Drift Off With Awa's New Dead Sea Floating Therapy and Isolation Tanks

Unable to stop mulling over work when you leave your office, glued to your WeChat, and experiencing muscle or joint aches? The latest solution in the arsenal of fighting off the woes of modern day life is floating therapy; a type of hydrotherapy that focuses on allowing your body to fully relax, and with it, your mind.

The therapy involves floating in an enclosed pod, replete with a shallow, warm pool, deprived of any sound or light. The 30cm-deep water is saturated with 500 kilograms of Epsom salt, and is regulated to maintain the same temperature as your body (approximately 35 degrees Celcius), guaranteeing that you can float freely and unencumbered by any other sensations. These conditions can help provide relief for people suffering from joint or muscle pains, as well as a meditative state of mind through sensory deprivation. 

This is the first time that the therapy has been brought to Beijing, and is helmed by the same people who brought us salt therapy just over half a year ago, Awa Health.

My first experience with the floating therapy was interesting, and vastly different from a friend's. I say interesting because honestly I'm not sure whether I was asleep, because it didn't feel like I was in the tank for a hour, but I also thought I was aware of myself the entire time. Bear in mind that I do not, and have never, practiced meditation, and am generally a fidgety person who otherwise would never be caught dead staring at the inside of a pod without light for an hour. Either way, I can't wait to go try it out again.

My friend, who has practiced meditation before, said she was in a complete state of relaxation within the first 5 minutes, and that it felt like she wasn't sure where her body ended and the water began. She also said that her back, which has in the past had problems, felt much better after the hour-long session.

It's obvious then that every person's experience can be vastly different. After the therapy, we both felt relaxed and slept well that following night, one of the quoted benefits of the treatment (said to aid in relieving insomnia). My main reason to get dive in (although not literally, as the pool is definitely shallow enough for that), was to take a break from Beijing life and have an hour to myself to relax. I feel like I achieved this during my session, exiting as a calmer person on the other side.

The only drawback here is that the session isn't cheap. It costs RMB 688 per session of 90 minutes (60 minutes floating, and 30 minutes changing, showering, getting dressed, etc). For comparative purposes, a 60 minutes session in America, where the practice is particularly popular, comes in at around USD 60, or RMB 400.

Apart from floating therapy, the new Awa space at The Place also offers salt therapy, as with their Jianguo Lu WowFresh branch, which comes in a little cheaper at RMB 388 for 60 minutes.

Awa Salt and Floating Therapy
L411, 4/F, Bldg 1, The Place, 9 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang District (137 1618 2745)
朝阳区光华路9号世贸天阶1号楼南街4层L411

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Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Photos: Margaux Schreurs, courtesy of Awa Health