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
When Should a Float Center be Profitable? – DSP 170
“When should I start making money?” is a deceptively simple and anxiety inducing question that every business owner has to face. Sometimes the answer is straightforward. There are lots of franchises that have near endless amounts of market research and profitability trends that point to a sensible timeline of when and how much you can expect versus a given investment.
Float centers aren’t like that, unfortunately. There’s simply not enough data out there to create predictability in a market. The good news is that given the relatively low overhead excluding opening costs, float centers have the potential to be profitable almost immediately. Graham and Ashkahn break down this question and provide some tips on the issue.
Should we Pay for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Services? – DSP 169
When opening any small business, you want to do what’s best to gain an edge in marketing and make sure that you’re doing your best for your flowering company. The new trends and changes can be daunting if you’re unfamiliar with technology or the marketing world.
Float centers are no exception. So when you get a call from someone claiming to be able to boost your SEO standing, it can seem like a really good deal. How do you tell if these companies are legit? And do float centers really need SEO help? Graham and Ashkahn break this down and simplify it for the uninitiated.
Should we do Tank Maintenance Ourselves? – DSP 168
As it turns out, there’s no certification program to running a float center. You buy these big expensive machines that require constant, technical maintenance and you’re on your own for how to accomplish that. There aren’t float tank repair persons that you can call (yet) and just have them show up and do it for you, so making sure you’re knowledgeable and prepared for this maintenance is a really good idea.
Graham and Ashkahn lay out the Float On best practices for how to plan for maintenance so that it’s the least disruptive for your center if something goes wrong.
What to Consider With a Home Float Center – DSP 167
Getting a tank in your house and floating some people is a great first step on the path to opening a float center. It helps you figure out exactly what the maintenance is going to be like, along with just the experience of floating other people and introducing them to this neat salty practice.
There are things to consider and there’s a right way and a wrong way to run a home based float center. First thing to consider is your local laws for small businesses and making sure you comply with those. Additionally, you need to decide if you’re just floating friends and family or if you’re going to have paying customers. This is also going to impact what type of float tank you should use and the demands you should consider on your house. Graham and Ashkahn have seen plenty of these and share the best practices as they’ve seen them laid out.
How to Deal With Burnout – DSP 166
Running a float center is hard work. Especially if you just opened up and dealt with months of agonizing, crazy construction, and then go straight into pulling long hours keeping your center open. Even with the reward of seeing floater’s post float glow can fall short of satisfying in some moments.
It’s important in these moments to take time for yourself so as not to get devoured by your work. Ashkahn and Graham share some of the things that helped them stay sane working long, thankless shifts at Float On in the early days and get through the hard days so that they could thrive.
Latest Blog Posts
Listening to Music in a Float Tank
To play or not to play music in the tank…
Some centers start the float with a few minutes of music and then fade away, some don’t play music until the end, and another float center will not let you turn off the light. In fact, they also have the noise of a automatic massage table, pounding away next to you, while other places will leave it up to the floater to decide. READ MORE…
Specific Gravity Specifics
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density (mass of the same unit volume) of a reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for liquids or air for gases.” Specific gravity, then, in the case of our float tanks, is how dense the salt water is compared to regular, run of the mill water.
So, where should we keep the specific gravity of a float tank? READ MORE…
Don’t Squander Water in Your Showers
Once you start planning out the monthly costs for your float center, you’ll quickly come to appreciate a running joke in the industry: although you may think you’re providing floats, what you’re really doing is running a shower business.
Each person that floats at your center will take two showers: one before their float, and one after. These showers are definitely necessary. Before a customer enters a float tank, you’ll want them to shower in order to make sure that water contamination from skin oils and dirt is minimized, and after a float a customer is going to need a shower to remove the salty residue from their skin. READ MORE…
How Do You Properly Use Hydrogen Peroxide?
The Art of Floating, a great blog by the Float Shoppe here in Portland, has been answering questions that hit their inbox. Which is brilliant, and gives a second life to the extensive novellas on that minutiae of float tanks that I find myself writing daily. Here’s the first in what will hopefully be a series. READ MORE…
