Casey’s First Float
To tell this story, briefly I hope, I have to go back about seven years. I was working a job that required a lot of daily driving, so I used a lot of podcasts to fill up my ‘windshield time.’ I quickly turned into a Joe Rogan Experience fanboy. I listened to the podcast 5 days a week, which was perfect because back then I think he was putting out episodes almost daily.
Through that podcast, I got acquainted with both floating and Onnit - a supplement company in Austin, Texas. I was a nationally ranked powerlifter at the time, and was awarded a sponsorship with this up and coming company, which eventually meant trips to Austin. At 25 years old this was a dream.
On one of these trips to Austin, I went with the Onnit team to Zero Gravity Float Institute. I knew about floating from the podcast and had done a bunch of research but hadn’t found anywhere to float in Pittsburgh. Looking back, I believe there were one or two tanks in the city but I just wasn’t looking hard enough.
If I’m being honest, the experience was a let down!
The float studio was beautiful. The tanks were huge and welcoming. But I was a mess. I think I had a cup of coffee an hour or two before going in, so I laid down and my brain bounced off the walls for an hour. It was certainly not the magical experience I had made it out to be in my mind after researching it and hearing about it constantly from Joe Rogan.
But if you know me, or you get to know me, the obstacle is the way. I was going to ‘figure out floating,’ come hell or high water. So I came home and found a float studio, and immediately went back with a fresh approach. CUE THE MAGIC.
The combination of not being caffeinated and experiencing sensory deprivation for the second time was the sweet spot. I zenned out in the tank and was disappointed that it didn’t last longer when the exit track started playing.
I began using sensory deprivation as a way to recover from competitive powerlifting - a sport in which you progressively overload your body in an attempt to become as strong as possible, resulting in CNS (central nervous system) fatigue. And floating is the perfect way to help it recover - turning on your parasympathetic response, dropping cortisol levels and blood pressure, not to mention taking the pressure off of your joints with the weightless effect it provides.
As my competitive powerlifting days abruptly ended, I began coaching and training others, which opened the door for me to share the value of this experience. I had a client that was a high achieving business owner that trusted me and went through a float experience to alleviate some daily stress. I got a text immediately after his first float… “We need to bring these big tanks to Pittsburgh!” And in short, Victory Float Lounge was born, years after my first float experience.
