What are the benefits?

• Floating takes the pressure off tired and sore joints and muscles. It increases blood circulation which can accelerate healing.

• Relaxed muscles are likely to heal faster than tired, tight and knotted muscles.

• Floatation can help reduce pain, help backache and muscle injuries and relieve stress and anxiety that often accompanies an injury.

• The athlete emerges from the floatation room alert but in a state of deep relaxation. The effects can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

Floatation therapy is such a simple idea that some of the benefits seem too good to be true.  But they are real and scientific research has validated the health giving and performance enhancing effects.

It is well known that relaxing sleep in bed is essential to good health and often the best way to recover from stress and illness.  Our bodies have amazing powers of recuperation and we just need the chance to relax to let these powers work.

Floating in a flotation therapy room is even more relaxing.  The deep relaxation state achieved allows the body to recover from stress. Pain is relieved.  Blood flow is stimulated through all the tissues, natural endorphins are released, the brain gives out theta waves associated with relaxation and meditation.  It feels good.

Usually it takes perhaps fifteen minutes to enter the first deep stage of relaxation, and the remaining 45 minutes of a typical hour-long session seem to pass quickly and effortlessly.  The benefits begin during this stage but continue after you leave the tank and for the rest of the day, and the next day, your body and mind feel refreshed.

Controlled tests have shown that athletic performance is improved by floating before an event.  The quality of creative work is improved by floating before working.  Students are able to remember facts and to concentrate better after floating. Chronic joint pain such as in arthritis is often relieved for prolonged periods after floating.  People with “jet-lag” and stress or anxiety, express feelings of relief and improvement.  They state that three hours in a float tank is worth a whole night’s sleep.

These are not isolated individual cases, almost everyone finds floating to be a marvellous experience.  Who are the exceptions?  It seems that clinically depressed people or those with some forms of schizophrenia do not enjoy floating.

What effects does floating have on the body?

During a float, you produce slower brain-waves patterns; know as theta waves, (normally experienced only during deep meditation or just before falling asleep). In this state both hemispheres work as one creating what is known as whole brain thinking. This is usually accompanied by vivid imagery, very clear, creative thoughts, sudden insights and inspirations or feelings of profound peace and joy, induced by the release of endorphins, the body’s natural opiates. Because of these effects, floating is used effectively in the treatment of depression and addictions, including smoking and alcohol. It is also used in schools and universities as tools for Super Learning.

What effects does floating have on the body?

In the gravity free environment the body balances and heals internally as all the senses are rested. This will be the first time in your life that your nervous system does not have to deal with gravity. Research shows that floating measurably reduces blood pressure and heart rate whilst lowering the levels of stress related chemicals in the body.

Old injuries and aches, (especially backache) experience relief as floating helps blood circulation and takes all stresses and strains off the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints.

Floating is used widely in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and to improve creativity & concentration. Sports performance and ‘wind down’ is also enhanced during floating.  One hour of floating has the restorative effects of 5 hours of sleep!