Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand August / September 2015 - Art & Education Issue | Page 35

Health & Wellness W hen I first learned about the Theta State Float Center, it sounded like a place where the stressed and weary soaked in fancy, futuristic bathtubs and bravely faced the challenge of not using the Internet for an entire hour. As a self-proclaimed Smartphone addict (and not much of a swimmer) I figured this was going to be a tough experience, but I did what I was told and stripped down, showered, and lowered myself into what I imagined was a pod of primordial goo on a Hollywood movie set. But it didn’t really go just like that. First, I sat down with the American owner, Annile, who filled me in on the history and health benefits of floating. Sensory deprivation, he explained, is the main idea behind flotation therapy. The soundproof, lightproof isolation tank is filled water that contains a high level of Epsom salt. (Don’t worry: the water level is shallow, just high enough to float comfortably, and the high density makes it easy to keep your head up.) It seems like it might be a relatively new invention, since we have so much to escape and “unplug” from these days, but it was first invented in the 1950’s by a neuropsychiatrist interested in the effects of sensory deprivation on the brain. Modern isolation tanks, which are definitely an upgrade from the early tanks in the ‘50s, have been growing in popularity over the past decade. Today, flotation therapy is sought for a number of reasons including the reduc F