Good Grit Magazine. Winter 2025-26 print.

The charming mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina, was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene in the Fall of 2024. Today, acres of trees still lie on forest floors as you drive up Elk Mountain. The Arts Center was annihilated, and businesses downtown are sharing storefronts to help each other. While the land and people continue to heal, SoHum Mountain Healing Resort, which reopened in February 2025, invites visitors to join the rebuilding process in Asheville. 

Asheville’s reputation as a haven for holistic healing isn’t new. It’s a tradition that dates back centuries. The Cherokee, who have long called the Blue Ridge mountains home, believed in the sacredness of the land, its pure mountain air, and its mineral-rich earth, including abundant quartz deposits. Asheville is considered one of three “energy vortex destinations” in the United States, where some New Age believers say ley lines converge. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, these theoretical, invisible lines are thought to connect important landmarks across the world and hold the most spiritual energy at the points where the lines intersect. Some believers attribute Asheville’s grounding and restorative energy to the city’s location in relation to these ley lines. The healing mountain air is what drew George Vanderbilt to build the Biltmore Estate there in the late 1800s, and more recently, why the prestigious Ayurvedic Institute chose Asheville as its new home. 

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