Aromatherapy offers 'cleansing, calming' feeling - Rutland Herald

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Albert J. Marro / Staff Photo William Kelley, center, hooks Adam Herrick up to the Aromatherapy Station at Pyramid Holistic Wellness Center on 120 Merchants Row in Rutland. 03/11/15

The beakers are lined up, like a scene from a scientific Frankenstein movie, but with charm instead of horror. Each glass beaker is glimmering with a subtle hint of color, each one with a subtle scent.
The aromatherapy station at the Pyramid Holistic Wellness Center has a new scent for the coming spring months: strawberry.

Aromatherapy is similar to an oxygen bar; it produces and dispenses pure, uncontaminated oxygen.

William Kelley, owner of the Pyramid, said oxygen is obviously essential to life; a person can live three weeks without food, three days without water, but not even three minutes without air.

“The air you breathe outside is not in the purest form” Kelley said. “It’s filled with toxins, which means the percentage of oxygen in the air is reduced. This is pure.”

The main tool in the station is the oxygen concentrator, a machine that divides up the different components of air. Everything else is released while the pure oxygen is what the user inhales.

“Oxygen in its purest form helps every cell in your body function more properly,” Kelley said.

A person sits at the bar, with soft little tubes resting on the nose. It’s only a five-minute session, but that five minutes is enough, Kelley said.

“It’s rejuvenating,” he said.

Essential, organic oils are also added, giving not only a delicious bonus to the experience, but other benefits.

“If you’re feeling sick or worn down, the organic eucalyptus oil is really popular, because it tends to help restore,” he said.

Some of the scents include almond, an appetite suppressant, and lavender, a calming smell for a lot of people.

The strawberry, he said, is the seasonal scent for the coming of spring.

The light pink hue that naturally comes with the essential oil adds a bit of flair, too.

Liam Martin, a frequent visitor of the center, loves everything from the aromatherapy station to the salt cave.

“I always feel refreshed when I leave here,” he said, after an hour in the cave surrounded by dusky pink salt.

The cave is dark and cool, the floors like a rough beach of course salty sand. The walls are stacked high with the frosted pink bricks of salt, while the ceiling boasts little twinkling lights.

The room is designed to be relaxing, with reclining chairs, romantic lighting and soothing music.

But the salt also has health benefits, offering all of the essential trace minerals the body needs to survive.

“It’s a really incredible experience,” Martin said.

Although a frequent user of the salt cave, Martin said he is exploring aromatherapy because he’s had such great experiences with it.

His first time, he tried the eucalyptus. Then he came back for the wintergreen.

“It wasn’t the head rush of oxygen I was expecting,” he said. “It was nicer, subtle and more of a feeling in my lungs as I breathed it in. It felt really cleansing and calming.”

Although Martin has not yet tried the fresh strawberry, he said he would never cross it off as an option.

“It’s incredibly refreshing,” he said. “I feel more grounded yet energized, I love it.”

@Tagline:bryanna.allen @rutlandherald.com