Want to boost your well-being? A new wellness center in Wurtsboro allows you the chance to try out some new ways of doing that, while being dazzled by a profusion of energetic beauty and meeting some lovely people.
For close to two decades now, people have been journeying to Wurtsboro to experience Crystal Connection NY—the largest “rock shop” in the Northeast—and the adventure that is shopping here.
Besides a vast array of crystals, jewelry, books, gemstones, and gifts, the metaphysically minded establishment housed in an 1890s Methodist church has a salt cave, geodes big enough to sit in, and a welcoming spirit that brings visitors back again and again. “A crystal lover’s dream!” says one of many five-star reviews. “The most energetically amazing place!” says another.
Heeding the vibes and following their intuition, the Crystal Connection core team—father and son duo Tim and Jonathan Bracci and Travis Ogden—began adding non-invasive energetic healing modalities to their offerings bit by bit—sessions with practitioners along with the salt cave and an assortment of infrared and energy-based mats, belts, and other tools, including a vibro-acoustic bed.
As the popularity of that side of the business continued to grow, they decided that a full-service wellness center should live here—and this spring, you can stop in and give it a try.
The new wellness center occupies the adjacent building at 118 Sullivan, expanding the historic 1890s church at 116 Sullivan into a two-building wellness campus.
“It's been something that's been growing kind of naturally, in the works for years now,” says Ogden. “Tim has been into the healing arts for decades. Now we have the building right next door to the shop, so we could renovate that and grow into that harmony that just works so well with what we're already doing,” The Wellness Center, celebrated with an open house on March 20, will include several state-of-the-art non-invasive modalities. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy uses low-frequency electromagnetic pulses to stimulate cell activity, promote natural healing, reduce inflammation, and improve circulation. Rife therapy, developed in the early 20th century, is an alternative, non-invasive treatment that uses low-energy electromagnetic waves to target and destroy harmful microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and molds, by resonating with their specific vibrations.
Crystal Light Therapy is a non-invasive holistic treatment that uses seven Vogel-cut quartz crystals, combined with colored LED lights, to align, balance, and clear the body's chakras and energy fields. Infrared sauna therapy uses light-based heat to directly warm the body’s muscle tissue from the inside out, offering benefits like improved circulation, pain relief, muscle recovery, and detoxification at lower, more comfortable temperatures than traditional saunas.
ConsidComplementary therapies like chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture, along with Reiki, aura photography, and intuitive readings, will also be offered on-site, making this a one-stop shop for well-being, insight, and clarity.
Red light therapy uses near-infrared light to stimulate cellular energy production, offering benefits like improved skin health, reduced wrinkles, and faster wound healing. And cryotherapy, a therapeutic technique that exposes the body to extreme cold—in chambers or via localized nitrogen—to reduce inflammation, alleviate pain, and enhance athletic recovery, weight loss, and mood, works by inducing vasoconstriction to decrease blood flow and trigger natural healing. “All of these natural wellness devices actually have a pretty good track record—They’re designed to be non-invasive and supportive, and might well help,” Jonathan Bracci says. “Chiropractors actually use PEMF a lot—it helps with all sorts of aches and pains. The cryotherapy is great to get you up and moving; it helps with endorphins, which help your mood.”
Complementary therapies like chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture, along with Reiki, aura photography, and intuitive readings, will also be offered on-site, making this a one-stop shop for well-being, insight, and clarity. “We also have a lot of tinctures and remedies that are made by a local Pennsylvanian Amish company. They grow all their own herbs,” Ogden says. “On what could be considered the more metaphysical side, for the crystal light therapy, you lie on a bed that heats the body up and is good for muscle tissue, and also has crystals with light frequencies moving through them that go through your whole body. And then for Lyme disease, for instance, the Rife machine is a frequency-based machine that is very old technology, but all the research was done and they picked out every frequency based on what's going on your body, and the machine can take the same type of frequency to match it, to break up the bad stuff. There’s a frequency for just about every ailment.”
"We like to use the most non-invasive techniques as much as possible, because we can keep the price down and people can do more visits and get more benefits.” – Co-Owner Travis Ogden
As you might expect, there are treatments for the mind as well as the body. “We have a system called Brain Tap, which is like a very light hypnotherapy, a suggestive meditational device with light therapy,” Bracci says. “We can find the right mode for you, whether you’re experiencing sleep conditions, negative thought patterns around money and finance and wealth, or the effects of loss and trauma—there's a program of brain taps that can be completed in sessions of about 20 minutes, and it helps to change your brain patterns and how you think. People report feeling a very real difference.”
“We’ll be adding more, of course, as time goes on,” Ogden says. “We’re going to have a menu with a lot of different packages and hourly rates that work out to be around $1-2 a minute—of course, if you’re working with a practitioner for massage or acupuncture, it’s more like $80 to $120 a session.
But we like to use the most non-invasive techniques as much as possible, because we can keep the price down and people can do more visits and get more benefits.”
The team did a lot of research before choosing the wellness center equipment, Ogden says. “We studied what heat, cold, electromagnetic pulses, and vibrational healing do to the body, going through all the different things that we could possibly do and finding what we thought were the best things to include. Tim (Bracci) was very instrumental in all this; he has many years of experience and a deep background in these techniques.”
Though your doctor might consider it woo-woo, the Crystal Connection folks have tapped into a deep alternative stream of therapies that have their own body of research and anecdotal lore attached. “Infrared is an old technology; how we're using it is newer,” Bracci says.
“It uses a mat lined with crystals; the infrared moves through the crystal, harmonizes that mineral energy, and floods your body with this enhanced energy. So it revitalizes the body, kind of like taking vitamin supplements, but on an energetic level—not to mention the muscle tissue and cellular regeneration. Adding light therapy is mitochondrial health, treatment for the powerhouse of the cell. What we've seen in terms of the impact on how people feel is amazing.”
The restored church will continue to house the crystal showroom, salt cave, vibro-acoustic bed, and Energy Enhancement System room, while the newly renovated building next door introduces private treatment rooms and dedicated technology suites designed for more individualized sessions.
Curious? Step inside, explore the crystals, and experience it for yourself.
crystal connection
116-118 Sullivan St, Wurtsboro
845-888-2547
crystalconnectionnewyork.com
