wellness
FLOAT YOUR STRESS AWAY The healing power of salt and water ease tension and pain.
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Park, New York. Seeking healthy ways to cope with her own ailments, owner Kimberly Boone discovered flotation therapy in 2013 and bought a tank for her home. She opened her doors to others in need, and as word spread and demand grew, Boone opened her first Hope Floats location in Bethesda (coincidentally the birthplace of flotation therapy) and later branched out to Long Island. If the idea of floating in an isolation tank makes you feel claustrophobic, don’t fear, Boone advises. “Once inside, you lose your sense of space and feel nothing but relaxed.” (Plus, you can open and close the door at will and even leave it cracked open.) If you’re planning a trip West this holiday season, you may want to try a twist on flotation therapy at Miraval Arizona. The spa’s Vasudhara service is an innovative open-air water treatment in which guests wear blindfolds and noisecanceling headphones and receive a Thai massage while pulsations of sound come from underwater speakers. Because of the weightlessness of the water, guests get deeper, more beneficial stretches all in the pursuit of finding “true peace in the darkness.” Can you say “ahh?”
r o m natural springs to hot baths, water’s healing properties have been exalted throughout the ages. One of the latest spa trends, flotation therapy (also known as Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy) blends the timehonored benefits of H2O with modern techniques. In this sensory deprivation experience, you sit or lie in a “pod” filled with water and a highly concentrated amount of Epsom salt—an important ingredient as it helps make the body buoyant—to create a zero-gravity environment. The goal is to naturally relieve stress, anxiety and pain as you float in complete darkness and silence. Research shows this type of therapy can provide powerful muscle relaxation, and some studies show floating helps shut off stress circuits in the brain. Flotation therapy has been around since 1954 when it was developed at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, by Dr. John C. Lilly, an American neurophysiologist. In an effort to discover how the brain would react if it were denied external stimulation, he invented the first flotation isolation tank, discovering it elicited a deep relaxation response. As the therapy gains fans, more and more flotation centers are opening, including Hope Floats in Williston
The Vasudhara treatment at Miraval helps muscles lengthen and joints open.
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