Desiree Beaumont and Lee Thorpe massage John Thorpe at the Center for Holistic Wellness on Sept. 6, 2022.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
The owners and director of a relatively new wellness center in Carson City joke that some of their clients may be hippies, but others are just people looking for hope and healing.
“We’re not a replacement for a shrink or doctor,” emphasized Dayton resident Desiree Beaumont, the director of The Center for Holistic Wellness. “We’re just an additional tool.”
Beaumont, 27, along with owners Lee and John Thorpe – 61 and 60, respectively – met the Appeal on Sept. 6 at the center. Located off Old Hot Springs Road, the nondescript suite opens with surprising capacity: five private treatment spaces, two classrooms, a mediation and yoga room, two restrooms, administrative offices, and a waiting area.
The center is the brainchild of the trio, a product of years of creative collaboration.
“We wanted a bigger space for the community,” explained Beaumont. “After millions of lunchtime conversations, we said, ‘let’s just do this.’”
The journey of the center began with Lee and John Thorpe, who hail from Chicago. In 2003, they moved to North Lake Tahoe to pursue alterative healing practices.
“I’m a south-sider, and she’s a north-sider,” John said of their shared past in Chicago. “It was nice moving to the water and mountains. We really got burned out on the big city.”
Within a year of arriving in the region, they started Sky Lake Healing, the umbrella company that oversees their business operations. In 2007, they purchased the Baum Healing Arts Center, which would become the Bodhi Tree Center for Healing Arts off North Deer Run Road. This is where they met and hired Beaumont. For the last 15 years, the student massage clinic has served residents from Carson City and beyond. The idea of adding more alterative programs – the holistic approach – eventually transformed into the wellness center.
What residents can find now in the new space is a variety of massage and bodywork techniques administered by independent therapists; some spa-like services like facials; and topical classes exploring everything from aromatherapy to quantum energy.
“We have groupies,” Lee said of their massage school, grinning. “The inception of this was to provide more services to the community.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the massage school saw a slowdown but “recovered crazy fast,” John said. The new center, however, opened in April 2020, right when the pandemic hit hard. It closed for a few months following health guidelines, but even when it re-opened, business remained flat.
“Our hours were extremely limited. We couldn’t have walk-ins. We had an elongated soft opening,” Beaumont said.
But word started spreading. Weekly yoga and meditation classes became popular. Even a holistic book club formed among members, focusing on some self-help titles, yes, but also a lot of literary fiction.
“This year, things have picked up steadily,” Beaumont said.
The trio envisions the center as a “hub” for different kinds of teachings and practices. They said while alternative healing can seem fringe to many, it can be simple and straightforward. Again, they joked some of their clients are hippies, while others are just curious.
“Whether it’s a hippie or scientist, energy is still energy,” said Beaumont.
Some customers seek alternative philosophies, different ways of looking at the world, while others just want a massage, she said.
“We offer what you are able to commit to,” she said. “I don’t want to turn anyone away. It depends on each client and what they’re looking for.”
The Center for Holistic Wellness is located at 1535 Old Hot Springs Road, Suite 60, and is open noon to 7 p.m. Mondays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
For information, visit https://www.thecenterforholisticwellness.org/
