PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — Water helped Wren Farris heal from two back-to-back car accidents that should have killed her.
“I was basically told fold up your life and live a smaller life and take a lot of pain medicine,” she said. “I really didn't accept that diagnosis.”
The writer and yoga teacher took to soaking in any water she could find...indoors and out.
“In water, I could experience a pain-free moment or hour or 20 minutes."
She chronicles her journey in a book: Soak -- an Homage to Water.
"I wanted my body back, and I wanted my life back.”
She got everything back when she moved to Port Townsend-- a place surrounded by water -- and opened Soak on the Sound: The only saltwater bathhouse in the Pacific Northwest.
Now, this woman who was broken helps put others back together. She calls Soak on the Sound a healing sanctuary for the community.
Soak on the Sound offers therapeutic massage and a Finnish sauna.
But the salt water soaking tubs are the soul of this spot.
"These tubs have 10 to 20 pounds of salt," explains Farris. “It's about the salinity of the ocean, and about the salinity of the human body.”
A soak in hot salt water relieves pain, stimulates circulation, and has a host of other health benefits.
Guests relax in private pools set in rooms with decor that comes right from the beach.
Or they can opt for a big community pool that's sometimes co-ed and always clothing optional.
No matter what they wear in the water, Wren sees the same thing in all her guests after they visit Soak on the Sound: a transformation.
"People emerge from these rooms looking so renewed, sometimes I don't even recognize them as the person who went in,” said Farris. "It's really kind of special."
Soak on the Sound is open Tuesday through Sunday, hours vary. 242 Monroe St, Port Townsend WA, 98368 (360) 385-4100
