Broken Hands, Knee Surgery and Double Flotation Sessions

This past Friday I went in for my knee surgery.

As an athlete and person that really loves to be active and an impulsive explorer, I feel that surgeries and certain injuries may affect us more than the norm. Both physically and mentally.

Depression can occur due to the simple act of not being able to be as mobile or active as the person once was. Anxiety can creep up closer to the date of the surgery when the patient begins to think more and more of the outcome.

“Will I be back to normal?

Will this cause other problems? ”

Many thoughts go through ones head when you are in a position to be placed unconscious and cut on.

Now I know it could have been worse. No one was dying.  But that still doesn’t turn off the worry and other feelings.

This was the first injury I had actually had that required surgery.
I had somehow managed to have a weird tear in my meniscus that needed to be cut off, see the flap was causing pain and weakness in unpredictable times.

I could be walking the dogs and riding m. Bike just fine one moment, then standing and have my knee just go out at the blink of an eye.

Once it happened it was near 3 weeks before I could get surgery sceduled.  Needless to say I was going pretty nuts.

I was trying to save money and had to cancel a trip to Alaska I had planned for almost 8 months.

Things came to a head when I had a bad day and everything about the situation just assaulted my conscious at the same time. I took several minutes of deep breathing alone at work.

All of a sudden I found myself at the refridgerator with a severe pain in my hand, I had punched it right as I was going to open the door. As much as we try to say we don’t crack, each of us have a breaking point  and I reached mine then.

Next thing I know I’m BACK in my doctors office with a boxers fracture….

My doctor , who is a person I help coach, asked me if I had been floating to ease my stress like I had been for the past 6 months. I told her that I had missed 3 weeks due To trying to save money for the surgery.

She just stared at me blankly….
And then told me,to take a day off work and to spend it on relaxation and go float.

See, I had told her that I had been floating to ease my mind and lower my stress levels from the past year of going through a divorce, trying to repurchase a house and so on.

She also told me I was ridiculous to stop….  So I took her recommendation and went backast Wednesday.

I actually spent one hour of massage And one hour of a float session at Gravity Spa near Dayton OH.  Not very close to NKY.

I spent a lot of the time I’m the tank thinking about what it would be like to be in Alaska and how missing it had affected me.  I pictured myself in the pictures and videos I had watched. I came to accept I couldn’t go. The rest of the time I spent just following my stream of consciousness and feeling the rhythmic sensation of breathing and falling into several short dreams.

It was great.   I immediately felt better mentally , I could breathe deeper. And surprisingly to me the massive swelling in my hand was had reduced near 50% ! ( I have yet to find research on what may cause that mechanism, I can only speculate)

My mood was noticeably different at work.

A week later My daughter stayed at her mom’s house so I could get ready for surgery early in the morning on Friday. So was getting anxious.  Since I had the rest of the afternoon to myself I decided to go back to float one more time at Gravity Spa

This time I went for 90 minutes and focused on just having a positive outlook with focus on what I would do after surgery to get back in stride, if not
a better competitive athlete.

90 minutes was the longest I had been so far out of about 21 or so floats.
Yet it seemed so concentrated and relaxing that it was over before I even realized it . Usually I drift in and out of short dreams, but This time I was awake the whole time just floating effortlessly in 10 inches of skin temperature smooth saltwater.

In the morning, Friday the 26th, I was ready. I FELT ready. My friend Ian was my surgery buddy and we were laughing all morning in the hospital.

We were described as “A couple of lively ones” by my nurses.
You see, I was ready and calm, because I had already visualized all that would happen the day before in the tank without any distraction. I was at peace with the decisions I had made and couldn’t have been more prepared.

The next thing I know I was waking up and could walk around with little pain and one crutch.

Maybe this injury forced me to slow down.   All I know is that floating helped me lower my cortisol levels and adrenaline from worrying myself even more crazy.  I FELT it powerfully and there’s proof below……in case you weren’t sure.
(J.W. Turner, T.H. FineEffects of relaxation associated with brief restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST) on plasma cortisol, ACTH, and LHBiofeedback Self-Regul, Volume 8, 1983, pp. 115–116)

I think ill come out of this just fine. I already feel better.

I would just like to thank all the people who helped out with making sure. Things went well and Swing This Kettlebell stayed open during my absense.

Thank you, Craig, Guff, Mallory , Trent, Dad, Helen, Mike, Michelle, Alex (ThinkTanks other mind) Andy, Dr Proctor, Dr Balza, and Drs Heis and Grunkemeyer.  Anyone else I forgot, I didn’t mean too. Brain is kinda loopy with pain meds…..

Post anesthesia, watch Joe not get injured party….

As for the healing process, as soon as the incisions in my knee are totally healed you can bet I’ll never take another extended hiatus from floating again!

Joe Daniels

Think Tank Article for CincyChic last week 6/2015

Think Tank

• Health

by Brittany Lee – Jun 15, 2015

A local entrepreneur and fitness enthusiast with an innovative new product that makes mental and physical stress just float away.

Joe Daniels, co-founder of Think Tank, and owner of Daniels Fitness Training and Swing This Kettlebell and Strength

Phones ringing, email dinging, cars honking, kids crying — don’t you just wish stressful days like this just had a reset button for your body and mind? Well, now there is, according to Joe Daniels, co-founder of Think Tank, utilizes Magnesium Flotation therapy and Restricted Environmental Stimulus Technique (REST) as a type of stress relief, mental wellness and recuperation spa.

To read the rest of  the article click HERE CincyChic….

A Fascinating New World : Recalling My First Experience in a Float Tank by Joe Daniels

My First Float Experience …… Joe Daniels

The first time I experienced being in a therapeutic flotation tank , I didnt really know what to expect.   After more  research I found out that is a totally acceptable way to feel.  I went in for pain relief from kettlebell and weight training . I have worked with close to twenty massage and preventative injury specialists in my career and I’m always looking for alternative ways for pain and stress relief.

The first thing I asked the tanks operator is “ How likely is it that I fall asleep and drown?”

Perfectly logical  question I thought. …..

“If you can sleep while you have saltwater on steroids  in your eyes, nose and mouth then maybe. But I highly doubt it.”    he said calmly.

I took a shower and put some earplugs in.

I stepped into the tank and sat down immediately feeling the buoyancy of the water as it lifted my legs up from under water. .

The water was only 10 inches deep.  I pressed the timer which played music through underwater speakers to ease me into relaxing in  the tank, and then warn me when my hour was up.

Since I had done my research I went full in sensory restriction and closed the door. It was utterly pitch black  and I couldn’t hear a thing.   All I could really do was focus on my breathe, which I could hear and feel intensely.   This is a good thing because I learned long ago from my yogi friends and times when I’d practice yoga, that deep breathing increases relaxation  and a parasympathetic nervous response.

 

After a while  My neck began to ache and I realized I wasn’t actually letting go of the tension  in my body. I didnt trust that the water would be so bouyant.  Once  relaxed,  everything changed. I began to see swirling shades of dark purple.  It was the same  with my eyes open or closed.   I began to explore how easily it was to relax my muscle and the tension in my back was incredibly decreased.

A few times I started  to think “ How long have I been in here? “

There was no way to tell anymore. Time meant nothing . I started to count to 60 to see if I could guage time and I never made it there!!!   Each time I tried I fell into a quick dream.   This is what i do to relax before bed each night and i could tell it was happening easier in the tank.  After a few times of this I actually became a little worried and had to reach out to feel the sides of the tank to make sure  where I was.   It became a game to see how deeply I could relax.

 

Right when i felt like I had been forgotten by everything in the world but myself, the music slowly came on and I slowly started  moving around to find the door .  It felt very interesting to move and as soon as I opened the door here is where the really interesting stuff happened.  

 

Rays of light entered my tranquil world and it was so energizing that I had to stand there for a few minutes to absorb it all. This was only the light from a wall nightlight that was causing me to feel this way.   I slowly made my way to the shower in what felt like a new body. I took my earplugs out and could hear others talking quietly in the other room.    As the water hit me it was like a million sensations all at once .   I had never felt such intense awareness from just a soft shower in my life.    I walked outside to the reception and my friend told me I was smiling ear to ear.  I could feel it and I couldn’t stop.

 

After I left I stood outside just absorbing the environment. It was drizzling rain for the umpteenth day in a row but I didn’t care anymore. It felt unbelievable to stand and sense the world again.

It sounds funny to I actually felt  more awake than I had when I went in . Not just in energy but in awareness to my surroundings.     The sky was crazily colored and it felt i could see every branch of the trees instead of the trees themselves without paying any more attention than normal.

In my car music I had listened to for years had more feeling and crispness. I was hearing things I hadn’t noticed before.  

 

I went for dinner and was overwhelmed at how wonderful the  normal experience of eating was.  I could literally feel being nourished from healthy foods.  There was a connection I hadn’t noticed before with people as we interacted.  I wasn’t as annoyed by things that usually annoy me such as traffic and loud people at dinner.  (Right there I knew this was going to be a blessing for my life….)

 

I began to think deeper and deeper about my experience .  I wasn’t tired at all. I went to sleep later than normal and woke up more refreshed than I had in several years.   Even my early morning clients noticed something was different about me .  I told a few what I had tried and said it felt like I had rebooted my brain.   

 

Days later I couldn’t get the thoughts of how relaxed I was out of my head. I made another appt 3 days later.    I was hooked.   My stressful life was seeming not as bad anymore just from lying in the dark and doing nothing for a little bit of time in one week.

 

Flash forward to 4 months later …..  My life has been transformed.  I’ve been  focused on the brains role in EVERYTHING especially stress relief and visualization to attain goals in life.  NEver have I been more focused in my life and even though I have a lot of stresses  running a small business and other things still I feel they are much more manageable.    If this  interesting mode of relaxation  interests you and you wish to learn more  check out this awesome documentary on floating or ask me any questions you’d like!

 

FLOAT NATION Documentary

 

Now if you are even MORE  interested in trying this wonderful form of relaxation , you can prepay for float packages and discounts when  THINK TANK NKY opens on the link here>>>>  www.gofundme.com   just search for “thinktanknky”

Floating to a New Day

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the effects of magnesium on recuperation and relaxation in my other blog.

I’m going to revisit that a bit.

Many of you are familiar with Epsom Salt baths.   A couple cups or a pound of epsom salts  dissolved into a warm bath or even a foot soak can do wonders for muscular tension and calming of the nervous system.

You see magnesium is an important mineral for the human body as it is part of over 300 biochemical interactions.   Not one, not two, but 300 plus.

“ Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps to maintain normal nerve and muscle function, supports a healthy immune system, keeps the heart beat steady, and helps bones remain strong. It also helps regulate blood glucose levels and aid in the production of energy and protein.”     http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002423.htm    

Seems important to me. ……..

If you have ever dumped those wonderful magnesium salt crystals into your bath and read a book or relaxed before bed to find that you had less muscle soreness and slept much better that night , then you know what im talking about.

Water can be soothing and calming the same as it can be destructive and powerful.  We are made of water and minerals and have a high affinity to salts and water.   Think about how the ocean makes you feel just to sit and watch or wade in.  Its mesmerizing.

YOUR POOR BRAIN!!!

Its interesting to know that we use most of our accessible brain to keep ourselves adapting to the world in subconscious ways. It helps us to react to everything around us whether we know it or not.

It keeps you from falling into the ground.

It helps you do multiple things at once while walking or driving .  (Texting should not be one of those things)

It filters every sensory input that you receive  through the holes in your head and the covering of your body , (skin) and decides  what to do with that information in an attempt to make your life safer and more efficient.

Usually all of that happens while you dont even think about it.

Couple this work with all the hustle and bustle of days worth of work, bosses yelling to nearly getting run over by a semi truck on the way home.  All the while you have been getting alert after alert on your smart phone and when you get home you find out your cat has knocked over the litter box and made a sand volleyball court in the laundry room with it.   Your poor brain exactly.

You tell yourself you  should probably relax any way you can before you have a panic attack.

So what will it be?? Alcohol?  Xanex?   More alcohol?  Crappy food?

Lets say you go the safer route and jump yourself into an epsom salt bath.

Now think about taking that  bath in close to 1000 times the strength of those beloved epsom salts.

What would it do??

Well you would actually float due to the fact that the water would be several times more bouyant than the Dead Sea.

You would float so much that it wouldn’t require any effort at all.   How relaxing would that be ?

What they are …..

Float tanks are the most simple yet at the same time incredibly hard, things to describe to others.

In short, you have a tank which is the size of a very large bathtub .  It is filled with water that is saturated with near 1000lbs of pharmaceutical grade magnesium .  This results in a solution that allows you to lie on your back and float effortlessly with your face out of water and able to breathe without doing anything.

The water is heated to a constant 93.5 degrees which is the  average temp of your skin.  This makes  it feel  pretty interesting as your sense of touch seems to disappear.

Tanks can be open float tanks or the traditional ones that have hatches that can be closed to eliminate light and dampen sound.

Water is cleaned much like a pool but also uses hydrogen peroxide and Ultraviolet light as sanitizers.  Coupled with the high salinity  from the salt water it  remains an  incredibly clean environment.

This creates an environment where the user can limit certain senses,  or  many of them, that has been termed REST ( Restricted Environmental Stimulus Technique.)

First floats are usually around an hour long with some experiences being able to go much longer.

Experiences vary from each individual.  Thats the beauty of it.  It’s YOU undistracted.

Research on Flotation therapy has shown it can ….

• Decrease anxiety
• Decrease mental stress
• Decrease muscle and joint pain
• Increase endorphins
• Decrease cortisol and adrenaline
• Increase focus and mental clarity
• INcrease  self awareness
• Cessation of habits such as smoking
• Etc.

 

By restricting environmental stimuli,  this causes our brain to slow down and unwind.  It is not so encumbered by the millions of units of feed back we filter daily before we try to sleep and let it restart itself.

 

This basically allows it to operate smoother and possibly better than you ever have experienced .

Our brain is much like a filter. Use it too much without cleaning it and its going to get slower.

Think of  cleaning your brain as meditation or sleep.  You need rest and sleep to allow the brain to retain processes you learned through the day. Even though you dont think about it , you are constantly learning something or adapting your body to what you do everyday. Bad posture is a learned behavior for muscles.  It cannot be unlearned but it can be  trained back.  We are constantly building new connections in our brain if we have new experiences.  I have seen studies that show the opposite as well where brains that do not receive new stimulation actually can start to decline.

Float tanks can offer incredible ways to connect to your mind by reducing sympathetic nervous  stimulus and fight or flight reactions that  keep us out of a restorative parasympathetic nervous system. This allows us to calm down and unwind.

Please follow our link to help us bring this incredible wellness tool to the bluegrass state Kentucky     www.gofundme.com    then search “thinktanknky”

Thank you,

Joe Daniels

Stay tuned this week for our personal experiences in the  “Think Tank”