YOU know the saying 'Let your troubles float away'? It might sound like a song lyric or some other pithy statement but some therapists think it can be done literally.
Flotation therapy has been around for a while, surfacing in the late '90s but has yet to make any waves here. Despite being low key here, you can still find three centres with flotation tanks - at a medi-spa, a water rehabilitation centre, and the Singapore Sports Council. On top of that, the best kept secret - or imply unnoticed until now - is that some of the best quality 'Rolls Royce' of flotation tanks are made by a Singapore manufacturer.
The manufacturer of Pathfinder tanks, Gillies Buchan, believes that his tanks are probably the most widely-exported in the world, from the Middle East to Europe.
'Of course, it has to do with the fact that because Singapore is such a small domestic market, we have to sell to other places. A tank manufacturer in the US or Australia, on the other hand, will sell mainly to their own domestic market,' explains Mr Buchan.
The 61-year-old was in fact a flotation 'convert' - he had his aching back sorted out in four floats - before he decided to put his engineering skills to better use. The long-time Singapore resident had come across a 'floatarium' in Scotland when he was there in the early '90s, and piqued, he started reading up on the therapy.
When he got back to Singapore, the nearest flotation therapy centre then - in the early '90s - was in Perth so he flew there. 'The first time I tried it - I was in total pain!' he declares. He naturally demanded his money back, but the therapist had explained to him how this was a natural process and convinced to supplement the floats with deep tissue massage.
'So I did it twice, then the third time, and by the fourth float, I was totally relaxed and the pain had gone!' relates Mr Buchan. And an unexpected side benefit was that he spontaneously lost the desire to smoke. 'I had been a chain smoker before then, but I just didn't feel like lighting up after the floating sessions!' He's stayed off cigarettes as well, and the therapy fuelled his desire to design tanks. After a hiccup in the business plans, he finally got Think Tank International up and running, which makes Pathfinder flotation tanks.
He's making third generation tanks now - designed after Dolly Parton's curves, no less - and sold some 20 units overseas last year.
So what's the lowdown on flotation therapy?
Back in the 1960s, Dr John Lilly at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland started studying the effects of solitude on the mind as well as on the body. He then invented a tank where a single person would float in highly salinated water, and he discovered that experience of floating and reached levels of relaxation only seen in deep meditation.
Floating has many things going for it, enthuses Mr Buchan. At the simplest level, it's a form of relaxation because you're lying in epsom salted-water for 45 minutes to an hour, in darkness and silence. Then physically, your body slides into this zero gravity zone because you're horizontal, and floating, so there's no stress on your bones, joints or muscles.
'The water is only 10 inches deep, but because of the high mineral salt content - 350 out of 500 litres of water in the tank is salinated - you're buoyant. It's almost as dense as the Dead Sea,' he explains.
The lack of sensory stimulation is supposed to be healing, and this is the key to flotation tanks. Ironically however, the high end tanks do come with music and even TV if you want them. 'The TV is actually for use at sports centres because it's been found to be a good motivational tool,' says Mr Buchan. Athletes get into the tank to relieve their stressed bodies, but while they're in it, they are shown video clips of how to improve their skills. The belief is that because there's nothing else to stimulate or distract the mind, the 'floaters' are completely receptive to the message they're hearing and seeing, he explains.
Besides Singapore, there are Pathfinder tanks in the Malaysian and Thai Sports Councils, he adds.
At Camden Medical Centre, Aquaphysio Rehabilitation Centre uses the tanks to first relax the muscles of their patients before they proceed for physiotherapy in the pool, says centre manager Sunthari Armai. They installed the Pathfinder flotation tank when they opened three years ago. 'Once their muscles are more relaxed then it's easier to work with,' she says.
Floating also brings about a state of relaxation because the body releases natural painkillers and the rehabilitation centre has seen it work on patients with insomnia. So the next time you feel an ache coming, there's no need to reach for medication when you can literally, just float it away.
Pathfinder tanks are made-to-order and cost from US$15,000-US$30,000. For more information, go to www.pathfindertanks.com
AquaPhysio Rehabilitation Centre offers three floats for $500, at #03-04 Camden Medical Centre, 1 Orchard Blvd 6887 4845. The Drx Medispa offers flotation as part of its Mind & Body Rejuvenation programme at $360 for 125 minutes per person.
