Unlocking the Float Tank
Protocols for Opening Portals
In 2018, I was converted and initiated into the Church of the Void.
I was baptized by “the tank,” and have been spreading the “gospel of REST” ever since. I was so “touched by the spirit” of floating that I sold my house and bet all my savings on a float business like a radicalized evangelist. I then started dishing out floats like they were loaves and fishes.
Since my float-odyssey began, I’ve logged over 1000 hours in the holy of holies, experimented with dozens of sacraments and protocols, and paired floating with all manner of righteous modalities.
I’ve built my own Church of the Void, kept up to speed with all the latest float research, and trained with the leaders in peak performance and flow state optimization.
In other words, you might say I’m something like a high priest of floating. 🧙
But floating doesn’t land the same way for everyone, and most people have no idea what the actual fuck I am talking about when I start waxing esoteric about “the untapped potential of the tank, man!”
Many people who experience their first float are left wondering: “what is all the hype about?”
In an effort to answer that question (and evangelize), I’m sharing a bit of my float-philosophy, as well as some pro tips and protocols to help “unlock” the tank. I won’t be diving too deep into all the specific benefits of floating, but you can read that post here.
So if you’re curious about floating or you’ve been underwhelmed by your experience thus far, this post should give you some nice tools to open up some float-portals of your own.
If you’re an experienced psychonaut, be sure to stick around to the end to get access to my favorite float tank protocol - the True North Stack.
Float Philosophy
Before we can talk about specific protocols and pairings, we need to understand what the tank is all about, as well as lay down a foundation for safe and effective journeys.
How you show up to the tank makes all the difference.
Fundamentally, what is the float tank, and how should we approach it?
TLDR: The float tank is a portal, but it takes practice to open it.
The YOUniverse
The float tank was designed and engineered to be an isolation experience. Take some water, add a little salt (actually, add a fuck-ton of salt), add some peace and quiet, and voila! Float tank.
There’s a whole laundry list of mental and physical benefits associated with floating, but rather than a prescription to fix your back pain, this is more of an esoteric hot take on the real nature of the tank.
When you enter the tank, the stimulation and distractions of the outer world are eliminated (if done properly) so that one might enter an inner realm and explore the “YOUniverse” within.
Everything you experience in the float tank is something you brought in with you. - Me
Like a magic mirror, the tank illuminates the vast inner realms of the Self.
I’m using the term “Self” in the Jungian sense, meaning the totality of the psyche.
In Greek, the word “psyche” refers to the human soul or spirit, the non-physical essence of a person. It also originally meant “breath” which was considered the life force or animating principle of living beings. Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul, depicted as a woman with butterfly wings. 🦋
The Self includes AND transcends the ego. It’s the archetype of wholeness, the sacred union of opposites, the guiding light - True North. The Self invites us to venture beyond the known and take the path of individuation - to embark on the odyssey of our lives.
By very definition the tera incognita of Self is mysterious and unknown, but also contains priceless treasures of healing, self-discovery, and transformation.
The float tank is a portal.
A portal into Self.
A portal for the evolution of consciousness.
A portal to the YOUniverse.
The Practice
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one float isn’t going to un-fuck your psyche. If you’re seeking the deeper treasures of the float tank, its gonna require some ongoing practice.
A ritual float practice is a commitment to continually come back to center, to cultivate an intimate relationship with Self, and to become an explorer of psyche (a psychonaut).
The good news - Floating is incredibly relaxing and recharging. Once you get into it, its the easiest thing ever, you literally just float. It’s something I always look forward to.
The bad news - As with most good things in life, starting is the hard part. Plus, it requires a financial investment (albeit a relatively small one).
Beginning a float practice is tall task for the distracted masses who’s attention has been captured. We modern monkeys are trapped in a house of screens, itching for that next hit of doom-scroll dopamine.
The Anthropocene hasn’t been kind to our psyches, and for most, the float tank seems less like a groovy adventure and more like a crucible of boredom and anxiety.
But if 60-90 minutes in a float tank sounds like the greatest trial of your life, ask yourself this… If you’re this anxious about stepping away from TikTok and being alone with yourself for an hour, what does that say about your relationship to Self? What does it say about your addiction to hyper-normal stimuli?
Maybe its time to put down that notification needle and start to get to #knowthyself.
Boredom is the fertile ground of creativity. Anxiety is an invitation into healing. Do the hard thing.
There’s a transformational journey awaiting the hero who will answer the call to adventure. Some curiosity and a pinch of courage will take you a long way.
A single float interrupts the chaos and resets the nervous system. It allows you to zoom out and reflect on your life, to see a bigger picture. It begins an intimate conversation with Self.
A float practice continues that conversation with a life-changing odyssey.
Safety and Respect
As far as I have been able to find in my research, only one person has ever drowned in a float tank, and it was a 71 year old woman who had a bad fall on her way in. Considering that hundreds of thousands of floats happen every year, I would say that’s a pretty decent track record.
Floating is incredibly safe (and beneficial) for almost anyone, so why a section about safety?
Simply put - drugs.
From the very beginning, float tanks have been associated with altered states and psychedelic exploration. John Lily, the crazy/brilliant scientist who invented the tank, went deeper than most with his LSD + Ketamine multi-hour extended floats.
As a self-identified psychonaut and explorer of the YOUniverse, I’m not about to say you should never pair substances with floating. However, for most people, most of the time, floating sober will be the best course of action.
Floating sober is amazing, and should be your default float-mode. Plus, you can go a long way with simple breathing and meditation techniques (no drugs required).
It goes without saying, but as an adult, you’re in charge of you (hopefully). You are sovereign over your own body and your state of consciousness.
Pairing substance use with the float tank can yield powerful returns, but it comes with risks and should be approached with serious intention and respect.
Don’t do anything stupid… like freak out the float staff, pee or shit in a float tank, or end up in jail.
Most important of all, DONT END UP IN A BODY BAG. That would be a real dick move.
With that caveat, lets crack on.
Preparing for the Journey
Before you begin your float session, there are a few things to consider as part of the set up. These elements aren’t required to have a good float, but they can certainly take it to the next level.
Here are some pro-tips to set yourself up for an epic float.
Intentional Ritual
Intention seems to be the main rudder for guiding the float experience, but its also important to leave space for grace. Let the tank surprise you.
What you want to avoid are fixed expectations of how a float is “supposed” to go.
If you’re seeking some clarity or insight, hold your question or intention loosely and allow the experience to take you wherever it will. The reality is, you can’t force anything in the tank, so you might as well surrender to the float.
That being said, intention makes a huge difference.
Preparing for a float with quiet reflection, self inquiry, and some journaling can really open up the possibility-space. Take your time and cultivate a ritual before each float.
Our “Luminary Lounge” at True North Float was designed just for this.
Burn some incense.
Pull a tarot card if you want a fun way to connect with the subconscious mind.
Did I mention journaling?
Get witchy with it… or don’t.
Make your pre-float ritual your own.
Cannabis
Once again, floating sober should be your default float-mode, but in my opinion, there’s no better way to experience cannabis than in the float tank.
Adding a cannabis sacrament to your intentional pre-float ritual can be a powerful enhancement and will certainly impact your float.
Whether this impact is positive or negative will largely depend on your current state and how you are approaching the tank (set and setting). You might not always get a fun or enjoyable experience. Sometimes the “work” involves facing your fear and anxiety, processing grief, or integration of your shadow.
Know that adding cannabis to the equation will likely increase the intensity of the experience, and is NOT for everyone. I consider this for experienced floaters and psychonauts only.
Cannabis is widely considered safe for most adults, but more data is coming out that shows mixed results. Cannabis can be habit forming, and can exacerbate certain predispositions for mental disorders, so its important to use your discernment, do your own research, and move at the speed of trust.
You definitely want to be comfortable with cannabis AND floating before you choose to mix the two together.
Sacramental Use
Cannabis has many uses. It’s viewed as both a recreational drug, a therapeutic medicine, and a sacred sacrament. When it comes to floating, I prefer to view cannabis as a sacrament, which I “infuse” with my intention (prayer) during my pre-float ritual.
As with any substance, cannabis should be respected and used with intention.
For me, cannabis has been a powerful tool in the float tank, as it helps me to drop into a deep embodied state. I pair it with my floats when I want to connect to the body’s subtle energy system (chakras) and activate the innate healing intelligence of the body.
There’s too many new-age buzz words to unpack in this bit, so lets just keep on rollin.
Cannabis in the tank can produce a wide array of effects, from relaxing to energizing, from physical to visionary, from anxiety inducing to spiritually profound. It effects everyone differently, and no two journeys are the same.
Some of the most profound experiences of my life have been floating while high on cannabis.
Edible vs Smoked
I prefer edible cannabis, as it affords a more embodied experience than smoked cannabis. It’s also easier to dose, and has a longer lasting effect thats perfect for a 90 minute float.
Plus, in general, smoking is sort of terrible for your health.
Its important to be comfortable with cannabis outside of the tank before you try and float with it in your system, and its important to start with a lower dose than you think you should. You don’t want the first time you get blasted on weed to be in a float tank… trust me on that one.
Dosing at 5 mg of THC should be plenty for your first cannabis enhanced float journey - or the more pithy“elevated float” if you prefer.
True North Float legally provides uplifting and relaxing edible cannabis options at our shop for those who are experienced and ready to explore further.
Fire & Ice
My favorite wellness modality to pair before a float is contrast therapy.
Sauna and cold plunge is all the craze right now, and for good reason. There’s nothing like fire & ice to blow off all my stress, connect me to my breath, and prime me for an amazing float.
Sweating out toxins in the sauna and jumpstarting the body in the cold plunge feels incredible, and sets you up to hit the float water with a calm mind and a relaxed body. This allows you to go deeper in the float tank, as you aren’t spending half of the float trying to let go of your day.
At True North, we have Fire & Ice + Float pairings available all day long, and highly recommend it if you can spare another hour to really level up the experience.
If you’re on a tight budget or a tight schedule, consider taking a cold shower right before your float. Its not the same as a plunge, but its still a great way to charge up the body, activate your breath, and prepare you for a great float.
Plus, after doing the work of cold exposure, laying down in the float tank feels like being wrapped in a soft warm blanket of bliss.
Enter the Void
Ok, so you’ve set your intentions, you’ve (potentially) taken some sacramental cannabis, you primed the body, and now its time to float.
Here’s a couple pointers to get the most out of your float journey.
Breathwork
Breath is life, and there’s nowhere better to connect to the breath than in the float tank.
This is by far the #1 tool to take your float practice deeper. Follow the breath and you’ll be amazed at what happens next.
The breath is both a conscious and an autonomous function of the body - you can control it, and it also simply happens. This is the perfect “wedge” to go beyond the monkey mind and explore the YOUniverse.
I wont list all the various breathwork techniques you could explore in the float tank, but in general, there are two types of breathwork worth mentioning:
Down-Regulating Breath
This involves slowing your respiratory rate and calming the nervous system.
I recommend this to relax, reduce stress, and calm the mind. This is a must for anyone who is dealing with chronic pain, fear, and anxiety. Inhale the new shit, exhale the bullshit.
Box breathing is my drug of choice when I encounter turbulence during a float. It’s incredibly simple and effective.
4 x 4 Box Breath:
Inhale 4 counts, hold 4 counts, exhale 4 counts, hold 4 counts, repeat.
You can increase the size of your “box” as your body adapts and you’re lung capacity grows. Before you know it you’ll be in monk mode - taking only one extended breathe per minute (15 x 15 box breath).
Up-Regulating Breath
This involves increasing your respiratory rate, and will fill the body with more prana or life-force energy.
I recommend it if you want to add more intensity to the float, get deeper into the body, and explore some altered states of consciousness.
Listen to your body and go at your own pace.
The most popular (and my personal favorite) type of up-regulating breath is Wim Hof Method. I recommend 3-5 rounds at the beginning of your float to really blast things off.
Some people might be concerned with doing hyper-ventilative breathing while laying in a body of water. That hesitation makes sense in any normal water, but the float tank is a different story. People fall asleep during floats every day. I’m not suggesting that you overdo it and lose consciousness in the tank, BUT if you did, you would just float peacefully on your back until you woke up.
In hundreds of breathwork-powered floats, I’ve never lost consciousness or felt unsafe in the tank.
There are some fascinating states on the other side of some Wim Hof breathing. Seriously, its worth exploring, especially in the float tank.
We are such big fans of it, that we’ve even created a guided Wim Hof track on our waterproof headphones at True North Float.
Meditation
Floating in a perfectly comfortable environment with no outer distractions is ideal for exploring the mind. Its also the best place I know of for inspiration to find you.
If you already have a meditation practice, run it through some floats! If not, here are a few tools to get you started.
The float tank is like meditation on steroids. - Me again
Witness
Observe the constant arising and passing of thoughts and sensations without judgement.
Following the breath is usually the easiest and most effective way to keep the mind alert and not get totally lost in thought. When you realize you’re thinking about TikTok again, just bring your attention gently back to the breathe and begin again.
This witnessing practice pairs wonderfully with box breathing, and I recommend this technique for anyone with a busy mind.
Remember, the point isn’t to get anywhere. Just witness.
Contemplate
A personal favorite of mine, this technique involves following a particular train of thought with focussed attention rather than just witnessing what arises.
Its not a forced thing, but rather a playful dance as you observe where a line of inquiry or imagination is leading you (ideally its in the direction of your your pre-float intention). You are aiming for that sweet spot between focussed attention and relaxed openness.
Follow the muse wherever it takes you.
Curiosity is the flavor of deep contemplation.
Waking Up
Like anything else, meditation requires practice for it to bear fruit, and its hard to understate the benefits of a spacious mind.
My favorite tool for practicing meditation outside of the tank is the Waking Up app. Its a treasure trove of various practices, philosophy, and life wisdom that will absolutely transform your life if you let it.
Although I don’t agree with Sam Harris (the creator of Waking Up) about many things (his peddling of determinism, for example), I still think the app is an incredible resource and tool for the awakening of consciousness.
Its free for everyone for the first 30 days, and free beyond that to anyone who can’t afford it, so you truly have nothing to lose (other than your anxiety).
Go on then, check it out.
Yoga
Yes, yoga in the float tank is a thing, especially when the float tanks were designed for it.
After floating in every kind of pod and cabin out there, we decided to build custom rooms big enough for any sized human to sprawl out and get into the most juicy of stretches.
Our float suits at True North are the ideal environment for embodied healing, as we created incredibly spacious [6 x 8 x 8] tanks with grippy traction on the bottom and grab bars for assistance.
My yoga practice has completely evolved because of the tank. When you’re floating, there’s a whole landscape of yogic possibilities that open up. Being free from gravity is a real game changer, particularly for the spine.
The tank assists in connecting to that inner primal intelligence of the body that’s beyond the thinking mind. This ancient inner physician knows how to heal, you just have to “get out of the way” and give it a chance to do its thing.
The float tank is the perfect place to move in any way your body needs.
Once again, the breath is the doorway, the wedge, the bridge, and all the other metaphors that point towards transcendence.
Follow your breath and it will take you for a ride.
Just try and keep that salt water out of your eyes! 👀
Extending the Journey
A float is a powerful thing on its own, but you can also extend the journey by adding a post float pairing. My two favorite ways to do this are with massage and ketamine breathwork, both of which are offerings at True North Float.
These are optional add-ons that might just blow your mind.
Massage
Once you’ve spent 60-90 minutes in the tank, you’ve reduced muscle tension, relaxed the body, and prepared yourself for the best massage of your life.
Often times the first half of a massage is spent trying to get the body to relax and open, but after a float its already optimized for deeper bodywork, especially if you’re going deep in the tank with some breathwork or yoga.
Wether you already love massage, or you’re dealing with particularly tight tissues, or if you’re a primate of any kind, I highly recommend you float then get a massage. It’s incredible.
Spending three hours at True North and pairing these modalities is most glorious.
Ketamine Breathwork
The float tank is the perfect primer to set you up for a powerful ketamine breathwork journey.
Ketamine breathwork is a modality that merges ketamine therapy with breathwork in a safe and intentional container. This service is provided by our friends over at The Ketamine Clinic, Satori Health and Wellness, and is the most potent and potentially profound modality available at True North Float.
You can learn more about ketamine breathwork at True North here.
Floating before the ketamine session is the perfect way to clarify your intentions, rid yourself of any residual stress or anxiety, and prepare for a transformational blast off. 🚀🦋
I also recommend a few weekly float sessions after your ketamine breathwork session to prolong the benefits and to integrate the experience.
Important Disclaimer
While ketamine use in float tanks is quite popular within the psychonaut community, True North Float does not offer these type of “visionary floats” at this time. Due to safety concerns and liability, we expect all ketamine use at our facility to occur with a prescription and within the intentional and safe container provided by Satori Health, NOT in our float tanks.
The Return Journey
Your float session might be over, but that doesn’t mean the journey ends here. After all, reaching the summit is only half the journey. Now it’s time to come off the mountain safely and return to the village with helping hands.
This is how to nail re-entry.
The Luminary Lounge
Every good float center has a zen room or tea lounge. This post float space is critical for two main reasons: to land softly back on Earth, and to integrate your session.
Going from 90 minutes of expansive tranquility to notifications and traffic is no fun. Give yourself the gift of an extra 15 minutes or so to enjoy a beverage and reflect on your float journey.
I cant understate the value of integrating your session while it is fresh. Use your journal to free write your post-float thoughts and capture the insights and “downloads” of your session.This is also a great opportunity to share your story in our community book if you feel called.
Plus, you might just happen into an amazing conversation with a total stranger.
Our Luminary Lounge cultivates magical connections daily.
Integration - “Doing the Work”
You’ve summited the mountain and perhaps gleaned some powerful insights, but the real work comes next.
“Doing the work” means taking that new awareness or insight and integrating it back into the everyday mundane world back here in 3D. How can you turn your new perspective into inspired action? Are you simply sensation seeking or is this practice bearing fruit in your life?
My favorite tool for integration is journaling, as it allows me to bring the ephemeral and imaginary down into the word, which in my view is the first step in the manifestation process.
In addition to journaling, sharing and integrating with others can be extremely valuable as well. That’s why we are stewarding a “cosmic campfire” for seekers and explorers to swap notes and engage in good faith dialogue.
It helps to find the others.
But most of all, integration involves following that guidance from Self and taking inspired action. Plant those new seeds. Water them with love. Bring your prayer into the world.
Stay awake. Build stuff. Help out. - Jaime Wheal
Take Refuge in Ritual
One of the most important tools I’ve picked up from my mentor Jaime Wheal is the liberating structure of a hedonic calendar.
In his book Recapture the Rapture, Jaime lays out the framework for balancing ecstatic peak states with every day life.
Hedonic Calendar TLDR
Calendar in your peak states so that you don’t get trapped in the monotonous rut of the everyday grind, and also don’t get bent towards blind hedonism.
This calendar includes daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual “peak experiences.” Each category should warrant something a bit edgier than the last, with more risk and investment to pull it off.
Daily practices are low risk, low reward, while annual ones are high risk and high reward.
A simple example of a daily “peak experience” that is low risk and relatively low reward is a meditation + breathwork practice. First thing in the morning, get outside into the sunlight, breathe, and just be in the present. This is a perfect way to set yourself up for a great day, and it has massive cumulative benefits over the long term.
The “compound interest” effect of the daily practice doesn’t make a whole lot difference over the span of weeks, but over a few years you’ll see profound upgrades.
The Sabbath is a perfect ancient example of weekly hedonic calendaring, where one day of each week is dedicated to that which is most sacred.
We can extend this beyond religion into a Secular Sabbath, and for one day each week (not necessarily on Sunday), we climb off of the hamster wheel, and simply savor the world. Instead of chasing our goals, we might instead zoom out and determine what goals are actually worth chasing.
This day of rest and reflection is a perfect ritual for immersion in nature, connecting with loved ones, time spent in worship and prayer, and (you guessed it) a weekly float practice.
The Secular Sabbath practice is something fairly easy to turn into a ritual, while your annual peak experience might consist of pushing through some major resistance and crossing something huge off of your bucket list.
At the end of the day, your Hedonic Calendar could look something like this:
Daily (365) - 30 minutes of breathwork and meditation.
Weekly (52) - A full-day Secular Sabbath including time in nature, loved ones, and self-reflection.
Monthly (12) - Re-center with the True North Stack, get out under the full moon, or take a day trip into the mountains.
Seasonal (3) - A “big” experience, perhaps involving higher stakes like travel or psychedelics.
Annual (1) - Pick one of your seasonal experiences to scratch something off your bucket list. This might include international travel, an extended retreat, or summiting an epic mountain. This usually requires preparation, training, and a financial commitment.
The moral of the story here, is to structure in your inspiration so you dont get lost in the sauce of the rat race or get sucked into endless sensation seeking. A hedonic calendar affords you the peak experiences and ecstasis you’re seeking, without handing over your agency to novelty addiction.
You don’t want life to pass you by, but you also don’t want to become a lizard-brained fuck-monkey endlessly hitting all the pleasure buttons.
Surrender to the structure. Take refuge in ritual.
The True North Stack
Gold star for making it this far! ⭐️
As a quick preface, a “stack” is a biohack-y term for the combining and sequencing of various elements that play nicely together. The goal is to increase the upside and reduce the possible downsides of the components involved (in the stack).
For example, the cannabis + functional mushroom gummies we stock at True North Float are a stack of various ingredients that land pretty nicely. But the stack that will always reign supreme in our hearts (and bellies) is of course, the PB&J.
Peanut butter is good, jelly is nice, but a PB&J is a fucking timeless classic.
The True North Stack is NOT the ultimate psychedelic blast off experience (that’s a different stack). Rather, this is a ritual that is much more sustainable and can be implemented into your hedonic calendar on a weekly to monthly basis. Its fairly low risk with quite a high ROI.
Its the culmination of a 1000+ float hours, countless experiments with various enhancements, and pairings with all manner of different wellness modalities.
So without further ado, my favorite float tank protocol - The True North Stack.
Pre- Float Ritual
Show up 30 minutes before the float, light some incense, set the mood with some medicine music, and enter into sacred space - think Sabbath practice.
TNF usually has the incense and music dialed, but we are happy to take special requests.
Ingest 5-10 mg of high quality, edible, sacramental THC (after blessing it of course) about 30-45 minutes before the float.
I prefer sativa strains for contemplative floats, and indica strains for yoga floats. We have some good stuff at the shop.
Rapé also fits really nicely as a ritual sacrament. Careful though, tobacco is slippery. Make sure you stay in the drivers seat with all substances.
Consult the tarot and write down your float intentions.
The tarot is a great way to connect with the sub-conscious mind, and doesn’t have to be approached as prophetic or supernatural. If it speaks to you, listen. That’s the Self you’re hearing.
The Session
40 minutes of Fire & Ice
When the edible hits in the cold plunge, you’ll find out what you’re made of 🥶. (Substitute with a cold shower if needed.)
90 minute float
Begin your float with 3-5 rounds of Wim Hof Method breathwork. Listen to the body and follow the breath where it wants to go. We have a great guided track for this if you prefer.
Depending on the intention for the session, relax into a witnessing practice, stay actively engaged in contemplation, or dive deep into embodiment (yoga).
Post-Float
Land softly in the Luminary Lounge with some tea or a refreshing elixir.
Free write for as long as needed to capture the insights and actionable items from the session.
Optional: Share your story or open up a dialogue around the Cosmic Campfire.
If you’re near Southern Utah or you want to be, come on by to True North Float and try the True North Stack for yourself.
Great post! I love doing yoga and controlled breathing in the float tank. Enjoy the YOUniverse :)
Great write up!