Our shot at the stars: Launching the Float Research Collective

November 1, 2022

The Float Conference 2022 : 

In the summer of 2022, the Float Research Collective (FRC) was officially formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its mission is to establish worldwide acceptance for Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) as a treatment to naturally relieve pain, stress, anxiety and other related conditions. In this 2022 Float Conference presentation, the FRC President and Director, Dr. Justin Feinstein, unveils how the FRC will achieve this moonshot mission of getting floating accepted as a medical treatment, including a groundbreaking set of studies directly comparing Floatation-REST to the gold standard medical treatments for the rapid reduction of anxiety and pain, namely benzodiazepines and opioids. 

 

Highly addictive drugs like Xanax (a benzo) and OxyContin (an opioid) have killed over 1 million Americans since the turn of the millennium due to drug overdoses. 

Millions more are physiologically addicted to these prescription medications and unable to stop taking them without severe and often life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. In essence, our medical system has tried to medicate away society’s most ubiquitous forms of suffering using what has proven to be the most addictive substances on Earth. The FRC is challenging this whole backwards mentality that the only way to quickly relieve suffering is by popping a pill. The scientific research documenting floating’s rapid relief of both anxiety and pain provides a strong initial evidence base for pursuing these head-to-head clinical trials.


Float Conference 2022

When Finding Your Bliss Means Floating, Naked. The Wall Street Journal

June 16, 2023
Online article in The Wall Street Journal written by Elizabeth Bernstein. The Wall Street Journal link here Appeared in the June 15, 2023, print edition as 'Finding Your Bliss by Floating'.

The Brain at REST, Dr. Justin Feinstein | 2020 Float Conference

By Clinical Floatation • November 19, 2021
Justin's Float Conference talk form 2020

Therapeutic Floating for Stress, Anxiety and Pain Management

By clinical floatation • July 23, 2021
True Health interview the Director of the Float Research Collective, Justin Feinstein, PhD , to learn about therapeutic floating as a modality for stress, anxiety and pain management. Tom Rifai, MD, FACP - 20 July 2021

Dr Justin Feinstein talks to Art of the Float

By Clinical Floatation • February 26, 2021
Dr Justin Feinstein has some big changes to announce. In part one of his interview with Art of the Float he discusses his new Float Research Collective initiative and his new float centre in Maui. He is also looking for float centres to help him gather publishable data to help increase awareness and evidence for the benefits of floatation therapy. Click here to listen to part one of the interview, and see how you can get involved with Dr Feinstein! In part two of his  interview with Art of the Float, he talks more about his decision to leave LIBR, move to Maui, and start a Float Research Collective designed to advance the research on the benefits of floatation therapy using float centres all over the country! Click here to listen to Dr Feinstein discuss the incredible effects of floating on stress, anxiety and depression, as well as find out how you can get involved in his ongoing research. If you would like to get involved, sign up for newsletter updates here .

Floating Toward Recovery - Eating Disorders

By Clinical Floatation • February 19, 2021
Recent eating-disorder-specific research supports Floatation-REST not only as a safe intervention, but also as one that might have a surprisingly positive effect on body image.

CNN - Floating for stress and anxiety relief

By Clinical Floatation • November 13, 2020
Sahib Khalsa of LIBR talks to CNN about the positive effects of floating.

IMAGE - Have you tried sensory deprivation?

By Clinical Floatation • November 13, 2020
"Once you get into the tank and have marvelled at your own buoyancy, flicked the lights on and off to see if you're scared (I am a bit, initially), and rolled around, everything relaxes. When your thumb has stopped involuntarily scrolling, and your brain stops telling you to refresh your emails, you relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw, move your neck around, straighten your back, release your tongue from the roof of your mouth, and loosen your hands. Related: Thinking of joining a book club? It may improve your wellbeing And when you've really settled in, and you're floating, naked and spread out like a starfish in a silent, black pod with a quiet mind, there comes a point when the temperature of the water, which is body temperature, becomes indecipherable from the air in the pod. The lack of light and sound reduces your sense of touch, so when I reach that meditative state, it doesn't feel like I'm in a pod, in water, or in anything at all. It's like floating in nothingness or drifting in space. If you have 15 tabs open in your brain at any one time, three to-do lists on your desk, and find you're doing everything and achieving nothing, flotation therapy is the one for you."

Vancouver Real - Neuropsychology and Floatation Therapy for Anxiety Disorders with Dr. Justin Feinstein and Flux

By Clinical Floatation • September 10, 2020
What is it about floating that makes it such a great therapy for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other disorders?

HOW STUFF WORKS - Why You May Like Floating in a Sensory Deprivation Tank

By Clinical Floatation • September 10, 2020
Los Angeles resident Megan Holiday was looking for a little peace and quiet. As an on-air personality at KROQ radio station and host of her own podcast, 7 Words, the busy, media-savvy DJ found a potential source of respite through some of her favorite entertainment outlets. "I first began hearing about deprivation tanks on podcasts — Joe Rogan, Duncan Trussell Family Hour — and it was in hearing them talk about the experience that my level of interest began to peak," she writes via email. "They talked about how it was the ultimate meditation experience, a place to fully disconnect from outside stimulus and go inward. As someone who deals with anxiety on a daily basis, I use meditation as a way to cope and felt that the deprivation tank could also be a new resource for me." Holiday isn't alone: Since the 1950s, people have been dabbling in a practice known as restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST), a type of intervention rooted in sensory deprivation (i.e., cutting off your senses of sight, smell, hearing, etc.), often through the use of a special chamber known as a deprivation tank. Studies have found that REST may be a useful stress-management tool, a successful treatment of addictive behaviors and a potential adjunct therapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Not to mention, even "The Simpsons" partook in the experience in the 1999 episode, "Make Room for Lisa." If you, like me, are wildly claustrophobic and the idea of a "deprivation tank" (also known as a "sensory deprivation tank," "flotation tank" or "isolation tank") terrifies you to your core, then perhaps you've written off the therapy altogether. But there's a lot more to the nontraditional method than you may know....... read the full article here

Dr Justin Feinstein: Floating and it’s Impact on the Brain

By Clinical Floatation • September 10, 2020
Commonly referred to as floating, floatation therapy or sensory deprivation has taken the world by storm, praised by celebrities and clinical professionals alike for its relaxing effects on both mind and body. Dr. Justin Feinstein is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Director of the Float Clinic and Research Centre at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. His laboratory investigates the effects of floatation therapy on both the body and the brain, while also exploring its potential as a treatment for promoting mental health and healing in patients who suffer from anxiety and stress-related disorders. Justin’s research has been published in a number of top scientific journals and has been featured in press around the world, including the New York Times, TIME magazine, and Australia’s Sunday Night.
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