TRIED & TESTED

WHAT FLOAT THERAPY WHERE FLOW REVIVE, PADDINGTON, SYDNEY COST $65 FOR 75 MINUTES

If you’re not a fan of lying half-naked on a cold table while some stranger massages your body, then float therapy may be the alternative for you. Float tanks are often called sensory deprivation tanks, which at first, can sound a bit extreme. But fear not; it simply means the tanks block out sound and external light to make your experience more relaxing. I got to try out the 75-minute pamper session at Flow Revive in Paddington to escape the mid-week madness.

The one-person tanks are filled with warm water, which is highly saturated with salt and magnesium. Athletes often use magnesium (sometimes in the form of Epsom salts) to help with muscle recovery and soreness. Some prefer to take the supplement as a tablet, but when absorbed through the skin – in either a float tank or spray – none of the minerals are lost through digestion so you can reap more of its benefits.

While I’ve heard of others falling asleep or going into a deep trance state while in a sensory deprivation tank, I didn’t experience either. But what I did feel was an internal relaxation that lasted for hours after.

Some of the benefits of float therapy include stress relief, sleep improvement and injury recovery. As well as having extremely soft hair in the weeks following, I definitely felt like I’d had a quick R&R holiday for the rest of the evening. Having recently suffered a soft tissue injury in my knee, the float therapy helped to reduce the inflammation and relaxed the tightened muscles around my knee.

The only thing that slightly spoiled my ‘in the moment’ enjoyment, was accidentally splashing some of the salt water in my eye – which was very unpleasant, but luckily I had a spray bottle with clean water to rinse it out.