Discover the Salt Cave of Darien‘s blueprint for well-being with the founder, Arianne O’Donnell. In her exclusive MysticMag interview, she shares her journey founding this oasis of calm, the benefits of salt sessions, and the array of services, from energy work to massages, offered at this unique wellness haven.
What is the story behind the Salt Cave of Darien? How was it founded?
The story behind the Salt Cave of Darien is that I have a very stressful job, so I decided that I needed to find something that would be a good offset to the stress levels the job can sometimes cause, as well as something that would bring enjoyment and calmness. However, I hadn’t found what I was looking for.
In 2017, I was able to experience a salt cave with my friend. I was instantly hooked. It was amazing and I felt so peaceful after it. It really helped destress me. That’s why I immediately started researching it further to learn more about the benefits of salt and learned how much more it helped with other things besides stress.
I continued to research it and I went to a very famous salt mine outside of Krakow, Poland, which is just amazing. It is a facility where people in Europe are sent to get recuperation and help with respiratory system problems by the government. They pay for their citizens because they know how important it is. This salt mine operates a facility in the depths of its mine that helps people with their breathing, among other things.
That whole experience was amazing and then I just learned how much it helped with so many different things. When I came back, I opened up the Salt Cave of Darien. I call it my best midlife crisis decision. It definitely has been very helpful to me, but I have also been amazed and happy to know that it has been helping so many other people with a myriad of situations, as well.
What are the benefits of salt sessions?
The cave itself and our salt room are built out of Himalayan salt, which is absolutely beautiful. It is so peaceful and calming to the chakras. The colors are so relatable and make you feel at peace. However, the real star of the Himalayan Salt session is the pharmaceutical-grade salt that comes into the air. It is spread by a machine called a Halo Generator. Halo means salt in Greek. As the therapy has been around for centuries, the Greeks have used it often.
This anti-inflammatory salt comes into the air, and you rest and relax, breathing in the salty air and listening to calming music. The salt will work its way through your respiratory system, which can be very beneficial. With its key component being that it’s anti-inflammatory, it will calm everything down in your body. It helps with a lot of respiratory conditions, including allergies and asthma. It’s also great for skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema. It basically helps with anything related to inflammation, as well as with joint pain. We’ve had people come in who needed a cane in order to walk around who have felt great after their session. It didn’t solve the problem with the joint pain, but it helped with the pain. Furthermore, it’s also great for stress release. As I said, it’s just a calming, peaceful environment. I really think that everyone will have some benefit from just resting in a salt cave.
Our salt sessions are normally 45 minutes. That gives just enough time for the salt to work its way through and then for relaxation to really set in. Sometimes we even suggest dressing in layers or offer blankets. That may seem funny because the bright colors of the tinsel cave may indicate that it’s a warm environment, but it’s actually a comfortable environment when you walk in.
Our salt sessions are normally 45 minutes. That gives just enough time for the salt to work its way through and then for relaxation to really set in. We suggest dressing in layers or offer blankets. People often think that the cave is a warm environment due to the red and yellow colors in it. It’s actually a comfortable temperature when you walk in. However, when your body is resting and relaxing, its temperature can drop and your body starts to cool a little bit.
Those are the main benefits of a salt session.
What other services do you offer?
We also offer a lot of different services beyond salt therapy and different ways to get your salt therapy coupled with other things. We do energy work as well. A client could even ask us what modalities they would need, and we could start from there. Reiki stands out as probably the most frequently used one.
Then we also have special events, so you can do the energy work individually or you can also do a special event. Each special event is a group event where the provider is giving services and all you mainly do is sit back and receive or move or do whatever the instructor says. We have a lot of different people who do different modalities, like Reiki, meditation, sound bowls, or yoga. We also offer hypnosis and a lot of Tarot reading.
All these different modalities and services can be paired with the actual salt therapy, so you’re getting two modalities, with the other one typically being provided as a part of one of our special events. It provides a nice, well-rounded experience. More details can be found on our website saltcaveofdarien.com.
In addition to that, we also offer massage services. We can do couples massages in the cave, as well as individual massages. We do foot massages and lymphatic drainage, too, the latter of which is a great way of getting any toxins out of your body by having them drain. They leave your body through your lymph node areas.
Another interesting service is the Kobido facial, which is not your typical facial. It’s a Japanese technique that massages your face to promote lymphatic drainage and it stimulates collagen and elastin production for rejuvenation. It’s a really enjoyable technique.
Our little cave really does a lot and we are constantly looking at new things to offer and meeting new people and new practitioners. We are constantly growing and are always offering the most unique items.
You also have your own store. What items can a person hope to find there?
We do have our own store in our lobby area that has a plethora of different salt-related items, but it also has a lot of wonderful locally-made items from different people in the area. We have a woman who makes tea out of her own leaves. We have another mother-daughter team who make this beautiful botanical organic perfume. Then there’s a person who makes local candles, and we also offer jewelry.
There are a lot of different things we offer there besides salt products, but we have a lot of great salt products, too, such as our salt inhaler.
To learn more about the Salt Cave of Darien, you can visit saltcaveofdarien.com
