From Mad Science to Spa Day: The Weird History of Floating

Ever wondered how lying in a giant bathtub of salt water in complete darkness became a wellness trend? Buckle up, buttercup - we're diving into the weird history of Floating.

Picture this: It's 1954, and a neuroscientist named John C. Lilly has a question that sounds like it came from a very specific kind of party. "What happens to the brain," he wonders, "when you remove literally all stimulation from the outside world?"

Most people would shrug and move on with their lives. Lilly built a float tank.

The Mad Scientist Era

John C. Lilly wasn't your average lab coat enthusiast. This was a man who would later attempt to teach dolphins to speak English (really), experiment heavily with psychedelics (extensively), and write books about communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence. But before all that cosmic weirdness, he was a legitimate neuroscientist at the National Institute of Mental Health with a genuinely fascinating question about consciousness.

The prevailing theory at the time suggested that if you cut off all external stimulation, the brain would simply... turn off. Go to sleep. Power down like a computer with no inputs. Lilly suspected otherwise, and he was determined to find out.

So he did what any reasonable scientist would do: he built himself a lightless, soundproof tank, filled it with water heated to skin temperature and climbed in.

The brain did not turn off. In fact, it got weird. Without external stimulation, Lilly's brain started creating its own entertainment—hallucinations, deep meditative states, profound philosophical insights, and probably some stuff he wisely chose not to publish.

The Counterculture Discovers the Tank

Fast forward to the 1970s. Lilly had refined his design, published his findings, and—this being the '70s—the counterculture movement discovered sensory deprivation like a psychonaut finding a golden ticket. The isolation tank became the ultimate consciousness-exploration tool, especially when Lilly started combining floating with... let's call them "additional research materials."

His 1977 book, "The Deep Self," described the float tank as a gateway to exploring inner space as vast as outer space. He called the tank an "environment for exploring consciousness," which is a very scientific way of saying "this thing will blow your mind."

The tanks of this era were not the sleek, spa-like pods you see today. They were often homemade affairs—basically large boxes with a door, filled with water and Epsom salt. Think more "sensory deprivation coffin" than "luxury float experience." Romantic? No. Effective? Apparently yes.

This is one of the first tanks, where the user floated face-down with an oxygen mask. Doesn't look very relaxing, does it? 🫣

Hollywood Gets Weird With It

Then came 1980's "Altered States," a film loosely (very loosely) based on Lilly's work, in which William Hurt's character uses a sensory deprivation tank and some indigenous psychedelics to literally devolve into a primitive ape-man creature.

Did this happen to John Lilly? No.

Well...then again...who can be sure, really? 😉 Jk, jk...

Did it make isolation tanks look absolutely terrifying and fascinating in equal measure? Absolutely.

The film scared a whole generation while simultaneously making them curious. It's the horror movie effect—everyone's afraid but also wants to try it. Sensory deprivation tanks became both a cautionary tale and an aspirational experience.

The Science Catches Up

While Lilly was off talking to dolphins and exploring the cosmos, other researchers were conducting more... conventional studies. Throughout the '80s and '90s, scientists discovered that floating had some genuinely useful effects that had nothing to do with interdimensional travel.

Studies found that floating could:

• Significantly reduce stress and anxiety

• Lower blood pressure and cortisol levels

• Reduce chronic pain

• Improve sleep quality

• Enhance creativity and problem-solving

• Induce deep meditative states (without requiring years of practice)

  
  

Turns out, when you remove all external stimulation, your nervous system finally gets a chance to chill out. Who knew? (Well, Lilly knew. But now there was data.)

The mechanism is actually pretty logical: In the modern world, your brain is constantly processing thousands of inputs—sounds, sights, smells, the feeling of clothes on your skin, the temperature, your phone buzzing. It's exhausting. The float tank removes about 90% of sensory input, which means your brain can redirect all that processing power toward healing, recovery, and apparently having some pretty wild thoughts.

From Fringe to Float Spa

Somewhere in the 2000s, floating made the jump from "weird thing hippies and neuroscientists do" to "wellness experience you can buy on Groupon."

The tanks got prettier. The name changed from "sensory deprivation tank" (scary!) to "float pod" or "float spa" (soothing!). The marketing shifted from consciousness exploration to stress relief and pain management. Float centers started popping up in strip malls next to yoga studios and juice bars.

The modern float industry owes a debt to athletes and biohackers who discovered floating as a recovery tool. When Tom Brady and Steph Curry float, suddenly it's not weird—it's performance optimization. The New England Patriots installed a float tank at their facility. Joe Rogan talked about floating on his podcast. Silicon Valley executives started floating to boost creativity.

Today's float pods are sleek, often pod-shaped or room-sized, with options for soft lighting and calming music if you're not ready to go full sensory deprivation. They're climate-controlled, filtered, and sanitized. And no longer look like this:

Modern float centers like Capitol Floats have taken the luxury float experience to another level entirely. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all sensory deprivation—today's float therapy is fully customizable to your comfort level. At Capitol Floats, you control your experience: choose your own music or opt for silence, adjust the lighting to your preference, or go completely dark for full sensory deprivation.

Each private float suite offers a spa-like atmosphere where you can ease into the floating experience at your own pace. Whether you're a first-time floater who wants some gentle ambient lighting and soothing sounds, or a float veteran ready to dive into complete darkness and silence, you get to design your perfect float session. It's the best of both worlds—the consciousness-expanding potential Lilly discovered, wrapped in the comfort of a high-end wellness retreat.

We've come a long way from Lilly's homemade tank in a darkened laboratory.

The Weird Becomes Wellness

Here's the beautiful irony: John Lilly started this whole thing trying to understand consciousness and ended up creating... a really effective way to take deeply relax and feel amazing afterward.

Modern floaters report the same deep relaxation and mental clarity that Lilly discovered, but most of us are content with stress relief and creative insights. We're generally not trying to communicate with cosmic entities or discover the nature of reality. We just want our shoulders to stop hurting and maybe have a nice thought or two.

That said, the weirdness hasn't completely disappeared. Float long enough and you might experience:

• Losing sense of where your body ends and the water begins

• Vivid, dreamlike imagery

• Time distortion (that "hour float" feels like 15 minutes or three hours)

• Profound meditative states

• Random genius ideas (or what seem like genius ideas—results may vary)

The float tank remains one of the few wellness practices that can legitimately trace its lineage from fringe science experiments to mainstream relaxation, with stops at dolphin communication research and Hollywood horror films along the way.

Lilly trying to talk to dolphins. Hey, if anyone could, it was this guy (He never did get understand their language. Bummer!)

Float On

So the next time you're lying in the float tank filled with 1,200 pounds of Epsom salt, listening to gentle music while the stress melts from your body, you can thank this weird, wild guy named John C. Lilly for following his curiosity - because without him, who knows if places like Capitol Floats would ever exist.

He probably didn't imagine that 70 years later, his invention would be bookable on ClassPass between yoga and Pilates. But honestly? He'd probably be delighted that floating has helped millions of people relax, recover, and occasionally have some beautifully weird thoughts.

From mad science to spa day—that's one heck of a journey.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a float tank calling my name and 60 minutes of absolutely nothing to experience.

Just remember: If you start devolving into a primitive ape-creature, you've probably been in there too long.

Book my Float!