This new rock and crystal shop in Washington City aims to heal

WASHINGTON CITY— From twinkling ceiling lights to shimmering crystals hanging from a twisted Tree of Life, Gaia’s Gifts aims to provide healing and peace.

(L-R) Laura Schmitt and Tina Mason, co-owners of Free Will Healing, smile for a photo inside Gaia’s Gifts, Washington City, Utah, Nov. 7, 2023 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

“Gaia is Mother Earth,” Tina Mason, co-owner of Free Will Healing, told St. George News. “And everything in here is from Mother Earth. We use the Tree of Life because it is the beginning of everything. It reaches to the sky and it connects the roots down to the earth and it connects the heavens with the earth. We are the trunk of the tree and the energy flows through us. We are the conduit.”

Mason and Laura Schmitt are the co-founders and owners of Free Will Healing, a holistic center co-op in Washington City. The facility is home to different healing practitioners including everything from Reiki masters to psychic mediums. Both healing practitioners themselves, the pair saw the need for a rock and crystal shop.

On Nov. 3, they brought their energy together to open Gaia’s Gifts.

Most of the items in the shop are from a distributor in Cedar City. They plan to expand to include handcrafted items from practitioners at Free Will Healing and eventually open space for other local artisans. 

“This has been a labor of a lot of love for the last year,” said Schmitt, who also is a licensed vocational nurse and holistic ayurvedic coach. “We had roadblocks and we finally just set the wheels in motion and did not stop. And here we are.”

What can you find in Gaia’s Gifts?

Various necklaces hang from a handmade Tree of Life inside Gaia’s Gifts in Washington City, Utah, Nov. 7, 2023 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

A large variety of tumbled stones are available and can be purchased individually or in pre-arranged sets. Rocks, gemstones and crystals are set into earrings, bracelets, rings and more. Shelves are lined with a collection of spheres, sphere stands, sage, palo santo, chakra essential oils, chakra kits and pain-relieving salves.

And, if you visit the shop, you’re likely to encounter the facility’s newest healer – Dexter. A service dog that is trained in deep pressure therapy for anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety, Dexter can switch back and forth between a therapy dog and a service dog with just one command, Mason said.

“Dexter, make a friend,” Mason said, gesturing toward a customer. “Now he’s probably going to lean on you. He’s pulling any kind of negative or anxiety from you. The noise he’s making from his mouth is him expelling it. When he’s done, he will plop down, almost like she’s sending it back to the earth.”

Find Dexter and other healing practitioners at Free Will Healing.

About Free Will Healing

Free Will Healing first opened its doors in September 2021. The facility is currently home to 13 individual practitioners, each specializing in a variety of energetic and spiritual modalities. With the purpose of bringing healing to others, the facility offers free consultations to find the right practitioner for each interested client. 

Various items are for sale inside Gaia’s Gifts in Washington City, Utah, Nov. 7, 2023 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

“We call our gifted practitioners all unicorns because they are very unique,” Schmitt said. “We’ve created this vortex of energy in here. People like to sometimes just come and sit in the lobby because it’s so peaceful and quiet.”

Services at Free Will Healing include traditional Chinese medicine, south baths and music therapy, end-of-life ceremonies, herbalists and nutritionists, psychic mediums, various forms of Reiki, acupunctural life wave patch therapy, physical therapy, quantum light healing and more. 

“We want everyone to be able to come in and have no fear and no judgment,” Mason said. “People come to us because they have hope and we don’t want them to leave without that hope.”

For more information on Gaia’s Gifts and Free Will Healing, visit their website. The shop is located at 293 E. Telegraph St. in Washington City.

Photo Gallery

Crystals are for swale inside Gaia’s Gifts in Washington City, Utah, Nov. 7, 2023 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

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