Okay, I can hear you now: “Floating? Carlee, what are you talking about??” I’m talking about float therapy! This month, I’ve been talking about treating ourselves this holiday season on The Stress Less Show and when I say treat ourselves, I don’t just mean eat an extra piece of pie at Christmas dinner! I’m talking about really listening to what we need to take care of ourselves. The holidays are a stressful time of year and there are always stressors that threaten our personal well being. We all need to find ways to step away from the holiday madness and really devote ourselves to our health and well-being. That is why I brought on Keri McGinn, owner of Halcyon Floats, to talk about how we can start taking care of our well-being and how float therapy can play a role in our self-care.
Keri’s work in float therapy began after she discovered first hand just how powerful float therapy can be for releasing stress and anxiety.
“I probably was one of the biggest skeptics of them all in general in the very beginning about any kind of alternative or holistic healing. But I was at my wit's end by the time I found myself in a float tank.”
Working constantly and neglecting her basic needs, Keri tried everything from meditation to medication to find relief from burnout and overwhelm before trying float therapy. Since beginning her float therapy practice, she became so passionate about its benefits that she opened her own center to help others use float therapy and sensory deprivation to reconnect to themselves and heal their physical and mental health.
What is Float Therapy?
For those of us out there who have not heard of float therapy before, the practice involves lying in a few inches of body temperature water and Epsom salt in a dark and quiet room so you feel completely free of any external sensations. This space allows you to let go of your stressors and really tune into yourself.
Through her own float practice and her work with clients, Keri has a unique perspective on how we can improve our well-being and she came on the show to share a few of her tips for taking care of our health.
Tip #1: Invest in your well-being.
Keri’s first tip for improving our well-being is where most of us out there struggle. Every day, we spend our time, money and energy on everyone and everything else. Yet when it comes to investing even a fraction of that time, money and energy into our own health, we don’t do it - until we are forced to.
“When it comes to doing something that's a healing treatment we put that in a category of a luxury and it's not… It's all about being well and really respecting your body.”
We deserve to take care of ourselves the same way we take care of our friends, families, and loved ones! Not to mention that by investing in self-care practices like therapy or even massages, we actually end saving ourselves a lot more resources in the long run.
“Burnout is expensive, injuries are expensive, health insurance and health bills are expensive. You can go out and get yourself a massage or pay for therapy out of pocket if you need to or do something like floating on a regular basis and end up investing in your own personal health and well-being and happiness.”
Tip #2: Be diligent when it comes to mindfulness and self-care.
When we seek out ways to take care of our self, one of the major hurdles we face is often our own impatience. We start making changes to better our health but get discouraged when we don’t seem to see results right away. This is why Keri’s next tip is so important. Self-care takes time and diligence because as Keri mentions, old negative habits didn’t appear overnight.
“When it comes to anxiety or the way we can physically manifest our stress, it happens over time. So you have to also know that it's going to take time to undo that. Quick fixes aren't real.”
That is why whatever self-care practices we start incorporating into our lives, we have to be committed to for the long haul. Over time, we will see results as long as we keep putting in the effort.
Tip #3: FLOAT!
Finally, Keri’s last tip on improving our wellbeing may come as no surprise - try float therapy! I cannot back her up enough on this tip as someone who is a regular floater myself. Float therapy is a powerful way to get in tune with who we are and what we need - all in a safe and neutral environment. We encounter so many external stimuli throughout our day that can cloud or sway our judgment and sense of self. Floating allows us to separate from our body and external sensation so we can focus on ourselves.
“When you're in a float tank, you're in a very basic leveled out state of mind where your stresses aren't overwhelming you and you can take an inventory of your life and decide what you need and what you don't need.”
If you are interested in trying float therapy, go to Halcyon Float’s website here to learn more and sign up for your first session. It is the perfect way to treat yourself and take care of you this holiday season!