Float in the Forest
Beyond relaxationFloat in the Forest is a floatation centre in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
Floatation (or ‘floating’) is a type of relaxation therapy.
You float on the surface of warm water saturated with Epsom salt, in a comfortable environment where sound and light are minimised. Imagine relaxing in a giant bathtub that you can sleep in with peace of mind.
Float in the Forest provides a wonderful floatation experience, with the added benefit of emerging into a beautiful natural environment.

What our customers are saying
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Float stories
Read first hand accounts of experiences at Float in the Forest
Before you float
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FAQ
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After floating
Wow that was awesome, so what happens next?
What is floatation?
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Why float?
Deep Relaxation
Escape hectic daily life and let your tensions dissolve into weightless relaxation. This is time which is yours alone, free of the demands of others. Above all, the calm comfort of floatation soothes away stress and anxiety. At last a space to truly rest the body and still the chatter of the mind.
Improved Health
Floatation reduces blood pressure and improves circulation. Levels of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol are reduced. You are bathed in salts of the essential mineral Magnesium. Furthermore, your muscles, joints and bones are released from the effects of gravity.
Pain Relief
Sufferers of chronic pain from many conditions including Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, and back pain have gained relief by using floatation for pain management. Muscle tension and joint pain are reduced through being unburdened by the buoyant water.
Sleep Better
The deep rest of floating dissolves fatigue, leaving you feeling truly refreshed. Not only can a single float feel as restorative as a full night’s sleep, but certainly floating also improves sleep patterns, offering relief from insomnia and the ability to ‘reset’ jet lag.
Enhanced Performance
Sports recovery is boosted by floatation as a result of lactic acid broken down faster, allowing you to train smarter and get back to doing what you love sooner. Likewise rehabilitation times from injury are reduced, and what’s more, proper recuperation keeps you at the top of your game. Enhance your performance and visualise your success.
Pregnancy
Floating can give profound relief from the physical strains of pregnancy due to the buoyancy of the water. An opportunity to practise breathing techniques and relax. Not only is this a real rest for you and your baby, but also a chance to build a profound connection together in a peaceful and supportive environment.
Meditation
Floating is a doorway to deeper meditation. The reduced sensory input and weightlessness removes distractions, empowering you to quiet your mind with ease. As a result you can switch off your mind and be present, and make it easier to do so in your every day life.
Freedom from habits
The float environment puts the power to reprogram unwanted behaviours in your hands. Consequently, this is an opportunity to abandon your addictions. Through regular floating you can insert a pause between the stimulus and the habitual response, giving you an opportunity to act from somewhere authentic.
Mental Clarity
Discover a space of peaceful reflection, while free of all distractions. This environment fosters true focus: for improved decision-making, effective problem-solving, deeper insight, and freedom of mind. Certainly here is the clarity you need to make real progress.
Learning
Find a calm mind, free of distractions. You can give full attention to learning, absorb knowledge more quickly, and understand more deeply. Similarly, the more challenging the concept, the more useful you will find floating.
Self Work
Floatation could be called a spiritual technology. The floatation pod removes a lot of work from us, and frees us up for the real work. Though deliberate work in the pod we can establish an experiential connection with our selves in the broadest sense, and uncover a way to be of service to our greater self.
Business
First of all, business floatation packages offer team-bonding and brainstorming opportunities. Focus on your business problem or idea with a fresh new perspective. Furthermore, floatation membership provides options for happy, healthy and productive employees.
Creativity Unleashed
Break creative block. Open a channel to the wellspring of your innate creativity. Calm the inner chatter and find peace of mind. Open yourself to inspiration, and maybe meet your muse in the garden of your mind.
Consciousness Exploration
You are the frontier of unlimited possibility, free to experiment without constraint. Travel through time. Explore the multiverse. Hang out with transdimensional entities. This is your space. What’s more, this is your adventure. Have fun and enjoy!
Fun
Enjoy the sensations. Revel in the time alone. Wallow in that post-float feeling. Combine your float with other activities and treatments. Bring a friend along. Above all, floating doesn’t have to be serious, and you don’t need an excuse to enjoy yourself.
Awards
Check out the latest Float in the Forest blog posts:
Sonya’s float story
Hello everyone, Why do I love floating? The main reason is because it is what it is: FLOATING - no weight, no stress, nothing else to do, no one else to consider - just like a trip through the white clouds. I always come away relaxed, refreshed with renewed energy and...
Alaster’s float story
Out of this world relaxation My watch buzzes urgently with an insignificant notification. My phone chirrups its retort, reminding of things neither urgent nor significant. A short pause, then a further beep alerts the arrival of a message also in need of no urgent...
Becci’s float story
When I first went to float, I was anxious. Of course I was – of all the things I can do well, anxiety is right up there. But why was I anxious? I was concerned about privacy for one, mainly because I was a teenager in the 80s and could recall the horrors of the...
What the press say
'Floating into freedom’
“being in the water is like lying on the most comfortable mattress imaginable… In the days since the float I’ve noticed my body has felt much more relaxed and my neck less tense…”
Monmouthshire Living Magazine (p51)
June 2021
'Reawaken your senses and enjoy the benefits of floatation in the Forest of Dean’
“For people like me on the go, rushing through life at a hundred miles an hour, flotation provides a pod of tranquillity that forces your mind and body to unwind, relax and just be.”
Lifestyle Magazine
10th July 2019

'Float centre buoys up charity’
“A new floatation centre where people can literally cast their cares adrift has presented a medical ambulance service with £150 raised from its launch day.”
Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review
22nd May 2019

'6 mini adventures around Bristol & Bath to mark 200th anniversary of Robinson Crusoe’
“the aim is to find your zen”
Circus Journal
7th May 2019
'I tried floating in the Forest’
“After just one session I reluctantly climbed out of the pod reminded of those rare blissful mornings when you are emerging from a happy dream that you don’t want to end, even though you know you have had exactly the right amount of sleep to feel reinvigorated.”
Gloucestershire Live
2nd March 2019
'EXCLUSIVE: First look inside Float in the Forest’
“Speaking exclusively to SoGlos, Shari Vandervelde explained that the layout was very important. ‘We want people to feel like the further they step into the centre, the more relaxed they get.”
SoGlos
21st Feb 2019
'Sensory weightless floatation tanks that wash away your stress are coming to Gloucestershire’
“In two weeks time Shari Vandervelde and partner Will Griffin are to open a floatation centre in the heart of the Forest of Dean so you can have dip before going back to nature”
Gloucestershire Live
10th Feb 2019
'New paths to wellness’
“Let your worries float away, quite literally”
Prime (p39)
Feb 2019
'Slow it down – these wellness retreats will ease you into the new year’
“The ripples of relaxation shimmer long after the float and many feel as if they are walking on air afterwards.”
Monmouthshire & Brecon Living (p54)
Jan 2019
'20 best spa days in the UK'
“it’s set to relax you so much that an hour-long float will feel like a day-long retreat.”
i-news
6th Jan 2019
'Where to go on holiday in Feb 2019'
“Float in the Forest will be one of the only places in the country where you can take part in flotation therapy before emerging into picturesque woodland”
Independent
3rd Dec 2018
'Floatation tank centre opening in Forest of Dean’
“The Epsom salts in the water make you incredibly buoyant, so there’s no pressure anywhere. It’s perfect for people who have back pain, people suffering from things like fibromyalgia, those recovering from sports injuries or people who want to relax their mind and switch off for an hour.”
SoGlos
8th May 2018
The deepest relaxation you will ever feel, the closest to weightless you can be on this planet.
Floating times:
Wed - Sun 10am-8pm
By appointment
Mon - Tue closed