Getting Salty with Shannon Coppola

Recently, we sat down with Shannon Coppola, the proud owner of the East End’s newest wellness center, Montauk Salt Cave. Shannon and her husband Pete have created the Salt Cave completely by hand. They pieced together possibly the world’s largest puzzle with three tons of salt bricks — in just a few weeks time. Among the salt cave’s countless benefits, we hear it’s a great place to relax and even fight off hangovers.

Hangover prevention shot glasses available @ Shannon’s shop.

Shannon was kind enough to let me try a session in the cave earlier this week. After checking in, you take a plush blanket or two into the cave and kick back on one of the eight reclining chairs. A few minutes after the introduction, voices over the sounds of waves crashing begin to play. Minutes after that, you’re pretty much a goner among the sounds, the salt working its magic, the twinkling lights from the ceiling… you’re guaranteed to fade away into a perfect afternoon nap. After I walked out of the cave in a complete daze, I sat down and got the scoop on all things salty with Shannon.

First things first, what on earth is a salt cave?

The salt cave is salt treatment room better known as halotherapy. The room is built with bricks and boulders of pink Himalayan salt rocks and crystals. A halo generator pumps dry aerosol salt into the room. Once the salt enters your nasal passageway and with the negative ions found in the salt, you begin to heal. The room looks like a cave with default stalagmites and a sky.

A little different than your uncle’s man cave.

I’m going to take a guess and say that you didn’t come up with this idea completely on your own. Where did you hear about it?

My husband, Pete, and I began building the salt cave stemmed for our son Oliver — who has suffered from respiratory ailments since infancy. After trying all sorts of medications, we found out about salt therapy from a friend. We took him to a salt room in New Jersey and after two sessions he finally slept through the night at four and a half years old, breathing freely. Then we contacted Dr. Margaret Smiechowski, owner of Salt Cave Builder Inc. and she made our dreams come true. We love her.

What are the health benefits?

All respiratory ailments — COPD, emphysema, allergies, asthma, cystic fibrosis, snoring, sleep disorders, nose bleeds, headaches/migraines/hangovers, sinusitis, ear infections, bronchial disease, the flu, the common cold, auto immune, stress, depression, digestive disorders, arthritis, symptoms from Lyme disease, skin disease-eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and acne.

This sounds amazing, do you do any packages?

Yes, we sell packages:

10 sessions at 20% off
5 sessions at 15% off
3 sessions at 10% off

It looks pretty dreamy in there — have you had to wake anyone up after the session was over?

Yes, I like to call it adult daycare. I pass out blankets and people fade away into a deep relaxing, much needed nap.

“Intimate.”

What is the strangest question someone asked you about the Salt Cave?

“Can we go in naked?”

Why is the salt pink?

The salt originates from the Himalayan mountains. Each piece in the cave is from Pakistan. The color is due to iron oxide. The salt holds trace amounts of minerals for healing such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, iodine, bromine, copper, selenium, iron and more.