Floatation Bath: A Journey Within

SPA OVARIUM

Floatation Bath: A Journey Within

Floatation Tank

Floatation Bath: A Journey Within

A floatation bath, also known as a sensory deprivation tank, allows you to float effortlessly, creating a feeling of weightlessness that promotes deep relaxation. Your muscles unwind, your joints decompress, and your organs regain their natural space.

Originally designed to create an environment free from external stimuli, floatation therapy provides a much-needed break from the constant bombardment of sensory input. This process helps the nervous system regenerate, reducing both stress and anxiety.

A floatation bath is also an invitation to an inner journey—whether psychological or spiritual—depending on your perspective. Introspection is essential to aligning our life choices with our deepest values. Taking the time to pause, float, and focus on this inner journey is the very essence of the floatation experience.

Exploring Your Inner World

Engaging in floatation therapy is a deeply personal experience. Some use the tranquil setting to meditate under ideal conditions, while others enter the floatation tank with a question in mind, let it go during the session, and later find an answer emerging while sipping herbal tea after floating. For many, it is the perfect opportunity to truly let go—emerging from the tank feeling lighter, freer. If you find yourself torn between logic and intuition, a floatation bath can help your consciousness expand, guiding you toward the right choices. Each person experiences floating in their own way.

The Science-Backed Benefits of Floating

Beyond its introspective and meditative qualities, floatation therapy offers numerous physical and psychosomatic benefits. Scientific studies have shown that regular float sessions can significantly reduce anxiety and chronic pain.

For example, research conducted at the Human Performance Laboratory of Karlstad University found that floatation therapy alleviates chronic pain related to stress. Among participants suffering from anxiety, depression, or fibromyalgia, more than three-quarters reported significant health improvements.

Additionally, floatation therapy has been shown to improve sleep quality, reduce fatigue, and enhance overall well-being. The sensation of weightlessness in a warm, silent sensory deprivation tank activates the body’s natural healing and regenerative systems. (Source)

The Origins of Floatation Therapy

The invention of the sensory deprivation tank is credited to Dr. John C. Lilly, an American physician and neuroscientist. In the 1950s, he developed this tool to study human consciousness by isolating the mind from external stimuli. His research paved the way for new approaches in neuroscience and psychology, ultimately contributing to the modern-day popularity of floatation therapy.

For those interested in exploring the subject further, several books discuss the benefits of floating and sensory deprivation tanks. The Book of Floating by Michael Hutchison delves into the therapeutic effects of floating, while Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer by John C. Lilly offers insights into consciousness experiences in sensory isolation.

At our Floating Spa Ovarium in Montreal, we believe that everyone can discover their own reasons for floating. We invite you to share your experiences on our Facebook page and inspire others to explore the many benefits of floatation therapy.

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Anxiety

SPA OVARIUM

Anxiety

When you hold us !

By Guylaine Fortin

Feeling overwhelmed by anxiety? You’re not alone! In Quebec, one in two people report feeling anxious, and women are twice as likely to experience anxiety as men. These statistics, derived from a 2019 survey conducted by Léger, reflect a steadily increasing level of anxiety over the past 30 years. The ongoing pandemic, unjustifiable war, and climate crisis certainly do not contribute to our peace of mind.

Despite what some might claim, there is no miracle cure for anxiety. It can take time to find a method or resource that works among the myriad of available options. Recognizing one’s anxious state is the first step. From there, we can try to self-monitor, to act as our own guardian angel, much like we would with a child to protect them from a perilous situation. Being kind to oneself involves accepting one’s vulnerability, listening to oneself, and finding ways to minimize the effects of anxiety.

Adopting a balanced lifestyle should be our first reflex:

Sleep 7 to 9 hours per night and maintain regular hours
Follow a healthy and balanced diet
Respect your limits, do not push your body beyond its capacities
Avoid psychoactive substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs
Engage in activities that boost morale (sports, gardening, artistic creation, etc.)
Practice relaxation, yoga, or meditation
Limit anxiety-inducing situations as much as possible
Trust others, share your emotions with a close friend or health professional

A promising study on anxiety research

A study on floatation therapy published in 2016 by a team of Swedish scientists from Karlstad University offers a glimmer of hope. The experiment involved a sample of 50 people divided into two groups: the first served as a control group, while the other half benefited from twelve floatation sessions spread over six months. The participants, aged 18 to 65, all suffered from generalized anxiety, some level of depression, insomnia, and difficulty regulating their emotions. Unsurprisingly, no changes were recorded in the control group. However, anxiety symptoms were significantly reduced in the treatment group, with one in three patients reporting complete remission by the end of the experiment. Interestingly, it was the patients with the most severe anxiety symptoms who reported the most beneficial effects.

Disconnecting from the outside world to calm our mind

According to several studies, anxiety is triggered by excessive stimulation of various parts of the brain, leading to the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, throughout the body. Cortisol not only induces anxious thought patterns but also raises blood pressure and heart rate, and can even slow down or alter the functioning of certain organs.

The basic principle of floatation therapy lies in the near-total reduction of sensory stimuli. After a few moments of floating in water maintained at the same temperature as the skin, free from external interferences, the sense of space and time diminishes, and the mind calms. This induces a state similar to that provided by meditation. This deep calm allows hormonal glands to return to their normal state, restoring balance or homeostasis.

A potential to explore

The results of several studies suggest that floatation sessions could become an interesting option to add to treatments for generalized anxiety. Even more promising, researchers hypothesize that this reduction of external stimuli could be beneficial for treating not only psychological conditions but also overall well-being, as they observe a considerable reduction in other variables such as sleep and mood disorders, except for depression, where levels vary little or not at all. Notably, participants report no significant adverse effects.

Further experiments will need to be conducted to document these results more thoroughly, but for now, most data seem to converge in the same direction, offering a glimmer of hope to those living with anxiety.

References :

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1246446/anxiete-sondage-leger-quebec

Promising effects of treatment with flotation-REST (restricted environmental stimulation technique) as an intervention for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): A randomized controlled pilot trial

https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/234b71b5-08a0-4555-b9f6-69c83714488a__7C___0.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7429139_Effects_of_Flotation-Restricted_Environmental_Stimulation_Technique_on_Stress-Related_Muscle_Pain_What_Makes_the_Difference_in_Therapy_-_Attention-Placebo_or_the_Relaxation_Response

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