Have you ever driven down Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis and passed The Salt Cave Mpls? Wondering… what kind of place is that? Is it an entire store dedicated to table salt? Maybe it sells spices too? And then you think… well, at least this city has some intriguing places to check out if I ever want an adventure. You head on toward your normal destination and forget about The Salt Cave until the next time you drive by.
Maybe like me, one day you realized (over a conversation) that it literally is a salt cave. The space is a room with pink Himalayan salt bricks as walls. The floor is a soft, powdery beach of salt crystals.
Maybe like me, you tell yourself one day soon you’re going to venture in or even book an hour-long session in the room of salt… you’ve read about the benefits of salt therapy also known as Halotherapy (improves lung capacity, clears mucous, exfoliates the skin, alleviates asthma and eczema, etc).
I have a confession. Although I’ve known about The Salt Cave Mpls for years, my first-time visit was only a week ago. In fact, my Reiki office is only a few doors down on the same block.
Why is it that even when we know about possibly awesome self care, we tend to put it to the side for another day, or never? An acquaintance and I recently chatted about how regular and daily self care is — showering, brushing teeth, laundry, washing dishes, walking, putting gas in the car, meals, etc — but why do we consider something like a sound bath as extra self care?
I think one reason is that we actually have to slow down for self care like sound baths, massages, Reiki, talk therapy. Another reason is that some self care comes with an idea that there has to be something wrong with us first. Something about us is broken and needs to be fixed. Or we have to be in enough pain to justify spending time and money on extra self care.
This particular visit to The Salt Cave Mpls, which an included an hour-long sound bath actually felt as normal as ending the day and getting ready for bed. I attended the hour-long session alongside my office colleagues at The Nest for an evening of curiosity.
What is a sound bath? Have you ever felt as though you were inside of sound? As though your entire being (your skin, bones, organs, all your insides) is vibrating and calibrating along with the vibrations of sound?
During a sound bath, a sound healer (in last week’s case – Jean Nitchals) creates a variety sound frequencies using instruments including crystal singing bowls, chimes, drums, gongs, etc. Just like Reiki, the intention is to leave behind fight/flight/freeze, relax into your body, and invite restoration. My experience is that the sound vibrations are communicating with me on a cellular and energetic level. I had deeply satisfying sensations of alignment and I really appreciate that while I have a daily self Reiki practice, I also get to experience something similar with the sound bath modality.
I encourage you to check out The Salt Cave Mpls or a salt cave near you. Or, how about trying out a sound bath, or making your own list of self care things to try adding into your routine.
Curious about Reiki and how it can be a nice fit into your normal self care?
Erica Wallace Moore 