Float Your Cares Away!
By Lisa January 25th, 2019
A couple of years ago, I tried a floation spa experience. I stepped into a dimly lit, private space which was filled with about a foot of warm water that had been saturated with Epsom salts. It was a small space, long enough for tall people to stretch out and float, and just wide enough that I could stretch my arms out as well. (Picture stepping into a shallow hot tub.) I will admit, it took me a while to get over the claustrophobia enough to somewhat relax, and I wasn’t about to shut the light off for the full sensory deprivation experience! I floated for the full 45 minutes, and I’m sure my body got the benefits of the Epsom salts, but I just couldn’t relax enough to get into a meditative state.
Now, TOTO has developed the world’s first zero-gravity bathtub in which bathers experience total weightlessness. TOTO calls this extraordinarily calming, tension-free bathing experience, “Zero Dimension”. According to TOTO, the high-tech Flotation Tub with Zero Dimension Technology has been proven to put the bather in a meditative, low-frequency brain wave state similar to what is experienced in a deeply relaxed mental state. And, as you can see from the picture, you don’t have to be in a small enclosed space to do it!
The benefits of floating are numerous: stress relief, decreased pain associated with weightlessness, reduction of lactic acid, just to name a few. Sensory deprivation has its own benefits, which was part of my experience, but wouldn’t be to the same extent with a tub you’d place in your own bathroom. The TOTO tub doesn’t keep the bather afloat with salts, but simulates the floating position with its shape. It certainly looks relaxing, especially with its description of the massaging “hydrohands”, and the video does look like a great experience. But at a list price of $19,269 – plus the cost of remodeling to create a bathroom worthy of the experience, I just might have to work on overcoming my claustrophobia and try the flotation spa experience again!