Reality Check 101 – having your boss, mother, co-workers, PhD supervisors, and other emotionally intelligent friends ask you “Are you okay? You seem a bit stressed…”. Apparently they were picking up on small signals my body had been telling me but I was totally missing (apart from maybe the more tired moments and water works beginning when you drop your keys before opening the front door in the morning…). As I said, small things that I was missing by being in my bubble (literally and figuratively).

Being a big believer in walking the talk, it was time to take action and help restore some of the fuel tanks I have been running into the red zone for a little while. What better way than using my birthday present of 3 x 1hr floatation sessions at Gravity Float – genius.

I arrived to my first session at 5:15pm on a Friday afternoon, way better than Friday night drinks right? Gravity Floatation Centre in Armadale is one organisation in Melbourne that provides you with the opportunity to float in space for an hour, feel completely weightless, and relax as your body feels free from gravity and tension. You know you are in a healing space as soon as you walk in with the calming music and herbal tea brewing on the table.

My floatation instructions were to have a shower before my float, put in some ear plugs, and allow my mind to take some timeout from the sensory overload of our 24/7 society. One button in the pod is for the lights, which were gently flickering between white, yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue. The other button was my ‘emergency’ button and access to reception should I need assistance. I was also told that music would play for the first five minutes and again for the last five minutes. I would want to get out during those last five minutes as my pod would then start an automatic clean, you didn’t want to be in there for that part.

Feeling under control, although with some small reminisce of the Simpsons episode where Lisa and Homer undertake a similar activity, I lowered myself into my pod and manually closed the hatch. I let the music wash over me and did not mind as I felt water trickle into my ears through the earplugs. I came to discover the lights do not turn off automatically. I panicked a little as I could not remember which button was the one for emergencies and which one was for the lights. So I figured my first session could be with the lights on. The next 30 or 40minutes passed with some mindful breathing, a whole heap of thoughts that came and went, perhaps a little sleep, and then the realisation the session would be coming to an end soon.

pink pod

With this realisation my brain came up with the extremely comforting scenario of Hannah drowning in the pod during the pods automatic cleaning process and being unable to lift the manual hatch. My heart rate increased and all I wanted to do was get out of that pod as fast as possible. Mental war games of drowning images versus using all the tools I have been studying for the past three years came into play.

Picture One – pod full of water and being unable to get out vs.
Mental thoughts – ‘This is anxiety’… ‘I am currently floating in a pod’… ‘Breathe’… ‘I need to get my full hour in’….’Other people have done this before’… ‘Use those mindfulness skills Hannah!!’…. ‘Breathe’…. And so on.

As soon as that music started to play I may have been out of that pod faster than you can say Jack Robinson. I soon realised that the cleaning process of the pod was a small gurgling of water down the other end for a few minutes. Classic over reaction 101.

So my plan for next time is to turn off the lights and potentially relax a little more without an added panic attack. However, walking out of the session I felt a sense of relaxation and calm that I hadn’t felt for a long time. Will keep you posted on session two!

Until next time,

Ride with a smile, ride with a purpose, ride in the moment,
Han