Caring for the Body & Mind
At one point in Tara Mechaley’s life, she believed all hope was gone, and the thought of dying felt like a better solution than the struggle to live.
“I went through a really dark time in my life. I am a suicide survivor. God gave me a second chance, and I believe very much that I am here to give back. That’s how I have gone forward in my life.”
That second chance renewed Tara’s outlook on life and became a commitment to caring for others, nurturing their mental and physical well-being.
“That is what really put a fire under me to want to be able to help others,” Tara said.
With over two decades of experience as a massage therapist, Tara opened The Body Spa in 2014, later renaming it The Body Spa & Cryo after introducing cryotherapy to western South Dakota. Cryotherapy, a treatment that uses freezing temperatures for full-body wellness, activates the body’s natural healing process and reduces inflammation. It’s a fast, dry-cold treatment often used by NFL players as an alternative to traditional ice baths.
The Body Spa Expands
Two months ago, Tara realized her dream of expanding with a new, 3,500-square-foot location, marking a new chapter for the Black Hills native.
“I want everyone who walks in here to feel like they are listened to and cared for,” she said standing in her newly renovated, spa, thoughtfully designed for inclusivity and accessibility.
“I want to educate the community that there are alternatives to taking care of themselves and that self-care is not selfish. You have to think of yourself as the Titanic and if it is going down you have to have a life jacket on yourself before you can help anyone else. You have to be able to step away, take a pause and let the world make sense again.”
Cutting-Edge Services
Tara calls her place a lifestyle spa, something in between a luxury and medical spa, that provides a variety of cutting-edge services focusing on whole body wellness, the body, mind and spirit.
The Body Spa & Cryo offers powerful treatments, from the cryotherapy pod and Kaasen portable device to the Halo salt sauna and red-light therapy, targeting conditions like migraines, arthritis, anxiety and allergies. These services are also highly effective in combating depression, especially during the winter months when seasonal affective disorder (SAD) strikes, leaving millions vulnerable to the winter blues.
“Serotonin diminishes a lot during the winter months with less sunlight and people living a more sedentary lifestyle. Our services will keep your body mobile during those winter months and help increase circulation and serotonin levels – that happy drug that affects our mood.”
With discounts on additional services, many spa guests use a combination of treatments to boost their wellness benefits. “We often see clients who do cryo, then a massage, and finish with
red light therapy,” she said. “One of the big things in the winter months is our internal clocks can get thrown off due to the reduced daylight.”
Sleep is vital for both mental and physical health, Tara noted. “When you’re not getting proper rest, it will start to crash your body. Many of our services help reset and balance that internal clock,
improving sleep quality.”
Human wellness is not the only therapy provided at The Body Spa & Cryo. The spa offers an animal cryotherapy, nicknamed the critter cryo, that treats a variety of animals. “I’ve worked on horses,
cats, a raccoon, and a wolf. It does the same thing targeting treatment concentrating on the spine of the animal in order to reset the nervous system. It is another way to provide pain relief without
medication.”
Veteran Services
Tara, alongside her husband Marshall—a combat veteran and her biggest support in keeping things at the spa running smoothly—has a deep passion for supporting those who serve our country. She partners with the local Veterans Affairs to offer massages for the area veterans, addressing issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain management, and depression.
“We provide massages to 150 to 200 veterans every month,” Tara said noting her specialized training in veteran and first responder care. She also proudly displays an “Honor Wall” in her spa filled with challenge coins given in recognition of her volunteer service.
Tara is expanding her support for veterans through a new grant, secured with the help of Elevate Rapid City (Elevate). Funded by South Dakota’s share of the National Opioid Settlement, the grant, administered by the state’s Department of Social Services, focuses on using cryotherapy as an alternative to pain medication.
“This research grant will allow us to use whole-body cryo therapy to help veterans reduce their reliance on pain medications,” Tara explained. “We’ll be able to provide 72 veterans with 12 free cryo sessions each.”
The pilot program will launch in January, once Tara receives her new electric, cryotherapy unit. This advanced machine features two walk-in chambers for full-body cryo treatment.
Elevate was integral in securing the grant connecting Tara with U.S. Sen. John Thune’s office and partnering her with the City of Rapid City.
“Elevate has been amazing with the grant as well as helping with the transition to the new facility. I went down to Elevate several times to get advice as we moved through the process,” she said adding that at one time she was afraid she would have to close the spa. “Elevate wanted to ensure that didn’t happen by providing mentorship and someone to go over numbers.”
Tara also plans to launch a gift certificate program where local residents can contribute funds for services, which the spa will then offer to community members in need— whether they’re going through a difficult time or have made a positive impact in the community. The idea began when a guest donated a gift certificate he had received. “That day, we had a teacher who had been deeply
affected by a suicide a few months earlier. At the end of the session, I told him there was no charge, and that someone in the community wanted him to know he was cared for.”
This is why Tara believes she has a second chance.
One day, she hopes to have the spa at a place where she can step back and expand her community outreach. “I never thought it would be possible to have my own growing business. My eventual dream is to get the spa to a place that it can run on its own, and I can step aside and just volunteer my hands.”
