At Salinity Salt and Flotation Spa in Overland Park, experience sensory deprivation therapy or “floating”—a therapy that shuts down the senses to allow for deep de-stressing and relaxation, and dry salt therapy or “halotherapy”—which aids in alleviating allergens that affect the immune system.
Floating
It’s crucial for our bodies and minds to occasionally disconnect in order to de-stress and heal from physical ailments or injuries, as well as to unwind from exterior pressures such as social (media) anxieties, workplace stresses, or trauma.
Flotation therapy safely cuts off the sources of sensory experience: sound, sight, smell, and touch. At Salinity Spa you can experience this within a sterile “float” room that’s spacious for one, and comfortable for two people (popular with couples). Enter the tranquil, dimly lit room and step into 18 inches of 95-degree water, filled with 2000 pounds of Epsom salt, which keeps the body buoyant. Its celestial ceiling is designed to emulate a starry night, while relaxing music plays as you acclimate. After ten minutes the lights and music go out, leaving you to float in darkness, which creates sensory deprivation, a feeling of weightlessness, and peaceful relaxation. The weightlessness eliminates the body’s pressure points, relieving muscle tension, headaches, and stress, as well as relieving arthritis pain and inflammation. It aids in sleep and helps to alleviate pregnancy discomfort. Floating also enhances performance, stimulates creativity and focus, and boosts energy. One or two-hour float sessions are available. (If you find yourself uncomfortable in the darkness, you can press a large button near the door to turn on the underwater and the celestial ceiling lights.)
“Ninety percent of first-time floaters express how amazing they feel coming out of the flotation room,” says owner Terry Amerine. “They are so relaxed I’m considering creating a partnership with Uber to transport clients to and from the spa, as driving is the last thing they want to do after their therapy.”
Halotherapy
History shows evidence of healing benefits coming from salt caves. In the mid-1800s, a physician in Poland observed that miners who worked in salt caves didn’t get the lung diseases common in other miners. A German physician discovered during WWII that people who hid in salt caves experienced improvements in respiratory conditions.
Now termed halotherapy, it’s a modern spa experience that’s often held in fabricated cave settings or real salt caves, but at Salinity the therapy is experienced in a simulated beach setting, where you’ll feel, listen, visualize, and breathe deeply as if you’re near the ocean.
Within Salinity’s large, dimly lit room, pure, dry salt is infused into the air as you lounge with sounds and visuals of ocean waves, laying on the warmth of jade stone heating pads, designed for ultimate relaxation.
The room is also rented out for guided meditation and yoga classes.
Salinity Spa has cleverly created a children’s playroom stocked interactive toys within a setting of beach-themed murals, and equipped with healthy salt-infused air for kids, while mom or dad experiences a therapy session of his or her own.