San Francisco Wellness for People Who Don’t Do Wellness (2026)

So how does San Francisco wellness work for people who don’t do wellness in 2026?

Pause Studio in the Castro is welcoming and relaxed.

It’s bright & airy, and the staff (alongside the owner, Frances) are all up in there, hanging out, and actually doing wellness with you.

It feels like you’re hanging out with friends / therapists. A lot of women go to hair salons for therapy. If you want to up your game and pivot from just vanity into wellness, this is a good place for that.

Start your wellness journey with the 101: LED light bed, contrast therapy and compression.

Frances and her team start you off with the most benign of all the therapies.

They walk you into a private room with plush towels, robes and a vanity.

The LED light bed is basically the experience you would get going to a tanning salon back in the day, before we realized we were sitting in wrinkle machines - except instead of breaking down your collagen, you’re repairing it. And you’re not sweating your balls off because it’s not hot. It’s like the perfect temperature.

#1 wellness therapy down, conquered. No problem.

If you choose the contrast therapy, this is the one that will test you: are you a Silicon Valley wellness person or a little bitch?

I will admit, the cold plunge was not super easy for me. I’m kind of a little bitch. 

I talked myself up, and then it took 6 tries to get up to my nipples, and even then I wasn’t able to stay in for any amount of time - my body literally rejected the cold. But I did feel great after! And would gladly do it again.

My husband, Ricky, on the other hand, submerged his entire body (like, face and head, too). And he stayed in up to his neck for 90 seconds multiple times. And then he talked about it the rest of the day.

You go back and forth between the cold plunge and the infrared sauna, which is lovely. It has a speaker system inside that connects to your Bluetooth. I recommend bossa nova to calm yourself when returning from the cold plunge, followed by heavy metal / cock rock to get amped up before going back in to the cold plunge.

At the end of your Le Labo-sponsored shower, your blood is moving and that soreness and inflammation that’s been bothering you all week is being transformed into energy and recovery.

The compression feels nice, looks weird.

It’s this penguin suit they put over whichever part of your body needs some help recovering - legs, arms or your whole body. They blow it up with air, and then let it out, all in about 2-4 minute rounds.

It feels like a much-needed hug, reduces swelling, and speeds up recovery.

So that’s your 101, you’re a wellness person. That’s it, right?

Wrong.

Because if you start chatting it up with Alvin, RN - and you will, because this place is like a hangout - you’ll notice his skin. It’s a weird kind of perfection that makes it look overly photoshopped. But this is real life.

Ricky even noticed, independently from me. He’s a straight white guy, he never notices skin.

I was like, yo, Alvin, what’s your routine? Glutathione and NAD.

I asked maybe 12x what tf glutathione and NAD are - and they’re so sweet, they gave me an explanation each time, but I still don’t really understand it, so here’s the short version:

Glutathione is an antioxidant your liver makes. It mops up free radicals and helps your body detox, which is why people call it the “master antioxidant.” It’s also the “God molecule” from the New Yorker piece (read it). In wellness circles it’s popular for skin glow and hangover recovery.

NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a coenzyme in every cell. It turns food into energy and helps repair DNA. Your levels drop as you age, so people take NAD+ drips for energy, focus and “anti-aging.”

The difference: glutathione protects and cleans up your cells, and NAD+ powers them.

I was sold enough to confront my ultimate fear. 💉

Here’s what we did:

• NAD+ 250mg IV drip
• Max Detox add-on: 2,000mg glutathione

The drip itself: they’ll tell you it can feel weird. I was scared. Ricky was excited and said he felt a little high. Mine just felt like a little pressure on the front of my head.

Block your time. Ricky’s drip took about an hour. Mine took about two hours, because they ran it slower since I was scared.

The results

I’ve felt more energetic since. Not sure what’s placebo and what’s real. It’s supposed to last about a week. Maybe I’ll go retest it. 😉

Ricky had been having this tennis elbow situation that was really annoying me, and it seems to be gone??? At least he hasn’t been annoying me about it since.

He’s also been sleeping really, really hard. They told us that NAD goes to where your body needs it most, which for a lot of people is the liver, but if there’s one thing Ricky has been neglecting his entire life, it’s sleep. So I feel the NAD could be going into his circadian system to help him calm the fuck down and sleep the full cycle he needs.

He’s felt energetic, but not the crazy increase he was kind of hoping for (or fantasizing about).

I have to disclose - we’re both really obsessive people, and we definitely had an entire life planned out by the time we left, basically premised around us becoming superhuman. NAD doesn’t make you a superhuman, but it can help if that’s the journey you’re on.

So we did it. We’re officially Silicon Valley wellness people and I have to tell you: I love it.

I’m not a doctor. Talk to yours before booking an IV.

Five hours later we had new best friends, a new addiction, and the possibility of a way to renew our heavily trafficked bodies.

Apparently, Silicon Valley people never die. Now I kind of get why.

Check out Pause here: pausestudio.com/locations/castro

What is contrast therapy?

You go back and forth between heat (an infrared sauna) and cold (a cold plunge), with rest in between. At Pause the circuit is about 9 minutes of heat, up to 3 minutes of cold and a short rest, repeated for a few rounds.

How long should you stay in a cold plunge?

Pause recommends 3 minutes at 48°F (9°C). Beginners can go much shorter. It took me 6 tries just to get in.

What does an NAD+ IV drip feel like?

For me, a little pressure on the front of my head. Some people feel a little high. It took about an hour for Ricky and about two hours for me, because they ran mine slower.

How much does an NAD+ IV cost in San Francisco?

At Pause Studio Castro, a 250mg NAD+ drip is $449, or $614 with the Max Detox glutathione add-on. An NAD+ shot starts at $75.

What is glutathione?

An antioxidant your liver makes. It mops up free radicals and helps your body detox. In wellness circles it’s popular for skin glow and hangover recovery.

Where is Pause Studio in San Francisco?

2234 Market St in the Castro, open daily 8 AM-8 PM.