CRYSTAL CAVE
Alternative health treatment: Relax in a room made of salt
“Time to get salty.”
Those were Kim Rash’s parting words as she closed the door at Santa Fe Salt Cave, her recently opened business featuring not a real cave but a transcendental room whose walls and floor are covered with nine tons of pink salt mined in the Himalayas.
What followed was a relaxing, 45-minute session of salt therapy that involved the simple act of breathing in salty air while kicking back in a zero gravity lounge chair (under a blanket if you choose) and listening to soothing music in the background.
Also known as halotherapy, salt therapy is an alternative health care treatment that Rash and others claim treats a host of respiratory and skin conditions, from allergies and asthma to acne and eczema, as well as anxiety, depression and insomnia.
During each session, microscopic particles of salt are discharged into the air, which Rash says can help reduce inflammation in the lungs, eliminate infection and kill bacteria.
“I actually had lung issues in the past, and I can tell I feel better,” said Loren Greiss, who was visiting from Nebraska with his wife, Susan, after a recent session at Santa Fe Salt Cave, which is believed to be New Mexico’s first such enterprise.
Rash, a Kentucky transplant who opened the business earlier this month, said there isn’t a lot of scientific research on the health benefits of salt therapy. But after having co-owned a salt cave in Kentucky, she said the evidence is crystal clear to her.
“I believe in it because of the hundreds of people who came through Louisville Salt Cave that loved it and said it worked,” she said.
Rash, 36, said she first learned about salt caves about five years ago while attending an aromatherapy school in North Carolina.
“The next day, I went to the salt cave, and my mind was totally blown,” she said. “It felt like a sacred place. It was such a beautiful, healing experience.”
Two years later, Rash said she and her friend decided to build a salt cave in Kentucky. While the business was successful, she said she sold her half of the business because she had her eyes on Santa Fe.
“I came here for a healing retreat eight years ago, and I thought the land was so sacred and spiritual,” she said. “I’ve never experienced that kind of healing before, and I really attribute it to the land here in Santa Fe.”
The healing retreat, Rash later disclosed, was a stay at the Life Healing Center of New Mexico, a rehabilitation facility.
“I’m still sober eight years later,” she said, adding that the experience “totally changed everything” and saved her life.
After rehab, Rash said she moved from working in the construction industry to becoming a massage therapist.
“It really kind of spurred me to get into that holistic alternative,” she said. “When I finally moved back [to New Mexico], I felt like I was coming back home. I was coming to where it all started because it did start at the Life Healing Center.”
Rash said she wanted to open a salt cave in Santa Fe not only because she loves the healing powers, but she also wanted to share that experience.
“More importantly, I want to give something back to Santa Fe’s community because I literally feel that this place has saved my life,” she said.
Rash said she looked for a long time to find the right location and finally picked a former doctor’s office at 1424 Second St., just east of Cerrillos Road.
“I like that Minerva is right there,” she said, referring to a medical marijuana dispensary. “The [We the People] Community Acupuncture is right there. I’m here. I call it the ‘Trifecta of Relaxation.’ ”
Parking, she said, was one of her most important considerations.
“Closer to the Plaza, the parking was so hard, and it was really important to me to give my customers parking because I don’t go to places if I know parking is going to be hard,” she said. “This just seems like a hip, happening and up-and-coming place. Everything about it felt right.”
Rash said business is starting to pick up, though it was slower than she expected when she first opened her doors because she had so much interest on social media.
“But every day is better than the last
one,” she said, adding it took about two months for her Louisville salt cave to catch on.
Adam Loss, membership director for the Salt Therapy Association, said salt caves are not a fad.
“It’s definitely a trend,” he said. “There’s currently 650 in the country, and there’s projected to be 1,000 by 2020.”
Loss, who works for a company that sells salt therapy products and provides related services, such as consulting and marketing, said salt caves can be found in hotels, spas, country clubs and even residences.
“Salt is everywhere,” he said. “A lot of people have children that suffer from [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] or cystic fibrosis, so they put a salt booth in their home to help with the treatment there.”
Rash expects Santa Feans to be receptive to the idea of a salt cave.
“I think that people [in Santa Fe] intuitively understand how powerful it is to be surrounded with that many high vibrational crystals; they just get it here,” she said. “In Kentucky, I had to explain a little bit more about stuff, and here, I just mention salt caves and people are like, ‘Yes.’ They just get it.”
A single 45-minute session costs $35. Rash also offers packages of four sessions for $100 and 12 sessions for $250.
“When people ask me how often they should come, I think once a week is great, but I always tell them it depends on your finances and how much time you have,” she said.
The cave is kept at a cool 70 degrees to protect the integrity of the salt, and no one under age 12 is allowed.
“I just want it to be an oasis for adults to check out and relax,” she said.
The couple from Nebraska, Loren and Susan Greiss, said they were satisfied customers.
Susan Greiss said they have a niece with cystic fibrosis who has made several trips to Israel “because of the healing properties of the saltiness of the Dead Sea.” When she and her husband were planning their first trip to Santa Fe, she said she Googled salt caves in Santa Fe and found Rash’s business.
“It transports me somewhere that I’ve never been before,” she said. “It just feels like you’re in another world.”
Loren Greiss said he felt like he was in space.
“I’m ready to go back in,” he said.