What happened when I tried Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy

I don’t like having baths, but one of my favourite feelings is floating in the sea or being on a lilo in a pool. There is something about being suspended in a mass of water, the gentle rippling that is so relaxing.  Flotation Therapy enables you to achieve a deep state of physical and mental relaxation which is very difficult to achieve in any other environment. It's a practice which was developed during the 1950s by physician and neuroscientist John C. Lilly. It is used today for various health and wellness reasons. 

After talking to one of my clients about the benefits of floating and thinking about how bombarded our senses are from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, I decided to try flotation therapy sometimes referred to as Flotation R.E.S.T standing for Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy (as opposed to the old term used “sensory deprivation”).  I attended hoping to experience relaxation. Whilst I am not highly strung, I am not the most laid back person. My mind moves a hundred miles a minute. My neck and shoulders are often tense. Whilst I can fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow, I have problems staying asleep. 

A Reduced Environmental Stimulation tank or flotation tank is shallow warm water filled with tons of Epsom Salts, which makes you float. My tank had twinkling star lights in the and a low level LED light around the base of the tank, making the experience extra relaxing. 

Studies suggest Flotation Therapy has many benefits, such as muscle relaxation which leads to improved cardiovascular health, better sleep, decrease in pain, and decreased stress and anxiety, enhanced creativity, greater focus with clearer and more precise thinking, some websites say it can even eliminate writers block! In order to experience these benefits we need to put ourselves into a state of deep relaxation, however today’s modern world is not conduce to us feeling relaxed very often.

I arrived at 7th Heaven Float Room in Hampshire a little nervous but that passed the moment I met Sarah, the host. She immediately made me feel welcome and put me at ease. While I wouldn’t call myself claustrophobic, I also wouldn’t call myself a small space enthusiast. However I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the tank – not dissimilar size to a garden shed. The tank had plenty of room to stretch out and plenty of space overhead which made me feel comfortable.

After a through induction showing you how everything works and what to do in the case of an emergency (like needing to go for a pee mid float!) you have a quick shower pre float to wash off any perfumes, deodorants, oils, dirt. You are told not to shave or wax before a session as the salt in the water can irritate the skin. You are not advise to float if menstruating.   

I climbed into the tank naked and shut the door behind me. You can wear a swimming costume but the amount of salt means that it goes crusty when you get out. When I first got in, there was a pleasant blue light illuminating the water, which allowed me to get acclimated before I officially started my float and relaxing music playing.

My initial feeling was one of trying to propel myself up.  In the sea when you lie back like a starfish for a few seconds or minutes … you always end up tipping yourself forward to come to a vertical position – it took my brain a little while to realise that I could stay floating without having to tip up. Once settled the light and music faded away and I was in total darkness. The sheer magnitude of the darkness and silence was unusual. There’s nothing I could do except lie back and relax.

During the first few minutes of the float, all the reasons I was floating in the first place, the racing thoughts, the tense shoulders, the jittery, nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach felt amplified. But the longer I stayed in the tank, the more things started to slow down. My shoulders loosened up. My breathing deepened. My thoughts stopped racing.

I was relaxed. And it felt AMAZING.

As time went on, I moved past relaxation and entered what I can only describe as an almost trance like state. Sarah explained this was called a Theta state. Theta brain waves are brain frequencies that measure 4 to 7 Hz. They’re present when you’re barely conscious like just after awakening or before sleeping. Theta is the fascinating edge between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. At times, I couldn’t tell where my body ended and where the water began. Every so often my outstretched fingers or toes might tip the edge of the flotation tank but I softly pushed away being careful not to disturb the calm water. It was like meditating on steroids. I was able to access the kind of deep, internal calm that I’d only read about in meditation books.

Some say the time in the flotation room can pass very quickly but for me it was the opposite it felt like I had been in there for days!  Usually an hour at home whizzes by in a flash but with nothing bombarding my senses I was able to enjoy each of the 60 minutes for what they were! If only time passed like that outside of the flotation tank!

I climbed out of the tank, took another shower to get all the saltiness off my body. The host Sarah came to see how I was and I sat and had a drink a snack bar and a chat. This post float pause before dashing back to the real world to do the school pick up was really nice. It was great to be able to share what I had experienced with someone straight away.

The best way to describe my post float sensation is a deep inner groundedness and alignment. It was not dissimilar to the feeling I had after giving birth – a euphoria and confidence in your body.  I carried that feeling home with me, where I continued to float on (pun intended), feeling calm, relaxed, and centered.

Was the deep sense of relaxation I got from floating a placebo effect, or the result of actual changes in my brain? I’m not sure, and I probably won’t find out: the science behind floating is still so new that it’s tough to point to any concrete evidence of therapeutic benefits.

But to be honest, I don’t really care. After my experience with Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy —and the complete and total relaxation as a result—I’m already counting the days until I can get back in the tank.