After years working in management consulting and data infrastructure for companies including LinkedIn, IBM and Deloitte, Natasha Berness knew the pressures of corporate life firsthand. When she and her wife Anna Berness were laid off, they decided to build a business around a problem they had both experienced: burnout.
The couple opened SoliVana Wellness Lab in 2023, offering treatments aimed at stress reduction and recovery, including float tanks, red light therapy, a sauna and cold plunge.
“Everything we do here is to focus on burnout, stress reduction, make you feel like you’re human again,” Natasha Berness said.
“Both of us came from Russia. We came in early ’90s when this was a booming Silicon Valley. The most brilliant people came here, it was just such a boom, and it’s not anymore. I crave that, and I really hope that if we can reduce the stress, Silicon Valley will become this thing that it’s meant to be.”
The lab offers 14 services and nine private rooms for the various treatments, including float tanks starting at $110, red light therapy starting at $75, and a sauna and cold plunge experience (from $115). The Bernesses said they want research to play a larger role in the business and in understanding the effects of its treatments.
Last May, they started the SoliVana Research Institute, which collects biomarker data from participating clients who use “sensory deprivation, contrast therapy, and AI-guided breathwork protocols,” according to the SoliVana website. The research is intended to allow the pair, alongside a PhD student, to produce papers on the work being done.
“We just opened the SoliVana Institute, where we collect data on … what happens when you do our services, and build white papers out of that,” Natasha Berness said. “We’re trying to (be) more scientific to show people that it actually works rather than hearsay.”
Since opening, SoliVana has served over 500 clients, according to the website. Clients range from tech executives and CEOs to medical professionals, teachers and firefighters — anyone in high-stress jobs, Natasha Berness said.
Still, people come in for a variety of reasons. Eduardo Gonzalez, 54, of Redwood City, has been coming to the lab for a couple of months, primarily gravitating to the hot and cold therapy, float tanks and the Himalayan salt room.
“I have been feeling more of a recovery for my body. You know, as you age, trying to stay in shape and stuff (it’s) always hard to recover. So this was kind of a way for me to be able to work out again,” Gonzalez said. “I think people don’t realize (wellness is) more than just working out. The recovery is very needed, as far as the body goes.”
The founders said SoliVana’s focus on burnout and stress sets it apart from other wellness businesses.
“We’re the only ones that have end-to-end burnout and stress reduction. That’s our focus,” Natasha Berness said. “We are not pure athletic recovery. We are not pure mental health. … We’re not a massage parlor. You don’t come here with a date just to enjoy it. We offer a different look at your own wellness and an idea that you can actually help yourself without going to the medical system.”
SoliVana is part of a growing wellness industry. The nonprofit Global Wellness Institute valued the global wellness economy at $6.3 trillion in 2023 and projected it would reach $9 trillion by 2028.
2024 research by Gallup News and West Health, a group of nonprofit organizations focused on healthcare, showed satisfaction with the quality of healthcare in the United States might be at a 24-year low. 44% of U.S. adults reported healthcare as good or excellent, down 10 points since 2020.
“People realized, especially after COVID there is a vast gamut of things that are available that are not just a pill, that are not just a surgery,” Anna Berness said. “That things can be done to make them feel better without having to cut something or eat something. I think that has helped tremendously to educate the public and get people in the door once we opened.”
Some are concerned that with this growth, people are becoming priced out of their own wellness. About 45% of U.S. consumers struggle to afford healthcare and globally, 54% point to cost as a barrier to healthier choices on the shelf, according to NielsenIQ.
The Bernesses said they want SoliVana to be accessible, acknowledging the challenges of doing that as an independent business. High rent, for example, is one barrier to lowering prices at SoliVana, where memberships range from $169 to $749 per month for those looking beyond individual services.
“We have to sustain the business, so we’re not very profitable, but we’re at least covering our bases,” Natasha Berness said.
She guides clients on therapies and practices they can implement at home through free consultations as well as the services offered within the lab. Natasha Berness said she tries to make SoliVana feel like “a friendly neighborhood place where you come in and go, ‘I don’t have any money, but I would like to feel better.’”
For Ellery Mitchell, 23, a part-time employee at the wellness center, its offerings go beyond the services.
“I wish more people in this area knew about (SoliVana) because we do have a lot of people who come in, who are regulars, and they start kind of connecting with each other, and so it has the opportunity to build a community,” Mitchell said. “ It’s kind of a different side of fitness and wellness.”
