Floating Your Way To A Better You In 2021

The new year brings about a desire for change and a renewal of energy towards the goals that we have for ourselves.

Many of us saw our goals and ambitions grind to a halt in 2020 due to the pandemic. We had to push things off or delay our dreams, whether it was seeing a business take off, travel around the world, or compete in a sports event.

So as we get started with 2021, we mostly want to approach things with optimism that this year will be brighter for our ambitions.

So as you set out with New Year's Resolutions and hope this year, here are some of the benefits of floating that can help you along the way with your resolutions.

Sleep

Sleep and getting a good night's rest is at the root of all of the goals that we have for ourselves because none of it is possible without sleeping well and restoring our energy.

Enhanced Learning and Performance

The relaxing state that we get in with floating can have a beneficial impact on our emotional state, which also helps us with memory and retaining information. We've all experienced the brain fog that comes from intense emotions. When we are stressed or in a negative emotional state we can have a hard time with remembering positive experiences and recalling specific details.

Partly through reducing stress and anxiety and partly because of the deeply restorative state our brains get into while floating, researchers have found that memory recollection is more vivid in people who have floated versus control groups that didn't float.

Floating is also used by athletes and high performers as a way to break through plateaus and reach greater states of performance. When it comes to mental training for sports and creative pursuits, the distraction-free environment of the float tank can help many people with their visualization practices and rehearsal.

Addiction

Even a short time away from triggers for cravings and addictions can be beneficial when trying to break away and prevent relapses.

Sensory isolation has been used in studies of combatting addiction with nicotine, alcohol, and narcotics. In these studies, it was also shown that prolonged isolation can help with withdrawal systems, lessening their intensity and making them more manageable.

Certain recovery programs have even begun integrating floating into treatment programs as a way to lower the risk of relapse in drug addiction.

There are also many personal stories of people who have used floating as a way to help with addiction. John Lennon shared in his biography Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman that he used floating to help him overcome his heroin addiction.

Mindfulness and Meditation

Practicing mindfulness is a more trendy and newer resolution for a lot of people and floating is the best training wheel support for your meditation goals that you can find. Float therapy is gently-forced meditation. When you are floating, your brain and body can't help but get into the same state as experienced meditators do. The theta brainwave state used to be only accessible to monks and people in REM sleep but float therapy has opened up this realm of relaxation to everyone. Because the float tanks have audio in them, a float session can also be coupled with a guided meditation to facilitate this learning process.

Unless floating is the healthy habit you're looking to do more regularly this New Year, it can't help directly with the habits but it can help to support you with your New Years Resolutions in many ways.

Goal Setting and Finding Your Purpose

Even if you haven't figured out yet what you want to accomplish for yourself in 2021, floating offers the perfect escape to find some time with your thoughts to sort things out. Use this time during your next float to think about what goals align with your deepest values and what you would like to focus on this year.