Count your Sheep in our Float Pod

Do you consider yourself a good sleeper? 
Do you feel energized when you wake up in the morning?
Have you ever heard of a float pod? 
Do you have chronic pain?
Do you have chronic stress?

Sleep plays a huge role in both our physical and mental health, yet research suggests that only 35.2% of all adults in the USA report sleeping less than seven hours a night on average. Insomnia correlates with stress which keeps people from falling and staying asleep. An estimated 10-30% of adults experience insomnia each year, inhibiting them from experiencing a normal sleep cycle. Sleep whether we like it or not is a necessary part of our life and how our bodies heal, rest, and prepare for the next day. Our bodies love to sleep, they love to heal when they sleep and so much so, we will spend an average of one-third of our lifetime sleeping! 

However, day-to-day stressors, anxiety, and past traumas might say otherwise for how well we actually sleep due to excess amounts of Cortisol levels. Cortisol is the hormone that triggers our fight or flight response that roots back to our body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. AKA if we are stressed out, our nervous system is like a cat on a hot tin roof and our cortisol levels spike putting stress on the body, and its primary functions and pushing us into a category of not sleeping! So I’m sure at this point you are asking, well what do float pods have to do with my sleep???

Have you seen Stranger Things when Eleven is floating in the salt-filled pool or the deep freeze so she can connect on a deeper level?? That’s what we are formulating here. Floating is a relaxation practice of being buoyant in approximately 10 inches of water in a solution of 1,000 pounds of magnesium sulfate, otherwise known as Epsom Salts. It feels like you are suspended in the air. The temperature of the water is set to the body’s normal skin temperature and an average float experience is 60 minutes. 

So right now I want you to, Close your eyes and take a big deep breath. Imagine yourself in your bathtub. You have put some Epsom salts in the water, you have a candle lit, soft music going and everything you ever needed to do is taken care of. Start to drop out of your monkey mind and into your body. You are experiencing a truly tranquil environment that is super cozy and the water is holding you like you are suspended in a hammock. You are safe. You take a few more deep breaths and really settle deeper into your body to relax even more. How do you feel now? This is similar to what you will experience in our float pods. 

Getting rid of all distractions allows the ‘constantly-make-sure-you’re-not-dying’ part of your brain to chill out for a second, allowing the creative, relaxed part of your brain to come out and play. Without the constant pressure of analyzing the world around you, your body naturally lowers its cortisol levels. By experiencing multiple float session experiences you are retraining your brain to chillout and helping reset and regulate your nervous system. And with relaxation comes a greater ability to settle in for a great night’s rest. Floating allows the body to deactivate the flight or fight response, lower the heart rate, find calmness and remove tension, stress, and anxiety that prohibits the mind from completely shutting off. While float therapy is not a replacement for sleep, it has been credited as a great solution to regulate sleeping patterns. 

Yes, there are lots of medications, routines, and techniques available as solutions for sleep but the options can be overwhelming. We know that sleep is essential to life so it can be frustrating when one solution doesn’t work. Float pods offer an alternative ‘medicine’ that only takes YOU and 60 minutes of your time to show up and try it. Think of our float pod as a tool for resetting and regulating your sleep patterns as you count how many sheep it takes before you fall asleep. 

Float Pod can help:

• Chronic pain
• Chronic stress
• Insomnia
• depression/Anxiety/PTSD/Bipolar
• Chronic fatigue 
• Inflammation
• Toxic Burden

Float Pod Fun Facts: 

• 60 minutes of floating is equivalent to up to 5 hours of sleep! 
• Lying in water allows your blood to flow freely through your body and without gravity pushing you down all the time, your joints and muscles get to rest.
• Magnesium improves chronic pain, which is absorbed within 80 seconds through your skin when floating. 
• Float pods help you detox!
• At aNu, we give Military, Medical and First Responders a 50% discount for our Float Pod!

• 40 minutes into your float experience your brain stops producing its normal Alpha waves and starts churning out Theta waves. These are responsible for that in between wake and sleep state. While it lasts only a few short moments in bed, you get to achieve this prolonged Theta state in the float pod which is usually only seen in children and people who have spent years meditating. 
• Magnesium-based Epsom salts we use in our pods are great to soften and replenish your skin along with adding magnesium to your body and magnesium is important for your body because it helps healthy bones, blood pressure, RESTFUL SLEEP, nerve functioning, and so much more! 

What does a float pod session look like? 

• You arrive at Anu and show up a little early if it’s your first visit is recommended.
• Remove all of your clothing and jewelry.
• Shower before entering the tank.
• Enter the tank and close the door or lid.
• Gently lie back and let the buoyancy of the water help you float.
• Music can play for 10 minutes at the start of your session to help you relax (you can continue if you desire). 
• Float for an hour.
• Music plays for the last five minutes of your session.
• Get out of the tank once your session has ended.
• Shower again and get dressed.

To help you relax and get the most out of your session, it is recommended that you eat something approximately 30 minutes before your session. It’s also helpful to avoid caffeine for four hours beforehand.

Shaving or waxing before a session is not recommended as the salt in the water can irritate the skin.

Women who are menstruating should reschedule their session once their period has ended.