Float Boston

If you’re not familiar with floatation tanks /​sensory deprivation tanks then here is a good article that explains a bit about them:
This was my third float in my third location and I’m really thrilled to have Float Boston move into the area! Float Boston did the best job of the three locations of creating a spa-​like atmosphere: providing slippers and bathrobes, a wide variety of toiletries, and a small room to relax and have a cup of tea after your float. The float room itself is great, well insulated, with a shower located basically right next to the tank.
The floats here are also more reasonably priced than my other two experiences. At a max of $ 75 for a 90 minute float (and potentially significantly less if you buy more than one float or book a 60 minute float) this is really a bargain. The other times I floated I paid $ 50 for a 60 minute float and then CAN$ 100 for a 90 minute float.
Their online payment /​reservation system is very easy to use and they should be adding two more tanks in the near future which will make it much easier to get a reservation on short notice.
My only «complaint» (and I’m not knocking them for this in the rating) is that it’s a bit off the beaten track in Magoun Square in Somerville. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the DavisSquare T Station. There are a few buses that run nearby but frankly I’d rather just walk the 20 minutes. But the upside to that is after your float you can stop next door and have some vegan momos at Tasty Momo or stop by Eat at Jumbos and grab a vegan Seitan Bomb.

My floating experience was amazing. I won’t explain my tank experience because they warn those who haven’t tried it yet on that because then you’ll go in with expectations of what will happen to you and your mind. I will say I closed the door and did not feel an ounce of claustrophobia to my surprise.
I will say what I felt after. Absolutely every ounce of tension in my body was released. I get 2 deep tissue massages and Thai bodywork every month and I’ve never felt this great. I took the most glorious nap after. Relaxation doesn’t touch how great I feel. My skin, nails, and hair feel amazing after a 90 minute 850 pounds of epsom salt soak! I have always had insomnia and slept soundly each night after my float (which has continued, currently 7 days later).
So yeah, I’d highly recommend it!
Easy online scheduling. Very friendly staff. Relaxing environment, inside and outside of the tank at Float Boston!

I love this place. They treat me very well and one time that they accidently cut my session short they offered me a partial refund!!! Great customer service and I love the cleanliness and the tea that they offer after my session

Pitch black. Totally silent. Super cool experience.
Trying to explain the tanks in a way that doesn’t induce claustrophobia is tricky, but I swear, you don’t feel trapped at all during the float. Each tank is in its own little room (so if you sign up with someone else, you’ll be saying goodbye as soon as you check in). The décor is spartan, but it does include a nice salt rock lamp. Inside the room is a shower and a giant white tank. It sort of looks like a coffin for a giant.
After a quick shower, you swing open the hatch and enter the totally pitch black tank. (You could wear a swim suit, but I think the most common attire is au naturel.) Then close the tank door behind you. (There is no latch or anything, so don’t worry about getting locked in.) The water isn’t very deep (maybe 8″?). It’s supposed to be heated to perfectly neutral temperature, meaning your skin doesn’t register it as hot or cold. Personally, the tank was too chilly for me. I’m not sure if it was an error in the temperature or person preference, but I wasn’t able to totally relax because I was too cool.
The tank is large enough that you can sit up. I probably had an extra 3′ of space head-​toe and an extra 4′ of space side-​side. So again, it doesn’t feel like you’re trapped — much larger than an MRI machine.
The float was a good experience to practice meditation. Don’t expect it to come easily– if you don’t regularly meditate, it’s not like you can just drop into a dark tank and suddenly master the skill. But it was certainly a quiet space to reflect and try to slow my thoughts. I was worried I would be bored during the hour-​long session, but time passed pretty quickly.
When your time is up, they will play music in the tank. I was weirdly paranoid that I would miss the cue, but it gets progressively louder, so it will rouse you from your meditative state (or nap).
While I didn’t experience any flashes of brilliance or overwhelming one-​with-​the-​universe emotions, it was a worthwhile way to spend an hour of time. If it were warmer, I would definitely return.

Everything I could have hoped for on my first float. Very clean, professional, welcoming. I did a good amount of research before getting wet and it was better than I expected. I’ll be back as often as I can.

Although floating (going into a tank filled with about a foot of very salty water) isn’t something new, it’s new to the Boston area. I went here a couple of weeks ago when they still had limited hours, a waitlist for appointments, and only ²⁄₄ tanks open. Until this changes, expect to wait a couple weeks for your first appointment or stalk the facebook page for last minute cancellations.
The place itself has an aura of a budget spa. It’s nice and clean but it’s small and relatively no frills. Each float room is a private room with its own shower. The downside of this is that the shower is just an open shower next to the tank. My room got relatively flooded from the shower because the drains weren’t adequate. They give you cloth slippers to change into and mine got soaking wet– it was unavoidable. I suggest the try flip flops and wash between uses just like they do with slippers.
The floating experience itself was interesting. The water was incredibly boyant because of all the salt– think Dead Sea so that was really cool. It was a little hard to get out because the bottom was slippery and you have to work against floating. They really think of everything to make your floating experience more pleasant– they have ear plugs, ear drops (to clean your ears out from all the salt that sneaks in), a spray bottle and wash cloth on the lid of the tank in case salt gets in your eyes, vaseline to put on cuts (they will sting in the salt), two different floats to prop your neck or feet up, and shampoo/​body wash.
There’s a super tiny relaxation area right outside of the bathrooms that they recommend relaxing in afterwards to prolong the experience/​let it sink it. In true hippy/​hipster style there’s herbal tea and plenty of mandalas to color in.
Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it out here for the experience. I think I prefer hot tubs and steam rooms to floating tanks, but I think a lot of people would really like it for the therapeutic experience and as a way to shut the world out for an hour.