The Healing Gallery

A quaint space for holistic healing

By Sarah Ravits

The Healing Gallery is a transformative space and a welcome respite from the stressors of daily life, explains owner Kathleen Grant, a licensed acupuncturist and yoga practitioner. 

Grant says her business—which offers yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy and a gallery and retail space for local artists and creatives at 56 ½ Queen Street downtown—has been an especially precious resource for clients amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Though the hours are limited due to safety restrictions, employees have been “busier than ever” she says, hosting private classes and other healing sessions.

“We do cupping, acupuncture, herbal supplementation, all types of massage, and private yoga sessions right now,” she explains.

The talented staff has also made a number of house calls over the past several months, she says, as some of her longtime and new clients have made an effort to stay home as much as possible until the pandemic is over.

There has also been a skyrocketing need for holistic healing and treatments that can help quash people’s anxiety and give them a much-needed break to center themselves, she says. 

When clients book private yoga sessions, they are also given the option to bring in others to join them.

 “They can do one-on-one with a yoga teacher,  or bring five of their friends or family members,” says Grant. “It’s a way to make the private class have more bang for the buck. We wanted to give people that option.” 

She also notes that massage therapies have been exceptionally popular over the past several months. 

“I think people are needing more touch this year, more than ever — really anything to calm the anxiety of living in the modern world,” says Grant. “We’ve been very busy.” 

Born in San Diego but raised in South Carolina, Grant moved back to California in her early 20s to attend school in Los Angeles, where she spent another five years before moving back to Charleston. When she moved back, she found herself “pining for that lifestyle” she had picked up on the West Coast, that heavily emphasized healthy activities like yoga.  

At the time, she was the helm of a home health care company for the elderly — which she still runs — and thought that opening up The Healing Gallery seemed “like a no brainer,” she says. Since she founded the Healing Gallery three years ago, she thinks the mentality has shifted in Charleston to embrace self-care and holistic healing — echoing national trends.

“When I left Charleston at 21, there wasn’t a whole lot of that going on,” she recalls.“When I moved back here — I think because there’s so many people moving in from all over the country — they are bringing this healthy lifestyle,” she says. “This is a party town, but people are learning how to balance it a little better,” she says. “Charleston has embraced it.”  

The very atmosphere of the Healing Gallery itself is a calming environment. Grant describes it as a small, quaint and multifunctional space that can accommodate for yoga classes, massage sessions, acupuncture and more. 

“When people come in here,” she says, “it’s like entering a different realm.” 

For more information, visit thehealinggallery.com or check out social media: @thehealinggallery