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'.
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.
Justin's Float Conference talk form 2020
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 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 .
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.
Sahib Khalsa of LIBR talks to CNN about the positive effects of floating.
What is it about floating that makes it such a great therapy for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other disorders?
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
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.
