Salt Chalet

5 Best Spas in the Encino Area

2011-03-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

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Do you ever feel like you just need a day away from all the hustle and bustle of your daily life? If you just want to relax, you’ve come to the right place.
This week we picked our five favorite spas in the area. These spa treatments can help you to lose inches from your waistline, get rid of any respiratory issues you may have or give you the perfect organic sun-kissed glow, without the worry of skin cancer.

Spa 10 has a friendly atmosphere and provides everything from eyelash extensions to body toning. Body toning treatments are done with a machine that comfortably massages away cellulite and works to tighten your muscles. It also offers Organic Airbrush Tanning which is 100 percent paraben free and provides a natural airbrush bronze, so you can avoid tanning in the sun’s harmful. Call 818-528-7373 or visit thespa10.com for more information.

Salt Chalet was the first halotherapy center on the West Coast when it opened in November 2009 on the second floor of Encino Commons. With therapy rooms that are designed to feel like natural salt caves, it offers alternative treatments for a variety of health conditions, including insomnia, skin irritations, respiratory ills and even digestive problems. Each treatment lasts 45 minutes, which is made comfortable with lounge chairs, a stereo system and flat-screen televisions. Call 818-907-9512 or visit SaltChalet.com for more information.

Sylvie’s MedSpa is a quaint, but stylish spa located in the Encino Town Center on Ventura Boulevard. Services include everything from massages to Botox injections. There are also many types of facials offered, such as the Cell Structural Enhancement Facial, which is said to renew skin to make it look healthier and brighter. Various types of massages including deep tissue, Swedish, pregnancy, reflexology, or hot stone are also available. Call 818-905-8815 or visit sylviesmedspa.com for more information.

Dtox Day Spa provides a relaxing and calming getaway for couples and singles. A giant Buddha and double waterfall set the calming tone at this spa. It offers facials, body treatments, hair removal and tub treatments. One of their most popular facials is the Organic Custom Facial, which includes full fruit and vegetable pulps with herbal oils. Call 818-574-3700 or visit dtoxdayspa.com for more information.

Casablanca Salon & Day Spa is Moroccan inspired and features arched doorways, hardwood floors and bright pops of color. Unlike its counterparts, this beauty center does hair and spa treatments – styling, cutting, coloring, perms, extensions and other treatments, as well as facials and makeup. Waxing services, manicures, pedicures and massages are also available. Casablanca also sports a large retail product area at the front of the store. Call 818-981-3990 or visit casablancasalon.com for more information.

2011-02-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

The New Medicine built on Ancient Salt Room Therapy Principles

We’ve all done it.

We get to the beach and we take a deep, deep breath.

It’s a reflex. It’s instinctual.

The body knows to breath this air in before the mind realizes it’s even out of the car.

Here’s what our bodies know and what our minds need to be reminded of:

Breathing dry, aerosolized salt air (tiny salt particles suspended in air) can provide broad health benefits. Allergies, chronic respiratory illnesses, skin disorders, infections and problems sleeping can all be improved by simply breathing while relaxing in the wonderful healing microclimate of a salt room.

Like many natural approaches to healing, Salt Room Therapy is relatively new in the United States, but not so in the rest of the world. The therapeutic benefits of spending time in a ‘salt room’ were rediscovered in Eastern Europe during the 19^th century. Dr. Felix Bochkowsky was responsible for occupational health in Poland in the 1840s and as with all good Public Health experts he was trained to study his surroundings. Since his responsibilities also included the mines he noticed that while metal and coal miners battled relentless, deadly respiratory ailments the workers in salt mines were healthier. In fact they were much healthier than most people in the community.

The story doesn’t start there though.

Speleotherapy, or treatments in a natural salt caves, began in ancient times. From Neolithic Italy and the priest-healers of Greece to the Indian epic ‘Ramayana” and Hungarian manuscripts from the Middle Ages we find reference after reference touting the benefits of time spent in natural salt cave microclimates. Speleotherapy is still common in parts of the world but in modern times and urban locations we more commonly refer to Halotherapy or treatment in a simulated salt environments. These simulated microclimates are obviously more convenient especially when you consider that multiple sessions are best but I won’t talk anyone out of a trip to Speleotherapy centers in Israel, Hungary or Russia. Fortunately, none of the benefits of salt room therapy are lost on Wilshire Boulevard.

The air in salt mines and simulated salt therapy rooms is permeated with negative ions, which help clear breathing passages and provide for a host of other effects. Studies have documented improvements in asthma, bronchitis, chronic ear-nose-throat conditions such as allergies and sinusitis and insomnia. Recent medical studies from Europe and Canada have shown that time spent in salt rooms can benefit other conditions such as snoring, colds, smoker’s cough and influenza. Salt room air is believed to have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

Time spent in salt rooms benefits the skin as well. This shouldn’t be a surprise. The skin is the largest organ and shares with the lungs the important role of interfacing with the environment every second of every day. This exposes the skin to a constant barrage of toxins. A natural way to counteract this is to expose the skin to the healing power of salt room air on a consistent basis. Studies have shown that skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis and rashes can improve but normal dry, greasy or aging skin may benefit in appearance as well.

A series of sessions is required to maximize the benefits. I recommend starting with 10-12 sessions. Some patients expand their treatments to 30 or more sessions and others have gone so far as to install salt rooms in their own homes after having experienced the transformative power of this microclimate on so many aspects of their health and wellness.

When I consider the broad benefits and the fact that so many people suffer from ailments that improve in the salt room microclimate I find myself asking everyone I meet, from patients to friends and family to commit to learning more and trying Salt Room Therapy in 2011. Read up on it. Start asking your friends and relatives about it. I’m sure you’ll find many have tried it already or are thinking about doing so. Stop by Beneveda to take a tour and chat with our staff about it. I look forward to seeing you there.

Thom E. Lobe,

M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.P., is the founder and medical director of Beneveda Medical Group in Beverly Hills, and medical director of Salt Chalet Encino, California.

Tylenol May Increase Asthma

2010-05-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

A recent article on The Kid's Doctor website, written by Dr. Sue Hubbard, links the use of acetaminophen (Tylenol) with the rise in asthma in recent years. It's not the first study to point out this connection, which shows that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy increased the risk of children developing asthma and wheezing. Here is the entire article:

Acetaminophen Could Up Asthma, Wheezing Risk

A new analysis of 19 studies provides additional evidence of increased asthma risk in children and adults given acetaminophen. AcetaminophenThe study’s lead says that while this type of study isn’t the best way to prove that the medication actually causes the illness, it does show that the relationship should be investigated further.

“We know acetaminophen affects inflammatory cells in the airway,” said Dr. J. Mark FitzGerald of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute in British Columbia. But even if the medication does boost asthma risk, he added, it’s likely only one factor in the rise in asthma prevalence seen in recent years.

The results of the study appear in the journal CHEST. The study is a follow-up on a 2008 study of about 200,000 patients that suggested an increased risk or asthma and wheezing in those who took acetaminophen.

To investigate further, Dr. FitzGerald and his team searched the medical literature for studies that looked at acetaminophen and risk of asthma and wheezing. When the researchers did a combined analysis of the 19 studies they identified, which included 425,140 patients in all, they found acetaminophen use was associated with a 1.6-fold increased risk of asthma. Children exposed to the drug in the womb were at 1.3-fold greater risk of asthma and 1.5-fold increased risk of wheezing.

The one study that looked at high-dose acetaminophen in children found it more than tripled asthma risk.

At this point, FitzGerald said, parents shouldn’t purge their medicine chests of acetaminophen.

When a pediatrician recommends acetaminophen to treat fever in a child, according to the researcher, parents should follow this advice. The drug “works very well to do what it is supposed to do,” he noted, adding “there’s always a risk benefit in terms of medication.”

Shania's Saline Solution

2010-04-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Country diva Shania Twain recently visited a salt room in New York. Here is the blog post from The National Post's blogger, Shinan Govani:

Shinan: Shania's saline solution
Posted: April 21, 2010, 2:04 PM by NP Editor

All sugar and spice … and salt. That’s our Shania Twain.

With the superstar Elizabeth Gilbert-ing her way through life these days — new man, check; new Oprah-blessed reality show, check — she’s also taking care of business, lungs-wise. To that end you see, she was in New York City, just a couple of weekends back, where she visited a wellness centre specializing in … well, yes, salt.

According to a source, the Canadian cover girl popped in then into the newly-hatched Halo/Air Salt rooms, on West 22nd Street, where she “told the receptionist that she wanted to go to cleanse her throat, as she can she has been sick/breathing poor recently, and had heard breathing in salt particles could benefit singers.”

Apparently, it was an hour-long session and, apparently, Shania, like Schwarzenegger, said she’d be back. Salt inhalation, which has been around since the Greeks and long acted as a boon to those with respiratory problems, is inspired here by the “natural conditions found in caves in Eastern Europe,” according to a recent piece in The New York Times.

“Man, I feel like a woman!” was what she screamed when she emerged from her Salt Room. Actually, she did not. But that would have been great, no?

What the toe-tapper did do, our spy further reports, is breathe in salt particles while catching up on her favourite TV shows. (Because, well — hypothetically speaking — what goes down better with 30 Rock than a nostril-full of salt?)

The Doctors Are In!!

2010-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

The megahit health talk show, The Doctors, from the producers of Dr. Phil, found our salt therapy fascinating and wanted to feature it on a segment titled "Health and Beauty Secrets Around the World." Click HERE for a preview of the show.

See handsome Dr. Travis Stork get into a Bavarian beer bath, Dr. Andrew Ordon demonstrate a banana facial, and the four doctors taste our Dead Sea salt, which is a little bitter and NOT recommended for eating, as you'll see on the show!

Tune in Wednesday, April 21, at 11 a.m. to KCAL-TV 9 in Los Angeles, and check The Doctors website for local listings if you are outside of Los Angeles.

Salt Chalet has The Doctors' seal of approval!

Cruising the LA Talk Scene

2010-04-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Salt Chalet was recently invited to talk about salt therapy on LA Talk Radio, a popular and sassy internet radio station in Los Angeles. Owner Dikla Kadosh was featured on the Sam and Kara show, where the topics of conversation included more than just salt talk!

Check out the shortened version:

Or you can listen to the hour-long talk show here:
http://www.latalkradio.com/Sam_Kara.php

April Newsletter

2010-04-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

In This Issue:

Deep Cure for Asthma
Channel 7 ABC News
Spring Special!

April 1, 2010

Spring at Salt Chalet

Deep Cure for Asthma
Andrew's journey to a salt cave in Poland

Andrew Zinnes, now a Salt Chalet customer, was fatigued and frustrated by his ongoing breathing difficulties, so he traveled to Wieliczka, Poland to a salt mine clinic that has been operating since 1964.

Below is an excerpt of his very entertaining and well-written account of the experience, which appeared in Men's Journal on April 23, 2009.

Deep Cure for Asthma
When all else fails, two weeks in a Polish salt mine can help you breathe again.
By Andrew Zinnes

The Last Straw Superman had kryptonite. Samson got a haircut. Me? Dust mites. Those little scourges have made me asthmatic for the past 10 years — irritating my breathing, leading to countless sinus infections, and causing two episodes wherein I passed out from coughing. They limit the amount of exercise I can do at the gym and make me think twice about playing a game of pickup soccer. But worst of all, they curb the amount of time I can run around the house with my young daughter.

I’m not alone in my suffering. According to the Mayo Clinic, asthmatics are one of the fastest-growing medical demographics in the U.S., with roughly 20 million people afflicted in 2008.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Channel 7 ABC News
Segment Touts Effectiveness of Salt Therapy

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- It may not be the best part of your diet, but the latest medical studies show how salt can help deal with a cold and help some people with breathing problems. But now, the salt health craze is taking on a new dimension. Salt rooms, spas and caves are now popping up all over the U.S., but do they really work?

View the segment by clicking here.

Spring Special!
Spring is in the air ... and so is pollen and dust and other irritants

But you don't have to dread those sunny days any longer! Salt Chalet is offering a Spring Special for allergy season: Sign up for a package of 12 invigorating salt sessions this month only, and get bumped up to 15 (a $100 upgrade). Offer ends April 30, 2010.

Salt Chalet
17401 Ventura Blvd., Suite B17
Encino, CA 91316
(818) 907-9512
info@saltchalet.com
www.saltchalet.com

From Wieliczka to Encino

2010-03-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Andrew Zinnes, fatigued and frustrated by his ongoing breathing difficulties, traveled to Wieliczka, Poland to a salt mine clinic that has been operating since 1964. Below is his very entertaining and well-written account of the experience, which appeared in Men's Journal on April 23, 2009. Andrew was so delighted with the results of salt cave therapy that he eventually found us here in Los Angeles, saving him another trip down the mine shaft!

Deep Cure for Asthma

When all else fails, two weeks in a Polish salt mine can help you breathe again.
By Andrew Zinnes (photo credit: courtesy of Wieliczka Salt Mine)

The Last Straw

Superman had kryptonite. Samson got a haircut. Me? Dust mites. Those little scourges have made me asthmatic for the past 10 years — irritating my breathing, leading to countless sinus infections, and causing two episodes wherein I passed out from coughing. They limit the amount of exercise I can do at the gym and make me think twice about playing a game of pickup soccer. But worst of all, they curb the amount of time I can run around the house with my young daughter.

I’m not alone in my suffering. According to the Mayo Clinic, asthmatics are one of the fastest-growing medical demographics in the U.S., with roughly 20 million people afflicted in 2008.

Irritants are all around us. Everything from cold air to cat dander can send an asthmatic’s immune system into overdrive, producing histamines (natural chemicals your body uses to fight off outside intruders — instigating the itch in your lungs) and causing your bronchial tubes to swell and constrict.

Antihistamines, antibiotics, and two sinus surgeries provided me some relief, but nothing stuck. Finally, after I woke my wife up at three in the morning with a coughing fit one night — again — we had both had enough. The next day, after some Google searching, she told me that she had found my next vacation: two weeks 440 feet below the ground in an old salt mine in Wieliczka, Poland.

The Science

In 1958, Polish professor Mieczyslaw Skulimowski realized that our lungs and sinuses respond well to the cool, damp air in salt mines, also rich with sodium, magnesium, and selenium. He opened the first mine treatment center at Wieliczka in 1964, and it has been going strong ever since. Magnesium, it was discovered, prevents the spasms that provoke asthma attacks by keeping the smooth-muscle lining of the lung from contracting. Selenium is an antioxidant that studies have shown breaks down leukotrienes, compounds that irritate sinuses and lungs (similar to what the asthma drug Singulair does). And salt is a natural antibacterial agent, which can help prevent sinus and chest infections from spreading.

“After one treatment, patients report needing less medicine,” said Dr. Jolanta Czerwik, one of the physicians at the Wieliczka mine. “After two trips, research shows a 70 percent improvement, and after a third, asthma generally goes into remission.” When I asked her how it works she told me that “the body can only heal so much, so fast. It gives your immune system a chance to catch up. Afterward your body is trained to deal with your natural surroundings.”

My allergist back home, Dr. Robert Eitches, was also encouraging. “Being in a pollutant-free environment for a long period of time generally would be good for the lungs and sinuses,” he said.

I was desperate, so that was all the convincing I needed. The next thing I knew I was being herded into a cagelike elevator and shot into an 800-year-old mine.

The Treatment

My new subterranean digs felt a lot like a luxury spa, making my 14-day treatment downright pleasant. One room featured a relaxing pool with a waterfall fountain, and one of the dining rooms, the Jan-Haluszka Chamber, was adorned with three huge crystal chandeliers and had hosted several foreign dignitaries including former president George W. Bush.

But on my first day I quickly learned that getting well inside the mine is very similar to training for a marathon. “The air is the answer, so we must get as much of it through you as possible,” my instructor Marzena Boron insisted. For six and a half hours, the other eight patients and I were shuttled from yoga class, where we learned stretches that caused us to use our diaphragms rather than our chest muscles to breathe, increasing breathing efficiency; to treadmill-jogging; and then aerobics, which pumped gallons of the special air through our lungs in seconds.

The treatment seemed to be working. My postnasal drip disappeared, I never felt like coughing or sneezing, and while my lungs remained somewhat raspy, I never had problems with exercises that would have killed me aboveground. But I was most impressed with the results of my peak flow test, which measures how many liters of air I push through my lungs per minute. For my height and age, I was told that 545 is a good number (at home I typically score between 250 and 275). My average inside the mine, taken over the two weeks, was 355. Once I even broke 400.

For the first few weeks after returning to smoggy Los Angeles, I felt great, and my doctor noticed a 20 percent increase in my breathing capacity. If it lasts, I’m seriously considering going back next year for round two, if just to keep from waking my wife at 3 a.m.

Stats and Info

WHAT: The Wieliczka mine is one of only a handful in the world treating lung, ear, nose, and throat conditions. In 1978 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

WHERE: Ten miles south of Krakow, Poland

HOW MUCH: A typical 17-day treatment costs $550, not including meals or accommodations. Starting at $1,700, the facility will provide four meals a day and lodging at one of the area hotels (kopalnia.pl).

This article originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

Local TV station, not so local story

2010-03-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Channel 7 News aired a segment on salt room therapy last night, but they featured a salt room in Florida. Strange choice for a local news station, considering they have a salt room in their backyard -- us!

Nevertheless, it's a great segment and we're happy to share it with you!

Click here to watch it.

How much is your health worth?

2010-03-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

The Great Recession has not yet released its tight grip on us. Shopping malls are slowly coming back to life, but unemployment is still high and times are still tough. We're all watching our bank accounts and cutting back on lattes and dinners out. But is health a luxury we can afford to do without during such hard times?

For someone who goes through their day with throbbing sinus headaches and debilitating fatigue, as one of our clients does, good health is not a luxury. It's a need more basic than many others we seemingly can't live without -- how many Americans have canceled their cable tv service during this recession? For this particular client of ours, health is so central to his life that he is considering moving to Hawaii to help alleviate some of the respiratory ailments from which he is suffering. He recently flew down from Spokane, Washington to be treated at our facility. He spent three days doing successive treatments in our salt room and came out so impressed with the improvement in his health that he is seriously considering building a salt room in his home.

It's either that, or move his entire family to Hawaii, where he can live by the beach and swim 5 times a day, which seemed to have helped his symptoms as well.

For those of you living in Los Angeles, improved health will not require a plane ticket, or moving to another state, or even building a salt room in your home (not a cheap endeavor). At most, it'll require an aggravating drive on the 405 if you're a city dweller.

But isn't your health worth 45 minutes in the car?

Israel's Growing Salt Room Industry

2010-03-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

In classic Israeli start-up style, a relatively new idea has already reached a level of sophistication and organization that one rarely sees in other countries. The salt therapy industry was practically unheard of two years ago when we at Salt Chalet first began our research into the treatment. It took many hours of online searching to finally find some information, which led us to Baruch Bekker, who is mentioned in this Israel21c article:

While Derech Hamelach got underway, Kestenbaum, along with his New York-based business partner Jonathan Bennett (a partner at PL Holdings, with over a decade of experience starting up and financing early stage technology, retail and real estate ventures), and local Israeli expert Baruch Bekker (who opened the first Israeli salt room in Haifa in 2000) opened the first Breathewell clinic at the Jerusalem Bio Park at Hadassah Ein Kerem, in February.

Read the entire article here. It goes into detail about the quickly developing field of salt rooms in Israel, led by American-Israeli entrepreneur Jonathan Kestenbaum. The article includes a lot of great information. The one significant correction I would make is that he says salt rooms don't exist in the U.S. Clearly he is wrong, as we opened our doors in Encino, CA on November 2009!!!

Kestenbaum has plans to open salt rooms across the U.S., but you don't have to wait for him if you live in Southern California. We've already brought the healing powers of salt to our region.

Misleading Nightline Segment

2010-02-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

A customer came in this morning very concerned about a segment she saw last night on ABC News Nightline. The segment, by reporter Gloria Riviera, which can be seen by clicking here, covered several innovative detox methods, including gold mask facials and salt room therapy.

Riviera covers salt rooms in about 15 seconds, and gives the treatment a very low rating, based on her experience with a single session. She doesn't explain that salt room therapy requires a series of treatments in order to be effective. She does quote a London salt room which recommends 20 session at a cost of $1100. Also, she interviews a real customer, who says that she has seen amazing results after six sessions. So why does Riviera give salt rooms such a low rating?

On the Nightline website, the segment is accompanied by a much better, written version of the story. In the article, Gloria does in fact go into the details of the treatment and speaks to a very satisfied client:

Jenny Berman has been fighting to keep her asthma in check for most of her life. She says living in an urban environment has taken a toll on her respiratory system. She also found the medications prescribed to fight her asthma only suppressed her symptoms instead of treating them.

"I felt a very subtle change after six sessions," she says. "My lungs just felt lighter." After a dozen sessions she says she stopped using her inhaler and has not had to use it since.

The article is accurate and in depth and presents salt room therapy for what it is: all natural and effective when taken as a full course. The segment paints a totally different picture.

Our customer felt that this segment was irresponsible journalism, as she herself has been feeling the effects of her salt room therapy. She encouraged me to write to Riviera and Nightline News, which I did.

Unfortunately, sometimes the news can be misleading.

Welcome to a new way of life!

2010-02-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Salt Chalet opened in Encino, CA in November 2009. We offer salt room therapy, or halotherapy, for people who suffer from a variety of respiratory ailments and discomforts. It's an exciting new treatment that is only now arriving in the United States, but has been used for more than 40 years in Europe and has been clinically tested and proven effective. Visit our blog to find articles on halotherapy, the latest developments in treating respiratory problems, health tips, links to useful websites, and information about Salt Chalet in California.

We want to be your oasis for healthy breathing!!