Hopping into a soundproof, light-proof box filled with saltwater may be a popular relaxation therapy today, but those just discovering it are likely asking themselves: “who came up with this strange device, and when were float tanks developed?” In order to answer those questions, we first have to ask “why did they want to make them in the first place?” In the early 1950s, neuroscience was a relatively new field of study, and how the brain worked was much less understood than it is today. One prevalent theory at the time was that our brains were designed to react to stimulation and that everything we did was solely a reaction to something external. Because of this, some scientists thought that if we were to remove all sensory stimulation, our brains would simply shut down. Early experiments to test their theories involved rooms with white noise (such as fans) blocking out sound and goggles with bright lights to keep participants from seeing anything clearly. Physician and neurosci...

    This Pride, we thought we’d share a personal story from within the float community from someone who used floating to help her find herself.    Juliet Mylan is a trans woman who lives in Portland, Oregon and she has been gracious enough to share her experiences with floating and how it helped her understand her identity as a trans woman. This is her story:     My name is Juliet. My pronouns are “She/Her” and I’m transgender.   Most people are cisgender, which means they don’t battle with the thought that their body is wrong. A lot of people don’t understand what life is like for someone like me, so I thought I’d share how I came to understand myself.   Growing up, I didn’t have the language to understand these feelings. I didn’t even know what “transgender” meant. In my teenage years, as puberty hit, I started to feel like a stranger in my own body. Body and facial hair developed uninvited. My voice started to sound distorted and alien, making ...

Floating Into Your Best Summer 2020 is unique in being the only year in living memory that has consisted of an entire decade. Needless to say, we’ve all got a lot riding on the next few months. Floating is one of the best ways to enhance just about any experience, so it’s a natural fit for any big outings you may have planned. Float to Cool Down after Getting Worked Up Whether it’s from joining a local rugby team, going to a dance party, or just bicycling your local commute, going for a float after getting your heartrate up is a great way to bring you back to baseline. Floating is also a great way to let your body rest after pushing your limits. Many athletes who incorporate floating into their training program have been able to recover faster and perform better than without it. Appreciate the Little Things That post-float vibe you get when hopping out of the tank is one of the best times to stop and appreciate the beauty around you. After being in a sensory reduced environment (like a...

                       Theta State: How the Brain Signals Relaxation What’s happening to your brain when you float? How do you go from being awake, conscious, and stressed to relaxed and dreamy? While we still have a lot to discover when it comes to different states of consciousness, one key element is the “Theta State,” when our brain waves operate at a certain frequency most often linked to the moments between sleep and wakefulness. To really understand what the Theta State is and how it benefits us, we have to first explore a little bit about brain waves more broadly. In 1924, German psychoanalyst Hans Berger recorded an electronic signal coming from the brain for the first time. The signal was chaotic, intermittent, and didn’t exactly fit with the contemporary understanding of how brains functioned. It took him five years to figure out what his findings meant before he could publish any meaningful r...

How to Comfortably Float While Pregnant                                                            Floating has many potential benefits for both mom and baby, and so it’s not surprising to see a growing trend in floating while pregnant. Some take on floating to help reduce back pain, while others just love to hear their baby’s heartbeat without anything else around to distract them.                                                     The rise in floating while pregnant has sparked some questions. While medical questions are best left to your doctor, we wanted to provide some tips for one of the most common queries we hear: how can I comfortably float while pregna...

  How to Learn to Love Yourself (and Others)! Let’s talk about loving your self . It’s that time of year when partners and paramours really try to show their affection to their special someone. Alternatively, for the unattached, this time of year can be a reminder of our own isolation (and after 2020, that’s something we don't need more of). Whatever your Valentine’s Day might look like this year, you already have the perfect date: yourself. Even if you’ve already got a beau, belle, or similar beloved you intend to dote on, dedicating some affection internally can pay off for them as much as for you.  This means more than buying yourself something nice, giving yourself compliments, or going for a spa day. In fact, limiting your idea of self-love to such a surface level interpretation is going to be counterproductive in the long term. If you’re going to date yourself, you gotta remember that it’s not going to be like a first date. You already know your best stories, after all. ...