Float Level's Top 10 Albums to Relax To

We all know floating is one of the best ways to relax and switch off from the hustle and bustle but what about when we're not in the pod? 

Music is a great way to relax and calm the mind so I thought I'd pull together a list of my favourite albums to relax to. 

1. Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid

This album blew me away when I first heard it. Slow, fluid drones wash over you with subtle melodies building a very dense and all-encompassing world. It's a double album too so prepare to go deep! Highly recommended.

2. The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan

An offshoot of Stars of the Lid, a lot of the same elements are in force here but this is a more melodious, song-based approach (there are even some words here!).

3. Max Richter - From Sleep

This is my current favourite. Recently released, this is a 1 hour version of an 8 hour piece by British composer Max Richter. The full version is meant to accompany you through the night as it reflects the cycles of sleep but this 1 hour version with its soft, slow piano melodies, haunting vocal passages and patient strings working through variations on a single theme is a beautifully relaxing listen.

4. Brian Eno - Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks

No such list would be complete without the godfather of ambient music, Brian Eno. This is one of a host of his albums I could have chosen but this one always captivated me and it includes one of my favourite ambient tracks (and one you will all recognise) - An Ending (Ascent).

5. Global Communication - 76:14

From the ticking clock of the first track, 76:14 is a real journey of an album and deserves to be listened to in its entirety. A wonderfully relaxing album for mind and body. It's a true classic of the ambient genre.

6. Marconi Union - Weightless

This one will be familiar to many of you as it is the music played in the centre and was voted the most relaxing album ever in a Guardian poll some years ago. A delightfully sweeping ambient electronica album from the Manchester band.

7. Cliff Martinez - Solaris (Soundtrack)

Once a drummer for Captain Beefheart, Cliff Martinez moved into soundtrack music and has produced some excellent work (Traffic, Drive) but the soundtrack to Solaris is just about perfect and for me his highest point. Dark, ominous yet highly melodic, this album reflects the isolation and uncertainty of the film's subject brilliantly. Highly recommended.

8. Carbon Based Lifeforms - Twentythree

Another staple of the ambient genre, this is perhaps Carbon Based Lifeforms' most ambient album. An almost spiritual, dream-like quality pervades throughout. A great immersive listen.

9. Biosphere - Substrata

All of Biosphere's albums are great but this one is my favourite by some distance. Different from the other albums on the list, this is a typically less ambient album as there are more decorations to the sound - conversations, typing on keyboards etc. - but the overall feel is a very quiet, peaceful one. A good one for the late evenings.

10. Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children

Now, I can't talk about ambient music without including Boards of Canada. Their early output in particular redefined the ambient electronica genre infusing it with a dark, urban feel and this, their first album, is a real masterpiece. Has more of a rhythm than the other albums on this list but again has a masterfully relaxing feel with that touch of "cool" too!

I know that there are many albums I've overlooked/forgotten about so feel free to leave your comments on your favourite chill-out albums below and if you're looking for something new, hopefully you'll find something above.

Happy chilling!

Top 10 Ways Floating Can Help You

It’s been a while since I gave the Top 10 blog some love so here is a post all about the many effects and practical applications of time in the pod. It goes way beyond being simply a relaxing experience!

1. A Rare Opportunity For Targeted, High Quality Thought

You may be saying to yourself, “But I think all the time…” While this is true, you probably do not regularly enjoy the experience of quality thinking time. Some people refer to the floatation tank as the “Think Tank” and with good reason. It allows for a completely uninterrupted, distraction-free opportunity to think deeply about particular issues with full concentration and increased brainpower at your disposal. You will be amazed at just how much you can explore and the solutions you can arrive at when given the opportunity.

2. Increase Mental Clarity And Perspective

Following on from the first point, this is probably the most important and evident aspect of floating for me personally. Disconnecting from the constant stimulus-overload of everyday life allows you to really put worries, issues, plans and indeed your entire life into much-needed perspective and enables order to emerge from the chaos of our scattered thoughts.

3. Reduce Feelings Of Stress And Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are unfortunately all too common in all of our lives and floating has been scientifically proven to reduce cortisol levels in the blood, which in turn reduces those feelings of stress significantly. Contrary to what we all seem to think, stress is not something we just have to put up with in modern life. It is something we all need to address and the pod is a fantastically enjoyable way to reduce stress levels and leave you calm and collected.

4. Relieve Those Aches And Pains

This one is unavoidable regardless of the mental journey you embark on in the pod. The weightless environment has a remarkable effect on your body. Just think, you have probably never been weightless in your entire life outside of the womb. All those years of gravity acting on your body does leave us literally weighed down. When weightless you give your body the opportunity for repair and true rest. After your float, you will feel aches have faded and you’ll enjoy increased mobility in your joints. Floating is also particularly good for relieving back pain as the weightlessness actually decompresses and stretches your vertebrae out.

5. Enhance Your Capacity For Creative Thought

This is another fantastic effect of time in the pod. Since there are no inputs coming into the mind and your central nervous system is sending no signals to your brain due to the weightlessness, you have increased capacity for creative thought.

By disconnecting from the predominantly left-brain rational processing of information, you allow your creative right hemisphere to come to the fore with often remarkably creative consequences!

6. Effortlessly Attain Deeply Meditative States

I sometimes liken the pod to an enforced meditation chamber in that often you cannot help but arrive at a deeply meditative state of mind, even with no experience of meditation. This state of mind is so blissfully calm and serene that it leaves you wanting more as all worries and stresses simply fade away into a simple, centred and present moment.

7. Visualise Your Success

Visualisation has long been known to be central to the psychological side of success in sport but it can be used for anything from that interview you have coming up, that best man’s speech, that presentation at work or even that recipe you’ve been wrangling with! Playing things through in your mind ahead of time, imagining the successful outcome and embedding that within increases confidence and moves your future actions into the more automatic side of experience. This has been particularly helpful for a number of Jiu Jitsu practitioners who come to the centre to play through the chess game of predicting and reacting to opponents’ trigger movements.

8. Improve Your Mood

Floating is known to increase the production of feel-good endorphins and with the absence of external stimuli and forces acting on your mind and body, it leaves you with a noticeably lighter and mildly euphoric mood!

9. Improve Concentration

An interesting aspect of floating is how the effects last long after your float has ended. Anyone who takes a long walk after floating can testify to this physically but another interesting aspect is how your mind is clearer and more disposed to deep, focused concentration.

10. And Finally… A Good Sleep Guarantee

I think most people feel that they could get a little more shuteye in an ideal world. A single hour in the pod has been likened to the equivalent of 4 hours sleep with regard to the physical and mental rest achieved during that short time. Additionally, floating vastly increases your quality of sleep and reduces the time taken to fall asleep. Try a 7pm float at Float Level and see for yourself…

And that’s your Top 10 ways floating can help you. If you like the sound of this and any of the above chimes with you, give floating a go and see what it’s all about. You can book your session here and have a look at our monthly special offers here. Until next time…

Top 10 Reasons... Floating Isn’t Just Like Taking a Hot Bath with Bath Salts

When I tell people that I’m opening a floatation centre, a common response is to ask how a float is different to a bath and I can understand why. The concept of taking a hot bath (perhaps with some relaxing frills such as soothing music, low-level light and bath salts) is so engrained as the go-to relaxation tool that it is hard to think how being in a floatation tank could be any different. They are just big bathtubs, right?

Not so. A floatation tank is a very specialised piece of equipment, which has been designed, set up and maintained according to specific key parameters. These parameters are responsible for creating a wildly different experience from that in the bathtub.

Below I list out the main differences and their effects to explain why a floatation session may well soon become your NEW go-to relaxation tool:

1.  Zero-Gravity Environment

Unless you’re an astronaut, you won’t have experienced the amazing feeling of physical relief brought on by the pure weightlessness in a floatation tank. It would be worth it just for this experience.

2.  No External Sound

Earplugs, soundproofed pod and soundproofed room mean there are absolutely no audible distractions. Perfect for relaxation.

3.  No Visual Distraction (unless you want it)

You control the lighting from inside the pod. You can have a soothing light show or enjoy a totally non-visual experience of darkness with the lid closed (definitely the best option!).

4.  Water Is Maintained at Same Temperature as Skin 

The effect of this is surprising. To slowly lose the sense of the physical body is a unique and immensely relieving experience allowing you to connect fully with your mind. The sensation of the body is always present when taking a bath.

5.  Enables Deeper Meditation and Contemplation

With no sight, sound, touch or weight in the pod, it is so much easier to drift deeper within and achieve lower frequency brainwave states for meditation, creative thinking and profound relaxation.

6.  Euphoria and Increased Positivity Through Temporary Disconnection

A common effect of floating is to emerge more positive or even mildly euphoric due to the experience of pure mental and physical rest. This has been found in many independent studies and has a lasting effect after your float.

7.  Enhances and Speeds Up Recovery from Injury

With no gravity acting on your joints and muscles, all bodily resources can be spent on rest and repair rather than managing the reaction of the central nervous system to external pressures.

8.  Floatation Pod Is Significantly Larger Than A Bath

Floatation pods are a massive 8ft X 5ft. Who wouldn’t prefer to be able to spread out completely without touching the sides?!

9.  Warm Air Circulates Throughout The Pod

The pod is designed so that there are minimal differences between the water and the air to enhance the immersive experience. No more cold knees or shoulders!

10. High Epsom Salt Concentration 

Even in a bath with bath salts, the concentration is but a tiny fraction of the concentration in a floatation pod. This not only helps with the buoyancy of the water but also means you can absorb more Magnesium through the skin which is vital for lowering blood pressure and regulating over 300 enzymes in the body. Epsom Salt is also highly beneficial for your skin and volumises hair.

There was actually more to get in here especially when you consider the overall experience in a good floatation centre and not just the session itself. Why not come down to Float Level in Manchester City Centre when we’re up and running and see for yourself why this will be your new secret relaxation tool?

Find out more and sign up for updates at www.floatlevel.co.uk. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter for great content, offers and latest news. Check out the links on the right.