Sit Back, Relax, And Let the Salt Do the Work

the salt room at Bodymind Float Center; the salt is infused into the air through the vent on the wall to the right

David Brickman was pursuing a career in music when a visiting friend invited him to a float center. Today, he left music behind to run his own float centers in Rochester and Syracuse.

A floating session at Bodymind Float Center on East Erie Boulevard consists of lying in a tank filled with a few inches of water and hundreds of pounds of Epsom salt, forcing you to float as though in zero gravity on top of the water. Everything from the temperature of the water to the temperature of the air is calibrated to be near-exact body temperature.

“The environment of the float tank induces a profound relaxation response because it reduces the amount of processing that one brain has to engage in, a big part of that is through the restriction of sensory stimulation…,” David Brickman, owner of Bodymind Float Center said.

The relaxation properties of floating can also help with muscle pain and other bodily aches.

Sonja Lara-Gonzalez decided to try floating as a natural remedy to manage her epilepsy. She hoped that reducing her stress would help limit the number of seizures she experiences. The float therapy also helps with her soreness from gymnastics and rugby. Now, Sonja is a monthly member at Bodymind Float Center.

“I go, and I feel like it’s kind of put me back in balance for the most part, and I can mentally just live a little bit better,” she said.

Salt therapy, which can accompany floating, is a process wherein pharmaceutical-grade table salt is ground into small particles and infused into the air. As the salt is breathed in, it helps relieve congestion and works as an anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial agent.

One session for the salt room is $30, and monthly memberships are offered, as well as discounts to students, those with a military ID, and those with fibromyalgia.

the outside of an escape tank at Bodymind Float Center

Dr. Kaushal Nanavati, a family and integrative medicine doctor who studies conventional and complementary medicine, said that he has patients that have had success with floating for issues such as muscle soreness and stress.

“When your stress hormones such as cortisol are elevated and those can have an effect on everything from blood pressure to diabetes and other chronic inflammation types of conditions… when you get relaxed the cortisol actually can rebalance and… chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, all those can actually come back into their balance so you feel not only more relaxed but able to focus better…,” said Nanavati.

But Nanavati said larger studies need to be done to verify that floating could be beneficial for anyone, especially to validate spending the money.

The Bodymind Syracuse location offers three tank options.

The escape tank and the Samadhi tank are both traditionally enclosed, and Glen Runyan, the manager of both Bodymind Float Center locations, compares the interiors to “the size of a small camping tent.”

For those who are more claustrophobic, there is also a cathedral pool. This tank is not enclosed but can still restrict sensory stimulation and can fit two people, which costs $95 instead of $65.

A 2014 National Institute of Health study measured how floating effects stress, energy, depression, anxiety, optimism, pain, sleep quality and mindfulness. The results of the study concluded that levels of stress, depression, anxiety and pain significantly decreased among the floatation-REST group. There was also a significant correlation between mindfulness in daily life and degree of altered states of consciousness during the relaxation in the flotation tank.

Runyan is another example of a positive correlation between floating and mindfulness.

Runyan was in the army before he came back to Rochester to find floating. He now floats once a week and says it helps “really sustain this busy life in a more controlled way, without getting stressed out or at least being able to focus a lot easier rather than in turmoil… it’s changed my life for the better.”

Rachel Walters Zerrillo has been a customer of Bodymind Float Center in Syracuse for just under one year and goes at least once a month for a float session. She also utilizes the salt therapy room with her teenage daughter to combat allergies and colds.

“I think the whole experience is super welcoming, calming, the environment, and the float itself,” Zerrillo said of the center.

Zerrillo appreciates that the relaxation from the float still affects her many days later.

“I kind of equate it to like getting a full body massage but exponentially better results than a massage,” said Zerrillo.

Although floating may not be a cure for all forms of pain, the deep relaxation it offers is a unique experience and is hard to replicate in any other environment. Without using your senses, you’re forced to focus on yourself. And bettering yourself is what Bodymind Float Center is all about.

“Floating led me into a profession where I am able to help people in the most concrete and direct way, and that is what life is all about,” Brickman said.