Essential Salt Spa brings halotherapy relief to Minneapolis
After leaving corporate America for her health, founder Greta Sher discovered dry salt therapy and launched Essential Salt Spa in Minneapolis. The spa offers 20 to 30 minute halotherapy sessions that circulate pharmaceutical grade sodium chloride to help with allergies, asthma, eczema, psoriasis, respiratory irritation, and post Covid smell loss. Sher stresses halotherapy complements, not replaces, medical care and keeps pricing accessible while building representation in a wellness industry that often overlooks women of color.
Modern salt cave offers respiratory relief
Essential Salt Spa was developed from a breaking point. Founder Greta Sher left corporate America after “feeling a decline in her well-being.” It was during a day trip when Sher came across dry salt therapy.
“I felt more connected to myself. I could breathe better, I could smell better, and this is after one 40 minute session,” she said.
Sher began researching halotherapy and learned it originated in Poland where doctors noticed miners who worked in salt caves were rarely experiencing respiratory concerns. Dry salt therapy later expanded across Europe, South Korea and Russia before reaching the United States about 13 years ago.
At Essential Salt Spa, dry salt therapy sessions can go up to 30 minutes for more extreme symptoms, but 20 minutes is the norm. Clients sit in a booth while pharmaceutical-grade salt sodium chloride circulates in the air.
“Covid has caused some people to lose their sense of taste and smell. An online community of people affected with these losses have found that dry salt therapy helps bring them back. Some have noticed an improvement in smelling after one session,” Sher said. “We’re still working on normalizing taste.”
From allergies and asthma to eczema and psoriasis, halotherapy sessions at Essential Salt Spa have helped clients find relief from numerous symptoms. Sher said, “There’s so many uses for what I do, but knowing that you can find relief with one session is what really gives me a lot of hope.”
Sher acknowledges the lack of representation in the wellness industry. “Just finding a therapist of color is very difficult,” she said.
Although halotherapy is still new to the U.S., Sher sees potential for growth. “Knowing that there are so many uses for what I do, and I’m consistently learning with my peers in this industry, we’re gonna stay ahead of the competition. We’re a pretty good tight-knit community.”
While some wellness treatments can be costly or exclusive, Essential Salt Spa maintains a focus on affordability.
Sher emphasises that halotherapy is not a replacement for medicine. Clients managing conditions like Covid, asthma or allergies can use halotherapy along with their prescribed treatments.
“What I like about what I do is the ease of it — it’s super easy. You just sit and breathe, there aren’t any side effects aside from a runny nose and some coughing,” Sher says.
Sher often compares halotherapy to other wellness practices like saunas and float tanks but emphasizes the differences. Saunas have been used for centuries to reduce inflammation and improve circulation, while float tanks are more known for sensory therapy.
“I’ve gone to float tanks before, and I do enjoy them. But where I went I could hear sounds from the other room, it never really got dark, and it took too long. With salt therapy, it’s 20 minutes, and you can walk out feeling better,” Sher said.
One benefit of inhaling salt particles is it draws moisture to mucus allowing irritations, pollen, and other foreign bodies in the nose and lungs to move out of the body better. This can improve overall respiratory function.
“There’s so much pollution right now in the air from all the smoke. This is a good way to help your lungs get clean. Dry salt therapy acts like a toothbrush for the lungs,” Sher said.
Salt therapy has also shown benefits for individuals experiencing poor sleep quality and snoring. “My husband noticed my snoring is not as loud,” Sher said.
Sher emphasises that halotherapy is not meant to replace traditional health care and encourages clients to view it as part of a wellness routine. “I always recommend this as a compliment to something else.”
On Essential Salt Spa’s website, Sher shares the history of halotherapy. She often compares it to spending a day by the ocean.
“Think about how you feel after you go to the beach. How relaxed you feel, even exhausted. That’s what this is, a day at the beach inside.
“The difference is here you’re only getting 99.9% pure pharmaceutical-grade sodium chloride in a sterile environment. At the beach, you’re breathing in whatever pollutants are in the air,” she said.
Sher hopes her spa not only provides relief, but also representation in the wellness industry that has often overlooked women of color. “Finding someone who is doing modern wellness like I’m doing is pretty rare,” she said.
Looking ahead, Sher sees halotherapy growing and expanding in reach as more people learn about its benefits. “It gives me hope,” she said.
If interested in learning more or booking a session, Essential Salt Spa can be found online at essentialsaltspa.com, or on Instagram and facebook @essentialsaltspa.
Lizzy Nyoike is a Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication student and contributing writer for MSR with interest in investigative and multimedia journalism.