Mother-daughter duo turn trauma into entrepreneurship at Ember Grove Studio

LACONIA — Ember Grove Studio, a space for holistic wellness and nervous system healing, will open downtown next month.

Tye Alanurm and her mom, Kissie Fairbanks, are co-founders of the “healing arts collective.”

Alanurm works nextdoor, at Commune à Tea, and became curious about the space sitting vacant. Alanurm and Fairbanks both have backgrounds in holistic wellness, healthcare, and nutrition. They decided to take over the lease, and began transforming the space into a business centered around community healing.

“I spent a long time in a very abusive relationship, and I was very secluded from everybody," Alanurm said. "At the time when I had reached out to local communities here, the help that I was looking for wasn’t really helpful.

“I am very passionate about this space, and welcoming people in this type of community to a place to go to start feeling themselves.”

Alanurm said she and Fairbanks are working to connect with local women's crisis centers, and would love to work out a referral system for women who have not benefitted from traditional therapy.

Ember Grove Studio will hold support groups for those healing from trauma and offer discounted rates to make services accessible to vulnerable populations.

Alanurm said there are a lot of great groups in the area, but not any focused on trauma and abuse with an opportunity for peer support. “They didn’t have any when I needed it, so that was really important to me.”

Alanurm said they plan to make parts of their space available to rent for other holistic practitioners looking for a location to serve clients. The pair hopes that through forming relationships, Ember Grove Studio will be a part of a collaborative wellness community.

Fairbanks said they plan to host a “waking circle” for holistic practitioners, where they will gather with peers in the business to have open discussions about their practices, reflect on work, and show support for one another. Fairbanks referred to this as “healers healing healers,” which they hope will also help get the word out about Ember Grove.

The studio will have an array of amenities for clients. Salt booths, which are glass therapy chambers where people sit inside the enclosed space as salt aerosol particles fill the air, will help clients relax, and has been shown to offer respiratory symptom relief and skin improvement for those dealing with eczema, for example. Large salt rooms, or caves, with lower concentrations require clients to sit for a 30- to 45-minute session. With smaller salt booths, Alanurm said clients can get the same amount of work done in just 15 minutes.

Alanurm will be in charge of breathwork at the studio, using 9D breathwork technology, which she refers to as “bottom up therapy.” Clients will wear headphones and an eye mask, working on conscious breathing while listening to a mix of nine sound and frequency elements. This practice is used to release stress and reset the nervous system.

“So, you’re working on your body before your mind,” Alanurm said. “You’re working on trauma that's stuck in parts, like your fascia and your muscles, where we hold all of our tension, things that we carry that we don’t even know we carry.”

“So, Tye is going to be taking care of trying to release the past, release the trauma that she has been under, or that people go through, that sometimes they don't even realize," Fairbanks said. "But sometimes, it gets hooked up in the body. So, it comes in different ways, whether it be aches and pains, or whether it be mood swings or anxiety, chronic health conditions.

“So, she's going to help people to release the traumas that are stored. My thing is that I'm trying to bring people back to where they want to go next.”

Fairbanks plans to bring in a variety of classes, including journaling.

“So, learning how to talk to yourself positively, because unfortunately, in today's day and age, people talk very negative to themselves, and they think along negative lines. So, if people realize that and learn how to talk to themselves, that brings a happiness that not a lot of people have,” Fairbanks said. “So, where she’s having people let things go, I’m the one who wants to bring things in — your next steps, your next life, your next chapter.”

Fairbanks’ journaling classes will be integrated with guided meditations, to expand clients’ perspectives and visualize their futures.

“I want to do a journey with meditation, and take you to places that you haven't been before. Meeting up with your spirit animal, or meeting up with the person that you want to meet five years from now, 10 years from now.”

Along with guided practices and classes available at Ember Grove Studio, there are also opportunities for individualized work.

“It’s almost like we have different aspects of the business. We want people to come in and use our self-services. This is where people are going to slow down, start doing that selfcare,” Alanurm said. “That includes our vibroacoustic sound lounge, where it connects your brain and your body.

"We’re very out of sync in that area.”

This practice uses sound and vibration to balance the nervous system and relieve muscle tension. The client lays down on an ergonomic bed, head and feet elevated, as calming music fills headphones. Transducers send gentle pulses and vibrations from the bed to the body.

Alanurm said they hope to bring in pulsed electromagnetic field, or PEMF, therapy, and grounding methods. PEMF aims to use the Earth’s natural electrical frequencies to support relaxation and cellular health, easing pain and speeding up recovery. A device is placed on a problem area of the body, which then sends electromagnetic waves through the tissue.

Grounding is a practice where people aim to lower stress levels and calm their nervous system by walking barefoot, directly connecting with the Earth. Ember Grove is looking to bring this indoors, with specialized grounding mats plugged into a grounding port, directly connecting the device to the Earth.

As they near the studio’s opening, Alanurm and Fairbanks are finishing up painting, completing electronic setup, and waiting for remaining amenities, such as the salt booth, to arrive.

“Unfortunately, going through therapy and whatnot doesn’t always work. Sometimes, you just need something else,” Fairbanks said. “So, we’re looking to be that something else to help people.”

Ember Grove Studio, 653 Main St., Suite 4, aims to open Sept. 1.