What are Floatation Tanks?
Floatation tanks are becoming a novel new way to gain inner peace and deep relaxation. Floatation or isolation tanks were initially used by John Lilly, a neuropsychiatrist, in 1954 to explore what happens when our external sensory input is significantly reduced. Basically, the sensory deprivation tanks are big, closed tubs filled with water and a large amount of Epsom salts.
The high concentration of salt makes it possible for you to comfortably float with your face above the water. Since the air and water temperature are the same temperature as the skin, you can begin to lose the usual sense of your body boundaries. This is enhanced by having no discernible smells (like chlorine) or sounds to distract you.
What Are The Benefits?
Using a floatation tank for inner solitude and physical healing is now called Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy or REST. Writing for The Nation, journalist Neima Jahromi described some of floating’s benefits:
- Floating relieves pain by easing the force of gravity on the skeleton, boosts the immune system by lulling you into a state of light sleep, and enhances performance in sports by helping your muscles repair more quickly from the trauma of training.
- Floating offers relief from the din of information streaming through the displays of smartphones and computers.
The comedian Joe Rogan describes experiencing heightened levels of introspection and the feeling of being freed from the constraints of one’s thinking mind. Men’s Journal outlines additional benefits in successfully dealing with problems involving the autonomic nervous system, such as insomnia, stress symptoms, dysfunctions of the skeleto-muscular system, chronic headache, and the like.
Ongoing clinical and psychological studies of REST float therapy have shown multiple payoffs:
- Reducing stress by lowering cortisol levels
- Managing chronic pain, injury, and illness
- Fighting addiction and depression
- Elevating mood
- Improving sports performance
Give It a Try
Since floating is a pleasant experience and yields a significant list of benefits, you may want to add it to your self care routine. Taking time away from the demands of your work and home life to float can bring measurable refreshment and revitalization.
Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
Henry David Thoreau
Photo by William Warby
