“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 500 kgs of Epsom salts don’t fit into my tub. Actually, I don’t even have a bathtub, so there’s a third.

A lot of effort goes into making floatation tanks or 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 neighbors with children or dogs, and I live in a city that has never quite learned the meaning of quiet.

I realize how stressed I’ve been with work or life or god-knows-what-else and decide to unwind.

I pour a glass of wine, I put on the comfy clothes and prepare to put my feet up..

Andddd inevitably the mongrel is yapping, construction starts up out of nowhere, my phone blows up with 20,000 urgent emails, my blood pressure is through the roof and I wonder what it was ever liked to be 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 to the temperature of my skin.
• They’ve put the Epsom salts in the water (all 500 kgs of them).
• They have the place clean, the towels ready and the music prepared to take me away.
• They manage 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