Floating is therapy for pain, stress in Palm Beach Gardens spa’s sensory-deprivation tanks
Nov. 10, 2020
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A new business at Alton Town Center helps customers relieve pain and stress in an unusual way.
True REST Float Spa, which opened this year at the 360,203-square-foot retail complex on Donald Ross Road, offers a float spa experience through sensory-deprivation tanks.
The egg-shaped tanks, or pods as True REST owner Matt Ringler calls them, contain water that is heated to skin temperature and nearly saturated with Epsom salt.
The saturated water provides buoyancy so customers can float without support, though rings are provided for the head and neck if needed.
“It’s effectively a zero-gravity environment,” said Ringler, who opened the business in January, then closed it in late March for nine weeks amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. “There you are floating on top of this water that’s heated to the temperature of your skin, so you don’t really feel your skin.”
Customers are cut off from all outside stimulation as they float, including sound and sight.
That environment provides a natural, nonaddictive way to help relieve stress, anxiety, pain and sleep issues, Ringler said.
“The idea is that by removing external stimuli, the brain has a chance to focus on the inside, and allows your nervous system to disconnect from the real world and heal,” he said.
True REST Float Spa at Alton Town Center is one of 37 locations throughout the country, and the only one in Florida.
Founded in 2009 by Nick and Holly Janicki, the company works closely with veterans, particularly those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and other stress and pain- related conditions.
On the 11th day of each month, True REST locations nationwide provide free floats to veterans and active-duty military as part of U.S. Military Appreciation Day
That program will continue Wednesday on Veterans Day. All True REST locations will offer a free, 60-minute float to any active-duty personnel or veteran.
Ringler plans to close the Alton Town Center location for the entire day to accommodate veterans.
“Floating has really been found to be helpful for PTSD,” Ringler said. “A lot of veterans find benefit not just at our float center, but at float centers around the country.”
Like many businesses around the country, True REST has had to alter the way it operates amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the Alton location shut down this spring, Ringler was scheduling eight, 60-minute floating sessions per day in each of three pods.
Now, he’s scheduling six floating sessions per day in each pod to allow more time for cleaning and sanitizing.
Three additional pods will be installed in January, allowing for up to 36 floats each day. These pods will be bigger than the current tanks and circular in shape, Ringler said.
Customers can purchase sessions individually or through a membership, and those memberships are shareable, Ringler said.
“Float therapy is something that really gets better the more you do it,” Ringler said. “The more you do it, the better it gets and the more the benefits build.”
@JRWagner5
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