The Year of Living Mindfully

The start of a New Year always marks a time of introspection. While many high-achievers may balk at the need to have a specific time of year when you set goals and resolutions, any time is better than no time to do it. If you are looking towards 2019 as your year to accomplish more of the goals you set for yourself, or even just want to be happier, that’s great!

In consideration of what you want to accomplish this year, I have a challenge I would like you to consider joining me in.

Make this year your year for living mindfully.

Last year I kicked off the year by meditating for the first 100 days and it was transformational in that what had previously been something I tried to do daily but never properly formed the habit for, became a consistent part of my life as it was solidified as a habit. Now a day for me isn’t complete without some sort of mindfulness practice but I’ve come to learn that it doesn’t always have to be the traditional "sitting cross-legged" meditation practice in order to be valuable to you.

Mindfulness meditation is great to learn - it’s the closest thing to a superpower that we have as humans. It isn’t the only way to be mindful though because we still have a lot more living to do and we can’t just sit in silence all the time. Meditation should be treated like cleaning your room - you do a deep clean of your room once per week but then keep up the daily routines required for your room to be neat and tidy at all times.

Another analogy I love to compare it to comes from the end of Ryan Holiday’s book Ego Is The Enemy. You’ve got to sweep the floor. A floor doesn’t stay clean and dust-free without sweeping it, you regularly go back and sweep the floor to keep on top of it. Maybe you will meditate daily to keep your stress and anxiety under control. I certainly try to as much as possible. But maybe you will gravitate more to using meditation more like your deep cleaning day where you actually vacuum and mop the floor and the rest of your days you apply that skill to living mindfully in other ways. That’s the true purpose of meditation after all and will lead you to live a more fulfilling life, regardless of what you do.

So let’s make this the year of living mindfully. Each day, find a moment of silence in your life. Take 6 deep breaths and look around you. Really take in the environment around you. Pay attention. Listen. As the explorer Erling Kagge writes in his book Silence, the only true silence we can find is within us. Even with the world racing around you silence can be found. And when the stress metre gets maxed out, go back to your meditation practice and dig deeper into the silence.

Or if things get really out of control, go for a float. I have found that floating in a sensory deprivation tank offers a more complete escape from stress than meditation alone can offer me, even after extensive meditation practice. It’s wonderful. Nothing can phase you after a float. It’s named the post-float glow for a reason. You become like a beacon of lightness after coming out of an hour of floating. These more intensive mindfulness practices don’t have to be an everyday thing though if you keep up the daily practice of living mindfully. Keep that in mind, set a reminder for yourself each day if you need to, and make the most out of this year by becoming present on a daily basis.

Peterborough Float Centre Progress Update

The slow, autumnal creep of the progress to opening Flow Spa over that last few months has transformed into a turbo-charged rocket blast forward. In terms of visible progress, this last month has been nothing less than spectacular. After getting city building permit approval at the very beginning of the month, it was all hands on deck to make progress before the Christmas and New Years breaks impeded the momentum.

Removing the concrete.

The floor was cut to make way for the shower drains - the crucial first step when it comes to constructing float rooms as private showers are part of the experience.

With the floor cut, the plumber was able to put the first piece of the puzzle together in terms of room requirements.

Next were the frames for the walls. While the plumber was still plumbing away, we started to see most of the walls being framed in. This has been the most visibly dramatic change thus far.

Out With The Old...

In With The New!

Then the intermediate permits started to fall into place. The frames were inspected, followed by the underground plumbing. With those permits in place, we were able to pour the cement back down to close up those trenches for the shower drains. All like a beautiful symphony of construction.

With the holidays closing in on us we still had some time to continue the framing of the walls and start on the electrical work. A few days later the wiring was in place and like Jordan in the fourth quarter, the electrical inspector came in to approve the work and put the finishing touches on a successful month of building out the float centre.

Now we see the changing of the guard as the next trade comes into the scene to modify the HVAC system to suit each of the new rooms we are building.

The First Tank Arrives!

In the background with all of the renovations going on, there was still much to do this past month to see that our timeline for opening remained true. All of our equipment is in the final stages of production, if not already shipped and delivered to us, like our Float Pod which arrived from the U.S.

Our new sign.

Holiday pre-sales were a blast and a radio ad plus overhead signage helped to spread awareness of our burgeoning existence.

And now we move into the second half of renovations. With everything in its place, it will be time to put together the final package and present Flow Spa to the world. If all goes according to plan and we don’t face any hold ups we will be open sometime in February.

Start using this mindfulness technique to combat stress and improve your wellbeing.

My heart begins to pound first. It’s the feeling of my body heating up - cooking from the inside. Then I can feel my eyelid twitch. Next, the blood vessels in my eye burst. Something is stressing me out and these are the physical signs of overwhelm which have become telltale to me.

Stress is one of the most insidious issues that plague us today. The devastating effects of chronic stress negatively impact the health of both your body and your mind.

Counteracting stress is easier said than done when there are a million tasks on your list and our world is no longer set up to simply allow you to clock out when you need to.

And it’s not going to get any easier.

The good news is that there are still effective ways in which you can combat stress in your life. They often take some conscious effort on your part to be most effective though.

Creating a mindfulness practice like meditation can become your secret weapon in your fight against stress and a whole host of other issues.

Meditation has become a buzzword that makes it seem like the barrier to entry is much higher than it actually is. By meditating you are simply applying one of the many ways of becoming mindful - another word that is full of mystique. Mindfulness means becoming focused on the present moment instead of letting your thoughts wander aimlessly between the past and the future, which is what most people do when they go on an out of control stress spiral and let either depressed or anxious thoughts dominate.

If you’ve ever gazed in wonder at the stars or sat in awe staring at a beautiful sunset then you’ve both practiced mindfulness and have what it takes to continue to build it into a habit that will benefit you even more from regular practice.

In the traditional sense, you meditate by sitting comfortably and then working to clear all thoughts from your head. Most people find it beneficial to focus on a single point which is why you will often be instructed to focus on your breath flowing in and out by noticing the movement of air past the tip of your nose or the rising and falling of your abdomen.

Another common meditation practice is the use of a mantra, which is repeated to keep other thoughts at bay - this is known as Transcendental Meditation or TM.

Many people fear that they cannot possibly meditate because they have too many thoughts in their head or that practicing meditation will fundamentally change some edge that they think they have and will mellow them out too much.

Rest assured that neither could be further from the truth. Meditation will help you reign in your emotions but it won’t change who you are. Also, there are many different ways to start meditating and guided meditation apps that can help you along the way no matter how scatter-brain you start out.

The other great thing is that you can keep your meditation as low key as you want it to be. There are no rules stating that you have to get into a cross-legged position on the floor if that is uncomfortable or just plain awkward for you. I usually sit on a chair or my bed and occasionally even lie down on the bed. You don’t even have to be seated or stationary — you can stand still or walk mindfully - although I will say that it makes it more difficult to get into a truly mindful state and you might be better off waiting until you’ve gathered some more experience while remaining seated.

Being able to better control your stress and emotional response to the world around you is well worth the small amount of time and effort it takes to get into the routine of meditating daily. And these benefits are not exclusive to the yogis who have been practicing mindfulness for years on end - research has shown that taking just six deep breaths is enough to reduce blood pressure and therefore impact your perception of stress.

So give it a shot. Schedule a time and start with even just a few minutes of closing your eyes and breathing deeply. Almost all of us have around seven to eight hours free each day outside of work and sleep and most of that time is wasted on television and social media. Blocking off 10 minutes for a daily meditation practice is insignificant.

If you need more convincing, we’ll go into more of the benefits and how you can implement a meditation practice another time. But for now, just try it out. Do it right now as you finish reading this.

Breathe in for 5 seconds.

Notice the stillness as you pause at the top of your breath.

Breathe out for 5 seconds.

Notice the similar stillness as all of your air is exhaled.

Repeat this 6 times and see how much clearer and calmer your mind is compared to one minute ago.

What Is Floating?

The world is a radically different place from what it was even a few decades ago.

Technologies that were once considered Orwellian fantasies have now become our reality and are more and more creeping into our psyche.

Most people see these technological advances as a boon to our society as they present us with new opportunities, but it is undeniable that our primitive brains have also become fodder to this new type of on-demand world that we live in.

With the advent of instantly accessible information and entertainment available in our pockets at any time and the constant blips and pings of notifications that come with it, our reactionary nervous systems and brains biased towards detecting environmental dangers have become overstressed.

The average adult attention span has decreased in recent years and symptoms of stress-induced health complications have skyrocketed leading not only to a decline in health but also productivity.

Dedicated researchers who are curious about how we can overcome these changes in our society have started to focus on these concerns and what to do about them in the past two decades. Ancient wisdom has returned to the forefront of much of this research as a means to quiet the mind and remove oneself from the constant bombardment of distractions that we are all so easy to fall prey to.

This is where float tanks enter the picture.

A float tank in its purest form is an enclosed bed of shallow water in which you lie down in a saltwater solution and float on the surface of the water due to the density of the solution. This sense of weightless floating is achieved by mixing 1,000 lbs. of Epsom salt in a foot of water. The tank was originally referred to as sensory deprivation because the lid blocks out the light and within the enclosure sound is blocked from the external environment. These features have since then been upgraded to allow both light and music to keep the beginner company during this novel experience. The temperature of the water also remains body temperature neutral to keep physical sensations to a minimum.

The sensory deprivation tank as we know it today in a pod or cabin form was invented by Dr. John C. Lily back in the seventies. At the time, the prohibitive cost to build a tank coupled with Dr. Lily’s unusual research into trying to figure out a way to listen to peoples’ thoughts and also communicate with dolphins led there to be no real consideration for any therapeutic uses for the float tank.

In the decades that followed its inception, the float tank was relegated to the world of psychedelic explorers looking to take a trip to another dimension.

It wasn’t until research into ancient practices like meditation and mindfulness started to validate the benefits of the quiet practice of doing nothing in the late ‘90s and early 2000s that people started looking for ways to promote and facilitate these ostensibly difficult to describe practices.

The more stressors that our society burdened upon us, the more communities revolted with wellness practices to counterbalance their health. Yoga became a billion dollar industry and everyone had their own preferred specialty fitness club for spin class or boot camps or weightlifting. Innovators started to turn their attention back to those salty solutions for peace and tranquillity and introduced float tanks to communities as a place to go and escape from the bustle to relax and recover.

Incredible case studies started to pop up about individuals who were benefitting from floating in myriad ways.

Palliative cancer patients were able to find relief and rest pain-free for the first time in months.

Athletes saw their performance increase through improved visualization as well as physical recovery.

People suffering from anxiety disorders could enjoy life more as their overactive stress-response systems were quelled.

Then scientists started to research floating as a therapy and increasingly we are seeing the validation that these claims hold merit; not only of incredible mental relaxation but also a reduction in pain and physical symptoms due to the decompressing nature of being weightless in the tank.

Dr. Justin Feinstein has created the Float Clinic and Clinicalfloatation.com to help consolidate and clarify the research for the float industry. The collection of publications in scientific journals on floatation is rapidly growing.

The summarized list of current research includes benefits for: “hypertension, chronic tension headaches, chronic muscle tension pain in the back and neck, and stress-related pain with “burnout depression.”

Several studies have also concluded that floatation is a safe and effective rapid treatment for:

“individuals with clinical anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social anxiety disorder, with many patients presenting with comorbid major depressive disorder.”

“Clinical trials are currently underway investigating the long-term impact of floating in patients with anxiety disorders, anorexia nervosa, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and insomnia.”

Clearly, the surface of the water has barely been scratched in terms of just how deep the benefits of floating go (pardon the pun).

One of the most interesting and promising points is that not only is floating an effective treatment, but it is also extremely safe with minimal possible side effects. This one feature is unlike virtually every other treatment we currently have for anxiety, stress, and pain disorders and serves as no wonder why floating has become one of the fastest growing industries in North America.

At Flow Spa, we are dedicated to helping our community to relax and heal by creating the very best float therapy experience as well as bring education and awareness to you about the float industry and the wider world of wellness. If you’d like to enrich your life and learn ways to improve your well-being, stay updated with the latest information and exclusive content by subscribing to our newsletter.

Peterborough Float Tanks Update

This past month took a lot of overcoming inertia to get the ball rolling but now that we’ve got things going speed is picking up. 

A lot of detail and planning must go into the commercial building permit process and now that’s squared away and we can start to make more dramatic progress towards opening. 

The most exciting news though in this progress update is that the tanks have been ordered and our timeline to opening is starting to close in!

Most float tank manufacturers build to order their products and so getting these tanks ordered as soon as we possibly could was important for keeping on track with our goal to getting open as soon as possible. 

Here’s a little bit of information on each type of float tank that we are going to have a Flow Spa so that you can start to think about which one you’ll want to have your first float in:

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Pure Flow by Float Pod

This futuristic looking float pod has the aesthetic to make it inviting to all types of floaters, including those who are new to floating. 

This Pod provides a more cozy sensory deprivation experience but has all the features included for if you prefer to start out with some lights or audio keeping you company. The lid may also remain open if you start out feeling claustrophobic. 

Many first-time floaters looking to document their experience on social media love the Pure Flow for its attractive and modern look to accentuate their Instagram or Facebook feed. 

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Pro Float Cabin

In addition to the Pure Flow we will have two Pro Float Cabins are Flow Spa. These cabins are extra spacious which provides a great experience for athletes and bigger individuals who just want more room to stretch out and move around in.

I personally prefer the Pro Float Cabin because of the extra space that I have in it to stretch out. While I still fit in various pods and tanks, I like the extra space granted to me when floating in a cabin.

This is another great starting point for someone who may be a little claustrophobic or just want more space because of the height and width of the Pro Float Cabin. The door can also remain open on these cabins and there is optional audio and LED lights to accompany you. 

We’ll be sure to provide you with more information in the coming weeks as we document our journey to getting open at Flow Spa.

If you’re interested in learning more about the science of floating and meditation, the blog on our website is the place to go. We will continue to put out new content every week or so and will send out occasional newsletters with links to the articles so that you can stay informed. 

You Can Use the Same Technique World-Class Athletes Do to Improve Performance. Here’s How.

I find a comfortable position and close my eyes. As I focus on my breathing, my attention becomes immersed in the present moment. Everything and nothing is within my awareness.

Now it’s time to perform. It’s time to visualize.

With my body and mind relaxed I turn my attention to my sport - strongman. We usually know ahead of the competition what the events are going to be. Just like football players watching tape of the opposing team, knowing what lifts we are going to do gives us time to prepare so that we can put on a better show and reduce the likelihood of injury.

I picture the setting - outside on the grass, hot, sunny day. There’s a good crowd cheering us on as we perform these odd feats of strength. I can see the ref’s face as he calls me up for my turn to lift. The picture is painted in vivid detail and when I go to pick up the stone into my lap my muscles and nervous system feel the strain as if I were actually doing the lift. An explosion of movement launches the stone onto the platform and I can see myself shuffling laterally to pick up the next stone and load it as well. This continues for the final two stones to complete the run.

With intense concentration time becomes distorted but if I time it, it will all be over in less than 20 seconds in my mind. My actual time on the day of the competition - 18.2 seconds.

This is how visualization works and it’s a not-so-well-kept-secret performance technique used by almost every world-class athlete who has become a household name.

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Michael Phelps and the rest of the U.S. swim team practice visualization under the watchful eye of coach Bob Bowman. They do this not in place of but in addition to the monstrous metres they put into the actual pool. They know exactly how many strokes they will complete wall-to-wall and can get their visualized swim times down to within milliseconds of their actual race times.

Steph Curry regularly uses a float tank to visualize his three-point shots as the sensory deprived environment is the ideal space to quiet his mind and achieve complete focus on performance.

The human brain is wired with what are called mirror neurons - these are neurons that fire when seeing someone else perform an action as well as when you imagine yourself completing an action. Brain scanning techniques like EEG and fMRI have validated that our brains fire as if we physically performed a movement when we only just imagined it.

Scientists have helped people suffering from the phantom limb pain of amputated limbs get a release of their tension through visualization and athletes who visualize the performance of their sport see a statistically significant increase in performance compared with those who spend their recovery days laying around on the couch playing Xbox.

This all sounds fun in theory if you’re an athlete right? Here’s the cool part: visualization isn’t just for sports performance; anything that you can imagine yourself doing can be improved through focused visualization. Musicians can visualize the performance of their song, a chef can see their flawless knife work, and a lecturer giving a keynote speech can visualize the presentation going without a hitch. If you can visualize it, you can physically improve upon it. Albeit these everyday examples are not as strenuous as sports performance and so they can be practiced more frequently but taking the time to see yourself perfectly executing the action in your own mind can help to hone it further to perfection.

How do you get started with visualization?

• Pick a quiet, comfortable place to do your visualization practice. Your favourite meditation corner is perfect. Float tanks also work really well because you’ve given yourself permission to spend a distraction-free hour immersed in the present moment.

• Spend a few minutes focusing on your breathing. Relax and breath deeply.

• When you’re ready, start to imagine the scene around your activity in vivid detail like the example from the opening paragraph of this article. You may have to do some research if you’re performing in a setting you’re unfamiliar with but the more detail you can generate, the more realistic you can make your visualization practice.

• Picture yourself in minute detail going through the performance. If done with enough effort and focus, your muscles may tense and your heart rate may spike - particularly if it’s a physically intense performance that you are imagining.

• Repeat the practice as much as needed. Practice makes perfect and one of the reasons athletes like visualization so much is that they can continue to do the repetitive practice without putting the same physical strain on their bodies.

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Alex Honnold might be the best athlete in the world and yet most people have never heard his name and wouldn’t recognize what his physically unassuming body is capable of.

In the summer of 2017, Alex approached the base of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park with a pair of rock climbing shoes and a bag of chalk and began to free solo what is considered by many to be the most difficult sheer granite face to climb in the world.

Free soloing means there are no ropes and harness for if the climber happens to fall.

It takes most climbers 3 or 4 days to summit El Cap but that’s also out of the question for Alex climbing free solo since he has no way of taking a nap to recover. But Alex won’t need it.

In 3 hours and 56 minutes, Alex completed the climb to the summit of El Capitan. He was deep within the flow state to complete this performance and attests to the practice of visualizing the entire climb to getting his mindset right to complete this seemingly impossible feat.

Jump to 7:46 in the video below to hear Alex talking about his visualization practice.

Imagine being by yourself in the dead center of a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without a rope to catch you if you fall. For professional rock climber Alex Honnold, this dizzying scene marked the culmination of a decade-long dream.

Visualization is not just a practice in the realm of superhuman athletes, it has been used by people practicing skills across a wide range of industries and you can take advantage of it too for anything you hope to get better at.

Cannabis and Floating

Marijuana was legalized across Canada last week; here’s what you need to know if you are thinking about augmenting your float session with cannabis.

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Key Takeaways:

• Floating by itself is so relaxing you might not want to get high and the deep relaxation state you can reach is like a good sleep.

• Marijuana may physically relax most people but its psychoactive effects tend to cause more anxiety. By floating while high you may get something out of it creatively but you probably won’t reach as deep of a mentally relaxed state as you could otherwise.

• Ultimately it comes down to personal preference but it is highly recommended that you go into your first float completely sober to understand the experience.

• Try CBD Oil for a relaxation effect to settle into the float more without the high.

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There are still many people who consider floating to be some kind of hippy practice so it serves as no surprise that many people are wondering what the protocol for floating and marijuana use are.

Additionally, there are a number of staunch advocates of float tanks who also happen to be renowned pot smokers and the two are regularly described as going hand in hand for some of these experienced floaters.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the weeds and see if combining marijuana with floating is really worth its weight in smoke.

Floating - Complete Relaxation, Easily Accessible

Float therapy is like taking a long and relaxing vacation condensed into a brief session and there’s good evidence to show that it actually works this way; becoming weightless in the tank helps to relieve joint and muscle pain and the break that your mind gets feels a lot like years of practice in meditation.

Through floating you are able to achieve a state of complete relaxation in mind and body that is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve through other relaxation practices. Floating is so relaxing in fact that many people equate an hour-long float session with four hours of sleep.

This is exactly what many people are looking for when they feel like smoking weed - they just want to chill out.

Does Cannabis Equal Calm?

Marijuana does have a pain-relieving and physically relaxing effect on many people. People with chronic pain looking for a remedy without an extensive list of terrible side effects may indeed find it beneficial to smoke some weed occasionally. These pain-relieving effects are primarily the domain of the cannabinoids in marijuana which act as pain-signal blockers in the body. This is why CBD products have become so popular.

CBD Oil and Floating

CBD has changed the game for combining floating with cannabis in a lot of ways. CBD works to create a calming, anti-inflammatory effect in the body without the associated high of THC. At Flow Spa we sell both Calyx Wellness CBD products as well at the broad-spectrum cannabinoids from Flow CBD. Using CBD in combination with floating provides a gentle relaxation effect to help those who are more anxious settle into the float experience more. CBD oil is fast-acting when a dropper of the tincture is placed under the tongue to absorb more directly into the bloodstream and helps with relieving pain and improving sleep quality.

The Drawback of Cannabis

Where it is unlikely that cannabis is conducive to a complete relaxation experience is that along with CBD, there is another common cannabis acronym thrown around a lot is THC - the psychoactive component of the plant.

As a psychoactive substance, THC is the part of the plant that results in people getting high. Getting stoned may glue some people to the couch to watch endless hours of Family Guy but it doesn’t similarly settle the mind and therein lies the rub. Most people become more anxious while under the influence of marijuana, they just can’t act on it when they’re stoned.

Research has shown that despite people thinking that marijuana helps them to fall asleep, their overall sleep quality suffers and this is the most important factor when it comes to sleeping and ultimately feeling better. This is not to say that some people don’t benefit from cannabis for sleep in another way - if the individual is in so much pain that he or she cannot sleep at all, surely lower quality sleep is better than no sleep at all.

Floating Plus Cannabis Equals...

If you’re entering a float tank to try to relax as deeply as possible, you’re not likely to achieve such a state while floating high.

With that being said, some people like to use the float tank for creative purposes. Turning off the outside world allows some incredible people to accentuate their talents. Many of these people also use marijuana on occasion (or more liberally) for creative purposes. By combining the two, like the multi-talented float advocate Joe Rogan, some people may enjoy a heightened experience of creative output during their float in the tank.

If you do decide to enter the tank while high, I would advise you to let the staff at your local float centre know prior to your session so that they can better guide you through the experience. If you are extremely intoxicated though, do know that most float centres reserve the right to turn you away until you sober up for your own wellbeing.

So should you float while high? I think it comes down to individual preference and what your intentions are for your float session. The only time I would say absolutely not is for first-time floaters who should approach the new experience clear-headed and receptive to all instructions for making the most out of the journey they are about to embark upon.

Have you ever floated while high? Leave a comment below to share your opinion with new floaters.

Get The Most Out Of Your Next Float

Discover the best practices for float therapy for your particular needs.

The Four Factors of Well-being and Floating

We all face adversity. But what do you do when you receive that bad news? Do you accept your fate as it is or do you seek the opportunity that can be found within all obstacles? 

According to neuroscience research, there are four factors that contribute to our overall well-being and that are within our control. Knowing that these factors are controllable means that we don’t have to play victim to our hardships any longer. What we can control we can change for the better with practice and over time. 

Research from Richard J. Davidson shows that the four areas of mental functioning can be trained to significantly improve well-being; in this way, wellbeing is fundamentally seen as no different from riding a bike - the more we practice the better we will get. 

By incorporating these four factors into our routine and practicing them, we are able to improve our mental health and are better prepared to face hardships that come our way. 

The four factors are resilience, outlook, awareness, and generosity and this is how floating can directly impact these factors and lead to improving your wellbeing. 

Resilience

Resilience refers to how quickly we can adapt to obstacles in our way and the sense of adversity and negative emotions that come from those obstacles. Float therapy harnesses the essence of mindfulness meditation, which is one of the key ways that Davidson has found that you can improve your resiliency. By limiting all external distractions, the float tank facilitates a mindful state that helps to build resilience. When you are better able to practice mindfulness you can look at your situation for what it truly is and not what your automatic reactions are telling you. In this way, you can better address adversity from a calm and logical perspective, not reactionary and overly emotional. 

Awareness

Awareness is focusing on the present moment and there’s no better way to enhance that than through floating. It’s not easy by any means to stay anchored to the present moment, even in the isolated environment of the float tank but it definitely helps when we aren’t bombarded by external distractions. 

Enhancing awareness is how we stay immersed in the present moment without dwelling on the past or anxiously awaiting the future.

As you settle into your float, bring yourself more and more into the present moment by focusing on your breathing. It’s challenging to feel the rise and fall of your abdomen in the float tank, so focus on the breath moving past the tip of your nose. Let this be your single point of awareness for the full duration of breathing in and breathing out at your own pace. If you find your mind wandering, don’t fret, simply return your attention to your breathing. This is the practice of mindfulness. 

Outlook

Davidson uses the term outlook as what is often referred to as optimism or pessimism; outlook is the ability to see the positive in life and to savour those positive experiences. Coming out of a float therapy session being completely relaxed is a perfect time to savour a moment of tranquillity. At Flow Spa, we have designed our lounge to serve in this capacity so that you can continue to further enjoy your state of wellbeing as you transition back out of the float environment. 

Davidson’s research has also shown that practicing loving-kindness or compassion meditations can improve your outlook. Our float tanks offer audio input if you want to enhance your loving-kindness practice during your float session through a guided meditation. These guided meditations are also available after your float session in the lounge.

Generosity 

Generosity is the last of the four factors to be trained for wellbeing and is the least likely to be directly improved upon by floating. Generosity implies expressing compassion and doing good for others, like through volunteer work. Practicing compassion meditation while floating will only go so far to truly impact the factor of generosity. However, by floating and improving the other three factors of your wellbeing, you are going to be much more inclined to act generously and compassionately with others because you will already feel so much better and at ease with yourself. In this way, floating can help to guide you towards more generosity.

A Continuing Practice

While these four factors of mental training for wellbeing are not exclusive to the float tank environment, the additional relaxation and isolation of a float tank do help to turbocharge the process with these otherwise challenging practices to make time for.

Remember that to truly have an impact on your wellbeing, the factors of resilience, outlook, awareness, and generosity need to be practiced regularly - ideally daily. You can’t shovel the driveway once and expect it to stay clear of snow all winter. Whether you return to the float tank to recharge or start a regular meditation practice of your own, there’s always more to be done to keep your mind strong and ready for any obstacles that life throws your way. 

Peterborough Float Centre Construction - The First Month

It’s been a challenging month in getting ahead of the anticipated delays and troubles in kicking off the construction and renovations of Flow Spa. If you’re not careful and ready to act, every two steps forward will come with one step back. There are many different roles to juggle all at once when in the start-up mode for a business and this month has been a testament to that fact. 

As the progress continues to be made, the pipeline of tasks begins to narrow into a more logical sequence of one after another; albeit with other roles and unexpected decisions still peppered in. 

The two major projects for this month have been finalizing the details of the financing for the business and getting everything squared away for the building permits and starting the renovations. 

As necessary as funding may be for starting a business, there are many steps and a detailed legal process that goes into receiving a loan for a business. Due diligence must be taken by both parties to ensure that a proper agreement has been met; much like the process of lease negotiations. But once the details of the money are out of the way, you can march forward much more efficiently as long as you know who’s doing your work and they are ready to get started with you.

Dealing with the city for the requirements of the building permits has been a more painstaking process. The Peterborough building department is overwhelmed with work and so getting an answer either in-person or online is time-consuming and slows down progress. It’s frustrating when you’re ready to work with someone but need to verify from the city any questions that arise first and it takes two days to get a response. 

There are some strange rules with my business being classified in the large business category despite seemingly falling under the limitations of a small building because of the overall size of the property it is contained in. This not only complicated the requirements as far as what I have to provide for design, but it also increased the costs for permits about four-fold. While this still doesn’t seem logical to me, it is how things are and I just have to move forward from here.  This is just one of the many reasons why you need to have contingencies in your business plan to accommodate unexpected expenses like this.

At least now that I have the answers from the city, my designers are working on what’s required of them and we’re back to making good progress towards getting everything done on time. 

The Value of Stillness

“A moment of stillness makes all the difference”

How many unread emails do you have right now? How many event invitations and social media notifications?

The answer is approaching infinite if you’re anything like the average human being today. But that’s not how we were wired to function - always turned on and plugged into constant alerts. It’s stressful to the mind, body, and soul. It makes you less human and more like a cyborg.

Interesting, but frightening, fact - most humans today meet the definition of cyborg by being addicted and attached to our smartphones which we have on us at all times and cannot live without.

How do we get back to more human and less ‘being?’

By taking a step back and unplugging.

The more you give your body a chance to be free from all distractions and connect again to itself and to nature, the better you will feel.

Feeling grounded or connected to the real world around you isn’t some hippy practice. It’s been an essential part of the human condition since before the dawn of consciousness.

Just because we have the potential to accomplish so much more today than we could ten thousand years ago doesn’t mean that our bodies are any different. In fact, in many ways, our disconnect from our roots has been a detriment to our health and wellbeing.

Give yourself the chance to recognize what it means to be human again. Take a deep breath. Listen to the rain. Go for a walk outside. Float and listen closely to the inner workings of your brain.

Creating stillness is all part of enjoying life and recognizing that you’re human.

Progress Update #2 - Float Tanks Coming To Peterborough

Show Me The Money

The first major hurdle for Flow Spa was the quest for funding the startup costs. Securing funding for a massive endeavour in a new industry is never an easy thing and our ability to move forward with the construction plans was entirely contingent upon securing a loan for the purchase of equipment and renovations. 

After months of diligent research and revisions, I presented my case on Tuesday of this week and received my response a few hours later. 

I was approved for the loan!

Now we enter the next stage of preparing the business for opening and go full force into renovating the space we have leased. 

Location, Location, Location

Speaking of which, our location is at the Asta Plaza - 866 Chemong Road. This location provides great accessibility and visibility as we proceed with educating our community on the benefits of floatation therapy and the other modalities that will be provided inside Flow Spa. 

In the coming weeks, I will reveal more of what’s behind the renovations going into opening a float centre as well as the fascinating benefits of floating and the research that the float industry is collaborating on to raise awareness and further validate the importance of the experience of floating. 

Feel free to send any questions or comments my way.

Thank you for reading, 

RJ

Peterborough Float Centre Progress Update #1

As we go about taking steps to get this business open, I will be providing updates along the way to keep everyone in the loop about our progress. 

Today in the first progress update I will touch on the following:

• business planning and seeking funding

• settling on a location

• contractors

• float tank manufacturers

Business Planning

Float centres are expensive endeavours.

We have been diligently working on perfecting our business plan in order to secure the funding needed to open this centre. With the business plan rigorously developed now, we anticipate having a clear answer on the funding in the coming weeks and by the next progress update, I will be able to give you an answer as well. One thing that I’ve learned is crucial about going into a funding proposal is being sure that you’ve got accurate estimates of your capital expenditures.  Under asking and not having enough working capital to see us through the early growth phase of the first few months must be avoided. Getting these numbers dialled in is like trying to reach the top of the moving staircases at Hogwarts - there are many moving pieces that can change the outcome in the blink of an eye. 

Location

We’ve got a location picked out now and the lease has been signed contingent on receiving funding. This is important for any business venture that is dependent on funding being secured because most lenders will require that you have a lease signed before presenting your business plan to them. 

Picking a location was challenging because we needed enough space to properly build out a float centre and also had to consider other factors like the traffic to the area, noise levels in the neighbourhood, and the other businesses to work with (or have to compete against) in the area. 

Contractors

One of the moving staircases in preparing the business plan are the contractors doing the build out. This can often be dependent on the location if the landlord has specific companies or individuals that he or she works with. 

It will also be a matter of comparing bids on the work since the build-out costs for float centres can be out of this world expensive. This is a critical step though and cannot be skimped on when providing the best possible experience to customers. We have been working with the companies that the landlord uses as well as close connections that my business partner has in the city to get the bids for the construction costs prepared for the business plan.

I’m confident that people will be blown away when they see our finished space and come in to float or use any of our other recovery modalities. 

Float Tank Manufacturers

Shopping around for float tanks can be one of the more enjoyable tasks in the early planning phase. If you don’t already have a specific manufacturer or model in mind, this often means getting to go on excursions to test out float tanks if they are close enough to where you live. We’ve picked out the tanks that will be best for our customers and their experience with floating and so now all that’s left is to order them and start the long waiting process until we receive them. It’s important to take care of this early in your buildout phase because most float tank manufacturers build to order the tanks and so wait times before shipping to you can be 9-12 weeks if you’re lucky and there aren’t any manufacturing delays. 

That’s it for this update! There are lots of new things to learn with starting any business but especially one that’s in a booming young industry like floating, so I’ll be updating again soon with anything else that I learn.

My First Float

How often do you get to have a completely new experience, unlike anything you have to compare to?

Experience the Dead Sea without travelling to Jordan.

Today I floated for the first time ever. And not just like doing a starfish in the water to stay near the surface. I was completely buoyant in water denser than the Dead Sea. 

At first, I was unimpressed and underwhelmed. So much for the experience of a lifetime.

But then everything changed.

As I climbed into the float cabin and uneasily lay back, I let the buoyancy of the Epsom salt take over and my body was whisked upwards from the bottom of the shallow water. From there I struggled to relax and get used to the thunderous sound of my heart beating in my chest. It was all I could hear other than the occasional pop and crackle of a joint completely released of all its tension.

Once I got my rhythm and played with my body in relation to the sides of the tank a bit, I was sinking deeper into the zone. I had an hour and a half in the tank. I didn’t know how I could possibly last it. When you’re in the tank eyes open or closed doesn’t mater - darkness is pitch either way. 

If you stay still, the temperature is perfect. You have no idea which body parts are submerged or exposed. Everything melds as one experience and time becomes funny. 

It felt like an eternity and before I knew it, it was over. 

The 90 minutes was done and I swear only 45 minutes at most had elapsed. The music slowly grounded me in reality and I thought there was no way my time was up - this music had to be coming from inside my mind. Sure enough, my time was up. I was relieved. After that length of time, I was ready to get up and use the bathroom.

That was when the real magic started. Just like with meditation, floating isn’t all that exciting of a therapeutic modality. The near-complete absence of stimuli, however, trains your mind to react differently.

The rest of the afternoon I was as calm as a cucumber. It was like I was floating on a cloud above all the bustle and nagging thoughts that usually race through my anxious mind. 

Everything just slid off my shoulders with nonchalance. This is what it must be like to experience the blissful non-judgement of the Zen Masters. To live a life free of pain, depression, anxiety, stress, and anger. All because it has no chance to gain purchase on your shoulders. 

You come to realize that the burdens of modern society are meaningless.

Welcome to a new outlook on reality.

Welcome to floating.

Welcome to Flow.