Float tanks! I had to write this up as soon as I got home considering the number of requests on this one. I had a friend treat me to a little Friday R&R today and part of it was going to Float Toronto, a float centre. He first proposed the idea of trying out float tanks earlier in the week. I’ve seen them in passing and since I’ve always been super curious about them, I decided to give it a try.
What Float Toronto and other similar float centres offer are flotation therapy and sensory deprivation. They put you in a tank filled water with a crap-ton of epsom salts. I mean 850 pounds crap-ton. The sheer amount of salt makes it denser than regular water, making your body float to the surface without having to fight against gravity. The tank is insulated from sound and constructed for you to be in complete darkness. The idea behind it is to create dark but ethereal environment, something you can’t find in the outside world. People claim that there are a lot of emotional, mental and even physical benefits. According to Float Toronto’s website: “People are drawn to floating to find relief from physical discomfort and stress, encourage personal development, or simply for some peace and tranquility. Inevitably, most people end up harnessing some combination of the many reported benefits. The most common testimonials are profound peace and relaxation, deep concentration and heightened creativity.” Forthright, no frills.
So we get in the shop and do the typical thing — sign a waiver and patiently wait for our time to come. The environment was like a spa; you take off your shoes, the lighting was dimmed with gentle relaxation music, infinite hot peppermint tea, and there’s a big sign right when you walk in asking you to turn off your ringer and to speak at a low volume. Kind of what you’d expect going in for a massage but with a much more hippie vibe. There were a couple of books on the table and coloured markers, each encouraging to let your creativity flow. If you ever find a rabbit and a giraffe in there, those guys are mine.
So our turn is up and the orientation is about a minute long. It’s pretty straight forward — You have ten minutes to shower before and after; don’t get the water in your eyes because it will burn them; don’t drink the water because it will be bitter; any scratches and scars will burn too so you can use vaseline provided, etc. There were also a few orientation tricks and operational instructions.
So we got sent off to our own individual rooms. I was a little nervous when I first saw it. Something about it just seems all to unnatural and little too eerie. You get into a small washroom-sized room and there’s a giant tank filled with a few feet of water and a dim purple glow. The first thing that came to my mind was “alien birthing tank”, kind of like one that you would expect to see in a sci-fi film.
Anyways, I did as I was instructed; I showered and towel-dried before going in. They provide pre- and post two-in-one float shampoo/soap and conditioner too. Stepping into the tank, the water was like a neutral body-temperature and it felt a little more viscous that regular water. It was subtle but nice and definitely a different feeling than soaking in a bath at home. I float in regular water so orienting myself in this crap-ton salt water didn’t come with any difficultly. It took me a few seconds to relax my body, let my ears go under and let my entire body float. There was a switch to turn off the purple lighting off for the full sensory deprivation experience and there was also a switch for soft music. I tried all the combination of the two and I was most comfortable with the light off and the music to be on.
While I was in there, I tried tuning out, I tried thinking about the next steps of my day or I just spent time trying to concentrate on the music. The music plays through the water and it’s really hard to hear unless you focus on it. To be honest, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to think about once I was in there but I let my mind drift. I didn’t come up with any revelations or sparks of creativity but it was a nice peaceful moment to stop and reflect on my day and my life in general, I guess.
Did it help me destress? I want to say yes but there were a few things that stressed me out while I was in there. I must have been doing something wrong because my body kept floating all over and bumping from edge to edge. First my head, and then my foot and then my arm… I never really stayed in one spot very well. Also, when I decided to sit up for a bit, some water came down on my face and into my eye. GG. I know the idea was to destress but with my body bumping into walls and my burning right eye, it was pretty hard for me to shut my mind off. Also, it was really difficult for me to tell when the session was coming to an end. Apparently they play music to cue you but I was already listening to the tank music so I was kind of worried about missing the cue. In fact, I ended up accidentally leaving the tank too early because the ventilation system came on and I thought I had outstayed my welcome so I’m there soaping myself as fast as I can with my post-float two-in-one soap. Stress! Also I have dry skin and the salt water dries it out even more. Stress! Crap, my makeup came off. Stress! I’m writing this blog post while shaking my head around because there’s still water in my ear. STRESS!!! If you’ve been considering to give this a try, take my words with a grain of salt… as if there isn’t enough already… (hah!); I get stressed much easier than the average person and maybe I’m still salty (HAH!) about the small issues I had.
So the most common question I got is “What does it feel like?” To me, it was simply floating in water in giant tub, in the dark. I definitely felt floatier, especially when I moved my arms and legs around. While I thought it was nice, it wasn’t spectacular. It isn’t something I’d do again. I’m sure many other people gain a lot from this experience but for me, it was just a nice to experience because it was something I haven’t done before. But to be frank, I’d rather have a nice spa day or a night with a Lush bath bomb. I think I rather feel pain from a deep tissue massage than have my senses deprived and feel less.
I want to make clear that anything I had to say is simply a reflection of my very narrow view. And to fully understand my view of things, you have to have a good understanding of the type of person I am. I’m not a type of person to slow down. I am constantly thinking about the next steps I have to take while I’m preoccupied with something already. I thrive on direction and when I’m forced to sit still, I have a pretty awful time. I had a pretty boring time in Bali because I didn’t know how to lay around and just do nothing. My idea of relaxation is going for an hour long run by the riverside. I am clumsy, haphazard and not a graceful person. I hate yoga. That’s a big one. I think there is a very close likeness between doing yoga and being in a float tank. Both are meant to be meditative, a moment to stop and reflect on your life and intend for you relax. For my experience with yoga, there’s just something about someone telling me to do things slowly, how to breathe and to relax that just stresses me out. When a yoga instructor says “relax” for the twentieth time in a class I have “I am fucking relaxed!!$%^&*” running through my head. But because this float therapy session let me have a room to have some time to myself, I actually preferred it much more than yoga. Yes, it was relaxing. Yes, it allowed me to take a few moment to tune out but as soon as I stepped out the door, it was back to reality for me. The sun’s glaring in my face and I’m back to returning a missed phone call, responding to e-mails and on my way to barre class.
Got a beautiful view of Queen W. during barre!
Also got to try an ube charcoal cone today from iHalo Krunch. Ube flavour tasted great but not worth having black teeth, black lips and an awful-looking smile.
Hope that was insightful enough! Have a good night, everyone. I’ll be spending a while trying to get this water out of my ear.