I tried floatation therapy and here's what happened...

One of my oldest friends from growing up now lives in Mexico City, so whenever she comes into town we try to do something really fun. There’s been vintage shopping, concerts and the most pee-in-your-pants-hysterical musical revue with Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, George Michael and Michael Jackson impersonators. But for this year’s pre-Thanksgiving adventure we decided to take more of a Zen route and try Salt Floatation Therapy at the Carillon Hotel spa in Miami Beach. Neither of us had ever done it before, and we were really, really excited.

I wish this was my body, but in real life you’re naked for this treatment.

To dive in (no pun intended), the experience begins similar to any other fancy spa treatment with stowing your stuff in a locker and slipping into a plush robe and slippers. After sitting in the relaxation room for a bit, I was retrieved by a therapist who took me to the area of the spa that houses the more high-tech treatments like cryotherapy and LED therapy. I had to sign a lot of waivers—the scariest one being that I agreed to pay $1,500 if I contaminated the water. And then I was escorted into a room with this:

OK, this pod is filled with water (duh) and 800 pounds of Epsom salts. Even saltier than the Dead Sea, this insane amount of salinity renders you completely weightless—like zero-gravity weightless. You have to shower and wash every square inch of your body (including your hair) before getting in—and if you have any cuts or scrapes you’re advised to apply an ointment to prevent burning. (Don’t shave immediately before floating either.) Then you put in earplugs, slip on a shower cap and climb in. You can fully enclose yourself or leave the pod a bit open if you’re claustrophobic, but I’m telling you it’s roomy in there. (You can also schedule a couples treatment and both go in at once.)

I’m not going to lie—it was bizarre. But it also might have been one of the best hours of my entire life. Surrounded by soothing spa music and chakra lights with your head resting on a foam ring, you literally float in water that I’m willing to bet is deliberately set to womb temperature. Since you’re weightless, you might find yourself bumping around the tank (similar to how astronauts repel around the space shuttle in zero gravity), but once you go with the flow, you’re in for a truly incredible experience. 

The best way I can describe it is that your mind disassociates from your body since you can’t feel any gravity or weight. Without the burden of your body (or aching muscles or stress-related tension) you’d be surprised how quickly your consciousness takes over—and how it’s nearly impossible to think about anything negative or the list of tasks you have to complete by the end of the day. You know it’s time to get out when the music turns off, and I was so sad it was over that I almost started to cry. There’s a reason they call it floatation “therapy,” and it’s so incredible I wish I could do it every day.

For the record, the spa at the Carillon is bananas—and you can basically spend the entire day there lounging by the pool, sitting on the beach and meandering through the various plunge pools, saunas and steam rooms when you book a treatment. Unfortunately the trek is a bit too far for me to make the Carillon’s floatation therapy a regular part of my wellness regimen, but I did find a much closer place in Deerfield Beach that I’ll definitely be hitting sooner rather than later. In fact, I’m going to go see if they have any openings this weekend…