I think I was in my early teens when I first heard of flotation tanks or Flotarium. I have always wanted to try one and today age 40 I did for the first time.
The tank in this case was small pool/room and not a capsule style tank.
After showering and putting in the foam ear plugs I stepped through a small door from the shower and into the tank. For the first 5 minutes some relaxing music was playing, it reminded me if traditional Chinese music but I don’t really know if it was. After 5 minutes the music switched off and the light in the shower area also switched off leaving me in complete darkness.
The solution I was floating in was made up of 200lb of water & 1000lb of Epsom salts. The solution is kept at skin temperature. This was slightly disconcerting as there was no real sensation like you get with a bath or swimming pool.
The first feeling I did get was that I was slowly drifting to my left, head first. It got to the point where I felt as though I was at 45 degrees to where I had started. This was obviously not possible due to the width of the room being 4 feet wide and me being 5 foot 10 inches tall.
I did manage to relax and “shut off” for periods which was good as it is something I have great difficulty doing.
The float in silence and complete darkness lasted 40 minutes then the music came back on.
I have another voucher for the tank and it will be interesting to see what it is like when I an not thinking about the experience and relax fully.
Tags: flotation · relaxing2 Comments
2 responses so far ↓
How intriguing! I have a hard time relaxing in a bath (I’m such a fidget) so I wonder how the tank would work on me.
How soon will you try again?
I also find it hard to spend time relaxing in a bath, it wasn’t so when I was younger. I think the fact that there is no visual stimulation and very little audio stimulation. I could hear a slight hum from something, possibly the heater and of course if you splash your fingers
Also with the solution being maintained at the same temperature there is no sense of time.
I will try and book in after my holiday but as it will have to be a Saturday I will have to book ahead as the Saturday slots go early. I may in future try one of the places that use the capsule type of tank as I think there is one not far from where I live.