Brian’s
Journey
My journey through floating with thoughts and posts from my first float through my most recent ones.
Float Centers I've Visited
Brian's Float Log prior to April 27, 2019. In floats prior to Float A Day May I captured more basic information and the commentary was not properly formatted for public display. I started this log after my 17th float so all floats before that have only date and tank information unless I wrote something about them that I could translate into the log. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about these floats!
Float Conference 2021 is upon us and it brings front and center how much change I’ve experienced since last year’s conference! A major skeletal failure followed by surgical reconstruction and changing jobs after 25+ years were the mileposts. One thing that I am very sure of, floating has continued to be a cornerstone of my life’s journey.
In September of 2020 I had the honor of presenting for the second time at the International Float Conference. I spoke in the “Why We Float” segment of the virtual conference about my experiences during Float A Day May.
In this episode I react to news I knew had a possibility of coming but hoped I could avoid. The spike in COVID-19 cases has forced Providence to cancel all surgeries not deemed to be life saving in the region. There is some possibility of moving my procedure to another facility, that is what we are hanging our hopes on for now.
In late August, over the course of just a few weeks, my back issues came back to the forefront of my life. My pain level exploded to a point of being non-functional, I’ve been completely laid up and on disability since September 1st. We have decided to go forward with a new fusion surgery.
I have finally had my first float following all Oregon float centers closing during the early portions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been 91 days, 13 weeks, or 3 months since my last float (March 14th).
The final day of the decade also brought the end of the journey for my Father-In-Law. Tom has played a huge roll in my life for nearly 2 decades, almost half of that as a member of our household.
September presented more than it’s share of challenges. I went over a month without a float and with very little time to work on LtF. The highlight of the month from a floating perspective was certainly my Float - Massage - Float combination.
My 100th float! This was a much needed float that taught me a few lessons and gave me an opportunity to reflect on the two and a half years since I discovered floating.
My life is significantly different than a year ago, I think Float A Day May is in large part responsible for the positive changes!
I was just a guest on a podcast for the first time! The Vinny Brusco Show often podcasts from his car during commutes, but has primarily caught my attention with long form interviews with a number of thought provoking and interesting guests. Hopefully this episode will prove to be both for his listeners!
It has been about six weeks since the conclusion of Float A Day May. I wanted to let some time go by following the experience before putting a final wrap on things. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my floats have been very high quality following Float A Day May. Read about my conclusions after Float A Day May and what might be next in my float experiences!
Brian Kroll is an experienced floater and the founder of Love the Float sharing a Love the Float Story about his float on Sunday, October 28, 2018. Authored directly by Brian on October 31, 2018.
It suddenly dawned on me that strange sensation from my lumbar spine was not something I was feeling, it was something I WASN'T FEELING! My back was 100% pain free! I'm not even sure I know what that is, or what that means! It is something so foreign to me that I didn't even recognize it for what it was. It has been literally four decades since I've experienced such a thing. It was a mind blowing thought to process.
I'm not sure what it is about floats that start off on the wrong foot, but they tend to end spectacularly! I don't know how much floating with my eyes open had to do with it, but this ended up being an outstanding float both mentally and physically.
It’s been an especially busy week with some local travel, the end of the school year both at home and work, and a family member in the hospital. I had a wonderful experience floating and meeting Joe at Soak and a much needed float at Aqua Float Spa, this video tells the story.
The first float following Float A Day May provided answers, and more questions! Overall the first six days of June have served to highlight some of the subtle things that happened to me during Float A Day May.
After 34 floats in 31 days for Float A Day May here are the final statistics! There are some truly remarkable findings in these numbers. Floating is a practice, my body and I clearly got better at it as the month progressed.
Hard to believe, but Float A Day May is complete with this final week of the month. I’ll be reflecting on the month as a whole in upcoming posts, this time I’m looking at the final week. My Float North friend Dana’s number one float tip is “don’t have any expectations” and I think my experiences confirm her wisdom.
Tonight was the final float of Float A Day May so I knew that it would be special, I just couldn’t have predicted how and why. I’ve found that floats tend to find your center no matter whether that center is of the body or of the mind. This float did exactly that.
A week with four 10 out of 10 floats and seven that achieved a pain free state and including both an overnight and a couples float was simply phenomenal.
Couples floats are most commonly shared by romantic pairs, but my daughter and I decided to share the experience after a day on a school field trip.
I have wanted to do an overnight float since just after becoming a floater in early 2017. Today that became a reality as part of Float A Day May. The last two hours were absolutely heavenly sleep.
We’ve arrived at the third weekend of Float A Day May! This week has been, without question, the most eventful and spectacular week of floating I’ve ever experienced.
In May of 2019 I floated every single day in celebration of the launch of the Love the Float web site. Today I had the very first Float, Massage, Float combination for both myself and for Float North.
I’m surprised and excited to say that what happened yesterday happened again, on a smaller scale, today. I was not expecting it at all. It was about 1/2 to 1/3 as intense as yesterday but still at least twice as intense as anything prior to yesterday. I was able to be more present from an analytical point of view for today’s experience. I wanted to try to understand more about what was happening while in the midst of it.
Today marks 14 straight days floating for Float A Day May and something magical happened. I just had the single most incredible experience of my life. I’m still processing what happened during this float, I experienced an hour or so of intense pain free existence. My body was generating its own energy, I felt other worldly. The pain free experience was beyond any I’ve experienced before. It was as if there was an energy forcefield surrounding my body that would not let anything negative penetrate it.
It is the second weekend of Float A Day May! This week I floated at 7am every day (including last Sunday) at Float On.
After the first five days of Float A Day May things are off to a good start! I’ve floated four times in the morning and once in the evening; four of the floats were at Float On which will host most of the Float A Day May float sessions.
Talking about my leukemia diagnosis and subsequent blast crisis. Brian will need a bone marrow transplant after completing a series of infused chemotherapy injections. He is currently in the hospital in Portland, Oregon.