20 INSIGHT WORKLIFE STYLE ADVENTURE FOOD & DRINK Thursday, August 31, 2006 INtake

I ’ve never been high. And I’ve never been toouter space. (Duh.) But after leaving StillwaterFloat in Carmel, I feel like I’ve done both.For an entire hour I’ve been forced to relax.

I say forced because I, like so many of my fellowfrenzied friends in this “work hard, play hard” anxi-ety-ridden generation, am one of those people whosimply can’t sit still. And yet, for more than 60 min-utes, I haven’t had a choice.

A D V E N T U R E : R . E . S . T .

GETTINGTANKED

Michelle Pemberton / INtake

R.E.S.T. assured: Ki-miko Martinez climbsinto an Oasis tank totry out R.E.S.T. (Re-stricted Environ-mental StimulationTherapy).

INtake’s Kimiko Martinez learns that hersenses sometimes enjoy a little depravation.By Kimiko Martinezkimiko.martinez@intakeweekly.comDRIVES LIKE A GO-KART.

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StrippedSituated in a fairly typical

strip mall just north of 126thand Rangeline Road in Carmel,Stillwater Float doesn’t looklike much from the outside.Walking in feels a bit like en-tering a spa or doctor’s office,where a stone waterfall pro-vides ambient noise and cre-ates a relaxing effect.

The center, which openedAug. 1, houses two float tanks,where customers can R.E.S.T.(Restricted EnvironmentalStimulation Therapy).

Apparently floating was allthe rage in the ’70s and ’80s.Also known as “sensory depri-vation,” professional athleteswere known to reap benefitsfrom these salt water-filledtanks. Entire sports teamswould use the tanks for relaxa-tion and focus training.

Always looking for some-thing new, and in desperateneed of some relaxation, I de-cided to give it a try. So aftergoing over the basics with co-owner Tom Gould (see box)and showering in the EastRoom (a small, private roomwith a shower and float tank) Istepped in and closed the door.

Look ma, no hands!Basically, a flotation tank is a

small, super saline pool. Thewater’s only about 10 inchesdeep and heated to about 93.5degrees. The Epsom salt worksdouble duty in providing thera-peutic effects and making thebody float like a cork.

Because the temperature isalmost the exact temperatureas your skin, floaters eventuallylose the sensation of hot/cold.By about 20 minutes in, I washaving trouble distinguishingwhere the water ended andwhere the air began. And sincethe tank is almostcompletely dark, youfeel as if you’re justfloating out in themiddle of space.

There are no stars,of course, exceptthose weird splotchesthat your eyes pro-duce when you rubthem. More than onceI had to purposelyblink my eyes just tosee if they were stillopen or not. I foundmyself moving myfingers and toes aswell, just to feel the sensationof the water moving.

Gould said one hour of float-ing is equal to about four hoursof deep sleep.

Floating in and of itself is re-laxing. Images of lying on araft, surrounded by friends(and usually beer), and beingrocked by the waves of a river

popped into my mind. I re-membered all those times I’dwarmed myself in the sun as achild, laying in my neighbor’s

pool. So to be floating— with no sun, nobeer, no friends, nosound, no waves —was a completely for-eign experience.

For a good 30 min-utes or so I was antsy,wondering how muchtime had alreadypassed, trying to thinkof things to thinkabout, scolding myselffor thinking about thethings that popped intomy head, trying to

breathe deeply and simply re-lax. A drop of condensationfrom the roof of the tank couldjar me and throw me tempora-rily off track from truly relax-ing.

But eventually my bodywon. Just as Gould said itwould, a parasympathetic re-sponse kicked in and it seemed

to just shut down. I floatedsomewhere between sleep andthis dark, deep space that I’dentered. Once I hit that sweetspot, all sense of time andspace completely disappeared.I was snapped back to realitywhen Gould knocked on thedoor a little over an hour afterI’d stepped into my personalstasis chamber.

Head in the cloudsAn hour later I was still feel-

ing lightheaded. Not drunk, butkind of that giddy, nothing mat-ters mood where your headfeels like it’s barely even at-tached to your body. Your scalpfeels tingly and your head is soclear that you wonder if there’seven a brain inside of it.

The effects could last up toseveral days, Gould said. Nocomplaints in my book.

It takes some people two orthree sessions to really reapthe benefits, he said. If the ben-efits get even better (Did Imention the back pain relief?),I can’t wait to go back.

Floatation device: This Oasis tank is filled with 200 pounds of waterinto which 800 pounds of Epsom salt has been dissolved.

About floating! Flotation tanks hold about 200 pounds of water with about 800pounds of dissolved Epsom salt. Users float like a cork.! Muscle tension, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen consump-tion drop dramatically.! Stress-related chemicals are removed from the bloodstream andreplaced by beneficial endorphins.! The brain’s electrical activity drops to a level known as the thetastate. The mind remains awake and alert, yet nearly asleep.

Stillwater FloatWhere: 622 S. Rangeline Road, Suite E. Carmel, (317) 663-4359,www.StillwaterFloat.net.Cost: Grand opening special: $40 for a one-hour float, or bring afriend for two one-hour floats for $25 each. (Book by Sept. 1.)

Tom Gouldco-ownsStillwaterFloat in Car-mel.