Four women, each working in wellness fields, have come together to offer a one-stop shop for self-care right on Main Street.
A Touch of Lonsdale, Beautifully Made MN and Reiki with Bailee are three different businesses that offer slightly different services, but the owners said the services complement each other. The business collaborative is holding a grand opening from 2-6 p.m. Saturday, May 18.
The building was originally just doing to be Beautifully Made MN, but that changed once the owner, Annastina Barnes, asked if the others would like to join. Now, it’s like a wellness cooperative.
“Whatever you want to do, we’re here to help you through that,” she said. “Or if you just want to come and get away from your kids for an hour or your husband or your wife’s driving you nuts — I do men’s facials too, men services — we’re here just to provide a really nice kind of space for them. And I think self-care is so important. I am just really honored to have opportunity to be able to have done this and open this up and then partner with some great people too.”
Beautifully Made MN offers skincare services, like facials and waxes. Barnes said she’ll have nail services available shortly, but is waiting on some gear to get it up and running. She also does permanent jewelry.
“They’re like anklets and necklaces or bracelets that you do a tiny little weld so they stay on,” she said. “Well, I mean, it’s permanent in the sense that it doesn’t have a clasp that you take it off.”
Reiki with Bailee offers Reiki and reads Tarot cards for people. Owner Bailee Rasmussen describes Reiki as “energy healing” and Tarot as “intuitive messages” about one’s challenges in life.
“So you’re providing the body with more universal lifeforce energy so that the body can heal itself,” she said. “So it promotes relaxation, balance restoration … It’s kind of like a massage without the massage part. You feel that same relaxed way at the end of the session.”
Rasmussen didn’t know what Reiki was about seven years ago. Now, she’s considered a Reiki master, meaning she went through about 18 hours of training and was certified by another Reiki master.
She acknowledged that it could seem “mystical” and skeptics will likely have their doubts.
“It’s not very scientific, but there’s a lot of scientific research that says it like complements Western medicine really well,” she said.
But to her, it is very much real. That’s why she started learning about it back in 2017, after she said it helped her conquer some underlying childhood trauma.
“I actually had no idea what Reiki was,” she said. “I was just at some spiritual fair and I put my name in a drawing and I won a free session. So I went and I had a life-changing experience. And after that, I just like knew that I was called to Reiki and wanted to learn. So I started learning everything I could about it.”
A Touch of Lonsdale has been around for a few years. It used to operate out of Bill Lieske’s chiropractic practice but now is a part of the joint venture.
Owner Cady Berg recently made her employee, Cherry Wiseman, into a co-owner. Both offer massage therapy, but Wiseman also offers Reiki. Sometimes, she combines the two in her sessions.
The Lonsdale residents were all especially excited to be in Lonsdale and right downtown. But the businesswomen know how quickly word gets around in a small town.
“Let’s face it, we’re in a small town,” Barnes said. “Bad service, bad recommendations, bad experiences, that’s — you don’t want it to end up on the front page of Lonsdale Happenings that you did something bad or they had a terrible experience.”
That’s why they feel it’s important that they all share the same vision, provide good service and help each other grow.
“It’s not just my space; we’re all collaborating together,” Berg said. “It feels good being in a small town and seeing what we’re doing and how we’re affecting the people in the town. And just feeling like we’re making it a better place.”
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