My Float Experience at the AquaSpa

If you are like me you have been patiently watching the transformation take place over on East First Street at what is now the home of the AquaSpa. It has been several months of hard work and what I assume was years of dreaming and planning before that but the doors of the AquaSpa are set to open to the public on November 15th, 2020. (YAY!)

This week, I had the incredible honor and pleasure of trying out the spa’s signature service, Float Therapy. This was a much anticipated experience for me as I had been curious to see what “floating” was about since they first announced they were bringing this type of service to our area. I am going to try my best to share the details of my experience with you, however, this is truly one of those things that I think you have to experience for yourself to really know what it is like.

This was truly an incredible experience from start to finish and I have to wonder if the team that Tammy (AquaSpa Owner) put together didn’t all work at the Ritz Carlton before coming to the spa. Yes, the service and experience are that good.

Soon after my invitation to float I received an email confirming my appointment and a video to watch before hand. The video answered all of my questions about what the experience would be like and calmed some of my initial fears about being able to customize the session. I was initially worried about being claustrophobic, the video shared that you can leave the tank door open. I also was concerned about being completely in the dark, or the silence being too much, again, completely customizable with dim light and sound options if you chose.

Upon arrival at the spa, Lynn and I were greeted by a vibrant team. You could sense their true excitement that we were there, even through their mask clad faces. They screened the two of us for COVID-19 and had us sign a few safety waivers. From this point we were given a full explanation of what would happen and an opportunity to ask any questions we may have. We truly didn’t have any questions because they had already done such an incredible job explaining it up to the point.

We were walked to our float suites and this is where the magic started to happen. You start off with a shower to “wash the day away”, they provide natural shampoo and body wash and towels. They also provide you with a set of wax earplugs to keep the salt water from your ears during the float and a small amount of petroleum jelly to apply over any cuts or sores on your body. After the shower it was time to enter the float tank, both the shower and the tank are located in the same room, you merely take a few steps from the shower into the tank. The tank itself is pretty remarkable. It is much larger than I imagined and is really more like a small room. Once you step inside the tank and lay down it is your choice if you’d like to shut the door or not, I decided to shut it. I then grabbed the foam head support that is offered and started to get comfortable. I started off with the “starry night” option for lighting and kept the tranquil music playing. About 15 minutes in I turned the lights and music off completely and removed the head support. I wanted to give the “all in” experience a try.

While floating, I was neither warm, nor cold. I wasn’t physically uncomfortable in any way. There was no difference between my eyes being open or closed, it was that dark. My mind struggled to shut off completely and I found myself moving around a lot, just to see how it felt. There were times when it was difficult to tell the difference between where the water stoped and my body began. It was a really unique feeling. The float lasts 60 minutes. This was enough time for me to truly appreciate the deprivation that it provided. We are all so bombarded with input from a thousand different sources every day, this experience allows you to quiet all that noise and just be.

Once the float is complete, you exit the tank and enjoy another shower to rinse off the salt from the float. As I expected, they had super soft towels to dry off with before getting dressed and exiting the suite. They really have thought of everything to make this an all around wonderful experience.

I can’t help but think about how blessed our community is to have such an amazing place of healing right here in town. After my experience at the AquaSpa, I am confident that as others begin to experience it too, we are going to see a ripple of change throughout our community. Floating provided an opportunity to shut out the outside world, something that so many of us crave. I am already looking forward to my next opportunity to visit the AquaSpa.

Learn more about what the AquaSpa has to offer by visiting their website. Also, check out their “pre-opening prices” that are good through October 31st, 2020.