A desire to promote wellness — and to enable people to glow from the inside out — prompted Nicole Panko to open Ember Wellness Studio in Mankato’s Old Town in September.
“I also own Heat Salon + Lifestyle Studio,” said Panko, mentioning her full-service hair salon on hilltop Mankato, “and Ember is a sister company to Heat.
“While Heat is focused on outer beauty — a way to ignite your spark — I like to say Ember is focused on inner beauty and will help fuel your fire.”
Ember Wellness Studio offers an infrared sauna that can accommodate up to four people, dry salt therapy, red light therapy, chromotherapy and an infrared PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) mat, as well as yoga classes.
Panko intends to add additional therapeutic choices in the coming months, including a candlelight sound bath and an increased number of yoga classes, among other healing possibilities.
Heat’s success and increasing customer base, coupled with a wish to improve her own well-being and life balance, led Panko to the realization that the Greater Mankato region was ripe for more wellness and healthy living options such as those now available at Ember Wellness Studio.
“Within Heat’s reception area, I created a boutique with lifestyle products that are practical and useful for everyday life,” Panko said.
“That started to cross over into the wellness side of things, and I worked with (North Mankato-based) Curiosi-Tea House to custom craft a wellness and beauty tea we serve and sell.”
Basically, Panko needed to expand. When she learned the space at 613 N. Riverfront Drive would become available, Panko wrote a business plan; about a year later, Ember was ready to roll.
“I’d really gotten into saunas for my personal health journey,” she said, explaining that an infrared sauna seemed a natural fit for Ember.
“I love the infrared sauna; I feel lighter and refreshed afterwards,” Panko said.
“And I’m a big fan of yoga. I’ve attended our instructor’s classes for years, and I was thrilled she agreed to come on board.”
Julie Larkin-Spies, Heat Salon’s front-end manager, was an early — and enthusiastic — Ember customer.
“My sister and I have been to the Ember yoga class each Thursday, and what I love about it is the smaller setting — it’s more intimate and not overwhelming like some larger yoga classes can be, and the instructor is just fantastic. She makes it a calming, meditative experience.”
Larkin-Spies, a former 16-year educator, has also become a regular user of Ember’s infrared sauna because the results she experienced following her first visit completely won her over.
“My husband, Brent, and I tried a half hour in the sauna followed by a half hour in the salt lounge,” Larkin-Spies said.
“I’d never done any sauna before, other than a steam room at the gym, so I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “You can hook your phone up and I played a meditation tape; then we transitioned to the salt lounge to cool down.
“I’m not usually the best sleeper, but that night I slept like a rock and was so relaxed and refreshed that we’re now making a habit of it.”
Ember’s overall ambience is another selling point for Larkin-Spies.
“I’m a plus-sized woman so when I’m going to new spots, I want to make sure they’re accommodating for all body types,” Larkin-Spies said.
“Ember was very comfortable; all its chairs and spaces are inclusive and accommodating, and the sauna was very spacious, 100%.
“And Nicole is so good at creating spaces that feel super grounded and calming; it’s really beautifully set up.”
Healthy eating, soothing decor
Ember’s soothing environment is no accident; Panko, a native of Marshall, graduated from Minnesota State University in 2006 with majors in interior design and construction management.
She put her academic knowledge to work immediately and made the Mankato area her home.
With professional experience as a commercial interior designer and marketing director in her back pocket, Panko was well equipped to put the right touches into play at both Ember and Heat.
Her supportive husband, Jim, aided her with Ember’s building projects, and their three sons (ages 6, 8 and 19) have benefited from the mentality that led Panko to establish Ember.
“Living healthy is challenging,” Panko said. “Our lives are so fast-paced, and I was really considering what we can do to make it all easier for people.”
That’s how Panko landed on Ember’s food side. She’s partnered with Mankato’s Massad Group to stock a grab-and-go cooler with healthy snacks and lunch items (think salads, veggies and hummus trays) and also with Curiosa-Tea House (providing fresh wraps, salads and tea).
“And we have a line of cold-pressed juices that have been a big hit,” said Panko, listing both milk-based coffee drinks and citrus-based drinks infused with greens or ingredients like strawberry and basil.
“If you pop in and want to take a sauna on your lunch break, you can grab a salad to take back to work with you,” she said. “Or you can come for a yoga class at 5:30 p.m. and take something healthy and satisfying home to eat.”
That concept sprung from Panko’s own experiences as a busy wife, mother and working woman.
“I was always scrambling, running errands at the end of the day and wishing I could grab a healthy salad somewhere, and fast,” she said.
“I’ve done a lot of reading in the past few years about how the processed foods we eat can show up later as auto-immune diseases and chronic pain in our bodies. I’ve been trying to change my own ways for the better and want to help others do that, too.”
Therefore, the lifestyle products Ember sells are natural, largely chemical free and use the least amount of plastic in packaging as possible.
“They’re items that are good for both you and the earth, but they’re useful in everyday life,” Panko said.
Whether you come for the earth- and health-friendly products, the nutritious salads and wraps or the detoxifying salt lounge and rejuvenating red light mask (“Red light therapy has tons of benefits,” promised Panko. “It’s similar to sunlight minus the negative UV rays, plus it’s good for your complexion, gives a natural glow and rejuvenates your skin cells,”), Panko is eager to share all the ways Ember can contribute to customers’ physical and mental wellbeing.
Said Ember’s owner, “You’ve gotta fuel the fire of your life.”