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
How Marketing Strategies Evolve – DSP 230
Graham and Ashkahn wax nostalgic in this episode tracing back the history of Float On to its origins. They were younger, bright eyed and the world felt full of possibility. How they advertised floating was a whole different beast back then, too. Part of it was how different the industry was, part of it was how different awareness in Portland was, and parts of it were just about Float On still being a young business.
The guys share their successes, lessons, and bold faced mistakes they made along the way in learning how to deal with the idea of filling tanks, as well as some of the constants that have remained throughout the years.
Future Proofing Float Tanks – DSP 229
Float Tanks are expensive. Purchasing tanks can easily end up being half of your opening costs when starting out, so it makes sense to want to purchase tanks that have a long lifespan.
Thinking about which float tank manufacturers might last the longest, though, is probably not the way to think about this issue. For one, it’s impossible to tell what manufacturer is going to be around the longest. What’s more, if anything does break, the vast majority of the time you don’t need to go to the manufacturer to get it fixed in the first place.
Ashkahn and Graham share their thoughts on proper float tank care and the steps any float center owner should take when considering a tank.
How to Run Experiments with Floaters – DSP 228
It’s important to acknowledge that float center owners without a scientific background probably shouldn’t be running experiments on floaters willy nilly. It should also be noted that Graham and Ashkahn aren’t scientists, despite being huge fans of self-experimentation.
There has been a lot of talk recently, however, of float centers collaborating with student researchers to help run experiments, though. Graham and Ashkahn discuss (with a fair amount of levity) what it might take to properly run experiments in a float tank, which they understand is no easy task.
What are Good Plants to Have in a Float Center? – DSP 227
Plants give life, both aesthetically and literally, to any room they’re placed in. The environment inside a float center, however, can be the absolute worst place for certain plants, even ones that would normally be considered fine for your local area.
Graham and Ashkahn pull in Jordan to talk about different plants that thrive in a humid float center environment and some tips on how to take care of them.
Getting Salty With Speakers: Roy Vore – DSP 226
With the Float Conference coming up, Graham and Ashkahn are talking with lots of really smart people who will be presenting this year. It’s not every day that they get to ask molecular biologists questions about float tank sanitation, so they decided to take the opportunity to ask the experts the questions that the industry needs answers to.
Today Roy Vore is taking time to share some of his knowledge about microbiology and water sanitation, along with his work in the pool and spa industry.
Latest Blog Posts
Choosing a Water Heater for Your Center
You may not be surprised to hear that a Float Center is a business which has a hefty water requirement. You may, however, be surprised to hear that the majority of the water demand you’ll be facing day-to-day is going to be in the form of showers and (if you’re doing any laundry on-site) a washing machine.
The factors of energy usage and cost over time should also be taken into consideration when deciding upon your water heater…
Float Fund – NSF Magnesium Sulfate Test Results
I’m happy to announce to first results from the Float Fund testing. This experiment, run through the NSF, was to see how salt water, with no other form of disinfection, actually effected harmful organisms. We ran tests with two different microorganisms, and in this post we’ll talk about how one (Pseudomonas) got its ass kicked by salt-water and how the other one (Enterococcus) didn’t seem phased in the slightest.
If you want to skip straight to the test results, you can download them in their entirety. Since they have a lot of fancy laboratory lingo, we’ll spend the rest of this post breaking down the different aspects of the testing.
Float Memberships and Packages
Customers are great, but getting those customers to commit to returning on a regular basis is even better. There are a few different schools of thought in regards to encouraging return customers, but they’ll generally fall into two main categories, Memberships and Packages.
We’re going to provide a little insight into how to utilize each of them at your center.
Marketing is all About Relationships
Marketing is one of those words that has a lot of different meanings from one person to the next. Personally, I’ve studied marketing in one way or another for the past 20 years. I suppose you can say I’m a marketing nerd (I’ll wear that badge proudly). I even annually budget myself a different marketing conference to go to… for fun.
