Sculpture Dedicated to True Value of Floatation Therapy

As a pain management specialist for over two decades, I have seen how pain can change and manipulate a person’s brain, behavior and being. Despite my best efforts to practice what I preached, my own chronic pain was a distraction and the source of significant physical and emotional disability. Chronic pain was a primary catalyst for the eventual expression of my multiple sclerosis.  The combination of these issues played games with my brain and my body. 

Coincidentally at this time,  I discovered floatation therapy which lightened both my physical and emotional burden.  One of the most remarkable benefits of floating is how effortlessly it allows for a state of internal reflection and focus.  It’s like meditation on steroids.  I’ve spent numerous hours floating atop 10” of super salty skin temperature water, visualizing the reduction and elimination of both pain and lesions in my brain and spinal cord.  During this time of deep inner reflection to heal myself, it brought me to some realizations about myself, my surroundings, my emotional health, my relationships with others, gaining clarity on my purpose, my goals, future and direction. 

One such result is that floating encouraged my transition towards retirement from clinical chiropractic and acupuncture to that of helping others through providing floatation therapy services to others in need.

                                                                 Internal Focus by Lee HAZELGROVE
                                                                                    The FLOAT ZONE

In July 2017, the week of my retirement, I was visiting the United Network For Organ Sharing, here in Richmond, VA. Within this beautiful modern, life saving facility are artistic displays from local artists.  As part of the exhibit, there was a ceramic sculpture hanging on the wall, entitled “Internal Focus”.  It spoke to me. And in one moment, it captured years of thoughts and visualizations and emotions -  tears, pain, joy, excitement, and hope.  It reminded me of my relationship and journey with the float tank. I immediately purchased the sculpture with the intention of displaying it at The Float Zone.  

Internal Focus, by Lee Hazelgrove, now hangs in the entry of The Float Zone as a dedication to all who come to float with the hope they too will find relief, calm, focus, direction, awareness, and the healthy state that naturally follows.  

Beginning in February, 2018, The Float Zone will be featuring the work of local artists that too have been inspired by floating.

-Dr. David Berv, Chief Experience Officer, The Float Zone

Acupuncture and Floatation Therapy

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Acupuncture has been around for centuries. Long before the advent of penicillin or aspirin, acupuncture was successful in addressing a wide range of ailments and disorders.  It takes years of study and practice to become a proficient practitioner in this healing art.

 While only a few points are typically chosen for your treatment, over 360 acupuncture points are available to restore balance to your body’s energy systems. Like the old school telephone switchboard operators that plug and connect phone lines, needles purposefully placed in points and patterns on the skin, communicate with your inner rivers of energy.

 Regardless of your reasons for receiving it, acupuncture is a surprisingly relaxing experience.  During an acupuncture session, many experience a sense of “drifting off” and lucid dreaming, similar to the experience of floatation therapy.

 Floatation therapy and acupuncture complement each other. Many partake in both, as part of a personal wellness strategy to combat the effects and pressures of modern day society.  For this reason, many acupuncturists recommend floatation therapy to their patients.

Floating is like an instant mind and muscle relaxer.  It is like meditating without having ever practiced meditation, like receiving the effects of a full body massage without being touched, like getting the most restful sleep without really sleeping, all in one hour.

Imagine a fiberglass molded “pod” which contains 10” of skin temperature water (93.5-94.5 degrees) and 1000 pounds of Epsom, or magnesium salts.  You are in a private room.  You shower, insert earplugs, climb into this pod, lie on your back, turn off the light (from inside the pod) and float effortlessly for an hour like a cork. Your brain gets a chance to rest, to recharge and to refresh being relieved of “normal” stimuli, like gravity. Your body soaks up the healthy magnesium salts.  You emerge feeling distinctively different. And it lasts for days. The more you float, the better you feel.

 Acupuncture and floating work well together.  Come float at “The Float Zone” in Richmond, Virginia.