Floating to 2011

One of my Hanukkah presents was a 3 hour spa gift certificate. I scheduled this for Dec. 30th thinking it would be a lovely way to wrap up the year. The certificate was for a session in a salt water flotation tank and a hot stone massage. Ha cha cha, I was excited.

I had heard of flotation tanks and had always been intrigued, but never had the opportunity to try it out. What is it you ask? A chance to float in complete darkness. Best savasana ever.

Think of a space pod about 8 feet long, 3 or 4 feet wide and about 4 feet high. The bottom is filled with 10 inches of salt water heated to skin temperature (93.5 degrees if you must know). This water has 800 lbs. of epsom salt dissolved in it, so you float buoyantly. You step into the tank, sit down in the water and then close the door behind you. You stretch out like laying down in a bed and the salt water pushes you right to the surface, like a cork.

My tank was set up with under water speakers, so I had music for the first 10 minutes and then 50 minutes of silence with music returning to let me know when my hour was up. When I first stretched out, I was a little kid. I tried lifting my arms out of the water like a synchronized swimmer to see if the water would still support me... yup. I swished about the tank like a very happy fish and finally chose to have my hands behind my head as I tried to fully relax. At one point I sneezed and having forgotten I was in water, was a bit of a surprise as it lapped and swashed about. When the music came back on, all I could think was "too soon." I started to move very slowly, rotating my fingers and feeling the ripple move across the tank. It was glorious to feel weightless. To be completely stretched out, but have zero pressure on my body anywhere. I wonder what I would be like if I could float for an hour every day. It seems that the world at large would be happier if we all had the ability to withdraw, re-charge and totally relax on a regular basis.

I emerged, showered off the salt (which quickly dried into a dusty white film) and headed for my hot stone massage. Did I mention that life is good and all is well with the world? I had never had this type of massage before. It combines traditional massage with stones heated in water that is 120 degrees. The stones are used as part of the massage and then left at certain points like natural heating pads. A-ma-zing.

Having relaxed to the point of puddling, I got up and got dressed and Kristi, the woman who owns Zen Blend, offered me tea. I went and sat (i.e. zoned) while she prepared the water and then suddenly she presented me with a bowl of individually wrapped dark chocolates and my choice of either herbal tea or yerba mate.

I have no idea what could have made this experience any better. I hope your new year has some wonderful firsts and some amazing moments of joy and relaxation.

Curious about floating? Here are some FAQs.
In the Austin area and want more info about Zen Blend?

Canadian Yoga

Hooray for my Canadian boss who whisked me away at the end of a day full of lecture to attend an advanced Iyengar class with her. The class was mostly standing poses, which we knew in advance. The focus of the class, which we did not know ahead, was on broadening the sit bones and rotating the groin. Keep in mind I've only met my boss face-to-face in the last 48 hours. I'm sure groin comes up in most people's professional relationships...Luckily, she is an extraordinarily cool woman, so there was no weirdness. We did have a good laugh though.

At the begining of the class we were focusing on standing forward bends. The teacher kept telling us to pull the hip bones in. I had no idea where or how to pull my hips closer together, but I knew I wasn't succeeding because the teacher kept repeating the instruction (slightly louder each time). She was clearly exasperated with many of the students, and I know I was very frustrated because no matter how loud or how often she asked me to do this one action...no matter how simple the words were...I had no idea how to do it. My muscles gave me the equivalent of a blank stare...you want us to do what? There was a part of me that wanted to throw up my arms and say, "That's it. I'm leaving. I have no idea what you want and I don't want to deal with one more thing in my life that I don't understand..." But when I heard the pettulance of my own inner tyrant I thought in a new direction.

What if my life is presenting me with problems that appear unsolvable in the short term so that I can accept and find ease in each moment. I realized I didn't have to "succeed" at this class by getting every pose "Perfectly Right." In fact, I could give myself permission to "suck" in the eyes of the Persnickety Perfectionist within (and maybe even the eyes of this teacher) and just see where the class took me. My breathing evened out and I felt 100x calmer.

Evidently, permission to suck is a powerful tool.

PS-There were snow flurries today!