Louisville Magazine

DEC 2015

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.15 17 SPACES No, the new Louisville Salt Cave is not out in some forested extremity of the city. It lives between a paint store and a nail salon in a strip mall on Shelbyville Road. I signed up as soon as I read the claim on its website: "Being in our salt therapy room for 45 minutes is equivalent to 4 days of relaxation on the beach!" Owners Kimberly Rash and Nicole Bartlett say the cave is therapeutic in two ways: The dried, pharmaceutical-grade sodium chloride (ahem, salt) emitted into the air is believed to ease respiratory and skin problems, and the 250-million-year- old Himalayan rock salt, responsible for the salmon-colored walls and foor, emits negative ions that, Bartlett says, balance out the abundance of positive ions in our bodies from pollution and electronics, increasing serotonin levels and boosting moods. If you're easily chilled and are visiting the cave to relax, wear an Aran sweater and double-layered socks before your 45-minute session ($35). If you're unable to achieve a meditative state while reclining in one of the six cot-like chairs, gazing at the twinkling ceiling and listening to the New Age music, that's OK. The owners also want to invite businesspeople to have meetings in the cave. "To think outside the box — or not think at all," says Bartlett, who has been a nutritional therapist and advises seasoning food with the rock salt, drinking it and bathing in it for the 84 minerals that our modern diets often lack. As I exit the cave, slightly cold and not noticeably changed, Bartlett says to pay attention to my energy throughout the day. She says she was the designated driver during a friend's bachelorette party during the hectic week of the store's opening in September. "I didn't think I'd be able to stay up, but I spent some time in the cave that day, and when I was driving later that night I actually felt awake," she says. I end up going to bed at 9 p.m., tired after a long week. I guess that's what the beach will do to you. — Mary Chellis Austin Photo by Aaron Kingsbury

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