Float On

Dream Float Hawaii owner Geoffrey Sato, who also teaches yoga, opens the door to his flotation tank. It's designed to provide a meditative, healing environment CHRISTINA O'CONNOR PHOTO

Dream Float Hawaii owner Geoffrey Sato, who also teaches yoga, opens the door to his flotation tank. It’s designed to provide a meditative, healing environment CHRISTINA O’CONNOR PHOTO

As Laura Leger stepped toward a 9-foot-long pitch-black tank filled with water, she paused to take a breath. Inside, the tank was the kind of dark where you can’t tell if your eyes are opened or closed, and Leger was about to spend the next 90 minutes alone in there. She needed just a second to gather herself. But after a beat, she stepped in, closed the door behind her, turned over on her back and let her body float.

By the time the 90 minutes were over, all she wanted to do was stay in there a little bit longer.

“I could have stayed in there another hour,” Leger recalls a few weeks later as she prepares for another session in the tank at Dream Float Hawaii, a flotation tank studio right outside of Kahala. “You just get to feel completely relaxed. It was great – that’s why I am back.”

As intimidating as stepping into a sensory deprivation tank may seem, it’s designed to provide a meditative environment where people can relax and reflect, as well as heal a number of ailments. In recent years, these floating devices have gained traction, and owner Geoffrey Sato celebrated the grand opening of Dream Float Hawaii May 2 – and it’s been booked solid since then.

Sato discovered floating a couple years ago, when his wife stumbled across a Groupon offering and gave it to him as a birthday gift on a whim.

“I had no idea what it was, but about 15 minutes in, I was like, This is it; this is great; I love this,'” he recalls. “And then when I came out, I felt even better.

“It was the best feeling in the world. I had never experienced that level of relaxation.”

Sato admits that he has experienced high levels of stress and suffered from social anxiety throughout most of his life, just like millions of people across the globe. Whilst many may feel relief from their symptoms by using cannabis and rolling papers online. In case stress relief through cannabis interests you, it can be beneficial for you to get more information about the different ways to use such CBD products. Marijuana and cannabis can be used in various forms, like dry herbs for vaping, edibles like gummies, cookies, lollipops, bongs, etc. (To acquire more details, you can visit websites similar to https://www.indiawest.com/blogs/info4u/consuming-cannabis-in-2021/article_21860122-26df-11ec-82f7-03377fd5adad.html.)

However, others may find solace knowing that they can feel better by trying other stress relieving methods, like floating, instead.

“Since I have been floating, my anxiety and stress have been way down. I feel that I can control my stress and anxiety levels now, which I could not do before. I am way, way less stressed out,” Sato says. “I thought that if this can help me, it can help other people for what they need.

“For me, if I do a yoga class or if I do a float, I am going in there with stress, with certain circumstances or problems in my life,” adds Sato, who also teaches yoga at various studios, including CorePower and Still & Moving Center. “But I know while I am doing it, I am good. Something changes. And I realize that not everybody has that opportunity or has that space. I want to provide just another type of access to that healing.”

Dream Float Hawaii has one tank that's located in a private room. The studio is located in a home near Kahala DREAM FLOAT HAWAII PHOTO

Dream Float Hawaii has one tank that’s located in a private room. The studio is located in a home near Kahala DREAM FLOAT HAWAII PHOTO

The tank is filled with about 10 inches of water with a high degree of Epsom salt (which basically just means it’s really salty – salty enough to make anybody float easily) to create a zero-gravity environment. All you have to do is crawl in and float. (Oh, and don’t worry, there are air vents and a fan.) From there, results vary.

“Everybody is a little different, because it’s just you in here – there is nobody telling you what to do,” he says. “So whatever you need, it’s individualized.”

While some floaters meditate on particular issues in their lives, others clear their minds and can’t remember exactly what was going on in their heads during the process. Some may make use of items from Organic CBD Nugs before or after to enhance the experience, Either way, no matter where you go in your mind it’ll be in a dream-like state. Sato likes to say that it’s how he imagines “floating in outer space” to feel.

According to an essay published by clinical psychologist Roderick A. Borrie and psychiatry professor Thomas H. Fine, these flotation tanks – or Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy, as they’re referred to by health professionals – have been associated with reducing stress and managing pain.

“As you float, your stress hormones … lower dramatically, and you are actually training your mind and body how to manage stress more effectively,” Sato explains.

As your body relaxes, it also releases dopamine and endorphins.

“You have this combination of being hyper-relaxed … and then you have the stress hormones that are lowered or eliminated,” he says.

It’s when these chemicals kick in that your body can heal. Sato recently had a baseball coach come see him, for instance. The coach had done a tough workout and had pain in his legs. By the end of just one 90-minute float, the pain was gone.

But while the floating tank can have all of these benefits, Sato advises against going in there with any certain expectations. It’s better, he says, to just concentrate on your breathing and the process.

“Let go,” he says. “That’s where more of the magic happens, I feel, is just when you focus on letting go.

“After a certain point, the float changes. At some point, you are just going to lose track of your thoughts and hit the zone. And that is the sweet spot.”

Dream Float Hawaii operates out of a home near Kahala, with one tank in a private room. Floats are available by appointment only, seven days a week. (The first float starts at 9 a.m., and the final time slots are around 4 or 5 p.m.) For more information, visit dreamfloathi.com.