For several years I’ve been half wanting to try float therapy and half freaked out at the idea of locking myself in a dark chamber and floating in salt water. Every year my goal is to try new things for the first time, even if it scares me. When the opportunity came up to try float therapy at Float North County, I jumped at the chance. I was definitely nervous prior to going and freaked out before my first float. But now in hindsight, it was all for nothing. Everyone’s experience and what you get out of float therapy will be completely different. I wanted to share some tips that I think help allow you to have a better possible float experience.

A float pod

Inside my float room

My float room with the lights on

I had to take a float selfie!

Chilled post-float vibes!

Float Therapy Tips:

1. Before your float therapy appointment, you will get some info about how to float and what to expect. Read it well. The attendant at Float North County also ran through what would happen, listen to them!
2. Try not to drink any caffeine before your appointment. I always need at least one cup in the morning so I scheduled my appointments in the later afternoon so that the caffeine wouldn’t have a huge effect.
3. Be hydrated! I drink quite a bit of water normally so I made sure to drink loads before and after my appointments.
4. Don’t go on a full stomach. One day I was a bit hungry so I had half a banana before my float.
5. Exercise before you float. It is supposed to help your experience. I did yoga twice before my floats and did cardio before one. I think the yoga helped me stay in a calm state of mind to experience a deeper float.
6. Go to the toilet and expel anything before you float especially if you have drunk a lot of water.
7. When you’re getting ready for your float, put in the earplugs they give you. For my first float, I didn’t put my earplugs in and I was really bothered by the water in my ears. For my second and third float experiences, I put in earplugs and was not bothered by the salt water.
8. If you have any cuts or scrapes, be sure to put a heavy layer of vaseline to cover them. It is going to sting a lot! On my last float, I had two cuts and one kept stinging and was distracting me. So I actually went out of the float room to reapply a heavier layer of Vaseline. This helped and there was no more stinging. Also, don’t shave before your float!!!
9. If you wear contacts like me, don’t forget to bring your contact case and solution and take them out. On my last float, I forgot to bring my case and wore my contacts. I’m a bit of a spazz so of course, the salty water stung my eyes when I tried to rub away the salt water from coming close.
10. If you get claustrophobic, check if there are rooms rather than pods. I was a bit nervous about going into a pod and that I would feel like I was in a coffin. Luckily for me, North County Float has 1 pod and 2 rooms. Even though the room is spacious for me, I also left a little gap in the door by placing a towel to prop it open. This helped me so I didn’t feel caged in.
11. Everyone’s experience is going to be completely different. I freaked out for the first 30 minutes and was sitting up rather than floating. I also got out of the float room for a few minutes to calm down and went back it. After my initial freak out, I was fine. I did some yoga breathing and just focused on being in the moment.
12. I found breathing helped a lot. On my first float, I did some breathing exercises to calm my nerves and relax. When I found myself getting anxious, I would sit up and do some breathing exercises through my nostrils. This would help clear out my head of all the thoughts in my head so I could relax and chill out.
13. If you need to refocus, I was told by one of the attendants to step out and take a quick shower and re-enter. I found this very helpful in my subsequent floats. There is no proper or perfect experience. So if you need to get up and re-center, do it!
14. Let go of any thoughts or feelings. Just float. Go with an open mind. I wasn’t sure what to expect and what I would get out of float therapy so I just went to my appointments without any expectations.
15. I always think that I’m going to sink when I’m in the water. There’s so much salt in the float rooms and chambers that there is no way to sink. You will be so buoyant! So don’t fret about floating.

I also tried out two unique treatments or therapies at Float North County:

Infrared Sauna

I did a 30-minute session in the sauna. There are supposedly many other health benefits to using the infrared saunas but I definitely enjoy sweating as I feel like I am detoxing and sweating out any bad stuff. I did wear my heart rate monitor and if you’re wondering I burned about 100 calories in my 30-minute session of just sitting there!

Inside the sauna

Lucia Light

I tried out this new to me therapy called Lucia Light. It’s quite interesting. I relaxed on a chair and let this super bright light pulsate and flash at me while I had my eyes closed. Do not open them! If you have had seizures in the past, I would probably avoid this therapy. Supposedly this therapy allows you to get into a deeper relaxed state, sparks creativity, and even helps with quality of sleep. I did this therapy before a float so I couldn’t differentiate if it was more beneficial to do it or not. Perhaps I need to try it alone!

Lucia Light-ing

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I loved trying out these different therapies and treatments for my health and wellness. I think that floating helped me with some anxiety I was having and as well helped me with my sleep at night. I’ve been having a hard time sleeping lately and I slept more sound on the nights I did float. I am definitely open to the idea of floating more and seeing how it can help me. If you happen to be in the San Diego area and want to give these therapies a try, the folks at Float North County were really friendly as well as informative. I always have a thousand questions and they answered all of them and helped me overcome my fear of being claustrophobic.

Float North County

991 Lomas Santa Fe Drive Suite D

Solana Beach, CA 92075

(858) 925-6069

*Disclaimer: Many thanks to Float North County for the complementary experiences. As always, the opinions stated are mine.*