Salt cave sessions the height of luxury
Eastern European treatment helps with respiratory issues, stress relief and coughs
The walls are large, rough hunks of pink salt. A thick layer of salt pebbles crunch under foot. With dim lighting and the sound of running water, I relax in the salt cave, actually the back room of a downtown Oakville spa.
The salt cave session, popular as a health treatment in eastern Europe, is the first round in my morning of multicultural indulgence, to be followed by a Thai massage at the same spa, Saltcave Solana. Think of it as wellness fusion, East European and Thai.
The 50-minute salt cave session and a 60-minute massage cost $99, a special offer. The package, regularly $160, also includes 30 minutes in an infrared sauna, but I decide to skip that.
More than 22,000 pounds of Himalayan salt, originally from Pakistan and imported through Poland, were used to create the cave, says owner Aurelia Grela. She claims that breathing in the salt from the cave sessions can improve respiratory problems, including asthma and allergies, offer stress relief and help with coughs and colds.
In recent years, many North American spas and wellness centres have created salt chambers that mimic the caves and owners have touted the healing benefits. Few good scientific studies have been done on halotherapy, as salt therapy is known.
I don’t have an illness to test any claims. I’m just there for pure relaxation.
I’m stretched out on one of the cave’s eight reclining lounge chairs with a fleecy blanket over me. Soft music plays. Grela turns on the dry salt generator and a salty mist fills the room.
“Most people fall asleep in 15 to 20 minutes,” she says as she closes the cave door. A morning nap? Now that would be indulgent. I immediately regret having that large coffee at breakfast.
The ceiling has pointy forms hanging down to resemble a cave’s stalactites and tiny twinkly lights change colours. The music stops. My eyes get heavy, but I don’t go under.
When time is up, I feel rested and my nasal passages do seem less stuffy. I move into another room and meet Luis Valencia, the Thai massage practitioner. Originally from Peru, he worked with an advertising company in Thailand for several years where he was impressed by the massages that helped him after playing squash. In Canada, he studied and became certified as a practitioner.
Thai massage is an ancient healing art, explains Valencia, that combines stretching, acupressure and meditation. It’s sometimes called “lazy yoga,” as the practitioner guides the client into yoga postures.
I sit fully clothed on the massage bed as Valencia uses his forearms to gently stretch my always-tight neck. He tells me to take deep regular breaths that sound like ocean waves, and he cups my ears so I hear my breaths rolling in.
As I lay down, he stretches my legs and feet and bends my knees to extend my hip flexors. By the feel of it, those hip flexors may never have been stretched before. He applies pressure on points along my back and works to get rid of the “emotional bacteria” that hides “like terrorists” behind my shoulder blades.
When the massage is over, I’m definitely looser, more limber. The terrorists have fled. I leave Saltcave Solana feeling duly indulged.