Salt Caves Brings Relaxing New Experience to La Grange

Looking to relax? You don't need to escape La Grange and go on vacation. Primal Ocean Salt Caves opens April 1 and offers a unique experience that has mental and physical health benefits. 

Co-owners Karen Stoelinga and Peggy McDonald's background is in practice management for dental offices, so they have experience with how to run businesses. But the idea for salt caves came during another relaxing experience—while vacationing together in Sedona, AZ. 

They said they started talking about changing up their lives and opening a business together.

"Sedona was the catalyst. We were on a trip just to get away," Stoelinga said. "There's so much craziness in people's lives, so much pollution and impurity. I think people will crave this. Breathe, relax and enjoy."

So what is a salt cave? 

Primal Oceans offers a salt cave experience, featuring 12 anti-gravity chairs in a 487-square-foot room. The walls are lined with Himalayan salt, and there's 4 inches of crushed salt on the floors. 

The salts are at least 150 million years old and are all hand-minded, mainly in Pakistan. Peggy said they had between 5 and 7 tons of it imported, and it took 900 hours to install it in the salt cave. 

People go in for a 45-minute session, the lights dim and the ceiling has tiny lights to give the effect of being in an actual cave. A custom soundtrack composed specifically for the spa will play relaxing music. 

Stoelinga said Himalayan salt has all 84 essential nutrients the body needs. You're taking it in both a respiratory and cellular levels. They also infuse the air with the salts. 

"Not only do you have the ambiance of the cave feeling, but you get the health benefits sitting in there." 

More ways to relax 

Stoelinga and McDonald wanted to offer other services, and those are just as unique. Two water treatments, aquamassage and aquascape, allow people to experience relaxation while fully clothed. 

In the aquamassage, customers are covered while they're massaged by jets of water. Their head and hands are kept outside of the machine to control the pressure and area of their body they want massaged, and you can listen to your own music while in the private room.

The aquascape is meant to simulate the feeling of floating on water. You lay on a bed in the water and stay completely dry. "It's complete muscular and mental relaxation," McDonald said.

There's also a room for ionic foot detox, in which you soak your feet in warm water, and ions are used to supercharge cells while toxins are released from your feet into the water. "You just feel good," Stoelinga said. 

Primal Oceans Salt Caves is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. It's located at 8 S. La Grange Road. Go to its website to learn more or call 708-482-2505 to schedule an appointment.