Try to remember the last time you relaxed—I mean, really relaxed. Recall a moment where you felt both nothing and everything all at once. It’s not always easy to attain that level of relaxation, but here’s something that can help you get there: float therapy.
Float therapy involves floating in a lightless, soundproof bath-like pod, partially filled with salt water. The idea is complete sensory deprivation: water is precisely the same temperature as your skin, while floating in the Epsom-salt saturated bath creates the illusion of weightlessness. Once the chatter in your mind mellows out, you’re left feeling mentally, physically and spiritually relaxed.
Whistler, British Columbia’s West Coast Float is just one of the many shops worldwide that offers its clients the opportunity to enjoy a serene 90 minutes of floating solo in a pod, or with a partner or friend in a more spacious cabin for two. Sore athletes, stressed out parents, blissful yogis and curious ski bums alike are discovering the many benefits of incorporating floating into their wellness routine.
Louise Van Engelsdorp, who owns West Coast Float along with her husband Bob, took some time to tell us a little more about float therapy. Here’s what she had to say.
Down Linens: What was your first introduction to float therapy?
Louise Van Engelsdorp: We heard about it through a friend who had depression. Floating has been known to help with the symptoms of depressions, like the racing thoughts, and to help alleviate stress.
We went on a road trip to Portland, Oregon, and visited a great shop there called Float On. All four of us went and floated, and all four of us had a different experience from floating. We noticed all the different people that were coming out of the float shop: hipsters and yogis and business people and soccer moms—all ages and ranges, so that was what first piqued our interest about it.
DL: I was going to ask what kind of person can benefit from a floating session, but it sounds like everybody can!
LVE: That’s one of the things that is really unique about it: it provides benefits to all sorts of people, whether it’s speeding up athletic recovery, providing pain relief, or enhancing creativity. It’s not just for one genre of person, or one socio-economic class, or one race. It can also have different benefits for the same person, depending on where their mind is at.
DL: What made you decide to open your own float therapy facility in Whistler?
LVE: Bob and I have been in Whistler for about 20 years, and we’ve always wanted to run our own business, but we’ve never really been able to find what that business should be—something we could feel passionate about.
When we learned about floating, we liked the fact that it’s a business where people come in and leave feeling more relaxed, more peaceful, and in less pain. The fact that we can have this business that offers a service that provides something different to all sorts of people– that when they leave our shop, they’re feeling those things, and that trickles out into the word—that really makes me feel amazing.
DL: Is your clientele primarily Whistler locals, visitors to the resort, or a mix of both?
LVE: We’ve been in business for about four months. Right now, our clients are primarily local-based, because we have a great spring special on. During the winter, we were definitely getting a lot of tourist traffic. We were finding that tourists who came in at the beginning of their stay were also coming back later in their visit, because floating is so helpful: the magnesium that people get from being in the Epsom salt water is a huge relaxant. Somebody who’s here to ski for five or seven days probably can’t ski every day—it’s a great alternative, another form of wellness, and it’s helping them get back on the hill quicker.
DL: The more skiing, the better! What would you tell a person preparing for their first session?
LVE: We provide everything for them. You float naked–you don’t need a swimsuit, because half of your body is out of the water due to the buoyancy of the salt, and if you wore your swimsuit, that would make you cold because your suit would get wet! We’ve got towels and a hair drying and style station, plus personal showers in each room.
We would recommend that they have a light meal or snack before they come so that they’re not hungry, and that they don’t drink too much caffeine before they come so that they can relax.
DL: Relaxing is easy in theory, but can be hard to practice. What tips do you give your clients to help them relax and get the most out of their float?
LVE: It can take a little bit of time—there are 20 or 25 minutes where you realize how much your brain and your mind are working. The brain still wants to cling on to the racing thoughts that we all have. You’re thinking about a shopping list or the fact that you’re lying in a pod of water, and you aren’t relaxing, and why are you not relaxing!? That’s very common. After about 20 minutes, your brain will let go and release and get you into the brainwave state where you get into a nice, deep, meditative state of consciousness.
DL: Where else in the world can one experience float therapy?
LVE: In Europe, there are more than 400 centers! It’s very common in Europe, really well-known. In Vancouver, there are about 4 centers, and there are tons in California, Oregon, Chicago, New York, Australia, New Zealand…
DL: Is floating a once-in-a-while treat, like going to the spa, or should it be part of one’s routine? How often should one float?
LVE: There isn’t a right or wrong number of times or reasons, how many times you should float. The one thing is that the more you do it, it’s becomes kind of cumulative: your brain and your body form a memory, a muscle recognition, that allows you to get into a deeper, relaxed healing state quicker.
My husband and I encourage each other to find the time to float twice a week. We’ve got some other customers that are in here once or twice a week. We had somebody in today who was going onto her fourth float, and she said how it was great because she just gets in there and is off to another place really quickly.
DL: Practice makes perfect, right? How does the experience differ when you float with another person, like in the cabin?
LVE: It is slightly different because it’s not complete sensory deprivation. There’s a chance that if you’re floating with a partner or a friend, you may feel the touch of the other person’s body.
Doubles floating is popular in Europe, so we thought, being a tourist town, that might be something that could generate interest in Whistler. The people who have experienced it have enjoyed it. Some have said that’s exactly how they want it. Others have said that the next time, they’d want to go alone, because they want that sensory deprivation experience.
We’ve found that you might have one person who is really interested in floating, and another person who is not quite sure, and it’s kind of a gateway: the first float, they’ve gone in together, and when they both come back the next time, they want to go separately.
It’s funny: in today’s society, people might not have claustrophobia, but there is some hesitancy about spending 90 minutes completely alone with yourself and your thoughts. It’s completely rare, right? I sound like an old person, but when I was a kid, you’d go meet somebody at the pub or in a park, and if they were late, you just waited. Now, we never have to be alone: we can just sit at a coffee shop and not be alone because we have our phones.
Sometimes, people hesitate to spend time with themselves. They find that cabin is a great way to experience the activity together, and as they move forward, that can have that time individually. It’s kind of unique: afterwards, they’ve floated individually, but they still have something to talk about. They still have a shared experience, but something different to talk about.
Check our West Coast Float’s website to learn more about this unique way to achieve the ultimate state of relaxation!
