FLOATING
Float therapy has been around since the 50's and has become popular in the UK over the last 10 years. This popularity has bred a greater awareness of the healing and regenerative powers of floatation.
When floating, your muscles, joints, and bones take a break.
Your mind becomes still, and your body can access extra resources, which allows it to focus on healing and resting – the stress just floats away.
The spine lengthens an inch, chronic pain is relieved, and your muscles are allowed to recover.
The zero-gravity effect of the salt water allows blood to flow freely throughout your body.
About 40 minutes into your float, your brain stops producing its regular Alpha waves and starts emitting Theta waves. The Theta state is typically associated with advanced meditative techniques. It provides clarity of thought and an experience of deep connection. Floating is a tool that makes this state easily accessible to anyone.
The Epsom Salts we use are also very good for you. The high dose of Magnesium Sulphate softens and replenishes your skin and helps counteract the magnesium deficiency most of us have due to depleted levels in our soil and food.
Welcome to the Orbit Float Pod
Clean as a whistle!
Our float pod drains and filters the solution between each session using advanced technology, ensuring crystal, clean water every time.
Not a fan of silence?
We can play ambient music through the pod to help you relax and meditate.
Afraid of the dark?
How about some colourful lighting to keep you company while you rest?
We can tailor the experience to maximise your comfort.
What is a Float Pod?
A Float Pod is a vessel designed for total relaxation. It is filled with a highly concentrated solution of Epsom saltwater, and heated to the same temperature as the human body. It provides a complete disconnection from the outside world, providing a lightless, soundless environment, allowing you to relax into a meditative state.
Experience the wonder of FLOAT ONE
The Health & Physical Benefits of Floating
General wellbeing
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Promotes total calm and peaceful relaxation
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Eliminates fatigue and can aid with jet lag
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Improves sleep
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Alleviates stress (mental and physical)
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Energises, rejuvenates and revitalises
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Increases motivation and diminishes depression, anxiety and fear
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Facilitates freedom from habits, phobias and addictions
Mental benefits of floatation
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Stimulates left/right brain synchronisation
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Shifts brain waves from beta to lower frequency alpha, theta and delta waves
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Creates mental clarity and alertness
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Increases creativity and problem-solving
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Heightens visualisation
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Deepens meditation
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Expands awareness and intensifies acuteness of all the senses
Physical benefits of floatation
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Decreases the production of cortisol, ACTH, lactic acid and adrenaline
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Increases production of endorphins
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Speeds up rehabilitation and recovery
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Relieves pain (arthritis, migraines, injuries and so on)
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Boosts immune function
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Improves circulation and distribution of oxygen and nutrients
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Reduces blood pressure and heart rate
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It helps prevent sports injuries and speeds up the healing process.
The Power of Floating...
One of FLOAT ONE's objectives is to inform and educate the public about the multitude of benefits of float therapy. Everyone has a unique journey and everyone has something to gain from learning how to release stress, anxiety and be at peace.
FLOATING takes a deep dive into the healing powers of Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy), an emerging new technology that can powerfully counter the deleterious effects of stress in modern life. In today’s society, the human nervous system lives in a world of near-constant stimulation, leaving the brain and body with no opportunity to relax and disconnect. As a result, chronic physical and mental health conditions have become ubiquitous, with over a quarter of the population suffering from pain, anxiety, depression, burnout and other ailments exacerbated by stress. In response to this upheaval of stress sweeping across our society, centers offering Float Therapy have started opening up all across the world. This documentary tells uplifting stories of ordinary people reducing their stress, easing their pain, and performing at their highest level through Floatation Therapy using specially designed Isolation Tanks and pools. On the heels of groundbreaking research by clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Justin Feinstein, the film follows Shane Stott as he introduces floating to the people who need it the most, and in the process helps them learn how to heal themselves.
Experience the wonder of FLOAT ONE
Floating has many benefits prove benefits for the mind, body and on your overall wellbeing:
HEALTHY MIND
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Encourages creativity
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Aids meditation
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Stimulates endorphins in the brain
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Helps to reduce stress, anxiety and depression
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Promotes skin and hair health
HEALTHY YOU
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Improves sleep
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Encourages deep rest
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Enhances learning
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Changes ingrained behaviour, such as addictions, phobias and fears
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Reduces stress
Pre-Float
Our staff will give you a full walkthrough of the facility and answer any questions to ensure that you are informed and feel at home in our centre.
Preparing
You will enter your private float room and take a shower before starting your session to ensure any oils, dirt, and perfumes are removed.
Letting Go
It will take some time to get used to the unique environment of the float tank so we encourage you to focus on your breath and try to let go.
Post-Float Glow
You will be notified your session is over by music in the pod. After your session you will shower again to remove any salt and are welcome to enjoy your new state in our relaxation suite.
Tips to maximise your experience
Give your float experience the best chance by following our recommendations below:
No Stimulants
Avoid caffeine and other stimulants before your float to make it easier for your body and mind to relax.
No Shaving
Please don't shave anywhere on your face or body before your float session as the epsom salt may sting for some time in the beginning making it more difficult to relax and enjoy your float.
Focus on your breath
If your mind is busy, you have difficulty relaxing, or any challenge with the unique environment, it's helpful to focus on your breathing. Take deep breathes and keep your attention on that process.
Stay Hydrated
Try to ensure that you are well hydrated before your session, but don't drink too much right beforehand.
Float Nude
We recommend floating in the nude to ensure there are no external pressures or restrictions on your body. Our tanks are extremely filtered to ensure cleanliness and the water is kept at skin temperature.
Change Positions
Everyone has different preferences: arms above head, pointed up at your side, or down by your body and if you find yourself getting uncomfortable, it can help to switch your arm position.
Eat a light meal
It's best to have a light meal 60 to 90 mins. before your session, rather than floating with a full or empty stomach.
Don't worry about time
It's fairly common to obsess or stress over time while floating, try to return your focus to your breath and know that our staff and the music in the pod will let you know when your session is over.
No Expectations
There is no 'right' way to float, each and every session is different and it's important to not get caught up thinking you're doing it wrong. Breathe, let go and relax to go deeper.
Words on Floating
Boasting so many rejuvenating and creative benefits, it comes as no surprise that celebrities and professional athletes around the globe have been using Float Tanks for many years to relax, recover and explore within.
A History of Floating
Physician and neuroscientist John C. Lilly felt this theory was incomplete and believed the testing methods used didn't accurately demonstrate sensory reduction. Lilly, along with his colleague Dr. Jay Shurley at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), wanted to create an even more optimal environment to remove all sensory input on the human mind. To that end, they created the first float tank (or “isolation tank” as they called them) in 1954. It involved being fully submerged in water, and looked nothing like the sleek fiberglass designs we see today. In fact, they looked like something more out of a Halloween Haunted Mansion rather than a relaxation device. They required operators to monitor the air supply, which was sent to cumbersome breathing helmets at all times during use.
Lilly and Shurley initially experimented on themselves and recorded their reactions to this sensory reduced environment before later bringing in other people to try it out. Most of the subjects they had in the tank (including the two researchers themselves), found the tank incredibly relaxing.
In fact, their time in the tanks completely subverted their expectations – it was entirely different from what other researchers had published at the time on “sensory deprivation.” They were not slipping into a comatose state, nor was it the least bit distressing. Instead, Lilly found his time in the tank surprisingly profound and physically rejuvenating. Shurley found the float experience equally impressive, and the two of them spent the next decade improving on the design.
Over the next few years, Lilly also experimented with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) inside the float tanks. The drug was extremely novel at the time and was beginning to widely circulate in academic circles in the late 50s. This was a departure from what Shurley was interested in studying, but Dr. Lilly found the combination of LSD and sensory isolation to be life changing.
So much so that it inspired him to write several books on how this combination of therapies impacted his life, work, and philosophy.
Throughout the 70s Dr. Lilly did speaking tours and workshops, bringing awareness of floating to a broader, but still very small, audience. He found himself in the middle of a cultural revolution in the United States as the world experienced a wave of social and political change. In 1972, Lilly met Glenn Perry at one of his speaking engagements at Bear Rock in California.
Samadhi float tank
The two quickly became good friends. Glenn was an engineer who was also deeply interested in the meditative benefits that came from floating. He offered some suggestions to Dr. Lilly about how to improve the tank by adding salt to the water to raise the specific gravity, making it easier to float on the surface. It wasn’t long before they were collaborating on a design for a commercial float tank intended to go in every house in America. Thus Samadhi, the first float tank company, was born!
They began manufacturing in 1973 and opened up a 20 float tank center in Beverly Hills. Celebrity endorsements quickly started rolling in: Susan Sarandon, Michael Crichton, and Robin Williams all shared their profound experiences in interviews. The world learned about floating and they liked it!
Since those early years, a lot has changed. The tanks have evolved and a global industry has developed around floating, but that sense of discovery that inspired the first float tank is still a fundamental part of the experience.