Float therapy drifts into Brandon

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This article was published 18/05/2019 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new business is bringing flotation therapy to Brandon.

Natural Elements Wellness Centre on Victoria Avenue, which opened its doors on May 1, has two float cabins specially made for the experience.

Customers enter a 2.4-metre by 1.5-metre soundproof cabin filled with 25.4-centimetres of room-temperature water, with about 453 kilograms of Epsom salts dissolved into each cabin.

Owner Kori Gordon said the warm, salty water makes a person float effortlessly and feel like they’re touching nothing at all.

“You have no concept of where it (the water) starts or stops,” said Gordon. “It’s like you’re floating in air.”

People in the cabin can opt for a gentle light that slowly rotates through a variety of colours, or for pitch darkness. Customers also have the choice of having soft meditation music playing during their session or floating in silence. However, floaters aren’t trapped in a dark, soundproof box. The front desk is easily reached through an intercom located in each cabin.

Gordon said she’s been doing life coaching, divorce coaching and natural energy therapy part-time for the past three years, but wanted to do something full time. She found out about flotation therapy while visiting Bismarck, N.D.

“It’s total disconnect and complete relaxation,” Gordon said about what she likes about flotation therapy. She said she believes it has simultaneous physical and mental benefits.

“It’s so hard to explain to people what it’s like,” she said. “One of my clients last night described it as the closest thing you can get to space because it’s literally like you’re floating in air because you don’t feel the water, and if you have the lights off and no sound, you’re just totally disconnected from everything.”

Once someone has finished their one- to two-hour session in a floatation cabin, they’re able to decompress in a relaxation room connected to the front office. Clients can have a drink and put their feet up on a Himalayan salt detox.

Another service offered by Natural Elements are 20-minute halotherapy sessions. The cabin is smaller than the flotation cabins, but still fits two chairs. When inside the halotherapy booth, a device grinds down and releases pharmaceutical-grade salt into the air. The air takes on a slightly salty smell, and a hint of salt crosses your tongue. It’s almost like an ocean breeze without the humidity.

Every day at closing time, Gordon has to go in with a broom and sweep up salt that has accumulated on the floor.

Gordon said the salt is good for your respiratory system when you breathe it in and good for your skin when it lands on you. The halotherapy cabin might be the most exotic part of the business — Gordon said she had to order it from Estonia, a Northern European country on the Baltic Sea that was once part of the Soviet Union.

When the delivery truck arrived, the halotherapy cabin was a collection of individual parts inside a large wooden crate. The crate wouldn’t fit inside the door, so Gordon had to take pieces inside one by one and then assemble it when she was done. The flotation cabins were a decidely easier acquisition — she was able to get them from a company in Winnipeg that manufactures them. However, she did have to open walls to get the pre-assembled cabins inside.

The cabins aren’t the extent of Natural Elements’ services. Naturopath Jil Simmons meets with clients in one of the rooms. Gordon herself offers life and divorce coaching. Another person offers body-talk therapy through the office.

A 60-minute float starts at $59 and memberships are available for multiple sessions. A 20-minute halotherapy session costs $25 with an unlimited monthly membership costing $99.

For more information on Natural Elements’ services and to book sessions, visit floataway.ca

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