If you dye your hair, especially in vibrant shades (red, orange, pink, purple, blue, green, etc.) it should be at least 2-3 weeks since your last dye before you can float. Most importantly you should not see and colour coming off while you shower at home. A mixture of high levels of epsom salts and hydrogen peroxide can discolour the hair and subsequently stain the water, resulting in high cleaning and salt replacement costs. Therefore the colour must be rinsedd completely and pass our white towel test before going to float.
The test looks like this: we'll dip a section of your hair in a bowl of our solution for 5min and then rub your hair with a white towel. There should be no colour in the towel, the water in the test cup should be crystal clear and the test has been passed successfully .
Are we overcomplicating things?
Water discolouration due to dyed hair is a major complication and a huge cost for cleaning and replacing the salt in our systems. Remember that one egg has almost 400kg of salt? If water is coloured with hair dye, it can permanently stain the inside of the egg and other equipment in our Float Centre, resulting in huge cleaning costs.
If there is dye that contaminates our water, room, chamber, shower or equipment and requires cleaning or repair, or if the whole solution has to be dumped, there may be a cost of up to €1000 that we will be forced to charge you for.
Some centres will tell you to breathe deeply, relax and meditate. In others, they will tell you to try to dive into some personal traumas/fears and try to resolve them, to gain insight. They will also usually tell you that it is very good to be very still and not to move too much....
We believe that floating is such a wonderful and effective form of therapy precisely because you are 100% in control of the experience. We advise you to ask yourself before each session what would suit you best this time and stick to it. You can breathe and meditate, you can let your mind wander, or you can do both.
We recommend you test different floating positions (hands by your body, under or behind your head, etc.). You can also test with the tank closed or open, with the lights/music on or off.
Nevertheless, for the deepest relaxation and contact with yourself, we recommend floating in the dark and silence with as little movement as possible.
The high concentration of Epsom salts dissolved in the water also acts as a natural disinfectant, creating a sterile environment in which bacteria simply cannot survive (just like in the Dead Sea).
In addition, our advanced filtration system combined with cleaning the float tank after each use ensures 100% clean water for our visitors. At the end of each use, water is pumped from the float tank into the reservoir through multi-stage filters. The inside of the chambers are then thoroughly cleaned and prepared for the next use. The water is passed through all the filters 2-3 more times before it flows back into the float tank, where it is ready to be used again.
The high concentration of dissolved salt in the water (almost 400 kg) makes the solution much denser than your body, so your body floats on the surface. This makes drowning impossible, even if you fall asleep. The worst that can happen is that you get some of the saline solution in your eyes, which can make you feel uncomfortable.
Falling asleep while floating is actually quite fine. It's usually the case that every float is a little different - it all depends on how you're feeling at the time. The water is warm, it's dark and pleasant. If you come to floating therapy tired, you may find that you doze off for a while. No fear - sleep like this is very restorative and peaceful. Usually the body wakes up on its own after about 10-20 minutes (the length of a "power nap"). You usually wake up quite calm. However, if you "twitch" in your sleep, you may wake up jolting and get some salt water on your face, which is a bit uncomfortable. You can wash it off with a spray of clean water, which is just inside the float tank for this purpose.
At the very least, you will wake up at the end of the treatment. The calm music and lights will bring you nicely into the here and now, also a voice over the speakers announces that the therapy has ended.
Epsom salt is different from sea salt. Epsom salt solution has a silky feel on the skin and has a beneficial effect on the skin and hair. You may also notice that after floating for an hour or more, the skin on your toes won't wrinkle - thanks to the Epsom salt in the water.
Floating therapy and floating tanks have been around for more than 50 years. There is a bunch of scientific research that has been published to date, confirming the positive effects of floating. Books describing the positive effects include "The Book of Floating" by Michael Hutchison and "Tanks For The Memories" and "The Deep Self" by John C. Lilly, a pioneer of floating, psychoanalyst and expert in experimental neuropsychology, who developed the first floating chamber in 1950.
Floating in the water is absolutely recommended for pregnant women, as it helps improve physical and mental well-being. For women in the first three months of pregnancy and women with high-risk pregnancy it is advisable to consult a doctor or gynaecologist before floating.
Epsom salt is another name for magnesium sulphate (MgSO4-7H2O), also called bitter salt. It is a chemical compound composed of magnesium, sulphur and oxygen. People have been using Epsom salt for centuries for its medicinal properties and many health benefits.
Magnesium is the second most abundant element in human cells and the fourth most important positively charged ion in the body, so it's no wonder this low-profile mineral is so important for good health and well-being. Magnesium, the main constituent of Epsom salts, plays a key role in orchestrating a wide range of bodily functions, from muscle control and electrical impulses to energy production and the elimination of harmful toxins.
In case you get your period on your floating appointment date, floating will not be possible. So give us a call and we can easily reschedule your appointment.
The whole environment in the flotation room, where the float tank is located, is designed to give you constant control over what is happening. If you feel uncomfortable, you can lift the lid of the float tank, turn on the lights inside the tank, or even get out. The latter is very rare, as floating on water reduces claustrophobia and can eliminate fear of confined spaces.
In darkness and silence, when the feedback from our senses of the external world (smell, taste, touch, sight) diminishes, we encounter our inner world. The inner world is just as rich as the outer world, it's just that most of us don't know much about it. Unfortunately, in school we are not taught to listen to the silence and the inner world...
Sometimes the inner world is so alien to us that it is a little difficult to be alone with ourselves and "do nothing", to be at the mercy of our thoughts.
It also changes the sense of time. When you are alone with yourself, in the dark and in silence, time seems to pass much more slowly. Given the speed of the world we live in today, this can have a very beneficial effect on the psyche. It gives the brain and the mind some time without rushing, without constant reacting...
The strangeness of some of the concepts mentioned above and the unaccustomedness to the inner world can make floating uncomfortable for some. No big deal! If you don't like it, you can leave the float tank at any time. Or you can just turn on the lights and music, turn around a bit and play around the chamber (like children at sea), and after a while, when you feel better, try a few more minutes in the dark and silence...
Floating is a type of therapy for physical and mental relaxation and self-discovery. Like any other therapy, it is just a tool. It is up to us to learn how to use it. And not every tool is for everyone.
This cannot happen as the float tank is designed in a way that it is not airtight.
You will experience floating on water in our centre in a private room with a shower and a floating tank, where you will be alone. The use of swimwear is discouraged, as any clothing will put pressure on your skin, significantly reducing the sensory deprivation effect (we hear nothing, feel nothing and see nothing). Also some bathing suits tend to leak colour and this could stain our water and huge costs of cleaning or even replacing the salt water might occur.
At Float Centre Ljubljana we have towels, slippers, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, hair dryer, make-up remover, earplugs, basic cosmetics (face cream and deodorant) and Vaseline in case of abrasions or scratches.
You can bring any other cosmetics you wish to use after the floatation therapy, if necessary.
We recommend that you do not consume any hard-to-digest foods 30 minutes to 1 hour before floating to make your experience as light as possible. At the same time, we recommend that you do not drink coffee.
We advise against floating if:
We are located on Šmartinska cesta 106 - between Mercator Centrum, Emona and Ikea. Right in front of the building is Jarše LPP bus station, where lines 2, 7, 12 and 27 stop.
If you arrive by car, you have several parking options:
- free parking (up to 2h) in front of Mercator center, weekends free all day
- paid parking in front of the entrance (1,5 eur/h til 7pm, after 1,5eur for the whole night), weekends 1,5eur for the whole day
- free parking in front of Ikea.
