Salt & Light Wellness under construction in Parkway Pointe

Two medical practitioners are opening Salt & Light Wellness, a facility that will offer a variety of services for those who prefer to focus on preventative measures.

"I'm a physician, so I believe in medicine, but I also believe that prevention is the best thing to do," said Dr. Deepa Cyriac, who is a radiologist with Hospital Sisters Health System. Her husband, Peter Thirunelli, is a radiation physicist who took early retirement for family reasons, she said.

Now, the couple has a building at 3471 Freedom Dr. under construction and hopes to have their new business open by the first quarter of 2025. Cyriac said their interest in this type of preventative treatment was a result of her own experiences.

"A couple of years ago, I came to a crossroads with my health. I had been burning my candle at both ends for decades," Cyriac said. "Like a lot of people, we just weren't taking care of ourselves."

She said being diagnosed with a skin autoimmune disease "was a red flag for me that there was chronic inflammation. That was a big wake-up call."

Cyriac said she decided to focus on changes she could make without taking any medicine. "I stopped drinking five cups of coffee a day and did a lot of wellness things that essentially cured me," she said. "I started seeing a functional medicine doctor. But I had to go to St. Louis and Chicago to get these experiences. I work full-time and have three young kids; it's not feasible to do that more than once a month."

Cyraic said she wants to offer the services from which she benefitted, but hopes to improve upon the delivery methods.

Salt & Light Wellness will focus on three core services: cryotherapy, an infrared sauna with a salt room and whole-body vibrational therapy.

"I really enjoyed and benefitted from these experiences, but I did wish when I went to these other facilities that it was more private," Cyriac said. "We really want to appeal to men as well, which is why we're not calling this a spa - that has a more feminine edge to it."

Cyriac said the facility will have two separate wings for men and women, with large windows to the outside. "You don't want to feel like you're in a little box."

She said she hopes that having these services available locally will enable more people to seek preventative measures.

"We want to offer these experiences for those who are interested in taking charge of their health before it's difficult," Cyriac said.