The old boy in his salt cave. 

A Little Salt, a Little Nap

My good buddy Susan and I did a little Valentine's celebration yesterday with a new experience for me: settling back in a salt cave.

Susan with a jar of salt.

It's not so much what it sounds like because in Roanoke, it's not in a cave. But there is a granular salt floor and walls of salt brick. A circulation system gently covers everything--including Susan and me--in salt vapor, which has healing effects and relaxes those of us inside. At least that's what it is supposed to do at Crystal Spring Healing Massage over in the Cave Spring section of Roanoke.

I'm a dude whose relax system has never been fully functional, so this was a challenge for the salt cave, but truth be told, Susan has always had a relaxing effect on me since I took one of her stretch classes when we first met. I often went to sleep at the end of the class when she talked the class through full-body relaxation. I fell asleep--albeit briefly--yesterday in the salt cave with all the influences (Susan, the lighting, the quiet sounds--which she called music and, I guess, the salt).

I don't feel much different than I usually do today, but I'm not certain I'm supposed to. The relaxing 45 minutes in the cave had the result of a successful afternoon nap and I can dig that, salt or no salt.