Anyone who floats regularly will tell you how blissfully comfortable and deeply relaxed they feel whilst floating. You're as close as you're ever likely to be to an experience of weightlessness; and, surprisingly, there is no feeling of being confined in a tight space.

This is a common initial concern. The float tank or floatroom lights and door are controlled by you, so you can choose to float with the door open and the lights on. Once people realise that they are in total control their fears subside and the vast majority will go on to close the door and turn off the light!

In the gravity free environment the body balances and heals internally as all the senses are rested. Research shows that floating measurably reduces blood pressure and heart rate whilst lowering the levels of stress related chemicals in the body. Old injuries and aches, (especially backache) experience relief as floating helps blood circulation. Floating is used widely in the treatment of stress, anxiety, jet lag and to improve concentration and creativity. Sports performance and 'wind down' is also enhanced during floating.

During a float you produce slower brain-wave patterns, known as theta waves, (normally experienced only during deep meditation or just before falling asleep). This is usually accompanied by vivid imagery, very clear, creative thoughts, sudden insights and inspirations or feelings of profound peace and joy, induced by the release of endorphins, the body's natural opiates. Because of these effects floating is used effectively in the treatment of depression and addictions, including smoking and alcohol. It is also used in schools and universities as tools for SuperLearning.

Floating, as with other things, doesn't suit everybody. It needs a willingness on your part to let go and see what happens, and you may need to float a few times before you are able to relax Completely, both physically and mentally. Depending on your own journey through life, a float might provide an hour of total physical relaxation - or a profound healing experience, emotionally and spiritually transforming... Floating can be a wonderful aid to opening doors into your inner world, gradually allowing access to those deeper levels at which real changes take place.

Floating doesn't require any swimming skills what so ever. You'll actually float like a cork and it doesn't matter what shape or size you are.

Yes. You float on your own and within individual rooms (so there is no requirement to wear a swimming costume). Each room has its own shower and is for your exclusive use for the duration of your session.

No. Because the water contains high salt levels it doesn't rob your skin of salt, (which is what causes wrinkling). Rather, it leaves your skin soft and silky.

Absolutely not. No-one will even shut the door other than you and it simply pushes open at anytime.

Obviously, FTA members have to comply with stringent health and safety regulations. The water contains mostly salt and so the solution is sterile. A limited amount of (swimming pool) chemicals are added to ensure it's totally clean. Also, the water is filtered thoroughly between each float session. Additionally, the water is tested regularly.

Absolutely! In fact heavily pregnant women probably get more relief from the float tank than anyone else. Just lying on a bed can be extremely uncomfortable for women in the later stages of pregnancy due to the massive gravitational strain placed on the body. The float tank is a wonderful haven to which pregnant women can escape. We do however recommend that like most activities floating should be avoided in the first trimester.

Many Years ago Epsom Salt was the most popular medical drug in England, although the people who used it did not know exactly why it was so valuable. They knew nothing of it's antiseptic and antidotal qualities, but they did understand that in some way it was good for health and promoted longevity. They found by experience that not only did it keep away sclerosis, kidney diseases and rheumatism, but that it also was very useful in correcting any tendency to put on too much weight.

Epsom Salt is now made from a rock substance called Dolomite, which is found abundantly in, and derives its name from, a mountainous district in the South Tyrolean Alps called The Dolomites'. When examined by the chemists, this Dolomite rock is found to belong to a very large group of substances known as 'salts', in which an alkaline base is combined with an acid radical to form a neutral substance the 'salt'. It consists of two metals, calcium and magnesium, combined with two non-metallic elements, carbon and oxygen, and takes the form of a neutral double salt know as carbonate of calcium and magnesium. Now, Epsom Salt is also a 'salt' but instead of being made of magnesium, oxygen and carbon, as is the case with the carbon salt, its constituents are magnesium, oxygen and sulphur. Chemically it is known as Magnesium Sulphate. Magnesium Sulphate is not found in a natural state, so it has to be made artificially from some suitable magnesium containing substance. The substance best suited for this purpose is Dolomite, mentioned above. In passing however, it may be stated that Magnesium Sulphate was formerly made from "Bitten", a derivative of seawater, which actually contains an appreciable amount of Magnesium Salts, combined with the Sodium Chloride which is its chief ingredient.

The Secret of its Value
As mentioned earlier, in the process of manufacture the carbon ingredient of the Magnesium Carbonate has been replaced by another non-metallic element, namely Sulphur, forming Magnesium Sulphate. The magnesium prefers carbon to sulphur and this sulphate will, therefore, readily give up its sulphur and seize upon carbon whenever a favourable opportunity for making the exchange presents itself. And this strong liking, or affinity (as it's called), of Magnesium Sulphate, Epsom Salt, for carbon is the point to be remembered, for herein lies the secret of it's great value for medical purposes. Carbon, in one form or another, is the main constituent of the building materials which go to form our vegetation and so, in turn, to provide our foodstuffs. And it is in the crude form of carbon, that the waste products of the human body are thrown off. The magnesium draws out the carbon and renders the now inert residue soluble, thereby facilitating excretion.

The Remedial Action of Epsom Salt
It has already been pointed out that the distinguishing feature of the action of Epsom Salt is that, as an artificially made salt of magnesium, it is ever trying to revert to it's original carbon state, and that because of this affinity for carbon and carbon compounds it renders valuable aid in dealing with diseased conditions of the body.

So far as its medical action is concerned, it should be born in mind that the human body subsists entirely on foods, which contain carbon ingredients, and that the waste emanating from this food takes the form of carbon. This is the daily routine of a person in robust health. The greater part of this carbon waste passes out of the human body through the lungs or bronchial tubes in the form of a carbon compound known as carbondioxide or, as it is usually called, carbonic acid gas. The process whereby the carbon waste matter is converted into carbonic acid gas is a form of combustion known as oxidation.

In order that the unused carbon of the food material should be disposed of in this way, it is necessary that the blood and the tissues should be supplied with sufficient oxygen to bring about this oxidation. If the requisite quantity of oxygen is not forthcoming to complete the process, retarded combustion ensues, and this results in the formation of partially oxidised forms of carbonaccous waste, such as uric- and other acids and toxins, which are the outcome of putrefaction.

The partially oxidised carbon compounds are apt to accumulate in the blood and in the tissues, thereby giving rise to ill-health and disease. It is here that Epsom Salt, rightly administered, proves great value. By its strong affinity for carbon and carbon compounds, it absorbs and nullifies this harmful waste in the manner already described, and so acts as a beneficent remedial agent.

Taken internally, in small doses, Epsom Salt acts on the kidneys, and by increasing the action of these organs, brings about a greater elimination of waste matter solution through these channels. Its chief value, however, lies in external application, because of it's power of drawing stored tissue- wastes from the body through the skin.

Excerpted, with editing, from an ancient Coptic text, "Epsom Salt Its Value and Use." By Dr. I L Valentine Knaggs. Supplied by Linda Edenfield, Fantasy Tan & Float, San Bernardino, CA. USA.