Stress can be defined as the degree to which you feel overwhelmed or unable to cope as a result of pressures that are unmanageable. Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed or worried. While stress and anxious feelings are a common response to a situation where we feel under pressure and can optimise performance, too much stress can wear you down and make you sick, both mentally and physically.
Stress can affect all aspects of your life, including your emotions, behaviours, thinking ability, and physical health. No part of the body is immune. But, because people handle stress differently, symptoms of stress can vary. Common symptoms are muscle tension, agitation, feeling wired, low energy, upset stomachs, low immunity, chest pain, clenched jaw, worrying, increased use of alcohol and nervous energy.
Long term mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders as well as cardiovascular disease, skin problems and more.
Research has found floating decreases heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol level after 1 float. This is due to a lack of stimuli in the float tank which allows your whole body to rest deeper without having to process and digest more information.
There is also another way for your floating experience to be more powerful; using vibrational therapy. By selecting the right kind of stimuli in your float like by using specific music in water, the body is able to take in the therapeutic effects of the sound vibrations. Music therapies of various types have been shown to positively affect stress reactions and performance.
Floating has been incredibly supportive for my nervous system and the best way to reset my body and mind. At a time I was working excessive amounts of hours, highly stressed, exhausted and feeling burnt out was when I found floating.
At our centre we have several options to customise your experience. You may listen to music in our tanks for the first 10 mins at the beginning and 5 at the end. This allows you to settle and wind down and gently you wake you up at the end. Having this option helped me explore the use of different frequencies and length duration since we also have the option to listen to solfeggio music for the entire time that you float. The sound frequency supports you in finding a deeper meditative state through brainwave entrainment. Listening to music is recommended if you are struggling being in stillness and silence or if you are new to meditation, slowing down or just simply having a stressful day!
At Gravity specific music is played such as solfeggio frequencies of 528 and 437. I use these two the most as they help me drop into a Delta stage of deep sleep instead of the Gamma and Beta states that I experience when I first enter the door. I use the 528 hz when I feel burnt out, my body is sore and I need deep restoration. Basically when my body is crying for some deep TLC, muscle repair and relaxation!
I use 427 Hz when my mind is racing and I need more support to still the mind and drop into a meditative state. This is useful when I have something big on and I need to centre my mind and find clear focus.
As a floater and also a meditation teacher I receive similar benefits from these two practices, they both can bring me into a state of peace, rest, stillness and healing. Like yoga floating allows me to find rest and relaxation of the entire body and mind. Listening to music adds another dimension to the experience whilst reducing stress and anxiety.
If you are curious next time you are to speak to staff about the different music options we have and share with us about your experience!
Click here for more information about Music Therapy.
