A wellness weekend
Making a splash with a Wham!
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Friday afternoon found me with the house to myself (and the cats, of course) for a weekend. I had big plans of not putting off prepping for my upcoming classes, working in the yard, and catching up on “And Just Like That.” So the first thing I did after work on Friday was put off prep and headed out for a float.
I booked the wellness package at the place I float (a.k.a. isolation tank) that included the two newest services: halotherapy and hot/cold plunge. I decided to float first and save the other services for Sunday when I’d had some time to decompress from the stress of the week. I’m glad that I waited.
Halotherapy is also known as a salt room. You go into the room, in this case a small glass box with cool lighting, and spend 15 minutes trying to not open your eyes while breathing in the air that is flowing with a salt cloud of two tablespoons of pulverized medical-grade salt.
The first thing that will happen, the kindly employee explained, is that your nose will start to burn. Then you will breathe through your mouth, you might cough, sneeze, or if you have any congestion, bring something up. Please use the tissues provided.
He left and I stripped down to underwear and took my place in the salt booth. The whooshing of the fan started pumping the salt in. My nose started burning right on time, but it wasn’t as bad as I imagined. Even the breathing in of the salt through my mouth wasn’t a huge coughing fest.
“I hope you like the taste of salt.”
Don’t get me wrong. I love the salty ocean air, and have been longing for its grips all summer, but this was Asbury Park on steroids and meth without the boardwalk, sand, or ocean. As suggested I rubbed the salt as it settled onto my skin for its exfoliation properties and meditated on the way everything felt. The time was gone in an instant.
My sinuses cleared, I tried to ready myself for the hot/cold plunge — which 15 minutes prior had been described as brutal. I had wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and I succeeded.
