My First Dry Salt Therapy Experience: That Time I Sat in a Salty Room

Breathe Salt Room Review, NYC

First lying naked in a flotation tank, now this:

Before you think I’ve gone off the deep end of hippie dippie wellness trends, I want to say that I take all wellness trends with a huge grain of salt (pun sort of intended) and encourage you to too. Sometimes in wellness and holistic health as a whole, it can get murky to figure out what is actually “real” and what is more of a placebo effect. I’m also aware that saying this is mucho controversial.

If something makes you feel great, awesome, continue to do it. If not, whatever. Just because it’s the new, cool thing to do in wellness doesn’t mean you have to do it.

And with that said, I’m always open to try anything once (except juice cleanses) so when Breathe Salt Rooms reached out to me asking if I wanted to check out salt therapy, I was totally down. After a crazy first week of grad school, some relaxation was exactly what I needed.

I only had a chance to experience the salt rooms, but breathe also offers a more intense salt bed experience and salty yoga. I seriously need to go back and try the yoga class!

Read on for all the deets AND if you’re curious about salt therapy, check it out for free at their upcoming open house in NYC.

PS: For my northern Westchester peeps Breathe also has a location in Katonah. Considering what a void northern Westchester is for fitness (Soul Cycle come to northern Westchester, please!!!) I was SO excited to hear they have a Katonah and know my friends from home will be happy to hear that too.

 

The Deets

Breathe Salt Room
1 Park Ave, New York, NY 10016
[additional locations midtown, Dobbs Ferry and Katonah] $35 / 30 minute session
Website || Instagram || Facebook

What is dry salt therapy?

The therapeutic benefits of salt were discovered by Polish salt miners in the 1800’s. At Breathe, salt therapy happens in a room (what I did) or there’s also a salt bed (kind of like an enclosed tanning bed) where himalayan salt is circulating through the air and you’re encouraged to take deep inhales and exhales in order to get the salt particles in your lungs. I spent my 30 minutes hanging out in a lounge chair, listening to relaxing music and breathing in the salt.

The benefits of dry salt therapy include:

• detoxifies the respiratory system
• breathing breathing (some marathoners report better lung capacity!)
• heals skin conditions
• salt emits negative ions which promotes relaxation

 

My Experience

The salt room at Breathe is big and spacious– and I had the whole room to myself! For my 30 minute session the lights were dimmed and I was given an iPod filled with relaxing music and headphones. In theory, I could’ve just sat on my phone the whole time but I thought the 30 minutes would be a good chance for a quick digital detox.

I liked that the treatment was not particularly invasive, as you can see in the photo above I was wearing a tank top and shorts, nothing special. I’d definitely advise wearing socks since the floor is salt too.

From the second I entered the room I could definitely smell the salt. As someone who craves salt more so than sweets (gimme ALL the pretzels) I couldn’t complain. There’s nothing weird or creepy about the room and it’s super relaxing. If you get cold easily you might want to use one of the yoga blankets provided. It was 90+ degrees outside the day I went, and I walked 2 miles to get there so a cool room felt goooood to me. I don’t know if they buy distilled water and use it for the humidifier to bring more moisture into the room, but it did not feel like the air was dry at all. Even though the salt was everywhere, the air seemed cool and good on my skin.

The first thing I noticed was my skin felt SUPER soft. I struggle with “chicken skin” aka keratosis pilaris so the skin on my upper arms and thighs are always covered in small raised bumps. I was excited with how soft my skin felt, something I don’t typically experience on my upper arms.

Afterwards my throat felt different, I read that it’s common to have a slight cough after, which I experienced, but nothing too crazy. I haven’t been having breathing issues or stuffy noses as of late, so can’t speak too those benefits as of right now.

 

Would I do it again?

Even though I didn’t experience any of the respiratory benefits, I would definitely go back. It was super relaxing and would be great in the winter when I’m dealing with my inevitable never-ending winter cold.

 

Your Turn: Have you ever tried dry salt therapy?