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The Little Back Story To Our Big Family
Over the past 17 months since Halcyon welcomed our first floaters, we've been fortunate enough to see a big change in the acceptance of floating. Early on we filled our tanks with fans of Joe Rogan, John C. Lilly, and brave folks that just wanted to try this new weird thing. Now, if you were to ask me how I'd describe our demographic, I couldn't. And that's a good thing.
The city of Philadelphia has really taken to floating. Evidenced by the two Best of Philly, and three Reader's Choice awards we've won. The tanks did most of the work for us, but the staff around the tanks worked incredibly hard to get people INTO them. I spent a lot of time asking myself how to get an east coast city to stop moving for 90-minutes at a time. A number of things worked in our favor.
1. Keri.
2. The staff she built.
3. A great article written by Nick Vadala at Philly.com (You can read it in our 'In The News' section).
4. Best of Philly.
5. Philadelphia Union.
6. Preston & Steve.
A series of events brought Keri to a float tank, and the tank provided relief from the ills of the east coast hustle and bustle. So when she started Halcyon Floats, she was already viewing it through the scope of the people she would be offering the service to in Philadelphia. She didn't open Halcyon Floats specifically to offer the consciousness exploring, ego-stripping, psychedelic experience that is so loudly touted in the float community. Those things became secondary to just offering a break.
The staff of Halcyon have varying reasons for using float tanks. From managing chronic back pain, to managing the wear-and-tear of being a competitive athlete. Every staff member uses floating in a different application, but every single one of us are passionate about it. That gave us the biggest advantage. In my opinion the most important part of a float center (with the exception of the tanks), is the staff member leading you into your first float. Having a relatable staff that had all the same concerns about claustrophobia and sanitation has been the biggest asset to removing stigmas and growing our #floatfam.
Last year, Nick Vadala wrote a great "every-man's take" on floating with a perfect click-bait headline. There is no question that article influenced some people to come in that would have never considered it before reading. I know that, because I was answering the phones the morning it was published. Shortly after that we were given Best of Philly awards for Best Mental Detox and Best Excuse to Unplug from Everything. We were building legitimacy.
In July of 2014, we were contacted by Kevin Miller. Kevin is the strength and conditioning coach for the Philadelphia Union. We've had the incredible fortune of building an awesome relationship with the Union and their use of floating to keep their bodies fresh gives us an example of the physical benefits that we can share with our clientele. It's been a great tool, and we are forever grateful for The Union. Thank you!
Morning 95 or 76 traffic is unavoidable and lucky for us one of the voices filling all those cars, is a floater. Preston & Steve have a huge following and we were really lucky that Preston loved his first float. He did a great job describing the experience for a first time floater and I STILL have people coming in because of his recalling of his first float.
All of these things, combined with an increased willingness for people to explore alternative methods of wellness and the work of our peers in the area has created a culture of floating separate from John Lilly's silly hat, and psychedelia. Floating is becoming a bridge between two worlds that seemed completely contrasting.
It's refreshing to see.