Defying Gravity

Sometimes you just need 400kg of Epsom salts

I think we can all agree that 2023 was a LOT.

I came out of it burned out and managing a lingering health scare so by the time Christmas rolled round, I was truly running on fumes. I had a lot of time to reflect on my life in 2023 and what I wanted to do differently in 2024. If I had to sum up my goals for this year, they fall under the umbrella of self-care.

My Instagram algorithm wasted no time in sending me ads that would facilitate this and one that caught my eye was for Simple Float. I could happily suspend myself in salt water, deprived of light and sound for an hour. So, I grabbed their ‘buy one, get one’ special and booked my first session for last night.

I opted for a Friday before a weekend I wasn’t expected to leave the house so I wouldn’t have to faff around with alarms or just trying to focus on any major tasks at hand.

I arrived at for 8pm appointment and was shown to my room which has the pod, a shower (with all the soaps and shampoos you need), a towel and a space for your clothing. I had a cold shower because fiddling with temperature isn’t my strong point and then climbed into the pod, shut the door, adjusted to being buoyant, and turned off the light.

I bobbed about while the water settled and then I just… lay there.

One of the benefits of a floatation tank is complete sensory deprivation – your body isn’t dealing with gravity in any way, and you can see and hear nothing. When they tell you it’s more like floating in space, I understood what they meant.

I lost all sense of time. When the hour was up the light slowly comes back on and soft music starts to play. It’s quite soothing. Then I took another shower to rinse off the salt and managed to get the warm water to work. The only downside was the lack of water pressure. My hair is past my shoulder blades, so trying rinse out salt, shampoo and conditioner with little more than a dribble took a lot of patience.

I packed a fresh change of clothes because I didn’t want to get back into the clothes I’d worn all day at work, and it did make me feel cosy.

They have a vanity section with mirrors, hair dryers, cotton pads, hair ties, etc which was very convenient. I walked out clean, fresh, rested and blow dried, ready to go straight home to bed.

I slept really well. I’m glad I didn’t have a massive task list today because I’ve taken two naps and am already looking forward to tonight’s bedtime.

Do I think it should be tried at least once? Absolutely. However, I think this is something I’d like to do every month or two as a reset but it’s not something I can see myself doing every week or fortnight.

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