Wellness City Guide: Toronto

Michelle Siman's Scene Report

Welcome to the long-awaited series from Plant Based, Wellness Around the World: City Guides. Once a month, I’ll be tapping a resident wellness aficionado in their home city, asking them to share not only their must-hit spots, as well as a glimpse into their community’s overarching wellness culture. We’re starting out with a city that’s high on my list to visit: Toronto.

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Introducing our resident Toronto wellness authority:

michelle siman

. You might know her from her podcast (and upcoming Substack!),

Lemon Water

. Michelle has worked as a creative visionary for brands like Saie, Rainbo Mushrooms, and more. She’s currently the Head of Brand Marketing at SIDIA, which, as you’ll recall, is doing big things with solid fragrances and hand serums.

Straight up — I adore Michelle’s taste and trust her recommendations implicitly, so I’m honored to have her guide us through her home city of Toronto. Here she goes…

A Little Backstory

I want to preface this: I currently live on the West end of the city so most of my recommendations and suggestions happen to be within the area. I love having things so closely accessible and within walking distance! This city isn’t that big, and I find that a lot of the wellness activities are pretty centralized within a specific pocket (unfortunately!!!).

What is your relationship with wellness, personally?

Naturally my relationship with wellness as a whole has changed over the years. Where I’m at currently in this stage is intuitively taking care of myself by listening to what my body needs and craves. This can show up through movement, nourishment, and just prioritizing and leaning into times of rest.

What are some traditional or typical wellness practices of people living in your community? Any specific outlook or history?

Toronto is a city so I think the wellness practices are pretty similar to other places in that way…

During the summer, I feel like everyone prioritizes their time outside. Always lots of biking and walking happening if you’re living downtown, especially because our transit system is a complete bust. It's more efficient and productive to get yourself places by foot or bike. It sucks because during the winter months it can become dreadful to leave the house, so I find that people are in serious hibernation mode between December-April, unless you're part of a committed run club that has no bounds to the cold weather. I think spending time in nature is definitely something we try not to take for granted. Whenever friends are coming back home to visit, I think many people make it a priority to spend time by the water or drive up north.

Also, the cold plunge and sauna situation has been a thing for the past three years since Othership opened here back in 2021, and it’s only expanded. There have been a number of bathhouses that have opened since, which I think has been good since each space caters to a specific type of crowd.

What is the wellness + beauty scene like today?

The absolute essentials in each category: