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This page of the website is dedicated to specific interest areas related to floating and its numerous health benefits. The articles will be updated periodically so please check back regularly. Removed items will be archived on the site for easy retrieval.
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Pregnancy & Birth Magazine:
The Big SoakFor real water babies, a floatation tank session is a must. The tank is filled with water only 10 inches deep, but the high concentration of salt means that your body is suspended, giving you a feeling of weightlessness and soothing stress, aches and pains - great for pregnancy backs and feet. While you're floating your brain produces slow theta brainwaves, which make your thought patterns clearer and more creative, as well as endorphins - the hormones responsible for happiness.
OK, so the thought of being shut in a dark tank of water sounds a bit scary, but you can open the door or switch on the light at any time: therapists say it's rare to feel claustrophobic. And the best news is that floating is safe throughout the whole nine months of pregnancy. Just imagine an hour to yourself, resting in warm water with gentle music soothing your senses and nothing to think about but you and your baby. Just lie back and enjoy...
"It was amazing to feel weightless. I was aware of tension draining from my body and my mind went into a state of complete relaxation. As I floated, I felt a strong connection with my baby. It left me blissfully calm."
Family Matters Magazine:
Good Health
Float Away Your Fears
Sally White swears by weekly sessions in a floatation tank to keep her calm, relaxed and stress free. "I had my first float four years ago" she says. "I'd been in a minor car accident, and was suffering whiplash injury. The symptons just vanished."
Since then, Sally, 27, has been a regular floater. "It was particularly helpful when I was going through a stressful period in my life. When you are in that tank, your mind is at peace. After, you always sleep well."
Today, Sally finds floating helpful in the week before her period starts, as it relieves her tiredness and irritability.
Relaxing in a floatation tank offers the chance to shut out the entire world, and it's a good way of boosting your energy and self-esteem.
Floatation tanks are dark and quiet, so you feel dreamy and weightless," says Ron Kemeny, of the South London Natural Health Centre. Tanks are large baths filled with 10 inches of water kept at body temperature and saturated with Epsom salts. This means that, no matter how heavy you are, you are unaware of being in water and have a sensation of weightless suspension.
According to Ron, many busy mums enjoy a weekly float. "An hour away from worries put them into perspective,"he says. "If you're kicking a habit or starting a hobby, you'll be less distracted and quicker to learn.Some women listen to a motivating tape - such as an assertiveness or diet programme - while they're lying in the tank."
Floatation induces a deep state of physical and mental relaxation, rather like hypnosis. It also appears to activate the right side of the brain, the part that controls the creative part of our nature. Studies suggest that floatation can lower blood pressure and steady the heart rate. It also relaxes muscles, and some sufferers of multiple sclerosis find it helps to relieve stiffness. Floatation may also raise levels of endorphins, the body's 'feel good' hormones, which is why some specialists use it to treat anxiety and depression.
"It was particularly helpful when I was going through a stressful period in my life. When you are in that tank, your mind is at peace. After, you always sleep well."
"It took me a while to relax but once I got used to it I felt as if I was half asleep. It eased my backache and made me feel very chilled out, even afterwards when I was back to tackling rush hour!"
Arthritis News:
Dec 2002/Jan 2003
Floatation
Floatation involves lying in warm water in specially designed tanks or pools at health spas and natural health clinics. The high concentration of Epsom or Dead Sea Salts in the water buoys the body, allowing you to lie back and completely relax without fear of going under the water.
Those that go for floats regularly say that it is one of the most relaxing and stress-relieving experiences that they have ever had and that it is also a lot of fun. 'I recently went for my first floatation experience' says Kate Johnson. 'Someone was on hand to help me get in and out, but apart from that, I was left alone, which was blissful and really relaxing. The Dead Sea salt in the water held my body so that I could just lie back and relax. Initially I was a bit dubious, but my muscles lost their tensions and I floated away to another dimension.'
When you participate in a floatation session you are deprived of external stimuli and your brain doesn't need to work on keeping you vertical. This lets the activity levels in the brain drop, allowing you to enter deeper states of relaxation. Your body actually emulates the state you are in just before you drift off to sleep. Floating also stimulates the release of endorphins - the feel good chemicals in the brain. This decreases the perception of pain and improves the frame of mind. The only other activity that stimulates this chemical in the brain is exercise.
The medical benefits of floatation include, amongst other things, the lowering of blood pressure, pain reduction and improvement of stress-related conditions including digestive problems. Floatation is also particularly good for people with arthritis as floating in the water eliminates the gravity on the joints and actually improves the bllod flow, improving the general condition of affected joints.
Complementary therapist, Sally Hill, undertook a study to evaluate the effects of floating in some people with arthritis: 'I first became aware of the therapeutic effects of floatation therapy for people with arthritis while I was running a therapy centre,' she says. 'Because the body is weightless in the water, movement is incredibly gentle allowing the exercising and stretching of joints and muscles to take place effortlessly. People with arthritis can experience a range of movements that they are unable to achieve on dry land, which has a positive effect on their cell tissue and overall self-esteem.'
You may need to have a few sessions before you really benefit from floatation, but it is worth sticking with it. Some people go as often as twice a week, others three times a year.
If you're not sure which relaxation techniques or therapies will suit you, give it a few weeks before you decide whether to carry on or not. It's all about getting to know your body and what it responds to best. Before you know it, you'll be so relaxed that you'll have forgotten what stress is, and you'll hopefully notice an improvement in your arthritis too.
The FloatZone
A Member Of The 'Float Tank Association'
UK & Eire
"Because the body is weightless in the water, movement is incredibly gentle allowing the exercising and stretching of joints and muscles to take place effortlessly"
"People with arthritis can experience a range of movements that they are unable to achieve on dry land, which has a positive effect on their cell tissue and overall self-esteem!"
"Before you know it, you'll be so relaxed that you'll have forgotten what stress is!"
"From being a bad-tempered, anxious, tense person, I have gradually metamorphosed into a more serene and confident one."
- Vogue Magazine