Mental Medication: review of local float therapy spot— Floating KC

As I lay in 93.5-degree salt water — enough to keep my whole body afloat — I slowly drift into a mood of relaxation and fall asleep. I floated in the one-foot-deep-pod, infused with 1,200 pounds of epsom salt to keep me adrift. I can honestly say this was the most unconventional way to destress: it worked.

Floating KC is no yoga class with a nice relaxing flow of movement. Float therapy is when a person enters a pod nude and is cut off from all outside stimulation, including sound, sight and gravity when the tank’s door is closed. For $75 I got a full spa experience.

Before the float began I spent the first 15 minutes seated in a massage chair to start the relaxation process before I got into the pool of water. It was a dark room with a space skylight and a massage chair that hit my back in all the right places. 

After my massage, I was ready to float. The pre-float process was fairly simple. I had five minutes to take a shower, throw in earplugs and step into the float room.

The lights shut off. It was a black room of complete silence. It freaked me out at first, constantly wondering if I was floating in circles or where the door was. The natural effect of floating is guaranteed to cause a scare for people who are first timers. 

After 15 minutes of floating, my body suddenly felt at ease. With the water at a constant 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes a skin-receptor — meaning you lose track of where the body ends and where the water begins. 

During the float, the outside world is gone. When the body is not fighting gravity or taking in constant information, there is a time where it is fully relaxed and thoughtless. That’s exactly how I felt. My mind felt free to relax and explore without any distractions. 

With not being able to see or hear anything and laying on my back in a calming state, I was able to fall asleep. Everything experienced while floating comes from within myself. It was the perfect time to reflect on my life and report personal insights. It was mental medication. 

This method of relaxation would have been perfect for finals or tryout season. According to Floating KC, Floating is known to naturally increase dopamine and endorphin levels, meaning it will leave the body with a pleasant mood after, and for many days following.

It is different for everyone. It can be used not only to release stress, but also recover from injuries, fight addictions and eliminate chronic pain. According to Floating KC, it has been scientifically discovered that this activity brings production of theta brain waves, which are considered the level between sleep and waking. 

As a floater, that was something I felt. Drifting off into sleep did not seem like it took very long, but it was the entire hour. The slow calming light came on, and I began to hear soft melodic music bringing me back to a sense of reality.

While I was floating in the dark it felt like I was slowing shifting in a circle around the pool, but once the lights came on, I was in the exact spot I had started in.

My thoughtless hour drained me. Once I got out I rinsed off again to get rid of the salt on my body and I entered the relaxation room where guests could spend their time regathering what their float experience was like and journal them down for future guests to read. 

Floating is about everything you won’t be doing. You won’t be fighting gravity. You won’t be distracted. You won’t know where your body ends and where the water starts and you won’t be constantly thinking. 

Typically when stress hits me, music can be calming and a bath can be an easy way to decompress, but nothing has ever been more relaxing than floating in a saltwater pool with no distractions or any bother of the world around.