Spa La Source in Rawdon, Quebec: a relaxing day trip from Montreal

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Spa La Source – La Source Bains Nordiques – just outside Rawdon, Quebec, is a tranquil nordic spa in the heart of nature. If you’re looking for a relaxing day trip from Montreal where you can soak, sit and soothe your muscles, this one-hour drive into the beautiful Lanaudiere region of Quebec will give your mind – and body – a break.

 

A visit to Spa La Source in Rawdon, Quebec

I’m climbing a hill in the forest and my right flipflop is perilously close to falling apart. I’m reminded of the scene in the movie Wild, when Reese Witherspoon’s hiking boot falls off a precipice while she’s hiking the rugged Pacific Crest Trail.

The difference is that she had to carry on through rough hostile terrain while I only have to finish the one-kilometre Meditation Circuit to get back to the outdoor pools at Spa La Source an hour north of Montreal. The other difference is that every obstacle fate throws in Reese’s way teaches her something about life and redemption – and the only thing I’ve learned is that I need a new pair of flipflops.

But I haven’t come to Spa La Source, an outdoor nordic-style baths and spa complex in the Lanaudiere region of Quebec to learn or even to think. I’ve come to relax – because that’s why La Source Spa exists.

PS: The director of the movie Wild is a French Canadian from Quebec, Jean-Marc Vallée.

 

The philosophy behind Spa La Source

“We wanted to satisfy the clients who come here to be peaceful,” Patrice Lalancette, the youthful dark-haired owner had told me when I’d first arrived. Along with his girlfriend, Caroline Simard, he created La Source Bains Nordiques in 2006. The goal? To disturb the natural surroundings as little as possible. “Everything we took out for building, we try to use. The rock we had to remove was used in the landscaping. Our vision was to have the forest as it was, but as if two massage tables had just suddenly dropped into it.”

And natural and peaceful it is. I was first here three years ago and the cedar sauna, steam bath, outdoor whirlpool baths and faux (not to mention freezing) waterfalls were about as close to wood nymph happiness as you could get. What’s new since then is the Meditation Walk, which is why I’m doing it now.

 

The Meditation Walk

After passing a rock pond, a colourful hammock and a couple of tent-like burgundy cocoons, I stop at one of the meditation stations. The info plaque is all in French, but since my French is absolutely fantastic I have no trouble translating.

Stop. Breathe. Imagine you are very fat and getting fatter.

No, that can’t be right. I shake my head. Perhaps my French isn’t as good as I thought.

 

Winding down at La Source

I read the plaque again, and come to the conclusion it’s telling me to breathe and imagine that the trees are getting bigger. No one is around so I touch a tree trunk just in case I can tap into its earthy arbor energy.

Another station reminds me to breathe, to be in the moment and to exhale slowly. There is a rocky cliff behind me, so I touch that, too. Two girls wearing white hooded robes and carrying walking sticks come up behind me, looking for all the world like Trappist monks on pilgrimage. La Source Spa is that kind of place, a wellness pilgrimage where the destination is tranquility, and where, if you occasionally feel the need to touch a rock or a tree, no one is going to look at you strangely.

I wait until they’ve passed by so I can have the Meditation Walk all to myself again. It’s not easy hugging trees and cliffs when other people are around, no matter how sympatico. Luckily, La Source caps their facility at 150 people per day, so there’s no chance of it ever getting too crowded.

“We don’t put a time limit on it,” Patrice had explained. “You can stay here all day. The important thing is not to rush. That is the secret.”

 

What to do at a nordic baths spa

Here’s another secret, in case you don’t know what a nordic spa such as La Source is or what to do here. Nordic Baths are made up of a series of hot and cold water-based treatments, also called hydrotherapy. The idea is to do a hot treatment such as a sauna, steam bath or outdoor Jacuzzi, then, if you’re brave enough, hurl yourself into an agonizingly cold pool or stand under a frigid waterfall trying to shriek in silence while wondering why you are torturing yourself.

And then you leap out of the cold pool and the endorphins fly and your circulation is boosted and you feel deliciously cold on the outside, toasty on the inside and are ready to take on the world – or maybe even the Pacific Crest Trail.

(If it’s too much for you, you can settle for a cool shower.)

Then you relax in one of the comfy chairs around the wood fire surrounded by maple, beech and spruce, or lie in a hammock, or rest inside one of the relaxation rooms. Then you do the hot cold circuit again. And again. Until eventually you feel more like a limp leaf than a powerful rock face or a fat tree in the forest, and at this point you could care less if your hiking boot falls off a precipice because you’d rather lie down than hike anyway.

“It’s the ultimate relaxing activity,” Patrice said. “We want each person to have a beautiful experience in nature, in the forest as it originally was.  We want people to say La Source is ‘my’ spot.

Maybe that’s why I wanted the Meditation Walk all to myself. Because Spa La Source is ‘my’ spot already.