While float therapy (sometimes referred to as the sensory deprivation or isolation tank) has been around since the 1950’s it has been gaining popularity in recent years as a toll for coping with the extreme mental and physical fatigue our culture of achievement imposes. It can often feel like Americans wear their stress as a badge of honor or to show their worth, instead of being concerned about the long-term effects stress has on our health. At Acadia Yurts and Wellness Center we strive to provide a place where people can participate in a variety of stress reducing activities to allow our best selves to shine through.
Due to increased education about the benefits of floating, float centers are popping up all over North America with most major cities having at least one center. Our small island off the coast of Maine has 2 float centers and within 100 miles, there are an additional 3 locations as of publication of this blog. Many of these locations offer services in addition to floating such as massage therapy, infrared sauna sessions, yoga and fitness classes and much more. While pairing float therapy with other services makes for a fabulous self-care day, floating as a standalone service provides exceptional benefits in one session but the benefits are compounded with regular use!
“Regular use” will be different for everyone. We have some clients that float once per week and many more who use it every other week or monthly. A single float session will have great benefit but regular use is where the magic happens! Regular use is when our baseline of stress and fatigue are adjusted to accommodate all life throws at you without knocking you off track. Imagine being able to keep your cool even when Mercury is in Retrograde?!?
Let’s think of it a different way… If you go to the gym to work out, then you will likely feel good afterwards. You’ll have broken a sweat, moved your body, challenged your muscles and generated some feel-good endorphins. That one gym session will help you feel calmer, sleep better and create the good type of soreness that comes from pushing your body. It may even help you interact with difficult or stressful situations in a calmer manner for a few days. However, if you want to add muscle mass or produce long lasting change in your body, one trip to the gym isn’t going to cut it.
If you apply the same principle to floating, once will feel nice. It might even help minor ailments, relax your mind or rejuvenate your body, but you aren’t going to morph in a Zen master with one float. Like all things, relaxation takes practice. The more often you float, the more comfortable you get. The more comfortable you get, the easier it is to relax in the tank. Once you are able to relax the mind, the body will follow. The challenge for many with floating is mental; can you relax into your body and into your thoughts?
Because float tank therapy is still relatively new self-care tool, it is still being studied for its long-term benefits. Some of these documented and anecdotal benefits are…
· Relieve stress, anxiety and depression
· Reduce chronic fatigue caused by insomnia or jet lag
· Stimulates creativity
· Accelerates mental clarity and learning processes
· Deepens meditation practices
· Soothe chronic pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, back and neck pain, inflammation and tendonitis
· Aids with headache/migraine symptoms
· Assists in the physical and psychological recovery for athletes
· Improves cardiovascular health by inducing deep relaxation which helps to reduce stress levels
· Feelings of mild euphoria, increased well-being and feeling more optimistic
So, who should float? In our opinion, most people! There are a few conditions in which a physician should be consulted prior to floating; those with low blood pressure, heart or kidney disease, open wounds on the skin, those with epilepsy, to name a few. If you aren’t sure, just call your primary care physician and ask.
Some demographics of people we see often at our center are…
· Parents! How great does it sound to shower without interruption? You may even fall asleep in the tank (which is totally safe!) which roughly equates to 4-6 hours of restful night sleep. Most parents are sold on those two factors alone!
· Pregnant women! Women who are pregnant love the float tank because it is safe to use throughout pregnancy and it helps relieve the aches and pains that go along with growing a human. The float soothes the muscles along the entire back line of the body; think feet, hips, low back. AHHHHHH! Added bonus, you get to lay on your back safely and sleep deeply!
· Athletes! Those who use their body physically for work or pleasure love the recovery for sore muscles and joints that take place in the float tank. If you’ve ever found relief from a cup of Epsom salts in a bathtub imagine the benefits of 1,100 pounds of Epsom salt! Many professional athletics teams at both college and professional levels have added float tanks to their training facilities to give athletes great recovery and the option to visualize their next victory. Tom Brady had a personal use float tank in his New England house, does that convince you it’s worth a try (7 Super Bowl wins not included at our spa)?!
· People with headaches/migraines! Especially head pain associated with stress. While floating 1,100 pounds of Epsom salts support and soothe the upper back, neck, base of skull and head to relieve the tension that brings on blinding pain. In addition to the Epsom salts, you breathe deeply and with ease in the float tank. Breath is the crux of helping the body relax, which helps to alleviate pain. Lastly, the darkness. If you turn the interior tank lights off, it is pitch black, as in, you could hold your hand one inch from your face and you wouldn’t see it. Many people with migraines cite bright light as a migraine trigger, and retreating to a dark or dimly lit room (of float tank!) provides relief for some during an attack.
· People looking to begin or explore a meditation practice! Since there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, meditation in the tank becomes easy. You get in, you lay back and you follow your breath. There is an option to have ambient music in the background to help guide your meditation or you can have the tank dark and quiet for a true meditation experience!
· Creative types! Or those wishing to explore an idea in depth without interruption. The tank is a beautiful place to visualize a problem, create a solution, organize an upcoming presentation, write a story line for a book or paper, or any other task requiring some thoughtful exploration. Many of our greatest ideas business ideas at Acadia Yurts came from sitting with them inside the tank!
· Those healing from injury! Many patrons find the tank gives them freedom to explore range of motion while floating because the body is weightless due to the 35% salinity of the water!
· People who need a break from screens! If you are looking to escape the never-ending phone calls, emails or text messages or need a break from your computer screen; resting your eyes, breathing deeply into your chest, and hiding where no one can reach you is beautiful! Many find the support of the water allows the upper back/shoulders to relax which helps to counter the chest collapse experienced as we engage with technology. Teens are showing a growing interest in floating as more of their schooling transitions to being online (we offer shorter sessions for those under 18 years of age!).
Since floating is new to many, we are always available to answer questions prior to scheduling your float. We have also created a great resource page with frequently asked questions (CLICK HERE) and a float orientation video, specific to our center BELOW. We are here because we love floating (10+ years of floating for us personally!) and believe it has tremendous benefit for a wide variety of people and we look forward to sharing the experience with you!