Hidden Gems: Meet Warren & Kari Shulman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Warren & Kari Shulman. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Warren and Kari were born in South Africa. Warren grew up in Johannesburg and Kari in Cape Town. Warren qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Kari as a Corporate Librarian. They worked at Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting, where they met and fell in love.

They moved to Los Angeles in January 1994, the day before the Northridge Earthquake. Warren worked as an audit partner at a middle-market CPA firm, and Kari worked in various corporate and school libraries. Warren took early retirement in December 2017. They opened a Holistic Health and Wellness Center with 2 Himalayan Salt Caves and three treatment rooms in New York in March 2018.

In September 2019, they signed a lease for a Woodland Hills location. It took about six months to get permits and they started construction in April 2020, just as the Covid Pandemic began. They opened for business in October 2020, right in the middle of the Covid Pandemic.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. When we signed our lease in September 2019, the Covid Pandemic did not even exist. It took about six months to get permits from the City of LA, which is notoriously difficult. As it was during Covid, the City of LA did not have counter hours, and everything had to be done through email. We did all of our construction during the pandemic.

When we finally opened for business in October 2020, we were subject to all of the City and County of LA Covid regulations. There was an indoor mask mandate and social distancing rules. Our primary service is Dry Salt Therapy or Halotherapy, and it does not work if you are wearing a mask. We were also required to do vaccine verification. All of the Covid regulations were finally lifted in March 2022.

Since then, our business has really taken off. We have been featured in some tv shows and magazine articles and are getting a lot of interest through word of mouth and social media.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a Holistic Health and Wellness Center with a large Himalayan Salt Cave that can fit up to 14 zero-gravity chairs and a smaller private Himalayan Salt Room that can fit up to 4 zero-gravity chairs or 2 massage tables. We also have 2 treatment rooms.

Our primary service is Dry Salt Therapy or Halotherapy. This helps with Upper Respiratory and Skin issues. Halotherapy is very effective for Asthma, Allergies, Sinusitis, Coughs, Colds and Covid lung repair. It also helps to relieve Stress and Anxiety and improves sleeping and alleviates snoring.

All Halotherapy sessions are done on the hour, every hour for 45 minutes. We do a live introduction and then play a soundtrack with a quick introduction, a 10-minute guided meditation and 30 minutes of soft relaxing spa music.

We also provide Salty Yoga, Sound Baths, Guided Meditation and EFT Tapping as well as all host kinds of parties in our salt cave. We provide Individual or Couples Massages or Private Sound Baths in our Salt Room or Treatment Rooms.

We also have a Retail Section with a curated selection of Himalayan Salt Products, Jewelry and Sanitizers.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
We are very proud of the Community that we have created since we opened our business. Many of our clients and practitioners have become friends of ours and friends with one another. We are very involved in our community and love supporting other small businesses and local schools and charitable organizations.

Pricing:

• A 45-Minute Salt Session in our Community Salt Cave is $35 per Person.
• A 45-Minute Salt Session in our Private Salt Room is $45 per Person.
• Our Community Sound Baths are usually $50 per person.
• A 60-Minute Massage or Reiki in Our Private Salt Room is $175 per Person.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.valleysaltcave.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valleysaltcave/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063518020647
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsA2WpFCmoJbq21Mhhrmevw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/valley-salt-cave-woodland-hills-3?osq=valley+salt+cave