New year, new flood? Yep. So many floods – at home, at the center, all over the world! This first-show-of-the-year wiggles and winds through all the adventures of float center owner life – balancing family time for the holidays, deciding what gift card strategy to use, how many times you have to clean up a flood, whether a staggered schedule is right for you, who is beating and who dodged cancer, whether that “COVID padding” during turnovers is still needed, and how things are going when trying to sell your center.

This year is off to an interesting start already! The crew is back and warming up for a big year with you!

Sponsors
HelmBot
Float Tank Association
Mindfull Solutions
Art of the Float Store

Show notes. Show notes. Show notes.

They want me to write show notes, so with an episode like this, that’s the best I can do. Show notes.

How do you write notes for something that covers frog butts, bidets, Caring Bridge, cancer, closures, floods, laundry failures, rock stars, and favorite socks — and write show notes?! I can’t do it.

If you’re looking for advice for running your float center, you might find some here – mostly centered around ensuring you have electricity for the bidet of our dreams, but otherwise, the takeaway is this – get yourself a network of friends who’ll be there to send you inappropriate photos when times are hard, who’ll bring up your secrets on air, and who will laugh and cry with you through it all.

Happy holidays, and happy new year, dear friends. This is a fun one. Sorry, Olga.

Links
Gloria’s Caring Bridge

Sponsors
HelmBot
Float Tank Association
Mindfull Solutions
Art of the Float Store

How do you manage 6500 square feet and nine service modalities? Well, according to Tammy and Terry, owners of AquaSpa Float Center and Wellness Boutique in Oswego, New York, you hire a rock star team! 

Their managers, Katie and Terry (yes, another Terry) also joined the conversation to share their insights on the day-to-day operations, and how they keep a seamless flow, how many staff members are on a shift, and how they deliver personalized service to each guest who visits “the sanctuary”. 

This team certainly has created something magic in their community, and we know you’ll enjoy hearing all of their behind-the-scenes secrets about what modalities they love, those they regret, and what’s next – because they still aren’t done adding services yet!

Sponsors
HelmBot
Float Tank Association
Mindfull Solutions
Art of the Float Store

We’ve heard about VR and floating. Maybe you already have an opinion on it. Just hold that for now please. Our guest in this episode is taking VR a bit of a different direction – pairing it with meditation and biofeedback. Yep, we’ve heard about meditation and biofeedback before, but Healium puts allllll of it together in a new way!

Gloria is introducing this new technology at her studios, so the crew interviewed the Healium founder, Sarah Hill to find out what’s so special about it. Sarah has a background in TV news, and part of her beat involved covering traumatic stories. Eventually that led her to work with veterans, and as they started using virtual reality, they noticed a major shift – participants were FEELING emotions, not just watching things happen on a screen. It was a powerful discovery that led to her new program.

Sarah guides us through getting started with incorporating augmented reality and virtual reality into a meditation practice, as well as how her app is like a “portable, digital chill pill that prepares you for the float tank.”

Links
www.tryhealium.com

Sponsors
HelmBot
Float Tank Association
Mindfull Solutions
Art of the Float Store

Many float center owners backed a Kickstarter project by Shane Stott to release a documentary about the benefits of floating. Shane was already fairly well known in the float world, having released a book called The Float Tank Cure, about his battles with anxiety, depression, and stress, and how his downward spiral led him to a lifestyle of drinking too much and trying to drown out the pain. He learned about floating and went on to create his own tank, posting his plans and schematics online for his followers. Eventually, that led to a partnership that launched Zen Float Tanks, a portable, home model. And because Shane wanted the world to know about floating, he set out to create a documentary highlighting his story, but also the stories of so many others whose lives had been improved by float therapy.

But it all fell apart. As Shane said, “Admitting defeat was the hardest thing for me.” He lays it all out on this intimate episode – battling pandemic challenges, inflatable paddleboards wreaking havoc on his production, having an “increased tolerance for disappointment”, cutting hundreds of hours of film down to just over 98 minutes, delay after painful delay, experiencing profound loss, and eventually… finding peace.

He says he felt like he was running a marathon that turned out to be an ultra. His finish line kept moving, but after listening to this story, it sounds like maybe he just crossed it. At least until he signs up for the next one….

Links
floatingdocumentary.com

Sponsors
HelmBot
Float Tank Association
Mindfull Solutions
Art of the Float Store