Herbalty Cottage in Medina adds Himalayan salt room
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Bonnie Heck, owner of Herbalty Cottage in Medina, holds a Himalayan salt lamp, which she sells in her store. She recently added a Himalayan salt room to her line of services.
MEDINA – A unique business in Medina with a goal to provide peace and hope to those who walk through the door has opened a Himalayan salt room.
Bonnie Heck started Herbalty Cottage at 415 Main St. in 2015, after finding inspiration for the business following an automobile accident.
Her path of purified eating actually began back when her mother started an herb garden.
“I know traditional medications don’t always work and often leave side effects,” Heck said.
She was a piano teacher for 19 years, but after sustaining serious injuries in an automobile accident, she required treatment by a chiropractor. She eventually went to work for the chiropractor.
“I used to see patients come in for treatment and saw how small changes they made were improving their health,” Heck said. “But people had to travel to the city for many services and not all could do that.”
Heck decided to become a certified herbalist, a decision she doesn’t regret.
When she talks about the benefits of herbal remedies, she is talking from experience.
Several years ago, she was slicing vegetables on her mandolin when she slipped and cut off the end of her finger. Her husband immediately wanted to take her to the emergency room, but instead she made a list and sent him to her store. She made up a mixture of herbs and began drinking them daily, after securely bandaging her finger back on with gauze and tape.
“In a few days, I could see the finger was beginning to re-attach itself,” Heck said.
Now she extends her finger for anyone to see, pointing out there is barely a scar.
Herbalty Cottage at 415 Main St., Medina, recently opened this Himalayan salt room, in which 45 minutes results in the same health benefits as three days by the sea.
The Himalayan salt room is her latest addition of services.
Herbalty Cottage already offered Far Infrared saunas with light therapy, nutrition and wellness consultations and interactive wellness classes. Her daughter Lindsay is a certified reflexologist and performs reflexology, an ancient practice which helps professionals determine health and wellness of clients by working the hands and feet.
“By massaging the hands or feet and working the vita-flex points, a reflexologist can determine what is going on with every system and organ in your body,” Heck said.
Herbalty Cottage carries a full line of purely organic herbs, teas, gourmet olive oils, balsamic vinegars, essential oils and body butters, soaps and scrubs, in addition to the Himalayan salt products, which Heck imports from Pakistan.
The salt comes from rock mined near the foothills of the Himalayas, and some people say it is one of the purest salts available. Himalayan salt has 84 percent of trace minerals, which everyone is lacking in, Heck said. It is not only used like regular salt for cooking, but is used in bath salts, which claim to improve skin conditions and soothe sore muscles.
Heck carries salt lamps, which she claims remove air pollutants and relieve asthma, allergies, sinus and COPD.
“No matter how you use our products – whether eating, drinking or breathing them, it is going to help in some way,” Heck said.
She is excited about the Himalayan salt room. A 45-minute session in the salt room brings the same benefits as being on the beach for three days, Heck said.
“It brings peace and relieves depression,” she said.
Heck said Medina is a wonderful community in which to do business.
“The businesses are amazing and everyone works well together,” she said.
Herbalty Cottage is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Extended hours are available on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for the salt room.
For more information or to book sauna or salt room appointments, call 798-5800.
