Compared to traditional saunas that use either dry hot rocks or steam by adding water to hot rocks, infrared saunas use light waves to heat up the body directly. The result is cathartic sweating and an increased heart rate, with benefits extended as most find infrared saunas a much more comfortable environment than traditional saunas.
The beginning of a new year is often a time for making plans and inspiring change, but 2021 has just started and already it has a lot of expectations being placed upon it. With the pandemic, 2020 felt like a global “timeout” for a lot of people, so we’ve all had to push things off and are banking on this year being an opportunity for new beginnings.
Paul Selig is a psychic medium whose work is channeled as dictation from spiritual guides that speak to him with the goal of teaching and shepherding humankind into an awakening of our divine nature or true self.
Three misconceptions that hold people back from using this effective form of therapy.
“But what if I’m claustrophobic?”
This is probably the most common fear that stops people from starting. To dispute this concern, let’s look at claustrophobia and floatation tanks.
This is the first of a 3-part blog series dedicated to the new floater. In part 2, we’ll cover preparing for your first float, and in part 3 we’ll discuss the learning curve and accumulating benefits of floating.
One of the most important realizations I’ve had in a float tank is, that floating is ALL about the individual! We’ve all heard the phrase,“Only boring people get bored,” this is most definitely true about our time spent in the void. The float tank is an inanimate object; the pitch-black environment doesn’t care how hard my workweek was. The 900 lbs. of Epsom salts is completely indifferent to what my significant other/boss/friend/co-worker said or didn’t say. And when I close the hatch, the tank isn’t smirking about how it’s captured another self-proclaimed claustrophobic person. After facilitating over 26,000 floats, I can safely say most people who thought they would be claustrophobic, actually have no problem being inside a float tank.
Many people will have to manage the time it takes to read this post.
In our fast-paced world of ready meals, quick check-out, express bus, train, lanes, drop-off, pick-up windows, high-speed, 30 minute workouts, news highlights, 140 character attention span - everything is about now. Faster, easier, cram it all into the day.
I've been an advocate for being presently aware and in the moment for many years now. This practice, I am learning, is never ending and should be the only thing to practice for life. There is no limit to being consciously aware or present. It doesn't matter what your background, religion, race or gender is, it is something we humans all share and possess. Once one has an experience whilst being consciously present, it is amazing. Food becomes sensational, nothingness is entertaining and glorious, silence is a deep sense of peace, colours and lights glow and any touch is smooth, soft, warm and magnificent. The present moment. Not yesterday or tomorrow. Being consciously present, when focusing on something simple and letting go of thoughts and attachments, becomes the experience.
The main thing I noticed after floating the first few times was my deeper connection to self and how it related to other people.
Floating has been a pinnacle turning point for me and multiple friends of mine. It has been a part of my life for approximately a year and learning about myself and the way I can incorporate my body and mind into what I do creatively, has been such a rewarding experience. Being creative is in my nature, and not producing something new simply makes me itch. Over the course of the past year I have been able to find better and more effective ways of deliberately opening up, accessing, and emphasizing that creative part of my brain. For those creative types out there, the hope of this piece is to inspire you to utilize floating as an amazing tool to access your creative endeavours. This is opposite to the relaxation concept of an isolation tank. Instead of winding down and relaxing, we are in fact winding up!
Here are five steps that have helped me access the most colourful parts of my brain, whilst in the isolation tank.
I’m Jacqueline and I have four daughters—the oldest one is six, and the youngest is a ten-month-old. Needless to say, I don’t get a lot of time to myself. In addition to being a mother, I’m a writer, but this solitary activity does not get a lot of focus these days. I write while I watch Bubble Guppies and when I should be in bed, and I write when I should be cleaning, or exercising, or pre-cooking meals for the week. It’s one of the toughest things about parenting for me, that everything I want to do for myself takes time away from something more important. I am surrounded by squirming little people all day long.
Why would anyone want to deprive their senses? Why would anyone not want to feel anything? Well, simply put, just because you are in a sensory deprivation tank does not mean you don’t feel anything. All you are doing is minimizing the amount of EXTERNAL stimuli coming into your nervous system. So what does your nervous system do? It cranks up the volume. It tries to detect any sort of stimuli and yet still minimal is coming… so what happens?
