Today we’d like to introduce you to Missy Cohen, Francesca Marrone.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We opened on March 17th, 2017. Missy was first introduced to salt rooms while on a retreat in Vermont where she was treated to salt therapy in a salt “cave” which is a room decorated to look like a cave. The retreat was in May and after just 45 minutes, my allergy symptoms were gone. I could breathe, my headache was gone and I felt energized.
After a few days, my symptoms started to return and I wanted to go to a salt room closer to home to see if the relief was real or a fluke. The closest salt room was in Salem, NH. After doing more investigation, I learned that salt therapy has been used in Europe for decades to help people with breathing conditions, skin conditions and things like anxiety and depression. We realized there was a great need for dry salt or halotherapy and opened our location in Westborough.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think any new business owner has some struggles along the way. I was fortunate to find love, support and sanity checks from various places right from the beginnings. Marisa Fanelli found me early on. She is an acupuncturist/holistic business coach who offers all sorts of amazing advice broken down to bits that I, a non-business person can understand.
I also joined a BNI group where I met other people who have been where I am and survived to tell the tale. And NEVER undermine that advantages of working with a CPA who specializes in small businesses.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Just Breathe, a salt room – what should we know?
We are a salt room and healing center. Dry salt therapy, or halotherapy, breaks up and thins mucus secretions and shrinks nasal cavities so that people can breathe easier. In addition, it is anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial which means that if someone feels like they are starting to get sick or trying to recover from something, halotherapy can help with that.
It is also great for people who are struggling with psoriasis or eczema because of those properties. The Himalayan salt wall that is the focus of our salt room is dehydrated sea salt and emits negative ions which helps clean the air and also makes us feel calmer, less anxious and less depressed.
At Just Breathe we also offer Reiki, Trager, full-spectrum Energy Healings, Crystal Bed Healings, Functional Medicine Health Coaching and HypnoReiki – either in the salt room or in one of our beautiful therapy rooms.
We have regular Salted Guided Meditation classes Wednesdays at noon and Thursdays at 6:30 pm. We also offer Salted Chakra Balancing which is a class where we focus on unblocking various Chakras using essential oils, crystals, guided meditation, gentle yoga moves and breathing exercises.
In addition, we offer a wide variety of workshops including “Heal Your Money Energy” with Ed Langan, Goddess Circles with Polly Jo from the Trinity Healing Sanctuary, Crystal Bowl Meditations with Priscilla Gale and more!
Healing the mind AND the body is about connecting what is going on with our bodies to what is going on with us spiritually and Just Breathe offers the space and the community to help people heal fully.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Our success comes from having a warm and welcoming space and clients who not only talk about us but love us! We have a client who came to our open house about a month ago. He samples everything that we offered that day including a salt session, a Trager sampling, a card reading and bought some crystals.
He came back the next day and joined us as in the Healer Share that we offer once a month. He has since returned for Guided Meditations and Trager and, just yesterday, shared with us that he feels like his anxiety is gone! Another client told me that he is pretty sure that he was sitting next to “Patient 0” doing cold and flu at his place of work.
He was determined NOT to get sick and would come at least once a week. He avoided getting sick and now is being told that he is in “use or lose” situation with his vacation time since he never had to take a sick day. Our success comes from clients sharing stories like this and bringing their friends to Just Breathe.
Pricing:
- Initial salt session $30
- Allergy Season Special is 3 weeks of unlimited visits for $89
- Rent the room for book clubs, baby showers, girl’s night out, wedding parties, etc – $150 for 45 minutes
Contact Info:
- Address: 45 East Main Street Suite 6 Westborough, MA
- Website: www.justbreatheasaltroom.com
- Phone: 508-366-8292
- Email: info@justbreatheasaltroom.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustBreathebyNBH/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/just-breathe-westborough
Image Credit:
Blaire Boudreau
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