In short: Sometimes recovery is less about adding one more thing and more about taking something away for a while: the phone, food, light, noise. This shelf brings together our articles on resting through abstaining, from digital detox to fasting, each with an honest evidence label. Some approaches are gentle and well studied; others can become risky when taken too far, and we will tell you clearly where that line is.
Ōmni Recovery Library · Recovery by Abstaining
Almost every tradition seems to have its own version: Lent, Ramadan, silent retreats, a monk’s single bowl of rice. The modern versions come with newer names, like dopamine fasting or spending a weekend with your phone tucked away in a drawer, but the idea itself is old. Remove a constant stream of input and notice what your body and mind do with the space that remains. Sometimes they rest. Sometimes you simply get hungry and irritable. That, too, can be useful to notice.
How we rate evidence: every article on this shelf begins with one label from the Ōmni Evidence Scale (Strong evidence, Promising, Early evidence, No good evidence yet), so you can tell at a glance whether you are reading about clinical trials or long-standing tradition. See how the Ōmni Evidence Scale works.
Already in the library
- Digital Detox: Does Putting the Phone Down Really Rest Your Brain?: what actually happens when you put the phone down, whether it really gives your brain a rest, and how to try it without making life miserable.
- Is Dopamine Detox Real? The Science of Dopamine, Phone Habits and a Real Reset (Float Vietnam): what dopamine actually does, why “dopamine detox” is a misleading name, and why changing the habit can still be useful.
- Darkness retreat vs float: days in the dark or an hour on the water: what it means to go without light for days, and how that compares with a one-hour alternative.
New in the library
New articles on this shelf are on their way.
What Ōmni offers
Float therapy is perhaps the gentlest form of going without that we know: an hour or so without a screen, without sound, and without light if you choose to switch it off, while warm water supports your weight. A float costs 1,500,000 VND for 60 minutes or 2,000,000 VND for 90 minutes. Ōmni Space is at 16C Quốc Hương, Thảo Điền, open 9:00–21:00 every day (last float 20:00).
Float PlanRunning on empty?Take the one-minute Float Plan quiz: tell us how you feel and what you need, and get a simple plan for your first session.Make my Float PlanPart of the Ōmni Recovery Library, written by the Ōmni Space team in Thảo Điền, Saigon. General information about practices people use to recover, not medical advice.