Ahhh January. Time for resolution and new beginnings, whether trivial (younger thinner blonder richer) or meaningful (wiser kinder healthier humbler). Let’s focus for a minute on the trivial, just for kicks. There ain’t much happening in the natural world right now to explore. No flora or fauna, snow or ice, so I explored some un-natural things, man-made imitations of natural wonders, inventions that mimic the sea, the sun and the womb in hopes of making us feel better. I’ve frozen, burned, blasted and drowned myself this month, all in the name of research. I’m not a vain woman, but I’m not above throwing everything I have at the winter blues as long as it doesn’t involve surgery or a crime.
I am amazed at how much of the un-natural world can be found right in the Rye Brook Shopping Center. What happened to the old hardware store?!? It’s been replaced by a plethora of places (some of which have trouble spelling) designed to attain the “youngerthinnerblonder”: Lov2BFit, HOTT Blowdry and Beauty Lounge, Totally Hott Salon, Ripped (ouch) and StrengthenLengthenTone for starters. I even tried the crap-flavored smoothie at Organic Pharmer (why “ph”?) which came with a plastic straw and the price tag of a full dinner at the diner. It seems Soul Cycle has given birth to a big family. It’s another planet of fitness over there.
But tucked away in all these typos are a few places that offer slices of Mother Nature, harnessed, bottled and sold. The sea, the sun and the Arctic Circle are all yours for the taking in these dark days of winter.
SALT+SWEAT offers “salt therapy for anti-aging, respiratory cleansing, healing skin and a healthy dose of negative ions” of which we are all apparently woefully low. Mankind has been hanging out in salt caves since man had a brain to figure out it felt good, but it was finally named something (speleotherapy) and popularized as “halotherapy” in Poland in the 1800s when doctors discovered that salt miners had fewer respiratory problems than others. It was actually good to inhale dust, as long as it was salt rather than coal. It was capitalized upon and gradually spread through Europe as a spa treatment. The irony is not lost.
The “sweat” part of SALT+SWEAT is offered through infrared sauna and body wraps. The sun has good and bad parts, like cholesterol, and infrared rays are the good ones, like HDLs. We all know the benefits of sweating, and doing it without having to exercise is always a bonus. Best bang for your buck is The Quickie: 30 minutes of salt therapy while tucked in the infrared bed, or The Wrap while watching Netflix, a self-imposed time out.
And now on to the Arctic Circle (right next door, by Lester’s) where at CHILL CRYOTHERAPY your body will be immersed in sub-zero temperatures to turbo-charge its ability to heal….in just 3 minutes!!! Benefits include (cue happy music) “decreased muscle soreness and pain, reduced swelling and inflammation, increased range of motion, improved sleep, boosted energy, accelerated metabolism, strengthened immune system, increased endorphins, mitigated anxiety and depression, reduced signs of aging, improved skin and relieved joint disorders.” SIGN ME UP!
Here’s how it works. You strip to your skivvies and put on their socks, slippers and gloves. Thin skin on hands and feet don’t acclimate well to negative 135 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then you climb into a big deep freezer like we have in Louisiana to keep duck and deer and fish, but it’s been turned on its end, upright, with a hole cut out for your head (you could pass out if you inhaled). Then your guide closes the freezer door, turns on the liquid nitrogen and talks while you slowly turn around to be blasted evenly. They also offer facials and localized freezing (a garden hose of nitrogen applied where you want it while you lie down).
I took my body from 153 degrees above zero at SALT+SWEAT to 135 degrees below at FREEZE in a few hours. I truly did glow and float through the day but can’t be sure from which method or if by combo. My knees and hips didn’t hurt for 72 hours. And I looked like I’d spent a week snow skiing.
Ever a glutton for excess, I topped off my day with a tanning session at Solar Escapes in Port Chester. I went for The Bronzing Experience which was old school and familiar. We’ve all heard the dangers and know the drill: cover your eyes, put on their sunscreen and don’t make a habit of it. I love the white noise of the tanning machine and their tunes while the fan blowdries your sweat. The booths these days are much better, upright like phone booths rather than coffins, as standing up is better than lying in a pool of sweat. A little sun never hurt anyone.
The next day’s adventure was anything but old school and familiar. The sensory-deprivation experience in an isolation tank at RISE ABOVE FLOTATION in Mount Kisco is quite new- age and occurs in an egg. It was like crawling back into a womb chockful of amniotic fluid. Dark, quiet and floaty. Just you and your thoughts (and possibly someone else’s something).
These treatments are not for the squeamish or faint-hearted, but I recommend you bully up and try one. As Eleanor Roosevelt advised: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Do not be afraid. Go gently into that egg. Just don’t think about those who have gone before you.
SALT+SWEAT
14-C Rye Ridge Plaza, Rye Ridge
914.305.5374
CHILL Cryotherapy
14 Rye Ridge Plaza, Suite 226, Rye Ridge
914.305.6141
Solar Escape Tanning Salon
262 Boston Post Road, Port Chester
914.937.1815
Rise Above Floatation
111 East Main Street, Mount Kisco
914.241.1900
My Suburban Escapes 
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