What is Floating and how does it work?

Do you find it difficult to meditate? If yes, then I’m about to tell you how to hack your way into meditation!

As a meditation teacher and an Atma Kriya Yoga teacher, I should probably not be sharing ways to cheat your way into a deep state of meditation, but what I’m about to share is pretty legit. It’s a legal and does not require you to take any drugs, peyote, or any substances like that. It is completely natural and cool.

And it works.

Ready to hack into a deep meditative state? Go Floating.

I’m talking about floating inside an anti-gravity Float pod.

The best way to describe Floating is climbing into a tank or a pod filled with water that is the exact temperature of your skin and that has the buoyancy of the Dead Sea and simply lying down. Even though you are lying down in water, don’t worry, you wont drown; rather you’ll feel weightless and free from gravity.

Then you shut the door to your pod, turn off the light, and just lie there.

For an hour.

Oh, and you will probably be stark naked as well. Cool, huh?

I tried Floating

I tried Floating for the first time a few days back and loved it.

It was the complete and utter physical comfort of it that I loved. It felt like being under my duvet and at the same time being in a warm bath. It felt completely safe and at the same time strange and new. It felt like I was totally alone yet I didn’t feel lonely. Above all, it felt like total luxury to have that level of privacy, quiet and comfort, just for me, for one whole hour.

And it was meditative.

In the Float pod, I slipped into the same zone as I often get to when I meditate but it happened very quickly, within 15 minutes. This is rare and I haven’t experienced that state too many times outside of my active Atma Kriya practice. And you can experience it too.

Why you should try Floating

Floating, also known as Float Therapy, is not new although I hadn’t heard of it until a few weeks ago from the yoga studio in Sydney, where I teach Simply Meditation on Sundays. I was asked whether I’d like to trial this new thing that had recently launched in the area and I instantly said yes!

Sydney Float Centre just opened its doors for the first time in the Northern Beaches in December 2014. There are only two places where Floating is available in Sydney; this one and another place in Bondi. Sydney Float Centre has got brand new Float pods, brand new hammocks to chill after your Float, free tea, a lounging area and friendly staff. A “Casual Float” or a single session will cost you $75 for 60 mins, which isn’t cheap, but you can make it economical by buying a package.

You should try Floating if you are up for quite a luxurious experience, for trying something new, for exploring a part of your consciousness, and to get into a deep meditative state without learning any meditation techniques.

How does Floating work

Floating worked for me because it allowed me to surrender completely and allow myself to be loved. Loved by what? Well, I suppose it allowed me to be loved by myself, by the water, by the warmth. I was able to surrender my body completely to the weightless sensation of floating in a gravity free zone. I was able to surrender my eyes, my vision and my gaze because it was entirely dark without a single ray of light coming in. I was able to surrender my sense of hearing because of the soundproof pods.

It was somewhat like being free from the bondage of my senses. In scriptures that I read, like the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is said that our five senses are like five gates through which distractions enter our being. Some of these distractions are lust, jealousy, pride to name a few and they take us further away from wholeness and being content, and into fragmentation where we never feel we are whole or complete. This leads to feelings of never being enough, feeling dissatisfied with our lives, feeling incomplete, and even to the need for a partner to “complete us”.

In that Float pod, I felt free from my senses. I had the feeling of being infinite, of being content and of feeling perfect, the way I am.

That’s a pretty special feeling. And it is worth a lot more than $75.

Floating works on many other levels as well including the physiological, psychological, emotional, mental and purely physical level but I wouldn’t do justice by attempting to explain it all here. I can only tell you what I felt. But you can get the full explanation behind the awesomeness of Floating on the Sydney Float Centre website.

An Interview with a Veteran Floater

I asked the guy who runs Sydney Float Centre, Paul, why he got into floating in the first place. Since it is such a new thing in Australia, I was curious to see why he got into it and why he is so passionate about bringing awareness about Floating to more Aussies.

Here’s a Q&A that we had:

R: What made you try floating and can you describe your first Floating experience?

P: My first Float experience can only be described as ‘magical’. When I first Floated it was very unknown and I had no idea what to expect, which was probably a good thing. The experience was both intensely relaxing and profoundly introspective. It left me with so many questions and so much to think about that from that day on floating became a major part of my life.

R: You mentioned that everyone has “one magical float” in their Floating journey. Tell me a little more about that. Sounds like something I’ve experienced in meditation myself!

P: Meditation although powerful and proven has always been somewhat of a endeavour for me and it wasn’t from lack of trying. I found Floating to be almost like a ‘cheat code’ for meditation. It allowed one to really reach those desired levels of consciousness and awareness in a simple and effective way allowing profound introspective states of relaxation and recovery.

R: Tell us more about your passion to bring floating to more people.

P: I truly believe that Floating can be beneficial for everyone. From pain and stress relief to relaxation and meditation, floating has an objective and function in everyone’s life. Floating is so much more than just an interesting experience people should do to tick it off the ol’ bucket list.

Put simply, in silence, you can’t ignore the truth. Time spent alone, to reflect, reassess and reset both your mind and body was a staple of our existence for thousands of years and it is something that is sadly overlooked by most folks today.

Aside from the proven physical benefits, just the opportunity to be away from everything, unplug if you will, even if only for an hour, is fundamental to living a healthy, humble and grounded existence.

Learn more about Sydney Float Centre here:

Website: SydneyFloatCentre.com.au | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Have you Floated before? Share your experience in the comments below.

Love, Float and Surrender,

Ritu