Breathing Easily

I'm sitting in a room, there is salt on the floor, walls and ceiling and it feels a bit like being at the beach on a winters day, except it isn't cold and we are wearing blue hair nets and covers over our shoes. A mother and father are playing with their daughter, pretending we are all in an igloo...

This is the UK's first Salt Cave and is run by Sofia Benke and their Medical Director Dr. Tamas Hodosi MD.

Over the next hour Richard and I sit and relax, breathing in the salty air, I can feel my lungs working, a strange sensation that tells me something is happening. Richard who sometimes has breathing difficulties likes the feeling, he can breathe a bit easier in the chamber. The little girl continues to play, unaware that her parents have taken her there for healing.

So what is Salt (Halo) Therapy

The Salt Cave technology is based on Speleotherapy or underground climatotherapy a complementary treatment for respiratory problems. Used widely in Eastern Europe and Russia, it involves spending 2-3 hours a day underground in subterranean caves or salt mines over a 2-3 month period and has been recognized as an effective drug-free treatment method for certain types of chronic pulmonary diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

However in Wandsworth, London they use a drug-free high dispersion saline aerosol microclimate treatment. Based on the therapeutic action produced by cave air saturated with particles of rock salt, this treatment has also been shown to provide substantial benefits to patients with respiratory diseases. The special salt covering on the walls and floor acts as a buffer for air moisture and helps maintain the environmental aseptic properties.

I took some time to read their book of testimonials, letters from those suffering with terrible breathing and lung conditions, sharing their pain and anguish and their relief at having found the Salt Cave.

On our way home I felt much more relaxed and over the next few hours and even the next day I would taste the salt in my mouth, coming up from my lungs, a sensation of giving my lungs a good clean!

The Salt Cave has had visitors from all over the world, so Sofia now works with a local bed and breakfast for those that need daily treatments and they offer packages for anyone wanting regular treatments for ongoing conditions.

For those who are a little sceptical the first session they provide for clients is free so why not give it a try, if nothing else it's a relaxing and unique way to spend an hour and you get to sample the UK's first Salt Cave.

What can a Salt Cave be used for?

To relieve the symptoms of the following conditions:
chronic bronchitis
breathlessness, chest tightness
pneumonia after acute stage
bronchiectatic disease
cough (particularly at night or after exercise)
wheezing
smokers' cough (including secondary smoke)
cough with viscous sputum, discharging with difficulties
dry, paroxysmal cough with distant rales
dry rales (mostly with low tone) changing its localization during auscultation
mucus plugs
mucosal edema
colds and influenza
sinusitis
rhinitis and respiratory allergies
allergies to industrial and household pollutants
frequent acute disorders of respiratory tract
respiratory infections
rhinosinusopathy
tonsillitis
pharyngitis
multi-chemical sensitivity syndrome
eczema, psoriasis
postoperative rehabilitation and recovery (aesthetic & sinus surgery)

Wellbeing Promotion.

The Salt Cave is offering Wellbeing Readers a Buy 1 get 1 free from their packages when mentioning Wellbeing Magazine. For more information on their packages visit. www.saltcave.co.uk
320B, Earlsfield Road, United Reformed Church, London, SW18 3EJ Tel: 020 8870 6006