Salina man honors late wife with opening of Kansas’ first mental health gym

SALINA, Kan. (KWCH) - A Salina restaurant owner is hoping to do more than just satisfy people’s appetites. Knowing the impact of mental health, he’s providing a place where people can find some relaxation, a mental health gym that also honors a life.

The concept of a mental health gym is a place for wellness, not designed to build muscle but to ease the mind.

When Ben Lee first envisioned the place dedicated to helping with alleviating stress, Myne Body and Soul, he had a simple goal.

“A judgment-free-type zone to where they could just get away and have a relaxation experience, like a ‘me day,’” Lee said.

Myne Body and Soul Coordinator Erin Kerby helps people with appointments, as well as walk-ins, get settled. Kerby, who has anxiety, said she relates to this kind of resource.

“It was giving people the options, what’s going to work for you, what’s best for you. That’s what we put together in here,” she said.

At Myne, Body and Soul, Kerby said one feature that helps her is a vibroacoustic bed, which after using for 10 minutes, is “like you’re in a whole different world.”

“I mean, it’s just calmer. Seems like I can concentrate better,” she said.

For Lee, the mental health gym is also serving a personal purpose of honoring his late wife, Jazzmyne, who died by suicide last year. He said Myne, Body and Soul is the type of place that could have helped her.

“Leading up to her death, she was really wanting a ‘me day,’ and she kept saying it. I wasn’t able to give that to her and I didn’t even know the real impact of the need of something like this,” he said.

The mental health gym isn’t meant to replace traditional mental health services but to build on what they can offer.

“(It is a) place to go to get you to the next counseling meeting or to the next therapy meeting,” Kerby said.

For Lee, it’s a place where people can ease some of the suffering he knows Jazzmyne faced and try to prevent the pain of loss he knows too well.

“Keeping her memory alive through, hopefully, the healing of other people,” he said.

Myne Body and Soul is the first mental health gym of its kind in Kansas. The cost for a session is $1 per minute. There are also membership options.

They have walk-in hours 11-4 weekdays and are open by appointment.

They’re located at 1410 E Iron Ave Suite 8, Salina, KS, United States, Kansas and can be reached at (785) 515-2212.