First and foremost, Pause offers a gorgeous space for all of their treatments. After filling out a quick form, I was escorted back to FloatRoom #3. The employee gave me a basic rundown for a first-time floater and I was left to undress, rinse off and await instructions over the speakers in the room.

As I got into the oversized float tub, I felt awkward. Waiting for my body to crash through the salinity with gravity accelerating the process. I touched the bottom with my hands as I crouched down to lay on my back and was intrigued by my body’s ability to float more easily than normal. As I laid back into the float ring to support my head, my body found its natural floating profile.

The water, a gentle warm 94 degrees, felt good on my skin. A few scratches on my feet and hands from the beach and surfing stung slightly at the beginning but in a good, healing way. The music played softly, and I could hear it still as my ears went under water.

As the lights dimmed and I found myself in total darkness, I focused on my breath. Total darkness has always slightly scared me and a lot more than slightly earlier in life. Breathing helps. Deep breaths in through the nostrils, slight pause, gentle exhale, also through the nose. Close the eyes. My mind races. I usually have a voice in my head, covering in real time my random, disaggregated thoughts almost all the time. Quieting that voice down always requires a decent amount of effort but it’s great when I can.

That’s the goal of today’s session. I want to quiet down the noise and focus on some larger decisions I have to make. I don’t want to make them lying here but I’d like to think about them, see if I can work through courses of action, think through pros/cons and any other considerations. I like to do this thinking without a computer or pencil and paper. I want to hone in, focus. If I can’t remember a consideration during a 45 minute reflection period, it’s not important in my opinion. Remember, no decisions being made in the tub, just thinking.

As the stinging subsides, I begin to be able to have a tough time discerning where the water ends, air starts and vice versa. I stretch my arms above my head, pleasantly surprised that I can’t touch the top of the tub and can really stretch out. Not every day I get to do this. Breathe. Deep inhale, pause, gentle exhale.

As I worked through my thoughts, I was surprised with how my back was feeling. Completely weightless, my spine was elongating. Reaching overhead and pointing my toes to stretch out as far as possible, there was great relief in my lower back and between my shoulder blades. My hips also had reset. I worked my legs into a lying butterfly stretch, holding onto my knees letting my groin stretch and my hips release. I stayed here for a while, with quiet thoughts about decisions I was considering.

Before I knew it, I was finishing my session. Rejuvenated and realigned, feeling a bit lighter but most importantly feeling a bit more sure of the decisions I was about to make. It was a well spent hour of my life and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Here are my 5 top tips for when you do float/sensory deprivation therapy:

• 1) Bring a small hand towel into the tub with you and hang it on the handle to have in the off-chance water drips from your forehead towards your eyes. The salt water can sting.
• 2) Bring a change of clothes, you’ll be required to shower before and after your float.
• 3) Remove all jewelry prior to floating.
• 4) If you have any small scrapes, nicks or cuts be prepared for them to sting slightly. If you want to avoid them stinging, you can put a layer of Vaseline over it before getting into the tub. With larger scrapes or cuts, I recommend holding off on this session until they are fully healed.
• 5) Have a goal or two for your float. It doesn’t have to be like mine, it can be mental, spiritual or physical but approach the session with purpose and you will reap the benefits that much more.