Omotosando is “The place” in Tokyo to pick up the latest fashions and trends. In this district a brand new medical establishment, which gives a full-fledged esthetic and health support to modern women, has just opened. “This facility is very different from the ordinary esthetic salons, which only treats the outer parts of the body”. It will maybe be easier to understand the concept if one sees it as a preventive medical institution. The essential element is to improve the metabolism and the immune system by warming up the body from the inside. In other words if one makes the basic element in the body healthy people will become beautiful and anti-aging will follow by itself”, said Saltasia’s manager Ms. Noe Ida. Further she explained, “When the body gets cold it is also thought that people’s minds become easily depressed. And that’s why we want everyone who comes here to get healthy both in body and soul by relaxing and warming up their bodies, and become beautiful and happy as well. The majority of women coming to the studio are in their 30’s and 40’s, an age when people start to become more conscious about their own health”.

And that’s why we want everyone who comes here to get healthy both in body and soul by relaxing and warming up their bodies, and become beautiful and happy as well. The majority of women coming to the studio are in their 30’s and 40’s, an age when people start to become more conscious about their own health”.

Now, inside the salon we are met by “washi” Japanese paper interior art, designed by Eriko Horiki, who is world famous for her design. The concept color is white, and overall it has a luxurious, simple, and stylish look. The washi covered walls and the soft lighting creates a gentle and warm ambience. The outside wall, inside the studio, and the reception wall are all built of hexagonal shaped white tiles made of salt. It is supposedly the world first architectural structure constructed with salt. From ancient times salt has been used in Japan as a means of purification. The effect of the fusion of the purification by salt descended from ancient times and the pioneering technique in the new style of the salt studio is very interesting.

As we entered the salt studio that kept 41 degrees temperature, 45% humidity, and had walls, floor, and ceiling all made out of salt tiles, the blinding white studio gave the association of being far into the future at the same time as being deep into the sea, the origin of all life on earth. There was a slight sent of minerals from the salt, and if one took a deep enough breath it gave a faintly salty sensation in the throat. Once the treatment started the countless LED lights embedded in the backside of the tiles flashed in accordance with the session’s program, and gave an illusion of northern light by blinking in all kinds of different colors. Further, inside the studio healing relaxation music was played in calm and soothing manner, and gave the entire body a stress free feeling. One session lasts for 50 minutes and during this time one can just close one’s eyes and quietly lie down and rest, or perform light stretching or yoga. Between the first 5-10 minutes one starts to transpire, and after that one sweats so intensely that it’s even hard to believe, but when the program is over one really feels refreshed. It is a pioneering studio that offers busy modern women a place where they, even in a short period of time, can liberate their body and soul and just feel “nothingness”, or in other words get the effect of meditation while relaxing.

Below a Norwegian employee at our company, who was the first foreigner to undergo this treatment, gives a report about her experience.

Purification of body and soul

Hanne　Kawana

Standing at the entrance of Saltasia salon it was like as if I was entering another dimension. The walls were blindingly white and all made of salt, which was shimmering like small crystals. I really couldn’t believe that it was actually real salt, and just had to check it out for myself. I stroke my finger on the tiles and as I put it to my lips a salty flavor filled my mouth, it was for real. Entering the salon it was delicately decorated with the same white salt walls in combination with walls made of “washi”, Japanese paper with an exquisite design. The interior had a luxurious and sophisticated atmosphere, and gave the feeling of being let into some secret club, exclusively for VIP’s only. The manager, Ms. Noe Ida first took my colleague and me to a consulting room where she explained that they give clients medical checkups that includes testing blood pressure, pulse, bloodstream, fat percentage; both the general % as well as that of internal organs. Further they check muscle mass and BMI, body temperature, and moisture of the skin. After the explanation I was escorted into a changing room where I was given a special suit to wear in the treatment studio.

The changing room was as delicately decorated as the rest of the salon, adorned with fresh flowers and a scent of aromatic fragrance floating in the air. Nothing was left to chance, and even the toilet was refined with a lid that opened and closed automatically. The room was only for one person, which made me feel very important, just like being a star or celebrity. As I entered the treatment studio I was met with a warm and gentle air, and the inside was blindingly white, all made up of salt from floor to sealing. The studio was compact, but still comfortable to be in. I was told to first sit on a stool made of salt to warm up my body. Then I was to lay down on the floor with my head resting on a pillow, also made of salt. The studio was comfortably warm, but humid and after a few minutes I started to perspire, and before I knew it drops of sweat was basically popping out on my forehead. As Ms. Ida explained about the treatment the studio was lit up with all kinds of shifting color combinations, which were accompanied by hypnotic and relaxing music. She gave an interesting and therapeutically explanation of how body and soul are bound together and that in order to be healthy and comfortable in one’s own skin, body and soul also have to be in harmony. “Through the harmonizing salt treatment the body relaxes, detoxifies, and one gets in touch with one’s own body. It is a kind of self-communication that makes you able to purify and heal yourself, body and soul”, she explained before she left me to myself to just relax.

As I lay there I gradually got heated up and evaporated more intensely, sweating out all my physical as well as mental demons. The music and the color combinations got more and more intense, and so in spite of getting quite sleepy, I just didn’t want to miss out on all of the fantastic colors, and forced myself to stay awake. The colors spanned from vibrant red to warm orange, energetic yellow to fresh green, soothing blue to intense purple, and lastly in the “shakra” color specter, radiant white. The colors were dancing around on the walls giving an illusion of being in the mist of a rainbow. The music was inspired by Indian rhythms, and felt so relaxing that it was almost hypnotizing.

Thinking back on the 30 minutes I was laying there I can’t recall having one single thought on my mind, just experiencing how my breath gradually got calmer, being soothed by the music, and enjoying the play of colors. When the session was over sweat was drizzling down my whole body, and the suit I was wearing was soaking wet. The first sip of cold water tasted like the sweetest Champagne, and I could sense the beverage tickling me from the inside, all the way down to my stomach. Afterwards when I took a cold shower in the spacious delicate shower-room I could feel how my entire skin had been transformed into a soft and smooth velvety surface, and how my breath and heart were pounding with a vigorous, but harmonious beat. Leaving Saltasia’s premises I have never before felt as refreshed and clean, and even the smallest breeze to my skin, gave a sense of tingle and the sweet sensation of happiness.