Floatation therapy, also known as sensory deprivation, eliminates external stimuli as much as possible, so the mind and body can completely relax.
“I really liked the idea of being alone with my thoughts and connecting to myself without any interference from the outside world,” says Geoff Liang, co-owner of GoFloat Studios in Burlington. “I felt I was getting lost in the momentum of life without actually stopping and thinking, 'Do I even want to want this thing?' After my first float, it probably took me about 45 minutes to get deep into it, to essentially this place of nothingness, but throughout all that time, I had a lot of space to ask myself questions."
Floatation therapy occurs inside a chamber filled with about 10 inches of water and 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts. The water is heated to your skin temperature so that once a person settles in, they don’t feel the difference between the water, their body, and the air. It’s like floating in space.
The rooms are as dark and soundproof as possible. All external sensory stimuli are eliminated, to give the person a chance to get into a meditative headspace. It’s a lot easier to be present in the moment without any distractions, says Liang. “We describe float tanks as training wheels for meditation,” he adds.
When the nervous system is free from processing constant stimuli, it naturally activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is sometimes called the “rest and response” mode, as opposed to the waking sympathetic “fight or flight” mode, also known as the stress response.
When a person is chronically in this state of alertness, they can develop inflammation and illnesses related to almost everything in the body. Floating helps train the nervous system to regain a balance, so the parasympathetic response is equal or realigned with the ability to turn on the sympathetic nervous system.
“One of the things I ask people when they come in off the street is, 'How is your sleep?' because sleep is very much interrelated with stress along with a lot of other factors in our life,” says Liang.
“A lot of stress and anxiety comes from overuse of ourselves, and that could be more of a mental thing or more of a physical thing. We’ve had people come in for more athletic reasons, recovering sore muscles and joints, but they find it was a very emotional release to be able to think through a bunch of things they may not have time to think about. While other people come in for more of a meditation experience and come out amazed at how much better they feel physically.”
There are different styles of tanks. The ones GoFloat Studios uses are the cabin style measuring about 8 feet long and 4 to 5 feet wide. When a person lays on their back, their weight is dispersed in a way that lets them float effortlessly because the Epsom salts create a naturally buoyant environment.
Typically, the float lasts 90 minutes, but the first or last appointment of the day can be extended up to two-hours at no extra charge.
Liang advises those who are trying floatation therapy for the first time to go in without any expectations, be open to the experience and see what happens.
“Trying to become a monk after one float session can make you even more frustrated because you’re not getting the thing you went in thinking you were going to get,” he says. “There is no wrong way to float. That’s one of the most important things to remember going into it. The tank is reflecting to you what’s going on in your life.”
