I floated for an hour and I liked it: my surprisingly relaxing and invigorating experience in a sensory deprivation tank

I was nervous.

I’m not typically claustrophobic. I get antsy toward the end of trans-Atlantic flights, but otherwise do well in enclosed spaces. A sensory deprivation tank, though, is very different from a crowded airplane. You’re alone, in total darkness. The water temperature is set so that within a few minutes, you no longer feel it against your skin. Suspended and in repose for an hour, you are left to yourself. I was nervous, but, hey, this is my job.

Walking into Uptown Float, Columbus’ sensory deprivation spa located at 15 11th Street in Uptown, I was immediately soothed by the environment. The reception room is accented everywhere in soothing blues and teals, a nod to the warm waters inside the tanks. The music is likewise calming, a subtle, flowing accompaniment to the quiet environment. Kristin Wolfenbarger, owner and operator at Uptown Float, met me in reception and led me to my room.

After a quick shower, with the music low and mellow, I opened the door to the tank. The water was suffused in blue light and from the ceiling tiny LEDs looked like distant stars. I stepped into the water, laid back and turned off the lights.

I was in total darkness. The music stopped. One thousand pounds of Epson salt is dissolved into each tank, making it impossible to not float. After a few minutes, I realized I was still working to hold my head above water. I allowed myself to relax my spine, to settle completely into the water. Within minutes, I lost feeling of the water itself.

There in the darkness, floating in ten inches of salt-infused water in an 8-by-4 foot tub, I was cut off from all sensory input. This was the moment I had feared. I was nervous about being closed off, disconnected from the outside world. I was nervous about being alone with nothing but my own thoughts. And then something strange happened.

I lost track of time. My body, without the chaos of external input, felt as if it were suspended in a warm void. I noticed my breathing, the way it slowed and deepened. I could feel my muscles, head to toe, unknot and slacken. Soon I felt as if I were in the most comfortable dream, a kind of aware sleep in which everything in the mind and body reaches a rare equilibrium otherwise impossible in our chaotic day-to-day.

Before I knew it, the music began to play again. My hour was over.

Emerging from the tank, I was a little unsure of how I felt. I showered again, to get the salt off, and though still not sure how to feel, I knew I felt good. What kind of good? Was I relaxed? Was I energized? Strangely, I felt as if I were simultaneously both.

Dressed and back in the lobby, Kristin smiled at me. She asked, “how was it?”

I still wasn’t sure how to put it into words. “I feel good,” I said.

My plan had been to cross the street for a cup of coffee after the spa. I no longer wanted any coffee. I felt refreshed in a way I had not felt in as long as I can remember. I’m a single parent and a busy writer, and for the rest of the day—which was a long one—I moved from meeting to writing assignment to meeting with the sense that I was still floating. Something in me had reset, the world was a little brighter, and I can’t wait to visit Uptown Float again.