I’ve made a promise to myself that in 2019, if I take a single day off, I’m going to do something good for myself. Something other than what I normally do which is sleep in, or run errands. I’ve vowed to proactively seek out experiences that will hopefully benefit me in a positive way. So on this particular day off, I decided to visit a salt cave. But before I get into the details, first things first.
What’s a salt cave?
A salt cave is where you indulge in halotherapy, an alternative form of western medicine that involves breathing salty air. The purported benefits run the gamut from improving respiratory ailments (asthma, bronchitis), allergies, depression, anxiety, and even some types of skin conditions like acne, eczema, and psoriasis.
Research, research, research
The first thing I do when I try anything new is research, research, research. I started with reviews of salt rooms in the local area, then I moved on to actual websites because I’m a visual person and I needed to see what they looked like. I also wanted to know what to expect from an unbiased source, and I Googled general information on halotherapy and salt rooms overall. I did all of that to try and set realistic expectations for myself when it comes to new experiences that I’m not immediately no-questions-asked on board with (I can be spontaneous sometimes).
Some of the reviews about one location in particular complained about it being too cold. I don’t like the cold. And even though a lot of these places use the phrase “salt cave,” it never occurred to me that the temperate might literally mimic that of an actual cave. I didn’t let that deter me, however I had to dig deeper. I Googled and found out that a salt room should be somewhat cool in order for the results to be effective, specifically in the range of upper 60s to low 70s (fahrenheit).
I finally settled on a place in Murfreesboro, about 30 minutes away, called Breathe Easy Salt Rooms, where the reviews were consistently positive. I went to the website, which was easy to navigate and included great photos, and their online booking system allowed me to easily book an appointment for the next day.
First Impressions
I was welcomed warmly by a petite woman named Cara, who is the owner. She gave us a quick tour, then asked if we’d ever been to a salt room (my son, my ride or die, decided to join me). When we replied no, she took a moment to explain what to expect. After pointing out the restrooms and a small area to store any personal items, she asked if we were still interested. I’d like to take a moment to point out no money had exchanged hands yet, and there was zero pressure to go through with our appointment. With a resounding yes, we took a seat to remove our shoes, and she let us know we could go barefoot or she could provide foot covers. We chose to keep our socks on and use the covers.
She chatted us up while we took off our shoes, and we discovered not only were she and I from the same hometown, we’d also attended the same high school. I’m pretty sure I graduated years before her, but even if we were there at the same time, it wouldn’t at all be weird if we didn’t know each other. My high school was huge, our graduating class was approximately 500 people. Her demeanor and customer service had already won me over, but this amazing coincidence served as confirmation that I’d chosen the right place for my first experience.
The room
She handed us buttery soft blankets and we carefully made our way across the finely ground salt covering the floor, to claim a zero gravity chair. It felt as if we were walking on the beach. The room was dim, and the temperature was cool but comfortable. It was the kind of cool that makes me want to snuggle under a blanket and take a nap. The focal point of the room is a framed rectangle of backlit Himalayan salt blocks, which provided just the right amount of mood lighting. The sounds were a mixture of spa music, trickling water, and white noise generated by the halogenerator. It’s kind of like a humidifier, but instead of moisture it sprays super fine, dry salt into the air. No you are not pelted with salt for an hour, you can’t actually see it, it’s crushed up into micro particles.
The experience
My son sat on the end of the room nearest the halogenator, and told me immediately that he could taste salt on his lips. And within minutes he was asleep. And while I didn’t sleep, I felt very relaxed and comfortable. That is until I had to empty my bladder about 10 minutes in. But it was the trip to the bathroom where I discovered her wonderful body scrubs that she makes in house. She had a few open samples for use.
When our hour was up, we put our shoes back on and I took a moment to browse around her retail area where she sells ‘all things salt.’ She has everything from lamps to essential oils to soaps and everything in between. I paid for our session and bought a container of Florida Citrus body scrub. The smell, kind of citrusy and fresh, really does reminder me of repeated trips to Orlando. It was a lovely experience and I felt completely relaxed afterwards.
The after effects
I suffer horribly from allergies and sinus problems. I acquired this affliction 18 years ago when I moved to Nashville, and it’s common for this area. It took five years of allergen immunotherapy (weekly/monthly shots) just to be able to exist indoors and outdoors without breaking out in hives. Seriously. I say that to say this. My hope was that the salt room experience would help with my most annoying chronic symptoms; sinus pressure which results in horrible headaches, or drainage so severe that I sometimes suffer from bouts of uncontrollable, annoying coughing. But honestly, I went in with the mindset of if I get nothing else from this but some rest and relaxation I’m ok with that too.
Although my sinuses felt pretty good when I left, I noticed that I started to feel even better as the day went on. By morning, my head was as clear as it had ever been before I moved to Tennessee. It was like experiencing all the benefits of taking allergy decongestant medication without any of the side effects.
I was so impressed that I went back a few weeks later with a friend. This time I opted to go barefoot. The feeling of burying my feet in the finely ground salt covering the floor was the next best thing to being at the beach. Not only did we experience the same great customer service from her husband (he happened to be giving Cara a break), he offered to let us stay an additional hour at no cost. His appointments that were to follow us were a no show, probably due to the extremely rainy weather, and he had to stay till closing anyway, he reasoned, so why not? We thanked him and took him up on his generous offer. Careful to not overstay our welcome though, we only stayed an additional 30 minutes. It was an awesome end to a very stressful, hectic work week.
The verdict
I really enjoyed the Breathe Easy experience, and would easily become a regular customer if it weren’t for the location. It’s just not convenient. My job and Breathe Easy both fall in a nice, straight, southerly line, as far as driving is concerned. But where I live falls smack dab in between the two. And while I’m on board with a little inconvenience for quality products and service, once I fight traffic to get home, the last thing I want to do is get back in my car (or stay in my car) for another 30-45 minutes. That won’t keep me from the occasional visit though.
A Groupon Opportunity
I was so impressed by the experience, with both the customer service and the after effects of the session, that I decided to check out a salt room that’s closer to my home. Now you may be asking why I didn’t try this place from the beginning, and I can tell you it was because many of the reviews complained that it was way too cold. The only reason I decided to give i a try is because I came across a Groupon. I also talked a co-worker into giving it a try with me. She suffers from sinus problems too and became interested after I shared my first experience at Breathe Easy with her.
Not all salt rooms are the same
This experience was definitely different. Now I understand these are two independently owned businesses that are only related in the services they provide, however, I’d hoped the overall session would be similar. I was wrong.
I thought long and hard about whether or not to name this business, but I’ve decided against it. While I’m entitled to my opinion, and would not purposely bad mouth a business, the only reason I’m not naming it is because I don’t think it’s fair to compare a customer service experience with a business owner and their “baby” so to speak (Cara and Breathe Easy) with the experience of what was probably ‘hired help.’ If you own a business, you should be vested in your customer’s experiences. If you just need a paycheck to pay the bills (hired help), your actions might differ from an owner. Having said that, let’s get into it.
First Impressions
I fully admit I arrived 5 minutes into the recommended 10 minute arrival window prior to the session. This is not normal for me by any means, anyone who knows me knows I HATE being late. I apologized to the young woman working the front desk, who couldn’t have been older than my own daughter, and she said it was ok. I waited for her to give me further direction. When she didn’t, I mentioned I had a Groupon. She asked me for my name, marked it as ‘redeemed,’ then directed me to the back area where a second employee would show me to the room. I want to be clear here, she didn’t have an attitude, however her demeanor wasn’t what I would consider welcoming or inviting. I didn’t feel as if it was because I was a little late, but if it was, fair enough I guess.
The second employee directed us to remove our shoes, and told us we were welcome to leave our belongings in the lockers directly across from the bench we were sitting on. She then handed us foot covers, showed us into the room, and told us to watch our step as she explained how to recline the zero gravity chairs. She explained we’d be in the room for 45 minutes and she’d be back to get us at that time. And with that, she closed the door and our session started. I don’t know if I was prejudiced because of my experience with Cara but I thought it was odd that she didn’t give us a ‘what to expect’ spiel. One could probably safely assume that as Groupon customers it was our first experience. Maybe my expectations were too high, I don’t know.
The room
My first impression of the room was the salt on the floor. It was large rock salt, which made it feel as if I was walking across a gravel driveway. I was not happy about this because I have sensitive feet. I used to go barefoot all the time when I was kid, until the day I stepped on a piece of curved glass, which immediately and deeply embedded itself in the arch of my foot. Because of that, with the exception of the beach and some carpeted floors, it’s a rare occasion for me to go barefoot.
The room itself was nice, aesthetically speaking. It looked like a cave, with all of the walls and ceiling covered in salt. There were small, color changing twinkle lights embedded in the ceiling, and the flow of water from a water feature in the corner complimented the the spa music being piped in over the speakers.
The experience
I don’t know what was different from Breathe Easy but I had a hard time getting the zero gravity chair to recline. I felt as if my legs were too short, but at 5′ 6″ I don’t consider myself that short. I eventually had to literally, forcefully thrust all of this bootay of mine backwards to get the chair to start reclining. I noticed right off that we weren’t offered blankets, but the temperature of the room didn’t dictate the need for one. In fact, I was so comfortable that I was almost bordering on being too warm.
About 15 minutes in, I brought my chair back into the sitting position and found myself waiting impatiently for the experience to end. Now I know I’m not a salt room expert by any means, but I am a long term sufferer of sinusitis, and frankly the air in the room wasn’t doing much of anything for me. It was almost as if maybe the machine they were using wasn’t big enough for the room? And we were sitting in the same corner as the machine.
The after effects
When the 45 minutes were up, they turned the lights up to signal the end of our session and they were incredibly bright. As we exited the room, I realized why we weren’t offered blankets. There were blankets on some of the chairs, so I guess I just happened to sit in a chair that didn’t have one. I guess I didn’t notice initially because I was too busy trying to ignore the subtle pain of walking across the floor. The temperature in the room was so warm I didn’t need one anyway. As for my sinuses, not only did I not feel much going on during the session, I felt nothing anytime afterwards. I was disappointed to say the least.
When we exited the room we weren’t greeted, there was no “how was it,” not even a “have a good day.” Again, not rude per se but we weren’t made to feel like valued customers. For me, it really doesn’t take much, just simple home training, common courtesy really. Because of this I didn’t bother to browse their retail area or ask about their other services. I simply made a beeline for the exit. The thing is, I have another Groupon for a float session with this place, which will be my next blog topic. I’m not sure yet if I’ll return to redeem it, because I’m not completely against giving them a second chance because it’s a different service.
The verdict
If this local facility salt room session had been my first experience, I wouldn’t have wanted to go again. Not just to this place, I mean any other salt room. Not because of the staff, but because of the minimal affects. And quite frankly even though it looked more “cave” like, it wasn’t as relaxing to me either.
Breathe Easy Pros and Cons
| Breathe Easy Pros | Breath Easy Cons | |
| Customer Service! | Location (for ME) | |
| Floor feels like sand | ||
| Adults only room | ||
| EASY online booking | ||
| Ability to bring your own device to listen to music/ebook/etc (with earbuds/headphones) | ||
| A good sushi spot nearby 🙂 | ||
| Session truly is an hour long |
Local facility who shall remain nameless Pros and Cons
| Local facility Pros | Local Facility Cons |
| It’s local/close to home | Staff seemed indifferent |
| Lots of salt/salt related products for sale | Rock salt floor is uncomfortable |
| Salt room has a nice aesthetic | Personal devices not allowed |
| Facility overall has a cute theme/vibe | No adult only room/hours. I have nothing against kids but I want to relax. |
| Felt zero affect on sinuses after session | |
| Room could’ve been slightly cooler. | |
| Session is only 45 minutes |
Overall I say if you have the opportunity to experience one at a reasonable price, give it a try. But also keep in mind, not all salt rooms are equal.
Next up I’ll talk about my float session experience, also known as sensory deprivation. 🙂
May the salt be with you,
Angela