Forest City Float in downtown Rockford aims to serve as ‘antidote’ to mental stress of hyperconnectivity

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — You can experience the buoyancy of the Dead Sea in a second-floor studio in downtown Rockford.

The hypersaline lake in the Middle East is famed for having a salt concentration so dense that those who venture to take a dip float right on the top. You can experience the same sensation inside the sleek 5 ½-foot wide by 7-foot long pods at Forest City Float, 223 E. State St., suite 202.

“The specific gravity hovers around 1.265 here. The Dead Sea is 1.225,” said Tami Bogard, the owner of Forest City Float and the adjoining Namaste Studios. “So we are more buoyant than the Dead Sea. We float more easily. It’s effortless.”

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But it’s more than the novelty of floating that Bogard’s customers are after; it’s the tanks’ ability to act as a giant off switch for your mind. The flotation pods are enclosed in soundproof rooms and the water temperature is designed to match that of your body. The end result, Bogard says, is a calming experience that heals body and mind.

“Nothing is coming into your brain,” she said. “All of those spaces of your brain close down. They’re literally dark. … Nothing’s happening and your brain truly gets an opportunity to rest and repair.”

Now, Bogard is trying to get the service in the hands of the people who may need it the most.

She’s entered a three-year partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Northern Illinois to provide three floats per month to two clients and one staff member. You can also donate at the Forest City Float website to provide additional floats to NAMI Northern Illinois.

“Being able to take care of the person as a whole is really important to both of us, as is understanding the mind-body connection,” said Danielle Angileri, executive director of NAMI Northern Illinois.

Angileri said float therapy can allow for relaxation, stress management and provide people with mental health issues a new coping skill.

“It’s almost like a meditative state,” she said. “So if you can quiet your mind it’s very relaxing, and it goes by in a flash.”

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Bogard is also partnering with KP Counseling and the Family Peace Center, which serves survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking.

The float pods Bogard uses are filled with 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt and 200 gallons of water that spreads about 10-inches deep across the tank. There’s about four feet between you and the top of the door if you so choose to completely enclose yourself in the vessel. It makes for a more relaxing experience than the tanning-bed sized float pods of the past, Bogard said.

She says floating can provide mental clarity, help with anxiety and stress relief, improve sleep, and repair sore muscles and nerves.

“A lot of us are a little to a lot magnesium deficient,” she said. “It absorbs through your skin right into your bloodstream while you’re in the float pod.”

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Namaste Studios, which offers yoga and other meditative practices, opened downtown in September 2010. Forest City Float was added in March 2019 after renovation to prepare the upstairs studio to handle the heavy pods.

Bogard points to research done by Justin Feinstein, a clinical neuropsychologist who says floating can help heal anxiety, PTSD, panic disorder and other mental health issues.

He said our brains need to disconnect from the constant technology and messaging that bombard us throughout the day.

“You see, the modern day nervous system craves disconnection. We just don’t know it because we’re so addicted to being connected that we become perpetually stuck in this loop,” he said at a Tedx Talk in Salem, Oregon. “I think floating could provide an antidote. A way to disconnect from all of this stimulation.”

How to help

What: You can donate a float therapy session to NAMI Northern Illinois by going to forestcityfloat.com and choosing the donation in the online store.

For more information: Call Forest City Float at 815-708-8055 or email tami@forestcityfloat.com.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.