Over 500 floats

November 14, 2016 was our center's 2 month anniversary.  We opened for business on September 14, 2016 and since then it has been a whirlwind of activity and time has actually flown by.

Suzy and I want to thank all the wonderful people who have come to Enlighten Float.  It's been amazing to meet so many new people and be a part of their discovery of floating or for some others, part of their ongoing floating journey.  The look on their faces and their reactions as they come out of the float rooms is the answer to the question "why did you want to open a float center?"  We feel extremely grateful and humbled by the enormously positive reactions from our community.  It makes all the stress of opening a new business worthwhile.

Although floating has been around for awhile, it hasn't been easily accessible for most people in the Bay Area.  We are honored to be a part of the growing float center community in the San Francisco Bay Area and are excited to be able to offer this amazing therapy to our Tri-Valley community.

The Inspiration

Here is the video that my sister-in-law showed me of Stephen Curry and Harrison Barnes floating at Reboot Float Spa in San Francisco.

The NBA champs are floating. Literally. In his latest "Hang Time" feature, ESPN's Sam Alipour catches up with NBA MVP Stephen Curry and Harrison Barnes to learn more about floating, a sensory-deprivation exercise that allows the Warriors to recover after games. (SportsCenter debut: 12/10/15)

I had heard of sensory deprivation tanks before watching this video.  I just did not know where you could go to try it out.

Growing in the Bay Area and playing basketball since I was a young child, my favorite team has always been the Golden State Warriors.  One of my earliest childhood memories is watching one of their basketball games when I was only five or six years old on one of the first color television sets that I had ever seen.  I remember the gold uniforms and how they ran up and down the court so fast.  I was mesmerized by how the ball would travel through the air and go through the hoop. It was the beginning of a love affair with the game of basketball that I would have for the rest of my life.  This current Golden State Warriors team with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green is the best team I've ever watched.  They have reignited my joy for the game and now I get to share this team with my kids and see them fall in love with this beautiful game as I once did.

The beginning...

The dream of being in business for ourselves is one of the first dreams that Suzy and I had together.  It has taken on various forms throughout our lives and this new business venture is it's latest manifestation.  Suzy and I have always worked in the corporate world but we have always wanted to own our own business.  A business that serves our community in which we live and provides value to those around us. So we have been looking and waiting patiently for the opportunity to start our own business. Enlighten Float is a manifestation of that desire, that dream that we have carried with us all these years.

In December 2015, I was visiting my brother when my sister-in-law showed me a video of Stephen Curry and Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors floating at Reboot Float Spa in San Francisco. The video was so interesting that I booked an appointment for Suzy to try it during our Christmas vacation.  While we were there, they had a last minute cancellation so I was able to book a float appointment for myself a few days later.

My first experience in the float tank was amazing.  I didn't know what to expect so I came in not having any real expectations as to what the experience was going to be like.  For me, the experience was incredible and deeply stirring.  There were points where I was laughing and crying while I floated in the dark.  Emotions that I had not felt in a long time rose to the surface and I relived some very personal and powerful moments in my life.

As I walked around the streets of San Francisco after my first float, I came to realize that floating needed to be a part of our lives and sharing this unique experience would be the start of a beautiful business venture for Suzy and I.