Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
The good news is that it doesn’t seem to happen after the first float, the bad news is we’re not really sure why it happens, but we have some theories. This even happened to Ashkahn the first time he floated, so this is an issue very personal to his heart.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is, “why, for some, does their neck hurt while floating? I’m guessing it’s something about tension leaving the body in that area.” That’s the question.
Ashkahn: So, neck tension. I feel like it’s more than just some. I think it’s a pretty common thing that happens to people during their first float, specifically.
Graham: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Ashkahn: It happened to me during my first float.
Graham: I was fine.
Ashkahn: What, it didn’t happen to you?
Graham: I was kind of okay.
Ashkahn: Oh, really? Your first float, you didn’t have any neck tension?
Graham: I mean, not more so than I do regularly, standing up.
Ashkahn: Really? Me, for the whole first 30 minutes or so, of my very first float was all about trying to understand how to get my neck from not feeling like I was not holding my head up.
Graham: Oh, interesting. Well, I have a lot of neck tension all the time, so I think I’m just constantly working through it, you know? But no, it felt better after my first float. No worries.
Ashkahn: Well, I mean, it went away. Okay, so here’s what I think is happening. I think that when you first go into the float tank, it can be kind of unusual to totally trust the actual liquid, and totally let go of your head, and really just kind of let it support you, and so that, at the beginning, you’re kind of slightly holding your head up.
Graham: ‘Cause you’re used to supporting your head in water, so that you don’t drown, right?
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: It’s a very natural, human instinct to do this.
Ashkahn: And that’s what I noticed. I was feeling tension from very subtly having to keep my head up, kind of like doing the beginning of a sit-up, for 20 straight minutes. And I could just feel, in my neck, and I just had to really let go, bring my arms above my head, and kind of focus on totally relaxing back in. And I even found that specifically, if I pushed my head back, that it would kind of trigger my body to feel what it actually felt like to not be holding my head up, and that kind of allowed me to let go of those muscles.
Graham: That’s funny, that’s what I still do to relax my neck inside the float tank.
Ashkahn: Push your head back?
Graham: Yeah, totally. Just push it down a little further and then let the water buoy it up to its natural place. Yeah, and it’s like my body can understand where it’s supposed to be held, that way.
Ashkahn: Yeah, and we say that during our intro speeches, because I think it’s just a really common first float thing.
Graham: Do like Graham did, not like Ashkahn, during your first float.
Ashkahn: And the interesting thing is, if people do feel it, I feel like almost no matter what, it will go away within 30 minutes or so. If you’re doing a lot better at it, it might go away faster. If you’re not, eventually you just give up, and you can’t hold your head up for that long, and inevitably kind of forcibly relax into it. So, it’s kind of like a small, first float hurdle.
Or, at least that’s what I thought, and that’s what I’ve heard a lot of customers say, and stuff like that. I always hear it’s a very common first float experience, and I don’t really hear of it too much afterwards. I haven’t heard of a ton of people saying they continuously get neck tension in there. Or definitely not anywhere the same levels as what it’s like for first time floaters.
Graham: Yeah. I 100% agree with that. I think that’s one of those getting used to this weird new salty environment that you’re in. It’s just a little different than what your body’s used to experiencing, so, like one of the closest things to training, what you have to do in order to have a good float, you know?
Ashkahn: And this is all just a theory, I guess. That’s my guess as to why people get neck tension, and that’s mostly because of what it felt like to me, is that you’re just holding your head up in there.
Graham: And that seems to really be what customers say, too. This is our very standard walkthrough introduction, saying, “Oh, by the way, you may experience some neck tension in there. So a lot of people, especially during their first time, feel like things are sorer than usual, and often, we feel like that’s just because you’re not relaxing in your float. And we have this neck pillow here, if you wanna use it.” Right?
At least on my walkthroughs, I’ll always say that I actually kind of recommend trying to not use the neck pillow, even if you feel some neck tension there, ’cause often, you actually do need to relax into it, and something will kind of unwind in there. And that it’s a lot like getting a massage. Often, when you’re getting a massage, you’ll feel some pain and tension as the masseuse is kind of working through things, then you get out and you’re like, “Oh, I guess I actually worked through some stuff when I was in there.”
And so, I feel like it’s similar for neck tension that I still experience when I’m in the float tank. Not because of my neck being held up artificially by my body, but just because you start being aware of all of your aches and bodily uncomfortablenesses, if that’s a word, when you’re floating.
So, for me, yeah, it’s like I become aware of it, and then I kind of relax through it, and in that sense, it’s still a little like a massage, even several hundred floats in.
Ashkahn: Yeah. And I think it’s a very common place to hold tension, shoulders and neck. Especially nowadays, where people do a lot of computer stuff.
Graham: Yeah, for sure.
Ashkahn: It’s just keeping tension in your shoulders, and that kind of general part of your body is, I think, a very typical place that it goes for people.
Graham: Yeah, but see, as we’ve been progressing through this podcast, Ashkahn, I are just stretching.
Ashkahn: Standing up, sort of dropping your shoulders-
Graham: Posture is getting better and better, yeah, yeah. Even just talking. You’ll notice this too when you do walkthroughs, as a little aside, whenever I’m talking about the neck tension part, I notice the people that I’m giving the walkthrough to, I’ll start standing up a little straighter, and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, you’re right, my posture should be a little better.”
Ashkahn: So, there you go. That’s our theory.
Graham: And if you have any other questions, or theories of your own you wanna toss our way, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Monthly Budget for Float Centers – DSP 305
Graham and Ashkahn break down the real truth about how closely they watch their budget for Float On on a monthly basis.
The truth is… not much. As it turns out, monthly expenses for float centers don’t have huge variations unlike businesses that rely on retail, for example. Graham and Ashkahn explain they developed a sense for what’s within reason.
How to Sign on Float Ambassadors – DSP 304
Float Ambassadors have been with the industry since the beginning, but gained popularity sometime in the last few years. What are ambassadors and how to float centers find them? When they do find them, how do they get them to represent floating?
Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences with the practice of finding float mavens out in the world and the impact they’ve had on Float On.
How do you Talk about Psychedelics? – DSP 303
It’s no secret that the inventor of the float tank, John Lilly, was also an early psychonaut and used the tank for mental exploration in conjunction with LSD. Not everyone in the float community appreciates this shared history and some actively try to distance themselves from it given the taboo nature of psychedelics.
Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on psychedelics and floating and how, as a business, they can be completely separated while still being important, as well as explaining why some people might reasonably decide to disassociate from them.
What About 75 Minute Floats? – DSP 302
Most float centers divide on floats offered between 60 or 90 minute floats, but some split the difference right down the middle and offer 75 minutes. Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on this tactic, what they see as the pros, cons, and things to consider when implementing it.
Free Floats for Teachers – DSP 301
Graham and Ashkahn give their perspective on the pros and cons of giving free floats away for teachers. Giving out free floats is the Float On way and giving them to a specific group of people who could really use them sounds like a good idea.
The guys break it down and address some of the concerns any float center may have about running a program like this.
Latest Blog Posts
The Basics of Float Tank Sanitation
Some of the most common questions you’ll get as a float center operator involve the cleanliness of the tanks. This post will be an introduction to some of the most commonplace sanitation methods used in float tanks. These are generally either chemicals that go in the water or devices that attach to your filtration system. We’ll be discussing chlorine, bromine, ozone, UV, and hydrogen peroxide, which accounts for the sanitation methods used on nearly every float tank on the market.
Testing and Maintaining Float Tank Water Quality
Editors Note: This is a revision of a past blog post, updated to reflect the most current sanitation methods and standards
In a perfect world, you could just pour water and salt into a float tank and it would stay pure and clean and fresh and salty forever. In the real world, conditions in the water are constantly changing, so keeping your water safe and clean takes a fair amount of vigilance.
This post covers how we maintain basic water quality in the float tank, except for sanitization methods, which will be covered in their own beastly sanitation blog post. Stay tuned for that coming out next week!
Floating, mental health, and wellness
This post will explore the intersection of floating with the concepts, beliefs, and experiences related to mental health and wellness, with a focus on anxiety and depression. I’ll explore my own story as it relates to floating before diving into the current intersections of floating and mental health, with a look at past, current, and potential opportunities for research and personal growth.
Massage, Acupuncture, and Float Tanks… A Chat with Sandra Calm
We’ve seen lots of float centers that aren’t just float centers.
Many have massage, some offer counseling, some have yoga classes next door. Lots of people start out either by incorporating float tanks into a larger business, or with float tanks only being one of many modalities at their center. Being specialists in floating, Float On has not mastered anything else.
So, to help gain insight into this growing aspect of the industry, we contacted our old friend, Sandra Calm. She started up The Float Shoppe here in Portland with her husband and podcast sensation, Dylan Calm, back in 2011. When they first opened, they had just two float tanks, and slowly added acupuncture, massage, counseling, along with two more tanks. Talk about expansion!
She was more than happy to take some time for the industry to help us understand just what it’s like to run a center with multiple services by answering some questions.
