A salty, super sweet experience with Halo Therapy
When celebrating Earth Day this month, don’t forget to appreciate all the healing gifts with which Mother Nature has blessed us. Remedies, medicines, and cures can all be found in nature, if we know where to look. Something as simple as salt can have major healing properties. We stumbled upon a therapy called “halotherapy,” and, no, it isn’t a way to erase all your bad decisions and earn your wings. It’s a way to create an artificial salt cave environment in the comfort of a serene room in the middle of the city. Super-fine salt is pumped into a closed room, where you sit, relax, and breathe deep. It’s believed to improve things like respiratory conditions and skin issues and is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Not to mention drug-free with no side effects – let’s do this!
He said: When Jen told me she wanted to do halotherapy this month I thought “Why would her halo need therapy? She’s already a perfect angel!” We arrived at the spa and were quickly ushered to our golden, glowing salt cave that housed two of the most amazing massage chairs I’ve ever seen. Seriously, if I could’ve fit one of these chairs down my shirt I would’ve walked out with it. The lady from the spa closed us in this room filled with salt bricks and turned on the salt emitters. I reclined my chair back to the “zero g” position and relaxed to the sound of ocean waves. The air felt similar to being in a slightly dusty room. On deep inhales, I could feel a tiny tingle in my sinuses. I nearly fell asleep as the massage chair squeezed and kneaded me all over. In fact, I’m pretty sure this particular chair had a crush on me, because it spent way too long massaging my butt cheeks. At one point, I was like, “Hey pal, my back’s up here.” I walked out of the cave feeling quite relaxed, both mentally and physically, and I did notice my sinuses and breathing improve over the next few days after. The verdict? I would recommend it and will go back.
She Said: First off, I highly suggest wearing shorts, short-sleeves and flip-flops. You gotta maximize the benefits of skin exposure to the salt. I couldn’t really see the salt and couldn’t feel it in my nose or anything, so I wasn’t sure anything was happening. I took a breath through my mouth. There it was! Definitely salty. We sat back in our massage chairs, brining and pickling away, while we basked in the gorgeous pink-amber glow of the walls and ceiling, listening to sounds of ocean waves. It was quite nice! And I’ll tell you what – I’d never pick a robot massage chair over an actual human, but dang it! I sat in that space-pod lounger without a care in the world and found out just how neglected my poor calves and feet were. That’s great use of technology right there! Not all salt rooms will have the chairs, but I highly recommend finding one that does. I’m sure more halotherapy sessions would provide a more obvious benefit, but I did actually notice that the headache I had diminished quite a bit afterwards, and some sinus congestion improved in the days following. Coincidence? No idea. But just the relaxation of being in that calming room was worth it. Pro tip: A fine haze of salt definitely swirls around in there and lands on everything, so hide your belongings and don’t wear glasses (oops).
