This past weekend my boyfriend & I went to test out the float spa experience through the unique sensory-deprivation tanks at True Rest Float Spa in Palm Beach Gardens. We were really excited to try out this creative way of relaxing, and let me tell you this girl is always in dire need of a good spa day!
To be honest we heard some mixed reviews from our friends concerning claustrophobia, and being alone with your thoughts which can honestly be difficult for most people.
This made us a bit nervous, but I personally try to look past those things and go into each new experience I try with an open mind.
Aside from everything we heard my boyfriend & I ended up loving our experience and I thought I’d share my honest opinion, and some of the amazing benefits that come with float therapy with you.
I’m still amazed at how relaxed we felt after our float, we are so excited to book our next session.
It was seriously such a unique experience that felt extremely euphoric, but I’ll go into that later with you.
What is Float Therapy?
Float Therapy creates an environment free from gravity, strain, tension, or pain. These pods allow you to effortlessly float, while cancelling out any outside noise, distractions, and stress. The key here is sensory deprivation, the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses.
Float pods allow you to tune everything out, and essentially meditate in a gravity free environment so you virtually feel nothing aside from inner peace.
How Does it Work?
Each pod is filled with 1,000 pounds of Epsom Salts which helps with buoyancy, making the water twice as buoyant as the dead sea! This creates a deeply relaxing anti-gravity environment, as all weight and tension can be dropped leaving all pressure points on the body in this state, which can provide up to 100% pain relief. Epsom Salts are also a great exfoliant for your skin, hair, nails while aiding in joint pain, relieving stress, and naturally relaxing the body.
Float pods are also heated to the same temperature as your body heat so you feel like your floating on a cloud. Nothing but just pure bliss mind & body healing in extreme silence.
Think of this as an hour of meditation. For the first 40 minutes, you might experience some minor itching sensations (common during the early stages of meditation). The last 20 minutes often end with a transition from a relaxed state of mind to subconsciousness, which typically occurs briefly before sleep and again at waking. This state can last for several minutes without losing consciousness.
What are the Benefits?
As you can imagine there is a vast range of varied benefits that come with floating. Floating is an all-natural approach that is proven to help with a wide scope of ailments while offering both physical and mental well-being practices.
Taking care off not just your body but your mind as well is so important to living a healthy and happy life. That’s why it is so important that we find creative ways everyday to work on both.
One of the unique things about this treatment is that each person will have a different responses to their own individual physical and emotional needs. Floating only gets better the more you do it, so you’re first time might not be an easy transition. I have been meditating for awhile now so falling into this state was pretty easy form me.
Physical Benefits
- Increased Blood Circulation
- Increased Healing Abilities
- Pain Management
- Increased Immune System Functioning
- Athletic Training Recovery
Mental Benefit
- Stress Reduction
- Increased Creativity
- Increased Reaction Time & Sensory Activity
- Sleep Schedule Maintenance
- Feelings of Euphoria
My Experience
Seeing as the treatment is completely natural, I didn’t have any hesitations or worries to give this a try. We spent about an hour and 30 minutes there in total, so this was perfect for a nice Sunday afternoon recharge.
Let’s take a look into how the day went.
1.) Rinse & Protect
Before you hop in the pod, you’ll want to rinse off any excess oils on the body. At True REST they have showers in each room to easily get undressed, rinse off, & hop in your pod. A nice hot shower was the simply the perfect way to get this session started!
They even provide Vaseline. If you have any scrapes or grazes make sure to smoother some Vaseline over them before hoping in the tank because the salt water will sting a bit.
I also recommend using the ear plugs, so that you’re not spending the day trying to get the dried flaky salt out of your ear.
I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to get this session started. With the pressures from everyday life & work, being able to shut off was just what a girl like me who is constantly on the go needed.
It is recommended that you float naked, but for the sake of photos and videos I left my swimsuit on for you. I ended up taking my swimsuit off after, but the point is that you don’t want to feel anything touching you. I definitely recommend relaxing and going with the flow here. There is nothing to worry about, the rooms lock from the inside assuring you’re perfectly safe.
2.) 1 Hour Float
Each session begins with 10 minutes of soft relaxing music that fades out into complete silence.
When the music came back on, signaling the end of my float I did not want to get out. During my experience I did not feel my body at all. It wasn’t that I felt disconnect, it was a very fulfilling experience like floating away on a cloud. My mind was able to fully shut off, and it was one of the first times in awhile where I was able to fully keep my mind from racing and drift off in peace.
When I first hopped out of the pod I felt very disoriented so be careful when coming out of the pod. I was pretty wobble but what can you expect from being in a state of sensory deprivation for an hour. If that was the worst side effect I had, I can live with dealing with it for 10 minutes to be in a state of pure bliss.
3.) Shower
Once your float session ends, you’re going to want to wash all the salt water out of your skin and hair. Luckily True REST has everything you need from shampoo, conditioner, & body wash.
Make sure you rinse off pretty well & with plenty of soap, the salt will get everywhere so keep anything you bring neatly tucked away and far from contact. I only say this from experience because we ended up getting salt all over our clothes and accessories but it easily came out so it’s not a big deal.
While the shower afterwards woke me up a bit, I was still a bit groggy. I took my time showering and getting dressed then headed out to the Oasis Lounge. When I walked out of that room I was in a state of pure bliss. I can’t even begin to tell you how relaxed and Intune I felt with myself.
4.) Oxygen
After your float you end the session with 20 minutes at the oxygen bar in the Oasis Lounge. The have 4 different essential oil infusions from you to try from and we wanted to try them all so we switched tubes half way through.
They even give you a nice hot cup of tea to relax and take it all in.
The oxygen in my opinion is a MUST if you go. Like I mentioned earlier I was really disoriented and groggy. The oxygen perked us both up and we were fully ready to take off and enjoy the rest of our day. It was a nice little high that left us feeling giggly, and energized.
We absolutely loved our time at True REST float spa. We walked out of there with the biggest smiles on our faces. I also couldn’t believe how affordable the sessions are, at around $89 a float and they have great discounts on the memberships as well. For your first float it’s only $65, and if you want a membership it’s only $65 for 1 float a month.
I’m honestly planning on giving gift cards for these treatments around the holidays for my parents and stressed out friends. If you want to check out more of their pricing you can click here, to see their website.
Flotation Therapy has to be one of my new favorite methods to disconnect from the busy lives we all live today. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it felt to just relax in completely silence and enjoy floating off into internal peace. It was a great way to detox the toxins from my body while just being to completely shut off from the outside world. I 1000% recommend at least trying this out once, I promise you won’t regret it!
Ciao, loves ❤️
Anna 