…or How to Float
We have just finished adding subtitles to the video which everyone watches before they first float. This video takes you through the process of how to float. By that we mean the practicalities of using the shower, where things are in the room, and so on. This is vital information to make sure you get the most out of your float, and to keep you safe.
We don’t tell you what you will experience when you float. That’s different for everyone on every occasion, and discovering it is a joy which awaits you.
When we had finished writing the captions it became clear that a poem had been inadvertantly created. Here it is for your edification and enjoyment:
Welcome to Float in the Forest!
My name is Shari
and I’m going to be explaing what will happen
when you come for your first float.
So this is reception
We will be asking you to take
off your shoes when you come in
and you can either keep your socks on
or go bare foot
or take a clean pair of the spa sandals
This is the lounge where you can chill out
After your float
We have comfy chairs
and beautiful local art on the walls
This is the mirror room
Please remove any makeup before you float
because otherwise it can damage our towels
We provide washable makeup removal wipes
Which you can find in here
Here is one
You dampen it under the tap
Use some of the cleansing lotion on your face
And then give it a wipe to remove any makeup
You put it in the bag afterwards
So we know which ones to wash
We also provide for after your float
Hairdryers and organic moisturiser
We have two toilets
We strongly advise that you
go to the toilet before your float
When you’re finished in the mirror room
you’ll be coming out and going
through these blue doors here
through there is a quiet area
so please speak softly
Here we are in the corridor
we have two float rooms
Serenity and Tranquillity
Serenity is up one step
Whereas Tranquillity is up a slope
so is easily accessible
and you can specifically request that one
when you book if you wish
so let’s go check out the float room
Welcome to the float room.
This is your private room during the time that you’re here.
There’s a lock on the door if you want to use it.
it’s completely up to you
There’s only two situations when we would ever disturb you.
Firstly if there was an emergency,
like a fire, we would come and get you.
There’s an emergency robe in the bag on top there,
so if we needed to get you out in a hurry,
we’d do it with dignity.
There’s a fire exit at the far end of the corridor,
as well as the way we came in through the green doors.
The second situation is that there is a call button
in the pod that you can press if you need help,
I’ll be explaining that in a minute.
Other than those two things,
we wouldn’t disturb you.
So I’m going to point out some things around the room,
and then I’ll talk you through the process.
We have a wet room style shower.
The controls are very simple:
you turn the knob upwards.
We’ve got some natural toiletries here for you,
and a lovely big fluffy towel.
You can also ask to have a second towel
if you have longer hair.
And this is the float pod
Now I’ll talk you through the process
As we’ve said, first of all you’ll be going to the toilet
and removing any makeup.
If you have a phone or anything smart on you,
please switch it off or to airplane mode
because even if it vibrates that could disturb you.
When you’re back in the room from the toilet,
you’ll be getting undressed and removing any jewellery.
If you have any jewellery that doesn’t come off,
like a wedding ring,
you can leave that, that’s fine.
But anything else, if it can come off,
please do remove it,
and you’re welcome to put it on the shelf.
For your clothes there’s a couple of hangers
on the back of the door,
and also a chair for your stuff.
Remember – this is a wet room,
so the floor can get damp,
so it’s probably best to put your stuff on the chair.
You’ll be having a shower before and after your float.
This is not just about when you last had a shower.
It’s also about removing perfumes, oils and deodorants.
Before your first shower,
I’ll show you the first thing from the shelf.
We provide earplugs.
They’re optional,
some people like them,
some people don’t.
They’ll stop some of the salt water
from getting into your ears.
They won’t stop it entirely,
so you’re going to give them a good rinse out at the end either way.
so it’s really up to you
With this kind you mould them to be a bit longer and thinner,
tuck them in behind this bit of your ear
and it’s best to put them in before the first shower,
because they stay in better if they go in dry.
So then you’ll be coming over to have your first shower
We’ve chosen these toiletries for being natural,
to try and minimise what gets into the pod
so we ask that you use this body wash on your body,
this shampoo on your hair,
but no conditioner at this stage.
You’re giving yourself a good wash
all the way down to the soles of your feet.
After your shower we have a little tip for you.
This might sound a little random
but we suggest that you dry your face with the towel.
There’s a reason
the water in the float pod is very salty
during the float you want to try and avoid getting it on your face
because if you get it in your eyes it will sting
and it doesn’t taste great either.
If your face dried naturally after the shower,
you might get drips or tickles,
next thing you know,
you’re touching your face with a salty finger,
and it goes in the eye.
So if you give your face a quick dry
with the towel after your shower, that helps.
If you have any cuts or broken skin,
they’ll also sting in the salty water.
So we also provide a sachet of vaseline
which you can use as a protective layer.
A bit like ketchup sachets,
they have a cut and an arrow which never line up,
but hopefully you can find your way in if you need it.
Once you’re in the float pod,
if something is stinging
maybe there’s a cut you didn’t know you had,
don’t worry it should fade after a little while.
This is called the halo.
It’s a kind of pillow
you put it behind your head like this for extra support.
Now strictly speaking, it’s not necessary
the water in the float pod is as dense as the Dead Sea,
it will support your head.
But some people find it surprisingly difficult
to relax these muscles here.
I think sometimes it can be whether you
trust the water and really let go,
or because we spend a lot of time in these kind of positions.
If you’re not sure,
you can take it in the pod with you and try it
if you decide you don’t want it,
just put it on the floor.
If you take it in with you,
we ask that you bring it out with you
otherwise we have to try and reach it like this!
And if you remember to put it over in the shower area
when you’re done with it, then even better.
So these three things are all optional.
Now you would be ready to get into the float pod.
If you have any nail polish on your toes,
we’ll ask that you be a bit careful.
Because we’ve found that if someone accidentally
drags it along the floor of the float pod,
it can leave marks which are quite hard to shift.
Getting into the float pod is like getting into the bath.
So you can just step in.
If you want to, you can sit on the side and swing your legs,
and there’s a grab handle there for a bit of extra support.
There’s no step,
it’s got a flat bottom,
and the water’s actually only about that deep.
So then you’re standing in the pod
you sit down,
you lie on your back
and you bob to the surface like a cork.
We recommend that you put your head at this end,
that’s for two reasons.
Firstly you’re by the exit,
so it’s just easier when you come to get out.
The second reason is to help you remember
that the light is on the left
so ‘L’ for light, ‘L’ for left.
Now you don’t have to touch the light if you don’t want to
But I’m going to show you, it’s very simple.
One press turns it off
one press turns it back on.
Then it has a little additional feature
when it’s on, two quick presses,
like a double-click on the mouse
and it puts it on a rainbow cycle.
So there’s lots of options with this light:
you can have it off,
you can have it on,
you can have it doing rainbows the whole time if you like,
or if there’s a colour you particularly like,
one more press
and you can pause it on that colour.
So this light is in your control.
These lights are a bit different
We can do different colours.
At the moment for this video
we’ve got them on white
so you can see everything clearly.
But we can do pink,
orange,
or turquoise.
These lights are on an infra-red sensor.
So once you’re in the pod
and you stop moving in the room,
these will go out after about a minute.
But you can trust that when you get out,
or the pod door moves,
the lights will come back on again.
So if you turn the pod light off
it will go very very dark!
Now to me that is part of the magic
for me it’s a bit like floating in space
and that’s where my mind slows down and drifts off.
But I know that some people don’t feel ready for that,
and that’s fine.
Why not experiment?
You could try turning it off
and know that if you need to turn the light back on
it’s on the left hand side.
The button on the right is the call button
that I mentioned before.
So if you feel unwell
or you need any help
you can press that.
It’s not an intercom,
it sets off a sound at reception.
Either myself or Will,
one of us will come to the door,
knock on the door
and say something like
‘are you ok?’
If you pressed it by mistake really don’t worry
just call out, quite loudly,
‘I’m ok’, something like that,
we’ll leave you alone.
If we don’t hear a response,
or we’re worried about what you’re saying
we might knock once more.
If we’re still worried,
we’d be opening the door to see if we need to come in.
We’d do it respectfully,
but we’d be there to help.
Next to that is a bottle of pure water.
If you get the salty water on your face
you can use that to spray and wash it away.
It’s still better to try and avoid it if you can,
but that should help.
This is the pod door handle.
You can have the pod door open,
it can be part-way,
you can have it closed.
It’s a bit like a car boot,
so it hovers up to a certain point,
and then it wants to open.
You can choose to have the pod door open if you want to,
but we would say that you might feel a bit cooler.
The float room is set at 25 degrees C.
The water is 35 degrees.
So when you have the pod door closed
the air around you is also about 35 degrees.
This is skin temperature.
So after a while it can lead to a sensation where you can’t tell
where your body ends and the water begins.
To me that is also part of the magic.
But whatever you’re comfortable with, it’s all good,
and you can change your mind about the door
and the pod light through the float.
There’s a bit of music at the beginning,
to ease you into it,
and after about ten minutes,
that fades into silence.
During your float,
don’t feel you have to stay still,
I recommend that you try some different positions.
So, this is my favourite,
a lot of people say that it helps with neck and shoulder tension.
But you might try like this,
or like this,
have a little wriggle,
have a strech,
see what feels good.
You might find that different positions
release different muscle tensions.
During your float,
if you feel a bit sleepy,
it’s nothing to worry about.
You can fall asleep in this water,
and you won’t turn over.
Because you’re so buoyant,
there’s nothing to press off.
As the float’s coming to an end,
the music comes back on again,
that’s how you can tell.
The music at the end plays for about five minutes,
and then after that,
if you had the light off,
it comes back on again automatically,
and after that the pump starts.
Now you haven’t seen this yet
but all the water’s moving like this
you can’t miss it.
If you sleep through the music,
you will not sleep through that.
That’s like your final wake-up call
so if that’s happening
it is definitely time to get out
but ideally a bit before that.
So to rewind back a bit
as the music comes on,
you don’t need to rush,
you’ve got a few minutes.
We’d like you to be aware of a couple of things.
Floating can lower your blood pressure a bit,
so be careful in case you’re a bit wobbly.
And secondly, that the water is a bit silky with the salt,
so things might be a bit slippery.
So we suggest that as the music’s playing
you sit up, pause like that for a moment,
to let your body adjust
and check you feel ok,
before you carefully stand up.
And if you’ve got nail polish on your toes
we will ask that you be a little bit careful
and aware of it at that point.
Then you’re standing in the pod,
and you’ll have some salt water on your body.
While you’re still in the pod,
we ask that you try and brush it off a bit,
squeeze out the hair a bit,
to keep most of it in the pod.
Then you’ll be carefully stepping out,
and again if you want to,
you can sit on the side
and swing your legs,
use the grab handle.
Then you’re out and ready for your second shower.
During your showers
we ask that you close the pod door,
mainly to stop the soap from going in.
Then you’ll have your second shower.
Feel free to use any of the products we’ve provided,
or if you want to bring and use your own in the second shower,
that’s fine.
Giving yourself a good wash.
Give your ears a good rinse out,
so plenty of this,
to get any salt water out of your ears.
Then you’ll be getting dried
and getting dressed
all still in here.
We ask that you don’t spray any deodorants
or perfumes in here
as we’re trying to keep it fragrance-neutral.
So if you’d like to do that,
please do it when you go through to the mirror room.
When you’re finished in here
you can leave your towel in here
and you’ll go on through the green doors
into the lounge.
We know this has probably been a lot to take in,
so feel free to rewind and
watch parts of it again if you wish.
If you have any questions
of course you can contact us in advance,
or ask us when you come in for your float.
We’re looking forward to seeing you soon.
