BEE HUT & BENEFITS
It’s one of only a handful of publicly available bee huts in the United States,
but countries like Slovenia have known about the potential of bee air therapy and bee huts for years.
Bee huts and bee air therapy help reset you physically and mentally. Here’s how they work…
At Heathen Honey, you step into a custom cedar-built hut, hosting 3 layens hives worth of local honey bees (Apis mellifera) under the benches before you. This hut is designed to allow you to relax, safely separated from 100,000 bees working hard below you. Bees come in and out of the hive on the outside near the back of the hut, while you’re inside experiencing their activity from above.
Apitherapy (therapy using bees) became popular in Slovenia in the late 19th century. The umbrella term includes bee venom therapy, but that’s not normally what a bee hut provides (Heathen Honey doesn’t provide bee venom therapy, though if you’d like, reach out and I can connect you with a few practitioners). Bee air therapy was first documented in Russia in the 1920s, and in the 80’s, the Austrian Hüttner family invented a system that delivered purified air through a mask.
Countires like Slovenia, Germany, and Romania have established bee air therapy treatments, but the practice is also prevalent in Austria, Turkey, Russia, the UK, and other countries.
The bees underneath the bench produce a hum and a vibration around 200-300hz. They also produce air rich in propolis vapors, negative air ions, and terpenes, as well as the smell of honey, wax, and the bees themselves. These features are nothing short of magic when they come together to provide an enriching experience for you.
Bee huts are a space for healing meditation, concentration through sketch or writing, sound bath retreats, and a connection to the Earth’s cycles through one of the hardest working superorganisms on the planet.
Let’s dissect exactly what benefits a bee hut can potentially provide you:
Calming Hum at 200-300hz
This sound frequency helps relax and reset & relax your parasympathetic nervous system (your “do I feel safe?” sensor). It’s the frequency of the root chakra and is a perfect foundation for singing bowl retreats.
Many people find the white noise sound incredibly relaxing.
Boost Mental Health & Reduce Stress
The vibrations of bees in a hive (or 3 in the case of your bee hut visit) produce negative air ions, which help boost mental health, reduce stress, and regulate sleep patterns (nih.gov, 2018).
Antimicrobial Propolis Vapors
Propolis is made out of tree resin and has long known to have antimicrobial properties. Inside the Heathen Honey bee hut is an additional propolis diffuser to help you get the most out of this protective layer that bees use all throughout the hive.
Rich Aroma
Smell is our strongest scent connected to memory and feeling. The rich, earthy and sweet combination of honey, wax, propolis cedar, and the bees will help ease you into a relaxed and grounded state.
Voaltile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Bee air also produces volatile organic compounds, which consist of terpenes (like linalool, pinene, and caryophyllene), hydrocarbons, ketones, and phenolic compounds. Together, these compounds have been shown to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antioxidant traits (Bankova et al., 2016).
A Natural Humidifier
Bees provide air flow through the hive and the bee hut, though it’s subtle unless you place your face near the bench slats.
Humid air can soothe nasal passages and reduce irritation.