Too claustrophobic to float?
"Oh, I don't think I could do one of those float things, I couldn't stand to be in such a small space, I'm a bit claustrophobic."
I hear this sentence or one very like it time and time again, so I'm putting down on a blog, what I say to people in the clinic.
Firstly you probably think its like this -------------------------->
a tiny little space that you can hardly move in.
I see this image of the float "tank" time and time again, because it make good telly!
My first experience of floating was in a tiny little tank, that I could hardly sit up in with out banging my head on it, which I did......... D'Oh!
It looked just like the one to the left, truth be told it was claustrophobic, the experience getting in was not the best, stepping up grabbing the bar on the top and swinging yourself in feet first like an astronaut entering a space capsule. (Great when your back was in agony! Not.) But the results were outstanding! This is why I got into bobbing around in Epsom Salt saturated water. I had broken my back and after surgery that I had was left in so much pain I could hardly function. I was 20.
Floating saved me! Simple. It encouraged my body to heal itself and with some treatments and lots of self healing visualisations within the float tank and at home. I got better and better and beat the consultant's opinion that, "there was nothing that could be done, except the fact you'll probably be in a wheelchair by the time you are 30, go take pain killers and make yourself as comfortable as possible"
Tank or Room
How times have changed! All float "Tanks" and "Rooms" have the same 10" of body temperature Epsom Salt saturated water in them. The space is the difference and this is why we choose a "Float Room".
Ellie is claustrophobic and there is no way I could get her into a tank, we were opening a clinic. I wanted a float tank in it. Ellie was not so sure of the space, no matter how flash they now look, a tank is a small box with a lid on it, and I was not convincing her to get in it! "Well, you can leave the top open or ajar" I said. Not telling her of the annoying draught that would be felt on her skin and how that would ruin the experience. (This is how much I wanted a float tank).
Then we found the Float Room.
The size of a small sauna, is the best way I can explain it, over 2 meters high inside, easy to stand in even for a 6'4" me. The bit you lie in is a generous 2.5m x 1.6m, loads of room.
There are sparkly fibre optic lights on the ceiling a great big door to get in through, (no more swinging in like an astronaut).
The most important thing is the space, there are no feelings of claustrophobia, even for Ellie!
The amount of clients who have seen it and said "Oh, that is not at all, as I thought it would be like" and then all admitted that they were worried it was a box with a lid!
Many regular floaters told me that they would never have tried it if it was a tank! The best thing we did was get a float room! Please if you think it is a coffin style tank, think again, click on the link to this 360ยบ tour, or pop in to have a look for yourself!
Then get yourself booked in and understand what everyone is talking about, and why it is the ultimate environment for your body to heal itself!
Happy Floating Phil
The amount of clients who have seen it and said "Oh, that is not at all, as I thought it would be like" and then all admitted that they were worried it was a box with a lid!
Many regular floaters told me that they would never have tried it if it was a tank! The best thing we did was get a float room! Please if you think it is a coffin style tank, think again, click on the link to this 360ยบ tour, or pop in to have a look for yourself!
Then get yourself booked in and understand what everyone is talking about, and why it is the ultimate environment for your body to heal itself!
Happy Floating Phil
Hello Philip Steward, massage therapist and healer...
ReplyDeleteI was sent info re your blog by someone in your country, who felt that it was 'not cool' that your blog 'shamed' float tanks such as Oasis unit you pictured in your blog.
We have seen this kind of marketing approach in USA as well, where floatroom product providers negativize float tanks for being 'coffins', 'claustrophobic' etc. etc.
The simple fact is that ALL floatation environments provide beneficial experience for ALL floaters, whether it is their first float or their subsequent floats...
We have sold a large number of our units to many many float centers in US, Canada, and throughout the world, and these Centers have absolutely no problem selling sessions to first time floaters and repeat floaters.
Oasis units, in fact, float professional basketball and football players, who are both long [7 feet tall] and large [300 lbs], without any issue of claustrophobia whatsoever, or 'banging of their heads'...
I grant you that SOME folks are more initially comfortable going into a float room/sauna-style format.
But there are people that find those environments to be 'threatening' as well, confining and claustrophobic as well....
The flip side is true as well, that people that might be reluctant to perhaps use a 'float tank' @ first, lose all inhibitions towards use of 'float tanks' after floating in floatroom/sauna-style units.
They report feeling more enveloped in a secure space, the water and air temperature and quiet better regulated than in 'float rooms'...
I understand that your history is what it is/was, as you write in your blog and you say that floating saved you!
I understand that you chose floatroom-style units and market them as you do...
I would prefer that you not 'demonize' float tanks as inferior to floatrooms, esp in that again, ALL floatation environments offer beneficial effects to ALL floaters, 1st float and every subsequent float!
I owned and operated a 3 tank Center in Houston Texas, along with massage therapy services for 7 years, long before floatrooms were ever available. We had many clients showing up advising that they were claustrophobic and were a bit nervous re their 1st floats.
What was so interesting and obvious was that they showed up, wanted to float, were shown the interior of the Oasis units, saw that they were quite large and roomy inside, and clearly they were there to do their 1st float, wanting a slight amount of information and encouragement to transition into and through their 1st session....
Why was true in every case was that their fears vanished in the pre-orientation to the 1st float, they all stayed in the entire session, and did not want to exit when their 60 minute session was complete!
People who understand the benefits of R.E.S.T. that they are seeking understand that the benefits of floating are different than their fears of the untried experience they imagine...once they hear that this experience will give them what they are seeking, they relax and end up having great and powerful and beneficial floats!
And all concerns re claustrophobia are gone!
I would ask again that you present your reasons for offering your floatroom sessions in a more generally positive manner, that you felt this approach would minimize any concerns that 1st time floaters might have...and leave all denigrating comparisons behind!
With all due respect to you, your massage and other hearing endeavors,
David Wasserman
ps I wonder what tank you did float in, as I do not know of an Oasis unit commercially available in England, that was sold directly by Oasis to end user...comparing Oasis unit to Simpson's 'float chamber illustration' is
visually and comparatively unfair!