New Biz Oly: Oly Float

Introducing you to new locally-owned businesses..

OLY FLOAT

Michael Redman was engaged in a financial services job that required commuting to Spokane. “I was losing sleep, worn out,” Michael recalls, “so I tried a flotation tank. I was finally able to relax and consolidate a whole night’s sleep into a couple of hours using flotation. I liked it so much, I bought a tank when we sold our business and brought it to Olympia.”

Cj Russo installed it at the Olympia Wellness Center in August of 2012, where it resides now, the first flotation/sensory deprivation tank in Thurston County.

Cj, who was getting interested in the “floating business” before meeting Michael, attended a float conference in Portland that totally convinced him to get into floatation. “That conference was the epicenter of the float revival,” Cj enthuses, “and I got fired up, came back ready to start Oly Float with Mike and Kristin. We opened in this location in December, and we are putting finishing touches on this great building we call The Soul Space.”

The remodeled house is beautifully appointed and remodeled, roomy enough to house several other small businesses: Generations Massage, Intuitive Being energy work, Dorje Media, Victoria Bitar’s craniosacral therapy, Goldroot Botanical Medicine, and Delta Research Group, (the ‘basement boys’) working with metahuman sciences, neurology, and fusion energy. It also is home to a floatation tank 30% larger than any other on the market, built by the Oly Float team. Another tank is underway just down the hall.

Michael says, “These tanks are unique in that people can stand up to enter and leave, and there are 1000 lbs of Epsom salts per 220 gallons of solution within. The tanks drain completely between each float, and the water that is drained is filtered four times.

“This is a spa experience that people won’t get at home. A steam shower precedes and follows the float…six acupressure jets with rain showerheads and Chroma Light therapy in the shower stall. The door is secure while clients are floating. Privacy is assured.  We have put lighted stars in the ceiling as an entry and exit feature, so floaters can be easily oriented. We also have installed transducers in the tanks so people can listen to meditative guides or accelerated learning recordings.”

Float sessions last from one hour to ninety minutes, and the cost is about $1 per minute. “Sessions can be split,” Michael says, “if someone wants to alternate floating with time in the infra-red sauna, where sweat is induced by the heat of infra-red rays. It’s a great way to detoxify the skin, to release heavy metals and lead from the system.”

Cj elucidates, “Benefits of floating include increased creativity, enhanced Theta meditative states, and physical healing. We are involved too with researchers looking into the effects of floating on those dealing with fibromyalgia. Findings show that the deprivation tank helps relieve stress and eases the effects of gravity for these patients, allowing the over-stressed brain to ‘defragment’. The water in the tank is the same temperature as the skin, 93.5 degrees. The treatment is fine for children, too.”

Michael adds, “Most people are magnesium deficient. Epsom salts are absorbed through the skin to alleviate muscle soreness while drawing lactic acid from the body. It has been life-changing for me to float, increasing my awareness, allowing me to enter deep meditative space more quickly and to greater effect. It is great how this all came together, so easily. And soon, I will be installing Timothy Leary’s own floatation tank in the basement! He was given the tank by his friend, the inventor of flotation therapy, Glenn Perry. It’s a Samadhi tank. I bought it on EBay,” Michael smiles. “This is a place for people to come, float, and then feel comfortable about hanging out for a while, a place to relax and unplug.”

Cj continues, “We are excited about this location, too, here on what is almost ‘spa row.’ We fit in nicely!”

1714 4th Avenue East

www.olyfloat.com

new-biz-oly is written by Holly Graham. To suggest a new locally-owned business to be featured, please email .