The Salty Air

Our writer checked out the Bethesda Salt Cave

August 20, 2018 12:46 p.m.
McNamara’s daughters, Genevieve (left) and Cecile, spent 45 minutes playing in the salt cave. Photo by Deb Lindsey.

 

Located in a basement beneath an accounting firm near the Bethesda Metro, the Bethesda Salt Cave isn’t glamorous. The lobby features Ikea couches, faux wood floors, baskets of brightly colored bath salts, and mismatched shelving stocked with glowing salt lamps and “healing” crystals (the bath salts and crystals are available for purchase). The reception area is painted an earthy terra-cotta red, and a water fountain babbles behind the front desk.

The dimly lit salt cave is 450 square feet, can accommodate 12 adults comfortably, and brings to mind Raiders of the Lost Ark. Two giant Buddhas sit in opposite corners, and a smaller sleeping Buddha is nestled on the floor against the wall near a mess of meditation poufs. A structural beam dressed up as a stalactite divides the room, which is horseshoed by nine zero-gravity recliners, each with a folded serape blanket on the seat.

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Oh, and there’s salt. Thirty-seven tons of it, in fact. Himalayan salt boulders—some as heavy as 250 pounds—cover the walls floor-to-ceiling. Underfoot, 7 inches of coarse Himalayan salt carpet the floor. The halogenerator, an $8,000 machine that grinds and circulates pharmaceutical-grade salt into the air, is set into one of the walls. The machine emits a steady whir over tonal spa music emanating from hidden speakers, and can be adjusted based on a client’s medical needs. (Grind settings may be different for someone with asthma, for example, than for a visitor who has fibromyalgia.)

During this first visit, the receptionist told me that Himalayan salt is sourced from 1,000 feet below the Earth’s surface and that it contains 84 trace elements, including calcium, iron and magnesium. She said all salt has natural anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory properties. I remember little from Chemistry 101 and didn’t understand how being in the company of much of the periodic table could be so good for one’s health, but when she said a 45-minute session in the salt cave “is like spending three consecutive days at the beach,” I totally got that.

Most people meditate, journal or nap in the cave, unless they have their kids with them. When the receptionist left us alone—a video camera monitors the room in case there’s any bad behavior—I settled into one of the canvas recliners to watch my daughters. Nobody joined our open session, so we had the whole cave to ourselves and I allowed the girls to quietly use the space as they pleased. They made angels and castles out of salt. They played “house” and hide-and-seek. At one point, Cecile told me, “I’m giving the Booty some salt,” spilling a handful of pink floor salt into the open hands of one of the Buddhas. Both girls followed the rules until the last 10 minutes of our session, when Genevieve began to eat the salt.

On the drive home, there was a faint taste of salt on my lips, and my black sweater was lightly dusted with salt. I repeatedly reminded both girls to please stop licking their hands. Cecile told me that the salt “made the hurt go away”—she had a blister on her hand from the monkey bars—which was interesting because I hadn’t told her anything about the purported healing benefits of salt.

The evening, it turned out, was one of the smoothest in recent memory. The girls were Zen-like as they put on their pajamas, got their teeth brushed and listened to bedtime stories. Both slept through the night, which, between bad dreams, midnight water requests and subsequent potty trips, is a rarity in our household.

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In other words, we all seemed to breathe a little easier that evening. I noticed how incredibly thirsty I was, and how quickly my skin absorbed body lotion, even a second and third application. But did the salt cave really help us? It’s hard to know. Dr. Norman Edelman, a pulmonologist and senior scientific adviser to the American Lung Association, says that while there is not a lot of scientific support for the benefits of halotherapy, breathing in aerosolized salt may help clear mucus from the respiratory system. Inhaled salt naturally draws water from within the body to the airways, he explains, and the extra moisture dilutes mucus, making it easier to cough up.

“There could be some temporary sense of feeling better,” Edelman says. “And these [caves] are naturally allergy-free, so if you have respiratory problems, in theory you won’t have them while you’re in the room.”

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