We're T-minus a mere month before spring springs back into our life. Which is great, of course with warmer weather (which we're thankfully getting a sneak peek of right now), flowers in bloom, sandal strutting, and actually getting to use all that patio furniture we missed so much. So before stuff gets crazy … hit a spa and relax. And we don't mean like lock the door and try to get through a bath and half a chapter in your still-not-finished book relax. We mean like really actually unplug, recharge, and get some solo and serious chillaxing in. Here, five super-chill ideas for how to do it.
Veg Out in a Salt Cave
Here's how it works: During a 45-minute session at Salt of the Earth Center for Healing, you'll sit in a reclining chair inside a salt cave, where the walls and floor are covered with thousands of pounds of pretty pink Himalayan salt The idea is that the dry salt's properties are good for your skin and can reduce redness, swelling and irritation. At the same time, a generator crushes additional salt into miniscule particles and disperses it into the air and when you breathe in the salt particles, it's supposed to stimulate an anti-inflammatory response, helping alleviate symptoms of everything from asthma to allergies to colds. But all that aside, the biggest benefit of all is stress reduction, which is pretty much bound to happen when you're sitting quietly in a cave for nearly an hour. Bonus: You can grab your girls and go because the cave holds up to 8. Plus the place also offers other services including acupuncture and massage, which can take place inside the cave. So go to town while you're there.
Salt of the Earth Center for Healing, 811 Chestnut Ridge Road, Store E, Chestnut Ridge, New York
Float Around
You won't technically be floating on a cloud at Cloud Aquatic Float Parlor, but since we don't actually know what the feels like, we'll assume this is pretty close. The parlor's private Isopods are filled with 220 gallons of water that's been hit with 1100 pounds of Epsom Salt and heated to the same temperature as your skin. Thanks to all that salt, you'll float weightlessly during a session (usually 90 minutes), which is supposed to increase mental focus, reduce blood pressure, relieve chronic pain, and stabilize sleep cycles. If you really want to have experience the therapy the way it's meant to be, you can close the pod's lid, which creates a therapeutic sensory deprivation experience as you'll be in complete silence and darkness. You go first …
Cloud Aquatic, 8 East Prospect Street, Waldwick, New Jersey,
Heat Up in an Infrared Sauna
All the benefits of soaking up the sun without the pesky skin cancer part, what's known as a far-infrared sauna is able to raise your core body temperature and activate your sweat glands, which, in turn, is a super-comfy detox kickstarter, flushing your system and rejuvenating your mind and body. You can clock some sauna time at the dreamy new Sojo Spa Club, which offers various versions of the sauna experience from red clay to charcoal, each providing different benefits (like relief from headaches or achy muscles, for example) but all providing the perfect backdrop for chillaxing for as long as you like.
Sojo Spa Club, (201)313-7200, 660 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ, 07020
Meditate with Tech
This newfangled meditation goes way the old close your eyes and think about nothing kind. The 5,000-square-foot Manhattan studio Inscape, launched last year by the founder of Intermix, uses a cool tech-based combo of light, sound, and scent for its guided meditation. The result is an optimal and seriously deep meditation experience that's sure to help you relax and reflect. And the Inscape folks say that the whole thing has a ripple effect and can help you find your best self, live life to the fullest, and connect with everything around you. (Sounds like it's worth a shot.) Oh, and if you simply can't swing making the trek into the city, you're in luck: There's an app for that.
Inscape 45 West 21st Street, #1, New York, New York
Meditate with Vibration
The bad news is this groovy-sounding Himalayan Sound Bowl Therapy session taking place Friday night at Flow Yoga in Ho-Ho-Kus is sold out. (But hey, that's never stopped us before, so try getting on the wait list and see if you can still snag a spot.) The good news is, now that you know about it, you can be on high alert for future workshops. As for what all the hubbub's about, instructor Jolene Star of Ridgewood's The Enchanted Heart uses the ancient healing art of Himalayan sound and crystal singing bowls to – and here's where you're gonna' have to just trust her – bring you back into balance by restructuring the human system molecularly through vibration and frequency on a cellular level. All that is supposed to result in pain and stress relief, circulation, and combating bad stuff like insomnia and depression. But as far as we're concerned, the best benefit of all is ending the night "deeply relaxed." It's been a while …
Flow Yoga, 22 Hollywood Avenue, Suite 4, Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey
