieces of ginger to chew on (or add to your water).

The relaxation space includes an altar for meditation, yoga mats, reclining loungers, and large pillows for lying on. I dozed off for several minutes there before returning to do more soaks.

Watershed does more than just offer great spa services—though they do that as well. Watershed has created a space where people can have a holistic experience through such things as communal bathing, spa services and integrative wellness. It is a place where each person is welcomed as a human being and kindred spirit and not just a customer or a client to be moved through as quickly as possible.

On their website, they explain that they are doing the work of creating watershed moments: “A watershed moment is a turning point, the exact moment that signifies change. Watershed creates a space for this transformation by making opportunities for experiences that help reset, assign and heal the body and mind.”

It is what makes Watershed, one of the newer additions to the Minneapolis spa scene, a place well worth dwelling in and returning to for its rejuvenating experiences.

Cost: 60-Minute Signature Massage ($90), Bathhouse visit ($54/2 hours, 45 min)

Insider Tip: Outside the bathhouse near the lockers are small containers of body butter. They are the spa owner’s own recipe and are made in house with ginger and orange. It’s definitely a treat to rub it into your skin after your bathing ritual is over.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Tues), 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Wed through Fri), 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Sat and Sun)

Address: Switch House, 514 2nd Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Phone: 612-331-4182

Email: welcome@watershedspa.com

For more information and to book a service at Watershed Spa, visit their website. Follow on Instagram: @watershedmpls

[Photos by Bridgette Redman]

Bridgette Redman, who is a second-generation journalist, fell in love with spas and travel while working as a writer and editor for 16 years at the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. As a freelancer for the International SPA Association, she co-wrote two textbooks, nine workbooks and numerous case studies on spas. Her freelance career began in the 80s and she has written for publications in Michigan, Arizona, California, and Texas along with several regional and national publications. She is a committed storyteller who loves sharing narratives which improve people's quality of life and build community. Born and raised in Michigan, she currently lives in Lansing with her husband and son. See more of her writing at www.bridgetteredman.com