Your bathtub (or couch) is not a substitute for a float tank

"Sooo, why not just take a bath?!" I frequently get asked this when I start gushing about floating — or sensory deprivation, or isolation tanks, or floatation therapy, or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

The answer, my friends, is multi-faceted.

It includes the fact that my bathwater gets cold, and 500kg of Epsom salt don't fit into my tub. Actually, I don't even have a bathtub — so there's a third reason right there.

A lot of effort goes into making floatation tanks and pods into the perfect relaxation space, not the least of which comes back to the sensory-deprivation bit. I have a comfortable home with a couch and a bed. I also have neighbours with children and dogs, and I live in a city that has never quite learned the meaning of quiet.

So I realise how stressed I've been with work, or life, or god-knows-what-else, and I decide to unwind. I pour a glass of wine, put on the comfy clothes, and prepare to put my feet up…

…and inevitably the neighbour's mongrel starts yapping, construction fires up out of nowhere, my phone blows up with 20,000 urgent emails, my blood pressure goes through the roof, and I wonder what it was ever like to feel relaxed.

Going to the float centre is different

• The lovely people at Float Culture know I'm coming — they have the water heated to exactly the temperature of my skin.
• They've put the Epsom salt in the water (all 500kg of it).
• The place is clean, the towels are ready and the music is prepared to take me away.
• They manage all those distractions for me.
• No mongrels allowed.
• Phones can't come into the tank.
• No television.
• No heat, no cold, no light, no sound, no gravity.

— By Jennifer White