Float tanking for true relaxation and soothing muscle fatigue

floating, soothing muscles, improving toxin release, healthy immune system

thoughts before floating

I heard about this nearby Float Tank last night. Already I have an appointment. I'm all for complete relaxation, increasing the levels of dopamine and endorphins in my brain and reducing stress (and zapping the dreaded Cortisol). All of this leads to greater well-being. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight!

Why float? I love swimming in water, especially floating in the warm ocean. I grew up in Florida and floated most of my childhood in the ocean or my pool. This cooler time of year draws me to my hot tub each evening. But the water is not buoyant. Sounds like true bliss to float with music, dim lights and a completely private and surreal setting. It may be like amniotic fluid.

The float tank is filled with epsom salt (magnesium). I'm a big fan of epsom salt baths because it soothes my aching muscles from yoga. Why does magnesium help?

Here's how it works. Building muscle causes fatigue. Healthy muscles (called "red muscles”) have a reserve oxygen supply, permitting them to contract and relax repeatedly while maintaining cellular respiration which resists muscle fatigue. The myosin protein in muscles causes contraction and relaxation acting as enzymes, which break down ATP molecules (adenosine triphosphate). ATP provides energy so we want to keep an ample supply in our muscles. When ATP is used up too quickly without the oxygen to support it, muscles (called "white muscles") become quickly fatigued with the build-up of lactic acid—an indication that muscle cell oxygen has been depleted.

Magnesium in epsom salts helps by flushing lactic acid build-up in the muscles. Magnesium is an abundant mineral in our bodies and its role in our overall health is important. It can be found in over 300 different enzymes in our body and is vital for activating muscles and nerves, creating energy in the body and efficiently digesting proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Other ways to replenish magnesium are eating organic foods, lowering sugar intake and lowering stress.

(Read more here from my healing series on muscle fatigue)

about the float tank

I went to Float North County. The water is 93.5 degrees and filled with 1,100 pounds of epsom salt which means you float effortlessly. People float to relieve stress, recover from injuries, fight addiction, eliminate chronic pain, etc.

It is said that after 30-45 minutes of floating, your mind starts producing theta brainwaves, which are responsible for that state between waking and sleeping.

reflections after floating

At first I wondered how I'd keep myself company for 90 minutes. I wasn't tired. I began by playing with the lighting and moving around, bouncing lightly off the walls. I found it difficult to relax the back of my neck at first even though I completely trusted that I didn't need to hold it up. The water was only like 1-2 feet deep. The attendant told me that I don't want to get the epsom salt in my eyes, but that wasn't making me tense as I had my towel nearby.

I realized in there that you are faced with yourself, but in a different way than a yoga practice where you get to move the energy around. I felt the tension that I carry around with me in the world. It was highlighted as I put all of my focus on it. Coincidentally, the back of my neck is my latest tense spot in my yoga practice that is holding me back so it's my new focus. Who knew I'd end up in this float tank to fulfill my destiny...

I began to do pranayama breathing—the simple 1:4:2 ratio through my nose. I could hear my breathing. It was soothing. I did this for about 30 minutes. I watched my reflection on the ceiling which was very faint but clear enough. Eventually I felt the need to do some yoga-like poses from side to side, feel some bones crack, etc. Felt great.

I flipped my body around to the other side and was then noticing my hair flowing in the blue light. The next thing I knew I was making mermaid shapes on the ceiling, different swaying motions to see which hairdo I could make in my reflection.

Next time I checked in with myself I realized the tension in the back of my neck was gone. Everything was in slow motion. I was like a blue avatar (from the movie Avatar) floating in the tank. My fingers seemed really long. I could see them on the ceiling. I spent about 5 minutes moving them slowly, checking them out. I was almost motionless.

At this point I realized that I was distracted. I was entertaining myself. I wanted to try to be extra still. I knew I needed to grab my phone for a photo first. I'd relax better after that...

It wasn't until later that I turned the lights out so that it was completely dark. When I tried this at the beginning I didn't like it. The music was only playing for the first 8 minutes. In the dark I stopped breathing through my nose as if I were in a yoga class trying to stay present. I breathed through my mouth. I wasn't sleeping but I was in heaven. 

I finally knew what it was like to completely relax while floating. I didn't want the moment to end.

I'll be back and expand upon my journey.

reactions next day

I woke with a headache. I've known epsom salt baths to be detoxifying, but this concentrated amount and for a long period of time really amplified the process.

Magnesium increases circulatory functions, improving toxin release. Today I will using my juicer often to flush the toxins that are being released, replenish with good electrolytes and minerals, assisting my immune system, hormones and more! I'll start with celery, cucumber, cilantro, lemon, microgreens. And a shot of apple cider vinegar.

My skin feels awesome! I was surprisingly awake later than normal last night, feeling vibrant, but had a deep sleep. I remembered very detailed dreams.

Namaste,

-Robin Ellen Lucas, MA

Muscular System and Love

Healing the Total Body: Where Western Anatomy Meets Eastern Spiritual Science

Healing Series, part 3



Listen to your heart

Where am I? I sometimes wonder. My heart is the biggest part of my yoga practice. It’s the biggest part of my life, in fact. My physical anatomical heart is affected too. My heightened emotional state increases my heart rate. My yoga helps me reframe my love for myself and others, reversing bad mental, emotional and spiritual habits.

Voices in the subtle body

By moving the secrets I hide in body parts, voices arise spoken through my subtle body. What I hear is not always easy to deal with. I do yoga anyway because I know it’s my path. Whatever I do to open my heart, allowing my heart’s wisdom to speak, is helpful for me.

When it gets too hard and I close up, what stops me from wanting to connect with my heart? I know that to feel the wounds is to release them. Carl G. Jung describes that the,

“Dark night of the Soul sounds like a threatening and much to be avoided experience. There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own soul. One becomes enlightened by making the darkness conscious.”

Creative heart is not a guilty pleasure

Dreams and visualizations come from the open heart space, not a closed place of resistance and internal rebellion. My creative heart is not a guilty pleasure; it is the answer.

The chakra system describes my subtle body: Shoulders are the 4th chakra (Heart Chakra of love), the hips are the 2nd chakra (Sacral Chakra of creativity). My practice is my teacher.

Emotions unlock secrets

Where emotional patterns turn to physical pain and then leave (samskaras burning), I am harnessing this heart pain too—the door to healing. To sit dormant with the anger is only "acting out." Sometimes I keep my composure during my practice and other times I'm emotionally and physically weak.

"Anger is the deepest form of care for another... Stripped of physical imprisonment, anger points toward the purest form of compassion, always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect, and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for." ~David Whyte,

Fearlessly release secrets

This all happens spontaneously because I fearlessly move the body parts that protect my secret, and my breathing circulates it all. Toxins are included with spiritual truths, and they all voice themselves inside me until I break apart. The voice given in this spiritual place I go to is the truth.

When I really feel my emotional heart, my Nervous System relaxes, my subtle body energetically softens and the door to bring love to me opens. Whereas in my “escape”, (fantasy, snide humor, psychological analysis, etc.), I am in denial. Why escape?

Embrace uncertainty

Sometimes paying too much attention to balancing the emotional heart by soothing discomfort should instead be felt as raw emotion for a release. Paying better attention to what the discomfort is saying allows me to learn the important messages about letting go.

Muscle fatigue

With all of this yoga and attention to the emotional heart, next comes muscular pain. It’s an indication of muscle-building, comes up in the form of fatigue, and occurs where we need it most sometimes. I invite the Muscular System into my focus, mainly the voluntary muscles—the ones which contract when stimulated by neurons when I consciously use them to move my leg, arm, etc. and relax by being passive; they are known as the skeletal muscles. I’m also working my involuntary muscles—the ones which work in the walls of the intestines, blood vessels, heart (but I’ll get into this later).

Muscles inflamed with repetition

When I learn a new yoga pose and repeat it daily, this new repetition of certain skeletal muscles are in pain, tightened, and in great need of care. I get monthly deep tissue massages to stabilize the muscle tissue structure—muscle cells separated and wrapped in layers of connective tissue, enclosed in fascia, connected to the bones with tendons.

Muscles contract when I use them, but my feat is to relax them completely after using them so that their contracted state doesn’t build up creating a knot, and touching nerves that trigger unnecessary (and imbalanced) compensations with other muscles. Much of this is reversed and calmed into a stable state after massage.

Fatigued muscles lack oxygen

Why does muscle-building cause fatigue? Healthy muscles (called "red muscles”) have a reserve oxygen supply, permitting them to contract and relax repeatedly while maintaining cellular respiration which resists muscle fatigue. The myosin protein in muscles causes contraction and relaxation acting as enzymes, which break down ATP molecules (adenosine triphosphate). ATP provides energy so we want to keep an ample supply in our muscles. When ATP is used up too quickly without the oxygen to support it, muscles (called "white muscles") become quickly fatigued with the build-up of lactic acid—an indication that muscle cell oxygen has been depleted.

Lactic acid build-up not only causes discomfort but also is delivered to the liver (and too much on this organ causes the Digestive System to overwork). Therefore, I want more red muscles and enough ATP to not only contract muscles but also relax them.

Drinking water flushes lactic acid and toxins

Sometimes I'm told that the TCM pressure points (Traditional Chinese Medicine) on outer top of my feet are sensitive and painful. This points to liver aggravation (eating oily food and extra lactic acid build-up). Drinking a lot of water dilutes this. Drinking water is not good to do before morning Ashtanga yoga, as it makes me spiritually heavier. But drinking water during the day, especially with muscle pain, flushes out the toxins which creates relief; it's become my post-yoga activity.

When I'm most sore, I soak in an Epsom salt bath. Why does this soothe muscle soreness? The magnesium in epsom salts—absorbed through the skin—helps relax skeletal muscles by flushing lactic acid build-up in the muscles. Magnesium is an abundant mineral in our bodies and its role in our overall health is important. It can be found in over 300 different enzymes in our body and is vital for activating muscles and nerves, reating energy in the body and efficiently digesting proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Other ways to replenish magnesium are eating organic foods, lowering sugar intake and lowering stress.