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What I needed was a system reboot, of sorts: quiet time alone in a controlled, comfortable setting, free of the usual barrage of sights and sounds. My goal led me to the somewhat unexpected destination of Courtenay, B.C. Located in the Comox Valley, about halfway up the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, Courtenay (population: around 30,000) is a rugged coastal ski town that attracts outdoor enthusiasts wanting to tune into their bodies.��

Despite its relatively compact size, it’s something of a wellness haven, with more than its fair share of yoga studios, saunas and other sanctuaries in and around the city. The latest is the , a thoughtfully designed spa circuit consisting of six sensory-rich “cave” experiences, which opened at the Kingfisher Pacific Resort and Spa in December.

On my first morning at the resort, I wake up in my oceanside suite to glorious silence and the soft pinks of a promising sunrise. A low, crisp mist hovers over the water, and I spot the striking silhouette of a great blue heron standing in the shallows.

As I sip tea and nibble on incredible, locally sourced bacon, I spot the shiny pelts of two river otters. Then a seal head pops up, a loon calls, and a flock of white trumpeter swans flies by. My sensory reset has begun.

Wrapped in a soft spa robe, I walk through the resort’s magical Serenity Gardens Winter Lights installation — think: life-size cherry-blossom trees, and beds of LED lupins and roses — towards the fully renovated Pacific Mist Spa and my private Healing Caves experience.

Alongside traditional spa elements, such as a sauna, steam and mineral pools, the Healing Caves offer some more unusual remedies: RLT (red-light therapy), halotherapy (breathing salt air) and cryotherapy (extreme cold). Guests are guided through the 75-minute circuit in a predetermined sequence, spending about 10 minutes inside each custom-designed, multimedia-equipped cave.

“What sets this apart is the intentional flow of therapies,” says Inès le Ricque, Kingfisher’s marketing manager. She tells me the circuit’s first half “takes away” (stress, sweat, toxins and tension) and the second part “gives back” (through RLT, antioxidants, salt particles and warm, mineral-enriched waters).

“This is not just a spa circuit — it’s a reset.”

I start in the Desert Cave, a room inspired by Utah’s red-rock desert. Dry sauna rocks and infrared panels heat the air to 82°C. My lungs warm, sweat prickles, and my eyes widen as an enormous integrated screen takes me on a drone-shot journey down into the iconic canyons.

Next, I take in the heady eucalyptus steam of the Mystic Cave, the hypnotic night sky of the Astral Cave, and the briny air of the Salt Cave. All of my senses are stimulated. But I don’t feel overwhelmed; I feel strangely soothed and restored. It’s a full-on, full-body experience, one I would happily repeat.

My next wellness treatment in town, however, involves turning off my senses altogether. A 10-minute drive from the resort, I find , a new space featuring sensory deprivation flotation chambers. Using enormous amounts of Epsom salts, the water’s extreme buoyancy gives you the illusion of drifting in zero gravity.

Before starting my 90-minute session, I worry about my fidgety body and meditation-adverse mind. The attendant calmly reassures me I can get out at any time, then adds, “But you won’t.”

My earplugs go in, the lights go out, I settle in and just … float. My constantly tense muscles begin easing, and my brain delights in this bizarre break from external stimuli.

I emerge from Flow State uncharacteristically focused and begin looking up yoga classes at , a popular wellness centre in downtown Courtenay. But something else on the menu catches my eye: Shiftwave, described as “a nervous-system training technology that helps identify imbalances.” Curious, I book an appointment.

Originally developed to support PTSD recovery, the Shiftwave device looks like an unassuming lawn chair lounger. Then you see the wires attached to a biofeedback monitor and two rows of high-powered pulsating pads, running from the base of the skull to the calves. The vibrational pattern and intensity changes depending on which program you choose on the control box —��and how high you turn up the dial.

“While (Shiftwave) can’t make any (medical) claims by law, I can tell you, as a clinician, this is a well-used tool in my tool box,” says Broken Squirrel co-founder Tanja Yardley (no relation), a physiotherapist and a VP at HealthTech Connex, a brain health/tech innovation hub. “People kept coming out of the chair saying they were ‘mind blown.’”

I choose the “ChillActivate” program, slip on the headphones and blackout mask, and kick back. As the narrator instructs me to breathe in, the powerful pulses start vibrating; I breathe out and they suddenly stop, giving me a lovely, floating-in-zero-gravity sensation. By the end of my 25-minute session, my heart rate is a full 15 beats per minute slower, and I’m feeling unusually calm.

Before I head home, my final stop is��, where I’ve booked a self-serve, lakeside sauna session. Located 20 minutes outside Courtenay, this special spot hums with beehives, grazing cattle, free-range chickens and friendly dogs (and their people).

I follow the path down to the private lake and an adorable wooden barrel sauna perched on its edge. Inside, I tuck myself against the fish eye window, soaking up the sun and stove’s heat. Outside on the dock, it’s silent and still. I slip into the lake through the freshly cut hole in the ice and re-emerge breathless and reinvigorated.

The sights and sounds of daily life will hit me again soon, but at least now I know where to go — and what to do — when I need another sensory-system reset.

​�ċEmma Yardley travelled as a guest of Kingfisher Pacific Resort and Spa and , which did not review or approve this article.