The Hoame Meditation space is one of the largest meditation studios in Toronto that perfectly fuses together the traditional practice of meditation with a modern lifestyle. Located on Adelaide street west, the studio is over 5,000 square feet and provides the ultimate escape from the often-hectic city life beyond its walls. With dark and light meditation rooms, an infrared sauna and a Himalayan Rock Salt Cave, there’s a little piece of tranquility in every corner.
Photos by Brandon Allen
Opening on September 20th, 2018, Hoame was founded by therapists Stephanie Kersta MSc, RP and Carolyn Plater-Zyberk MSW, RSW on the principle that “meditation is all about returning Hoame to yourself.” This principle guided the design of the space that feels a lot like you are in a home and evokes the same comforting feelings.
From the living room area in the front with comfy seating in front of a fireplace, to the teardrop swinging chairs suspended from the ceiling and the blankets within the meditation rooms, you really do feel right at home. HOLR’s PR managaer Tasha and I, had a chance to preview the space to see what it’s all about and needless to say we walked away smiling.
We start our morning off with a meditation session in the dark room led by Fernanda whose energy instantly puts you in a lighter mood. The ambience of the room also helps to ease you into a calm state without too much protesting from the mind (at least that was my experience). A cosmic ceiling hangs above you and the underglow of the baseboard gently lights up the surroundings.
Fernanda guides you through a meditation that focuses on breathwork that helps you to get into a deep, restful state while you sit on elevated carbon-colored cushions. When the session comes to an end she brings us hot towels and a healthy red shot (a welcome change of pace for us).
After the dark room meditation, we drink a charcoal-lemonade and fill up our cups with hot herbal tea to take with us into the cooler, light meditation room. Fernanda is also running the light meditation, which is more of an energizing experience while helping you to reconnect with your body through breathwork and slight movements of the arms.
This room also helps evoke a relaxing state within, with its “living wall” of greenery at the front and a sunken lit-up ceiling with hanging vines above. As the class comes to an end Fernanda brings everyone another shot of something with ginger in it and a cold towel. As we leave the room to go to the Himalayan salt cave, we can’t help but feel lighter and talk about our want to come back for more. As someone who generally struggles to shut her mind off, something about the surroundings make it a much smoother experience.
We open the door to the Himalayan salt cave and are instantly tempted to grab our phones (yes, it’s a bad habit, we know). The space looks like it has been carved out of a rock salt surface and it is big enough to fit four people. Over five tons of Himalayan pink crystal salts were used to create the room and they are everywhere from the floor to the walls.
We take a seat on one of the large cushions and drape the blankets over us. Soft, soothing music fills the room and tiny twinkle lights are speckled over the ceiling. We sit inside for fifteen minutes, inhaling deeply as we are told that Himalayan salt has a lot of cleansing and detoxifying benefits.
After experiencing Hoame first hand, we can’t wait to go back and try some of the other services from the movement meditation to the sleep meditation and the infrared sauna. If you’re looking for the sweetest little escape from the city while not leaving downtown Toronto, we can’t recommend this enough.
Hoame is located at 430 Adelaide Street West, Toronto.
Check out their website for pricing.
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