Floatation therapy is an exceptionally effective technique for triggering a deep relaxation state much stronger than that experienced in deep sleep. This particular state of relaxation occurs as a result of induced sensory deprivation, which can only be achieved within a floatation tank or pod.
As you become immersed in body-temperature, super-saturated Epsom-salt water, you quickly alleviate all the day-to-day pressure, stress and tension, constantly placed on your skeletal and muscular systems, as well as vital joints and organs. This phenomenon, along with the darkness provided by shutting the floating pod door, creates a mysterious sense of weightlessness and heightened feeling of relaxation due to the voluntary deception of the senses. Some people refer to this as a zero gravity sensation.
Please note that if you may feel claustrophobic, you are welcome to leave the pod door open and the pod lights switched on.
Origins of Floating
The ideology behind floating originated in 1954, when neuroscientist Dr. John C. Lilly began investigating the mind’s response to sensory deprivation.
Lilly wanted to discover what would happen if the brain, the centre of our consciousness, was deprived of all sensory information, i.e. sight, hearing, touch and perception.
He built large floatation chambers, which he filled with water, and then submerged participants wearing diving suits and blacked-out diving masks (to remove any visual sensory input).
Once the participants emerged from the chamber, they described a feeling of immense relaxation and calm, and some even reported epiphanies of self-discovery and gained a better understanding of their very being!
The results of Lilly’s study caused him to conduct many more experiments, as well as inspire many other studies to be conducted. (Float Tank Info 2015.)
Float Therapy Association Australia & New Zealand (from https://floattherapy.org.au/) is the main industry body for floatation/float therapy in Australia and NZ. It’s a not-for-profit association that works to support the growth, recognition and professionalisation of float therapy across the region.