The holidays are a wonderful but equally bustling time of year. Our lives are filled with the stress of work, raising families, keeping the household in order, traffic, social lives, the pandemic, school - too much. For the first time in our history, humans have more responsibilities, complications, and distractions than ever before.
I myself can share that my life feels overwhelming and stressful at many times. While I am a writer for Totally Boise, creating articles for the website and for our quarterly magazine. However, I am also a student in the final semester of college, a girlfriend to my partner of five years, the only child to my senior parents that still live in Idaho, and a bit of a neat freak when it comes to my own home. Finding a moment where I'm not needed to answer a question, complete an assignment or help others with their needs happens far more often than I would like.
On a recent visit to Salt Sanctuary, I was able to try their halotherapy and found myself achieving a level of welcomed isolation that is almost unachievable in my normal life.
What is Halotherapy?
With the help of specialty equipment, halotherapy makes salt into an aerosol and fills a room with salted air. Research shows that dry salt air therapy works to cleanse your respiratory system, eliminating toxins from your body. As you sit in the room, the salty air lands on your skin, enters your lungs and effectively pulls the negatively charged toxins from your bloodstream.
Clinical studies have shown that people with asthma, COPD, pneumonia, bronchitis, arthritis, acne/eczema, psoriasis, and cystic fibrosis have seen positive changes in their health after pursuing a routine of halotherapy.
What Salt Sanctuary's Halotherapy is Like
Coming to try halotherapy, I do not have any of the health issues listed above. While it has been shown clinically to positively affect those issues, I was interested in the mental health benefits of a halotherapy treatment.
When you enter one of the private rooms, you will find a massage bed with pillows, blankets, and a biomat for you to relax on. The owner, Christina, encouraged me to leave my phone inside my purse and to put it on silent mode or turn it off. The whole room is warmly lit by an entire accent wall of pink Himalayan salt bricks and the ceiling is decorated with the dark nighttime sky. You will also notice some soothing light spa music and the hum of the halotherapy machine creating salty air.
For 45 minutes, you are alone in the room, to do what you please, with the goal of giving yourself a true moment of no interruptions or distractions. And there's no wrong way to spend this time. I found myself doing a variety of things. I laid flat on the bed and shut my eyes, I sat awake, processing thoughts that I needed to work through by myself, and journaling.
While I was in there, I contemplated something that Christina had said to me before I closed myself in the room, "I want people to truly relax. We have no idea how stressed out we are until we take a minute to sit still."
Once I came out of the room, a cup of chamomile tea was waiting for me in the lobby, and as I was sharing my experience with Christina and her next client, I fully comprehended the weight of her statement. In that room, there were no texts, no emails, no homework assignments. It was just me and my inner thoughts and I would say that meditation isn't only making your mind silent, but silencing the outer world's noise enough to only hear your true self.
Want to Book Your Own Appointment?
Halotherapy isn't the only service offered at the Salt Sanctuary. Their studio has three private salt rooms, one with a massage bed, one family room with books and treasures, and the other with chairs and a warm salty sand floor. They host guided meditations, sound baths, music circles, and massage therapy.
To learn more, check out our previous blogs on Salt Sanctuary:
The Ultimate Relaxation Guide At Salt Sanctuary
To book your appointment or read more about the services at Salt Sanctuary, check out their channels below:
Website: www.salt-sanctuary.com
Instagram: @BoiseSaltSanctuary