Weightless

Bryan and I tried out flotation therapy last week. Never heard of it? Me neither. But Bryan came across a groupon for the Salt City Float Spa and thought it looked interesting. I'm always up for an adventurous date night...or afternoon in this case. And really, other than the drive up and back, we were on our own during the actual floating. But still a fun experience to share.

Floating takes place in this alien looking pod. It is filled with 10 or so inches of heavily concentrated salt water. Like, Great Salt Lake salty. The water is warmed to 95.9 degrees, or surface skin temperature. You climb in (swimsuit or not, totally up to you...I went with not) and close the pod lid. Because I was slightly worried about claustrophobia issues, I left the lid open a crack. There is a light inside the pod that you can turn off if you like. I left it on because it was just a nice blue color that reflected off the white roof of the pod...and it was kind of soothing.

Because you are floating, but the salt water is skin temperature, once you settle down and the water stops rippling around you, you can't feel it at all. And it suddenly seems like you are weightless, like floating in space. It is the most surreal feeling. You are meant to spend the hour in complete relaxation and meditation. It reminded me a lot of savasana...that final "corpse pose" at the end of yoga practice. I spent my hour in the pod focusing on my breathing, thinking about each area of my body and how to let go of any tension that might be there. I tried to let everything empty out of my mind and get to the point where I was just completely and totally relaxed. In fact, some people fall asleep while floating. Some soothing music starts playing in your room during the last 5 minutes of your float to let you know that your session is almost over...and to wake you up if you've dozed off. I did not fall asleep, but I was still very surprised at how quickly that hour went by.

I don't know if floating is something we will ever do again...but it sure was fun!