Float Tips
Some tips for getting the most out of your floating experience!
Experiment with different positions
The first float is all about exploring what positions you like and what feels the most comfortable for you. As you float, your joints relax and become more flexible, allowing you to attempt movements that you might not usually be able to do. You may even hear some clicks, similar to those during a chiropractic session, as your body adjusts to the natural position without gravity and when you experiment with different positions!
There are numerous positions you can try while floating. You can spread your legs or keep them together. You can place one leg on top of the other leg. You can try turning your body to the side. While floating on your back, you can rest your arms on your stomach, cross them over your chest, keep them alongside your body, spread them out to the sides, or lift them up. Holding your hands on the sides of your head can help open up your shoulders. Alternatively, you can place your hands under your head, which will stretch your back, deepen your breathing, and keep your head elevated—especially beneficial if you experience vertigo or prefer not to lie flat.
There are only two rules: don’t force any movements that don’t feel comfortable, and avoid splashing water in your face.
If you are prone to motion sickness, excessive movement might cause the water to shift and lead to feelings of dizziness or nausea. However, once you stop moving, the water will settle, and any discomfort should subside.
Focus on your body
If you're new to floating or meditation, you may find it challenging to quiet your mind and fully relax during your initial sessions. This can be particularly tricky for individuals with ADHD or hyperactivity or people who are used to being always busy or not used to doing 'nothing'.
First and foremost, don't worry if your mind is racing while you float; your body is relaxing anyway! When you emerge from the tank, you'll notice how relaxed your muscles feel.
However, if you need a little help in unwinding, consider trying some of the techniques we recommend below, which emphasize focusing on your body:
- Body Scanning: Gradually scan your body from head to toe or vice versa, paying attention to one body part at a time. Notice how each part feels weightless and how tension gets released from each part.
- Breath Focus: As you float, you'll likely observe your breathing slowing down. Concentrate on this rhythm and listen to your calm, steady breaths.
- Heartbeat Awareness: Your heartbeat will also slow, but it may be difficult to detect unless you focus on it. Some people think they hwar some noises from outside before realising its actually their heartbeat!
- Box Breathing: Inhale deeply while counting to four, then exhale for another count of four. Repeat this pattern to help regulate your breathing.
- Imagining Thoughts as Bubbles: Visualize your thoughts as large air bubbles, floating away one by one.
- Letting Go of Pressure: Don't force it. If you keep telling yourself that you need to relax, you will just get more stressed. Instead, simply lie back, find a comfortable position, and observe what happens without any expectations. The beauty of floating lies in its ability to provide what you need at that moment, which is not necessarily relaxing.
Try it more than once
There is a good reason why we give a whole session for free with our Intro Pack. This is because we really want you to try floating at least 3 times before deciding if it's worth practising and if it's suitable for you.
While a single float can serve as a unique bucket-list experience or a delightful spa day—complete with a soothing session in the tank followed by a cup of complimentary tea—it may not fully reveal the potential benefits of floating. A one-time session can also provide temporary relief from chronic pain, but it won't allow you to experience the transformative effects that come with repeated sessions.
The primary aim of floating is to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is essential for stress relief, meditation, and creativity. However, trying a new experience requires the brain and body to be more alert, and it might take 20-30 minutes for you to actually let go during your first float session. Many first-time floaters arrive feeling anxious and uncertain about what to expect, and this initial apprehension can influence their experience. Even the calmest of people will find floating takes a bit of getting used to and need to give themselves the opportunity to calibrate.
Additionally, the lack of sensory input in the tank can feel unfamiliar, something you have never felt before. We are so accustomed to the sensory bombardment of modern daily life that slowing things down can sometimes feel unnatural. While some individuals immediately embrace the tranquillity of floating and emerge completely relaxed, others may require a few more sessions to fully appreciate the benefits from this experience.
Sometimes, floaters who struggle the most with the silence during their first float turn out to be the ones who need it the most, and they feel the biggest benefits and transformation from regular floating.
Floating is much more than just a novelty; it’s akin to going to the gym or practising meditation. Just as you won’t achieve a six-pack after one workout or experience enlightenment after a single meditation session, floating is a practice. It would be a disservice to yourself to limit this enriching experience to just one visit.
Embrace the silence
Our standard float sessions start with 10min of music, followed by 45min of silence and 5min of music at the end of the session.Silence is the key aspect of floatation therapy, which aims to reduce external stimuli like light, sound, and touch. This sensory deprivation helps the mind to detach from the outside world and enter a state of deep relaxation, similar to meditation. As you float weightless in the silence and darkness, you allow your nervous system to reset. It's like detox for your brain. It may feel unatural, boring, or unsettling at first, and it takes a couple of sessions to get used to it, but once you do get used to it, the experience is truly rewarding. Usually floaters who struggle with the silence the most, are the ones who are the most addicted from the constant bombardment of external stimuli, and they benefit the most from silent float, once they get used to it.Embracing silence during float sessions can significantly enhance the experience. You can fully immerse yourself in the calming environment, and it encourages mindfulness and self-awareness. You can focus on your thoughts and feelings without the noise of the outside world, leading to valuable insights and personal growth. The absence of sound can help reduce stress levels. You disconnect from your daily worries and experience a profound sense of peace. Silence provides an opportunity for introspection. You can use this time to reflect on their lives, goals, and aspirations, leading to clarity and motivation.Therefore, we wholeheartedly encourage all floaters to see silence as a gift—a time to nurture their minds and bodies, which can unlock a deeper level of relaxation and rejuvenation. Especially that they pay a significant amount of money to experience it!Saying that, we totally understand if you are not interested in the mental aspect of floating, and you float just for pain relief or other physical reasons rather than relaxation or meditation. In this case, ask for the music throughout the whole session when you come for your next appointment, and we will happily put it for you.
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Write down your thoughts
We regularly have artists, directors, or video producers coming for a float and then sitting in a relaxation room writing down their thoughts in their notebooks. A lot of people can benefit from this practice.
You may be looking for new ideas for your social media content or struggling with essey for school. You may also discover some new ideas and solutions for your problems or release some deeply suppressed emotions that resurfaced during your float, and you would like to continue to process them by journaling your thoughts and feelings.
In any case, writing down your thoughts immediately after a float session can be beneficial for several reasons:
1. Capturing your thoughts while they're fresh helps ensure you don’t forget insights or feelings that may fade quickly.
2. Documenting your reflections, creative breakthroughs, or unique insights that you experienced during a float can lead to new ideas or solutions to problems.
3. Emotional processing - writing your feelings down allows for better processing and understanding of these feelings, which can be therapeutic.
4. Tracking Progress - keeping a journal of your float sessions can help you track changes in your thoughts, feelings, or overall well-being over time, allowing you to see patterns and growth.
So take a notebook with you, use any notebook app on your phone, or ask us for a piece of paper whenever you have something to write after your float!
Allow plenty of time for your float
Our standard session lasts 60 min; however, we recommend allocating around 2 hours for the whole experience.
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We recommend allowing ample time for a float appointment for several reasons:
1. Preparation: If you come for the first time, you will probably take additional 15 to 20 minutes to fill out the waiver form, then being shown around our float spa and explained the process throughly. We like to give detailed instructions to ensure you take full advantage of your float. Once everything is explained, you may use the toilet and then you need to take a shower before going in the tank, insert earplugs and apply vaseline. All of this may take additional 5 to 10min.
2. Relaxation Time: The essence of a float appointment is to relax and unwind. If you walk through the doors puffing and huffing, you will likely spend most of your session just trying to calm your central nervous system down and may find it difficult to relax. Allocating sufficient time ensures that you can fully benefit from the experience without feeling rushed. Therefore, even if it's not your first time, we recommend coming earlier, so you have time to slow down and enjoy your float more.
3. Post-float activites: after your float, you need to take another shower to wash the salt from your body which usually takes from 5 to 10min, then dress up and use our vanity station to dry your hair, apply lotion or fix your make-up etc.
4. Post-Float Reflection: After floating, we recommend having a tea in our relaxation room, while you can reflect on your experience, reorient yourself, read some books about floating and gradually transition back to your normal routine.
5. Potential Delays: It's very hard to predict how long someone will take a shower or get ready to leave the room. Also, some customers may arrive late, or need more time for explaining and reassurance before their float if they have an anxiety. We want the whole experience to be as relaxing as possible, therefore we never rush the process. For this reason, having a buffer time helps ensure that everyone can still enjoy their session without too much impact on others' appointments.
Let us know if the temperature in your tank was either too hot or too cold for your comfort
We aim to set the temperature of the water in our tanks to match the temperature of the body, which helps with relaxation. However, everyone has different body temperatures; therefore, it's feasible to find a temperature that suits everyone perfectly.
If you find the water too warm during your session, you may slightly open the lid to allow some fresh, cooler air to enter, which will help cool the water more quickly, and mention it to our staff after your session. We will adjust the temperature to a lower setting for your next visit.
Conversely, if you feel too cool in the tank, please ensure the lid remains fully closed and let us know after your session. We will then raise the temperature for your next float.
We need at least 30min to adjust the water temperature, so it's the best if you tell us your preference in advance.
Drink water
Magnesium sulfate in our tanks provides strong detoxification benefits, which may cause your kidneys to work harder, leading to an increased need for restroom breaks. To stay hydrated, and make the most of detoxifying effect, we recommend drinking plenty of water after your float.
Don't expect anything
We advice everyone to not have any expectations from their floating session. The magic of floating lies in its ability to provide exactly what you need in the moment, which may differ from what you initially think you want. This is why each float session is unique—not only from person to person, but also from float to float. While the float tank offers a neutral environment, each person brings their own distinct state of body and mind, influenced by various factors that can impact the experience.
For instance, if you're sleep-deprived due to pain or stress, you might find yourself drifting off to sleep in the tank as those burdens begin to melt away. Conversely, if you have unresolved thoughts or plans weighing on your mind, they may surface while you float. You might feel disappointed if your intention was to relax or sleep, but instead, your mind is actively processing and problem-solving. However, pocessing those tho will ultimately help with better sleep! When your brain doesn't need to manage sensory input and gravity, it can focus its energy solely on your thoughts. This really helps with planning, finding new ideas and solutions, thinking outside of the box, and its incredible for your imagination and creativity. Don't worry, your body will still relax while your mind is busy during your float. When you exit the tank, you’ll likely notice a sense of physical relaxation.
Additionally, if there are suppressed emotions within you, they may rise to the surface while floating. Unexpressed emotions can lead to many mental and physical illnesses, so releasing them can be very beneficial. The float tank provides a safe space to allow this release. In some cases, individuals may leave the tank in tears, continuing to cry for days afterwards. This release can be exactly what your body and mind need.
If you're grappling with depressive thoughts and hope that floating will help, be prepared for those negative feelings to intensify at first. However, with patience, as your brain's hormonal balance shifts, these negative thoughts can gradually be replaced with more positive ones. Don't be discouraged by the initial surge of strong emotions.
The best advice is to trust the process. Just lie back, and observe what unfolds without expectations.
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