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| - I have to say I'm not the type of person who would normally try something like this, but some friends talked me into it and I'm glad they did. First off, I thought it was going to be the equivalent of floating in a personal hot tub with some epsom salts mixed in. Which sounded nice. Hot tubs are nice. A private one sounded relaxing. But beyond that I didn't really understand what was so special about it.
About 15 minutes in, after getting over the swooshing the water around stage, I began to relax. That's when I learned what was in fact so special about this. When I relaxed and focused on my thoughts, my mind began to light up. My memories were the most clear and vivid I've ever experienced. Very visual. It was like dreaming while awake. Sounds a bit crazy, I know, but it's what happened. After that, the time flew by and it ended before I wanted it to.
All this came as a surprise to me. I didn't expect it. When people told me about the float pods it seemed like they mainly focused on the physical benefits, relaxing and relieving pains and whatnot. But to me, the mental experience was far greater than anything.
I thought about it after and realized just what I'd experienced. The pod itself is all about sensory deprivation. Ear plugs and silence, so your mind doesn't have to process much hearing. Pitch black so your mind doesn't have to process sight. The water temperature is set to skin temperature, and the salt makes you float, so there is very little physical feeling. This leaves all that extra brain power, that's usually going to process the outside world, to your thoughts and memories. It's really fascinating.
We went opening week and got to talk with the owners. They're a mother and daughter team with their first small business. They were really down to earth and it was obvious they cared a lot. Everything was clean and well designed, felt very comfortable. I'm always happy to support local independent places run like this. All around a great experience.
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