In the US, the sensory deprivation tank has long been regarded as a tool used by mad scientists, like in the movie Altered States, or the popular TV show Fringe. With a name like sensory deprivation tank or isolation tank, what would any sane person want to with it? Nowadays, the sensory deprivation tank is more commonly known as a floatation tank (or flotation tank, if you’re in the UK), and is used for many practical purposes.
A float session can be the closest thing on earth to being in zero gravity, due to 800-1000 lbs of dissolved epsom salt. This low gravity is similar to what millions of people have experienced in the Dead Sea in Israel, only the float tank is even more dense and therefore creates even greater floatation. In a floatation tank, you don’t need to know how to swim. In fact, you don’t even need to be awake in a float tank because it’s impossible to flip over accidentally. I’ve taken many relaxing naps during a float session.
The epsom salt doesn’t just make you float, it also acts as a natural muscle relaxant for deep relaxation of your muscles. I have a pinched nerve in my back that has caused my back muscles to tighten up to a very painful degree. One float session is all I need to relax those muscles. In fact, I was able to avoid back surgery and get off of pain medication thanks to the floatation tank.
Another little known benefit of the floatation tank is that your skin absorbs the epsom salt (magnesium sulfate), mineralizing your body. If you have fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, or any other health challenges that are tied to a lack of magnesium, you may benefit from a float session. I’ve intereviewed several people with fibromyalgia who have experienced greatly reduced pain and improved sleep.
A surprising number of people think they’ll be claustrophobic in a floatation tank, but the busiest floatation center in the world (10,000s of customers over the past 15 years) has confirmed that even very claustrophobic people enjoy a float session. Even though a float tank is enclosed, you can open the door anytime and end the float session whenever you like.
The floatation tank experience can be used for enhancing your creativity and problem solving ability. This is due to the float tank experience inducing the theta state. The theta state is a brainwave state that we all experience when we’re asleep, but the float tank experience is most unique in allowing people to experience the theta state when they’re awake. It’s like being in a waking dream, you can create more vivid thoughts than you may normally be used to. The total lack of distractions in a floatation tank can be a help in focusing on any challenges you’re facing, so you can work on a solution in that stress-free environment.
To learn more about the many health benefits of the floatation tank, visit www.floatforhealth.net
Categories: Floatation Tank
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The Solution To Back Pain Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About
My heart goes out to the millions of people who suffer back pain. I’ve been there, I found a solution, and my goal is to share this solution that doctors will never tell their patients about.
From 1995-2001, I suffered intermittent sciatic pain caused by a pinched nerve in my lower back. When it first started, I felt intense pain for a few hours and then it subsided. But every few months, it came back worse. It got to the point that in the spring of 2000, I was nearly paralyzed with sciatic pain for 2 weeks. I was only 28.
I took pain medications, I got massages, I spent many hours in a heated pool, I went to a chiropractor, I stretched, I got acupuncture, I got physical therapy. Nothing worked. I thought my last options were cortisone injections and/or back surgery. Desperate to find a natural and side-effect-free solution, I tried floating in a floatation tank.
For the entire week prior to visiting the floatation center in 2001, I was barely able to sleep because lying in bed was so painful. I was barely able to feed or bathe myself. Since I was living by myself, I had to drive myself to the floatation center, which was unfortunate because that made the pain far worse.
I walked into the floatation center looking like a rusted-out zombie. Every step sent shooting pain through my body. But within 45 minutes of floating weightlessly in the Epsom saltwater, I was pain free! Not only that, the muscles around the pinched nerve that were so tight from responding to the constant shooting pain were now loose and flexible.
Pain medication dulled the pain slightly, but it never eliminated it. Muscle relaxants didn’t work at all, they only made me groggy. Standing in the heated pool for hours took some of the edge off, but it was only temporary relief. I’d been living with such intense pain for 6 years, I didn’t think anything could eliminate it, but the floatation tank did just that. There are no side effects other than improved mood and lower stress, due to endorphins being released as a result of the deep relaxation.
My doctor took x-rays of my back and concluded that I should be in constant pain and have difficulty walking straight. That’s not the case any longer. After doing some research, I learned that the floatation tank is also effective for pain caused by fibromyalgia (another group of people that my heart goes out to), sore muscles (due to athletics, charley horse, restless leg syndrome) arthritis, late term pregnancy (back pain), and more.
I’ve published the most informative educational website about the many health benefits offered by floating. Since I’m not selling anything, I hope the folks who run this website won’t mind me mentioning the address – floatforhealth.net.
My desire is that everyone who can benefit from this virtually unknown therapy will be introduced to it so they can make an informed decision about how they treat their pain. Your doctor isn’t going to tell you about this. I encourage you to do your own research