• Home
  • Services
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Client Log In
  • Blog
  • Upcoming Events
  • Home
  • Services
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Client Log In
  • Blog
  • Upcoming Events

To Float Or Not To Float? An Experience

6/20/2016

0 Comments

 

Part 3

This marks the third article in our "To Float Or Not To Float" series. If you don't know what "floating" is back up a step and start at PART 1.

Today's blog is an account of my first ever float. Everyone keeps asking me what you are supposed to do? Feel? Not feel? The answer is "there's no right way to float"... irritating right? The goal is to relax and simply breathe. The experts say it takes at LEAST 3 floats to get comfortable with fully relaxing ones body and mind. I'd agree with this. If you've only gone once, you are doing yourself a disservice. Go again!
Nonetheless my first ever float was interesting and you've been asking so I thought I'd share...
Picture
I found myself drawn to float after I had been to a birth as a Doula earlier the week. I needed time to myself to process... to grieve what was maybe not the parent's preferred outcome... to be alone.
With purple dye in my hair I felt like I maybe shouldn’t leave it behind it the float pod, so I opted to wear a swim cap. It felt like putting on said cap took FOREVER. (If my hair was just my regular au natural this is a step I would have skipped). After a quick shower I got into the pod. The water was warm, and almost slippery, and I closed the lid immediately. (You can choose to leave it open, close it part way or altogether, it’s totally up to you). The room lights turned off quickly leaving me in the calming blue light of the pod. The sensation of floating was weird! It’s like not really lying on top of the water, but in the top few inches. Like the most comfortable bed in the world, but not being on the bed, but in it. How’s that for a weird description! I found the pod quite roomy and could sit up completely with my head nowhere near the lid. Lying down I could completely starfish and touch the walls. (I’m 5’4”). I quickly began playing with the lights and music. On? Off? Different colors? Less music? No music? I found it all very distracting. You could define my first bit of time as… “On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off.” My ADHD brain couldn’t handle the options and I eventually settled on everything OFF. Once in the dark I slowly began a disorienting drifting “ping pong” across the pod. Wall. Wall. Wall. I knew I couldn’t fully rotate in the pod but it kind of felt like I was. I found the walls crunchy with salt residue and spent some time scratching it off in a distracted manner. Then I realized the cuts on my knuckles were indeed burning and had to turn on the light, open the pod and apply the Vaseline… immediate burning relief. My swim cap had also been obnoxiously and loudly bubbling away so I grabbed the floating pillow at that time. Back I went into the darkness. The whole “lay there and be still and silent” took a LONG TIME to find. I eventually did settle, with the pillow and my arms above my head. My mind raced with thoughts… “was I doing it right? Is there a right?” I turned to my trusted Hypnobabies training to soothe myself. I found myself on the boat that transports me to my “special place” my secret island beach that my subconscious created to help me in my hypnosis practice during my pregnancy with little baby F. It’s my sacred place where I first met my daughter, when I had thought stubbornly she was a boy, and knew that in fact she was a blonde curly haired daughter long before any ultrasound could determine a gender. Anyhow that’s where I headed, and suddenly I was gone. Detached from my physical body, yet clearly still present. My thoughts took on the sudden fuzziness of a dream like trance and I don’t really remember anything.
Suddenly the lights and music jerked me from the zone and my time was up. 90 Minutes had flown by!! I was instantly disappointed. I didn’t want to leave the pod and was extremely calm and collected. I methodically got out and proceeded to shower and dress. I left the float pod high on life, like I had taken a strange calming drug that also offered great clarity. I eventually wandered out of the float center and was almost hit by a vehicle crossing the road. (Apparently they were in a big rush and I clearly was not). I sat in the van for a solid half an hour in silence, people watching, sipping my water, not really inclined to go anywhere or do anything. I did eventually leave. I drove home in silence which is a rarity for me. I slept great. My body which suffers from chronic neck and back pain felt better for days! I hadn't known what to expect. I left with a whole new appreciation of what my mind was capable of... Just like that I was hooked on floating.

​I'm interested to know how your first float went? Was it what you expected?

~ Doula In The Wild

​Want to know more? Check out our whole series...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
0 Comments

    By: Doula Sonja

    Your one and only uncensored
    "Doula In The Wild".

    Archives

    November 2017
    October 2017
    February 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All
    Acid Reflux
    Acupressure
    Acupuncture
    ADHD
    Adventure
    Anxiety
    Babies
    Baby
    Babywearing
    Baby Weight
    Back Pain
    Beautiful
    Birth
    Birth Centre
    Birth Story
    Board Games
    Bottles
    Breastfeeding
    Breastmilk
    Breastpump
    Burping
    Calgary
    Canmore
    Cervix
    Childbirth Education
    Chinese Medicine
    Chinooks
    Cloth Diapering
    Constipation
    Contractions
    CPR
    Depression
    Diapers
    Dilation
    Doctor
    Doula
    Effacement
    Entertainment
    Exercise
    Families
    Family
    First Aid
    Float
    Float Center
    Float Pods
    Float Tank
    Fourth Trimester
    Haemorrhoids
    Halloween
    Headaches
    Heartburn
    Hello Life
    Herbs
    Hospital
    Hypnobabies
    Infant
    Infant Sleep
    Isolation Tank
    Journey
    Kensington
    Kids
    Kite
    Laundry
    List
    Maternity
    Maternity Leave
    Meals
    Meconium
    Medela
    Midwifery
    Midwives
    Migraines
    Mindful Return
    Minivan
    Mom
    Morning Sickness
    Motherhood
    Nanny
    Nausea
    Newborn
    NICU
    Normalized Breastfeeding
    Nurse
    OB
    Obstetrician
    Pain
    Pain Management
    Parent
    Parenthood
    Pet Care
    Placenta
    Placenta Encapsulation
    Placenta Prep
    Placentophagy
    Plan
    Poop
    Postpartum
    Postpartum Depression
    Postpartum Doula
    Postpartum Placenta Specialist
    Potty Training
    Pregnancy
    Pregnant
    Prenatal Classes
    PTSD
    Pull Ups
    Pumping
    Pumpkins
    Qi
    Recipe
    Running Errands
    Sciatica
    Self Care
    Skyline Luge
    Sleep
    Stress
    Stretch Marks
    Summer
    TCM Dr
    Toilet Paper
    Toodler
    Traditional Chinese Medicine
    Traumatic Birth
    Trick Or Treating
    Udder Cover
    Ultrasound
    Upset Stomach
    Vertigo
    Vomiting
    Winsport
    Work

    RSS Feed

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
UPCOMING EVENTS
Home     Services     Our Team     Contact     Client Log In

PROUDLY SERVING THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITIES SINCE 2010
AIRDRIE   CALGARY   CANMORE   CARSTAIRS   CHESTERMERE   CROSSFIELD   COCHRANE   DRUMHELLER   HIGH RIVER   OKOTOKS
​

© 2017 Tender Touches Doula Services Inc.
All Rights Reserved
All Photos Used With Permission​
​info@ttdoulas.com     403-909-0827
  Tender Touches Doula Services Inc.
  • Home
  • Services
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Client Log In
  • Blog
  • Upcoming Events
  • Home
  • Services
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Client Log In
  • Blog
  • Upcoming Events
Follow Us On: