Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Some people have special ways that they prepare for floating, and how it’s approached depends entirely on the person floating.
Graham and Juliet (Ashkahn’s still missing) talk about their different approaches to floating, whether it’s sneaking in to float whenever they can, or planning entire days around floating to make sure it goes off without a hitch, they share their perspectives.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Alright, welcome everyone. I am Graham.
Juliet: And I am Juliet.
Graham: That’s right. We got a Juliet in the studio again. And for those of you who aren’t familiar, she was just on stage at the Float Conference giving a wonderful talk, which will be coming out soon through the Float Conference website. She went on a three month float tour with us around the country. And she’s responsible for a lot of our blog posts and content going into our free product. So pretty important person here at Float Tank Solutions. And she’s also an avid floater, which means she’s going to be helping us go through some questions that are geared more towards the floater specific side of things and a little less technical.
And today’s question for us from you is, “How do you get yourself ready for a float?” I assume yourself they mean like us. And do you have advice to give to customers? So yeah, what do you do? How do you prepare yourself for a float?
Juliet: Typically avoid caffeine. I like if I’m floating later in the day, I like to get in a walk or light exercise. Just get my body to not be so tense while I’m in the float.
Graham: Have you exercised before hopping in the float tank?
Juliet: Yes.
Graham: That’s a very unpleasant experience.
Juliet: I don’t like it, no.
Graham: Yeah, I went on like a really long run, well, a joggle – juggling while jogging – and then I went to float and I just had to have the door open, like, I was so hot, even after taking a cold shower, I was miserable. Okay, so don’t do that, don’t drink caffeine.
Juliet: Right.I don’t know. I look forward to my floats. And I try not to over-hype myself. I think that’s a big problem for some of my floats sometimes, but, I try to create a very present mindset for when I get into a float, so that it’s not such a big deal, and maybe that’s a difficult thing to tell customers to do, but I also think it’s a generally good idea.
There … I don’t know. I’m rarely in a space where I don’t think that a float is a good idea.
Graham: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.
Juliet: But, depending on where I’m at in the day, it can really change the trajectory of the float once I’m in the tank. And, I guess, just being open and prepared for that, and letting people know that, I think, for a float center, is probably a good idea, you know. It’s going to take you where it’s going to take you, right?
Yeah, and I try to treat it, I try to treat floats with a little bit of respect, I guess, and be mindful of them, because there are days where, it’s like, I can’t float because I just shaved my legs, or things like that, so I’ll plan like even a couple of days around a float sometimes, so.
Graham: Maybe it’s just as the result of being an owner, and, like, I have this guilt that I’m taking floats that are in prime slots, or when other people would take them, you know? So I tend to just sneak my floats in at the last minute. Like, my, largely my preparation for a float is checking the schedule to make sure that there’s at least one tank free before I walk down to Float On. Which, also living 5 minutes from Float On is a huge boon in this case.
Juliet: Right, yeah, I have to go across town in order to get it.
Graham: Yeah, I guess, like, only when I acutely really like need a float, like I’ve hurt my back, or just been feeling really sore or something like that, I’ll really plan ahead. Or if I’m trying to do something like 10 days of floating all in a row, just do kind of a recenter or something like that, I guess I treat it a little more like this, more of a journey, or like, more sacredly, or something like that.
Juliet: Sure.
Graham: And, often, I’m just “Floating always sounds like a good idea,” so, it’s really just like, “Oh, is there a tank free that I could just hop in right now, because I have some free time?” And that’s kind of how I hit my once a week sort of habit is just like that.
Juliet: Yeah.
Graham: Which is fine. I think that my habits are just very different from my customers, which also sometimes, I guess it doesn’t make it too difficult to still give them good advice on what to do to prepare.
Juliet: Right.
Graham: Do you bring fresh socks?
Juliet: I try to plan around my outfits so that I don’t even have to wear socks.
Graham: I wear sandals when I go to float, it’s like my thing. I really don’t like putting back on socks that are, like, that you’ve been wearing the entire day, you know. I thought that was a good pro tip.
Juliet: I really enjoy being able to wear just like something very casual and drapey. I’ll wear a lot of dresses on my float days, which is awesome. Just get like a … For people who don’t wear dresses, muumuus exist. I recommend it. Maybe just robes, float robes, that you plan to take with you for the rest of the day. Acquire a look is what I’m saying.
Yeah, no, and I do, I plan days around this, so it’s like, I have my float outfit, I wear float shoes and go in and I have my float time, and then I’ll get out and enjoy the rest of the day.
Graham: It’s one of the tips we give to customers, too, for sure. You know, it’s like, half of the tips are things to avoid, kind of like we covered, it’s like don’t shave your legs the day of, don’t drink a bunch of caffeine, you know, don’t get into a big fight with your landlord before heading over to float, ideally. You know, it’s kind of like take it easy before and after your float is also the advice, you know. Make sure you don’t have anything that’s going to put you in this immediately stressful place right before coming in.
And similarly, try not to have any commitments right afterwards, where, you know, regardless of your mind state, you might have to just go and immediately do something. I’d almost say, just, I mean, for me, open time is one of the best things after a float, you know. I would rather do that than even plan for, like, “Oh, I’m gonna go watch this concert,” or do something even if I might enjoy it, just because, once I get out, I don’t even know what kind of mental state I’m gonna be in, you know. Sometimes I want to lounge, sometimes I want to go on a walk, sometimes the concert would sound like an awesome idea, but, yeah, I kinda don’t even want to guess ahead, you know.
Juliet: Yeah, yeah, no, I totally get that. And I think that that lines up pretty well with customer experiences, too, because I think that this is kind of a treat for most people.
Graham: You mean my experiences are universal?
Juliet: Yes, sure. Let’s go with that.
Graham: Yeah, any other little tips for customers, or tips for float center owners to give their customers to prepare?
Juliet: No, I don’t think so. I think that’s it.
Graham: Don’t come in just super sloshed.
Juliet: Right, yeah, yeah.
Graham: Yeah, it’s just all the kind of basic stuff, you know. Once you’ve been open for a week, you kind of have your spiel down for all the little things to avoid. I guess the last thing is making sure people actually pay attention to those, because, often, you’ll be saying things, or your brochure says something like, “Don’t drink caffeine beforehand,” and what the person is thinking, “I get to float tomorrow,” and they’re absolutely not paying attention to your warnings.
So, reiterating that, you know, we say it in our brochure, we say it in our email, we do it during call-aheads, when we’re calling to people just reminding them of the little things that they should do to prepare, so, don’t think that just because you say this in one place that people will internalize it and actually prepare accordingly.
Juliet: Right, yeah. It takes, what, seven times in order for something to get stuck in your mind, sort of a thing? Repetition.
Graham: I don’t know, I’ve only heard that like three times, so it’s hard to remember.
Juliet: Yeah.
Graham: Cool. Well, if you have your own questions, or your own answers, I guess, if you want us to come up with questions, just go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast. And, yeah, we’ll do whatever you want. Just write in your demands there, just don’t hurt us.
Alright, bye, everyone.
Juliet: Bye.
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Still no Ashkahn today. He’s taking a couple of post-conference days to himself.
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Latest Blog Posts
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #28
Home sweet home! After so many months on the road, it was strange being back here in Portland. We were exhausted, excited, and a little travel weary. The first night back, I slept in my own bed for the first time in three months and the world just melted away.
Having travelled across the United States, I’m reminded of how insular Portland is. We are aggressively fixated on keeping things local. Local beer, ketchup, bikes, pet food, pillows, phone cases… it’s part of our charm. We want to reward people for living here and being a part of the community. It’s so pervasive that, after living here for so long, I kind of forgot that Secret Aardvark hot-sauce isn’t available everywhere, and that most cities don’t even recycle, let alone compost.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #27
Our northern neighbor – a sister city, of sorts – Seattle is the largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest. It’s the land of Microsoft and Kurt Cobain, and the culture here embraces both simultaneously. It’s tech business professional in the front and rock n’ roll grunge in the back. This blend creates a perfect storm of high energy business life and high energy nightlife, making relaxation a valuable commodity. Floating helps fill the void left by nightmarish traffic and overcrowded restaurants.
Given that it’s so close to home, the float centers in Seattle are a lot more familiar to us. Our visits here were more like a high school reunion than they were like the first day of school. During some of our visits, we were picking up conversations right where we left them.
The Float Tour Blog Issue #26
Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, and third largest on the West Coast. It’s a major hub for international trade, with one of the largest ports in the world, giving it a large migrant population, mainly from Asia, the Middle East, and Australia. It’s also been a long-time home to the Canadian film industry, and has even been nicknamed “North Hollywood.” Dozens of film and television productions from major studios film here every year.
Vancouver is very much an international city. It has large boroughs dedicated to varying cultures, including one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. The society here is more receptive to new ideas, always looking for the next big thing; it’s not surprising that floating has blown up in Vancouver as much as it has.
In the last 3 years, 10 float centers have opened up, most of them being larger 4–6 tank centers. The really interesting thing is how they all opened within the same short amount of time about 1 ½ to 2 years ago, within months of each other.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #25
We finally made it back to the West Coast! We went through the Canadian Rockies and were overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. We drove through hours and hours of winding mountain roads, fertile valleys, and tiny towns so picturesque they looked like movie sets. It was so captivating, in fact, I suspect Graham and Ashkahn may have secretly replaced themselves with robotic doppelgängers to hike throughout Banff.
This post will focus on the smaller communities in B.C. that are bringing floating to new people every day. We also get to visit Canadian manufacturer Pro Float. They’re relatively new to the scene, just opening up earlier this year – another exciting sign of the growth in the industry.
