One might not be familiar with chakras or crystal therapy, but Taylor Melendes has an open-door policy for her new wellness center at 1049 S. Carson St.<\/p>\n
She said her holistic practice is about the expansion of light and flow of energy, and she will talk to anyone walking in with questions.<\/p>\n
Wiley\u2019s Wellness Sanctuary, near Red\u2019s Old 395 Grill, opened mid-December. It has a sign out front with encouraging notes, and the interior is adorned with crystals, plants, Melendes\u2019 handmade jewelry, aromatherapy oils, vibrating crystal bowls and even vintage second-hand clothes.<\/p>\n
The \u201csafe space,\u201d as Melendes put it, is a boutique of sorts. But there are also two therapy rooms, one for crystal bed therapy and one for infrared light therapy, and Melendes\u2019 lushly decorated office is a space for grief counseling, health coaching and crystal therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has grief,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how big or how small it is. You can be grieving the fact that you didn\u2019t finish college, and you had an expectation for yourself to finish it. Anytime that expectations aren\u2019t reached, we sometimes have to grieve those things to process it and move it through our body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melendes, 46, is from Detroit. A nutritionist for two decades \u2014 then a health coach and grief counselor \u2014 she moved her practice west last fall. She now lives in Incline Village but wanted to open a place like Wiley\u2019s not in Tahoe or Reno \u2014 where she said there are similar practices \u2014 but in Carson City.<\/p>\n
The name of the sanctuary comes from her late son, Wiley. Melendes\u2019 practice is an outgrowth of her own journey through grief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my son Wiley (Olsen) to a moose in the middle of the road in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This was in 2020. Her son was 17. She said he swerved right to avoid the moose then overcorrected to the left and was struck by another vehicle and killed.<\/p>\n
Within years of losing her son, Melendes lost both parents, two friends and her dog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was all within the span of four years,\u201d she said. \u201cThat brought me to a pretty radical healing journey, and it brought me to Tucson, Arizona. I went to Canyon Ranch there a few times. It\u2019s a wellness center\/retreat center\u2026 I didn\u2019t have any light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melendes said she wanted to start to live again. Therapy helped, and she found crystal, sound and aromatherapy \u201celevated my healing.\u201d Enough that she began her own practice.<\/p>\n
Asked about western medicine, Melendes said, \u201cIt\u2019s not replacing it, and I\u2019m not knocking it. I\u2019m just giving people a different alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel Lee, a wellness coordinator with Wiley\u2019s, noted the diverse ages of people visiting the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten all walks of life through here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Melendes described how her own experience and training have made her good at listening. She made a distinction between self-confidence and self-compassion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is how you can walk into a space and hold yourself,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other is about are you holding a space for yourself? Because we\u2019re not very compassionate to ourselves. We beat ourselves up on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiley\u2019s Wellness Sanctuary offers alterative tools and modalities to create that space for the self, Melendes explained. She said her job is working with people and figuring out how to keep their energy moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your light is shining, and your vibration is high, you can conquer mountains,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n