The Big Soak
For 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...
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 rlieve 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.
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 dprived 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 twicw 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.