Floatation Therapy: What to Expect When You Float

About 30 minutes into my 60-minute session, I was so relaxed I couldn’t tell if I was still breathing. Every once in a while, I’d have to remind myself that I had a body. Seriously.

I’m an eager guinea pig. When it comes to wellness-related stuff, I’ll try anything. If a friend swears by it, I’m in. I always learn something – even if it it’s “ummm … this is not for me.”

(My timing can be a little off, though. Case in point: trying a neti pot for the first time on my honeymoon.)

So when my sister told me how much she loved floatation therapy, I decided to try it. I had no idea there are so many float tank centers out there! I chose one nearby, a full-service spa where I could get a microdermabrasion facial after my float. (I should have scheduled the facial after the float – I’ll explain why in a minute.)

So if you’re curious about floatation therapy, here’s what to expect. You’ll spend 30 to 60 minutes submerged up to your chin (with your ears under water) in a tank of salt water that’s exactly 98.6 degrees (the same temperature of your body). It’ll be totally dark and totally quiet (unless you decide to have gentle music piped in). The idea is to drastically reduce environmental stimulation: temperature, touch, sight, sound – even gravity.
 

MENTAL BENEFITS

My Float.

About 30 minutes into my 60-minute session, I was so relaxed I couldn’t tell if I was still breathing. Every once in a while, I’d have to remind myself that I had a body. Seriously. You know that deep, heavy, effortless relaxation that you drift into right before you fall asleep? It was like that – only I never fell asleep. I hovered in that semi-conscious, in-between space. It was delicious.

That much said, the first 30 minutes were rough. I’m not claustrophobic, but I panicked when the lid came down over me. I felt like I was being buried alive. I’m not afraid of the dark, but the darkness spooked me. I kept opening and closing my eyes in the darkness. I love being in water, but at first I was flailing. The warm salt water was pleasant, but I couldn’t tell where my body ended and the water began. I know that’s the whole idea, but it freaked me out. I couldn’t get comfortable. My neck ached. My breathing was shallow and fast. I was a mess!

The key was surrender. I reminded myself to breathe. I slowed down my breath with simple pranayama, deepening each exhale. After a while, I calmed down. Slowly, slowly, I began to feel the weightlessness that float addicts rave about … it truly was a blissful out-of-body experience.

The Science.

Float tanks screen out nearly all external stimuli, giving your nervous system a break. It’s estimated that 90% of your brain function is spent dealing with environmental stimuli: everything you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear … all that stuff that’s busying your brain without you even knowing it. Studies have shown that when sensory stimuli is removed, your senses have less to process, and your mind is free to relax in a deep state of calm. It’s a powerful setting for meditation.

Here’s where it gets interesting: when the brain is deprived of external stimuli, sometimes it creates its own. This can result in the often-reported hallucinatory effects of floatation therapy. Some people report light dancing behind their eyelids; others hear a ringing in their ears or even music.
 

PHYSICAL BENEFITS

My Float.

When I got out of the tank, I felt like an alien taking her first steps on Earth. All those sensations that had been quieted were now very loud. The dim lights in the room were glowing magically. The sound of the water sloshing in the tank was tinkling in my ears. The firm pressure of the floor beneath my feet was like a massage. As I dried off with a super-soft sheet, my skin prickled and tingled and my muscles came back awake with fresh exuberance. It astonished me. I wondered how long this high would last.

Turns out, it lasted right up until the microdermabrasion started. It was a great facial, but I was literally gritting my teeth the whole time. With all my senses on fire, the “sanding” of my skin was almost excruciating. By the time I checked out and got back on my bicycle, that blissful otherworldly feeling I had when I rose from the tank was completely gone.

The Science.

Some argue that deep muscle relaxation and other physical sensations experienced in floatation therapy is due not to the tank or the sensory deprivation but to the magnesium salt solution of the water. (Think of the way an Epsom salt bath soothes aching muscles, and then multiply that times 10.)

As a holistic health treatment, athletes and people with minor physical injuries use floatation therapy to speed up the healing process and promote tissue regeneration. There’s also evidence that transdermal magnesium absorption promotes detoxification, stimulates hydration, relieves joint pain, and improves respiration.
 

THE VERDICT

Yay or Nay?

YAY! Floating was intense – more so than I thought it would be. It was an exploratory experience. I plan to try it again – my sense is that you need to try several floats before you know if it’s for you.

Tips & Tricks.

Follow your breath to calm yourself as soon as you get in the water. Use slow, deep breaths – especially on the exhale – to ease out of any mental anxiety or physical discomfort. And don’t schedule anything after your float – give yourself plenty of peaceful, uninterrupted, sensory-soft time to enjoy the effects.

This article originally appeared on booksforbetterliving.com and was written by KIRA ROARK. 

The Power of Floating

Imagine being a 24-year-old man, naked and floating in a pod, inducing complete sensory deprivation and being immersed in what I can only describe as adult sized womb. Sound terrifying? Well, today I did just that, but alas, it was not scary in the slightest and instead it ending up being both relaxing and transformative.

To my surprise, I learnt that floatation therapy has been around for around 60 years. It is yet however, to become mainstream. I for one, knew nothing about it.

A few weeks back, I was browsing the web looking for something interesting and new that a friend and I could try out. This is when I came across ‘Float Works’ in Vauxhall, London. Intrigued, I booked us one ‘float’.

I arrived at 9 am and was overcome by a sense of tranquillity. The receptionist positively oozed zen, making my friend and I feel at ease; this was particularly reassuring when trying something so new and unusual.

He showed each of us to our private room where a large white pod filled with salt water greeted me. He explained its features and left us to shower and hop in. Normally I would be nervous, but the staff were so friendly and positive that any residual nerves evaporated.

I took off my clothes and lay down in the water. I felt the tension in my body melt away. Turning the pod’s lights off, I was lost in complete darkness, left to focus on my own thoughts for a full hour.

After the fifteen minutes of quiet music (to ‘ease you in’) I lost any sense of time. I began to fade in and out of active thought, managing in the main to clear my mind. The water, being perfect room temperature, meant that I wasn’t able to tell which parts of me were in the water and which were out. I focused on my breath and could hear only my heartbeat; I had completely succumbed to the pod.

The hour was up in what felt like minutes. Before entering, I was convinced that this whole process might drag on, but instead I was shocked at how quickly the time flew!

After the float, I felt happier, lighter and rejuvenated. I made my way up to the ‘relaxation room’ and poured myself a complementary herbal tea, and pondered the immense and positive impact of the float. I am a massage addict, but let me tell you, this float session was more wellness inducing than any massage I have ever received. It was special absolutely worth the £50 price tag.

I’m giving this 5/5 on the happiness scale.

This article originally appeared on huffingtonpost and was written by Nader Dehdasht

Balanced Health Care: Float Therapy & Massage

Float therapy is a form of non-touch therapy for relieving stress and it's symptoms in the mind and body. It's for people of all ages and a range of issues and purposes. A float tank is a large, covered bath-tub-like container filled with a water solution heated to skin temperature and is well saturated with approx. 800lbs of Epsom salts, hence why it feels silky and warm when you lie in it. You will simply step in, lay down and relax.

We recommend you try 3 floats within 10 - 14 days to understand how it feels and how it works. By consistently relaxing you help calm the mind and body, which in turn restores the body's own healing systems, allowing stress hormone levels to drop, enabling better repair of injuries, normalizes metabolism, improves circulation and cellular transport and absorption of nutrients, and reduces soft tissue and joint pain, all from relaxing.

With your first float you will familiarize yourself with the environment, salt water and buoyancy. You will also experience deep relaxation and probably sleep quite well that night.

The second float is when you will experience an even deeper sense of relaxation where you enjoy peace and quiet, and perhaps notice your aches and pains diminish or disappear completely. 

During your third float and having learned previously from the environment and float you will feel significant benefits of deep relaxation and can release yourself in to a calm state easily and sooner than before.

Some known benefits of regular floating:

• reduces anxiety, blood pressure (anxiety related), and inflammation (cortisol levels drop)
• excellent strategy for pain management and treatment of arthritic pain, joint pain, neck & back pain, Lactic acidosis, Sciatic pain, tension/migraines/headaches, PMS and whiplash.
• helps resolve PTSD, insomnia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, MS (Multiple Sclerosis).
• improves circulation, tissue repair and mobility.
• prepares to the body for and relaxes it after physical activity or strain, like cycling, running, hiking, golfing, gardening, etc.
• helps to improve coping skills by physiologically clearing the body of stress symptoms.
• increases resistance to stress.

If you have been on your feet all day, Float Therapy reverses gravity's effects on your body. 

The buoyancy produced by the salt water solution helps relieve, release and expand joints to their normal spacing and position. The heated temperature of the water soothes soreness and helps expand blood vessels, improving circulation all over the body.

Enjoying one hour of Float Therapy is equivalent to a restful 3-4 hour sleep. Floating helps restore normal sleeping patterns.

The pressure from pregnancy is resolved and released during a float and is perfect for women in their 3rd Trimester for relieving heavy back and hip pain and reducing inflammation.

Float Therapy along with Massage Therapy offers a balance for resolving patterns of pain, relaxing tensions away, restoring health and improving coping skills in mind and body. Combining the two therapies is complete health care. 

Sports Massage and Float Therapy - Rest / Recovery, Pre / Post Training

Wear and tear and the inability to heal (well or quickly) is frustrating and creeps up if neglected. It holds you back and can cause debilitating problems for the future. These are quickly resolved with combining massage and floating.

Float Therapy helps accelerate restoration of tissue and recovery between training sessions, helping you build muscle and repair injuries. 

Relaxed athletes have better performance and mental stamina to keep up with the demands.

With regular floating, Float Therapy helps athletes overcome exhaustion, fatigue, poor sleep, fogginess, anxiety, depression and weak immune systems.

Rehabilitative Massage and Float Therapy - Restore strength and balance.

Chronic pain, old injuries, poor posture, accidents, lifestyle (changes), mental stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD all play a roll on how our body feels, endures stress and moves in it's environment.

Massage reduces tensions locked in muscles and helps realign joints and fascia to improve nerve communication, mobility, strength, and in turn increases flexibility, range of motion and balance.

By regularly floating you will restore your sense of well being, reduce pain and nurture your body to repair itself between massage appointments. Float Therapy will reduce stress hormone levels 

If you find yourself struggling with aches and pains that are a result of old physical/mental traumas, misalignment, injury or mental stress, by giving your body the opportunity to regularly relax will restore it's ability to heal itself better and improve your coping skills.

Floatation Tanks and Hygiene

Water is circulated by filtration pump through a 20 micron filter between each Float Therapy appointment and further sanitized with ozone, UV light, a safe, non-toxic pool-grade oxidizing solution, Peroxysan, and enzymes. Water quality checks are performed regularly.

Currently available at our clinic is a special maintenance package:

5 Massages + 5 Floats for $495 - regularly $800. This package is perfect for a year long maintenance plan. Float Therapy and Massage appointments can be made back to back or spread out. To purchase your package, follow this link to our online store.