Float therapy, also called sensory deprivation or Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy, places a guest in a shallow pool of skin-temperature water saturated with roughly 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of dissolved Epsom salt, which creates a magnesium-sulfate brine dense enough to hold the body in passive flotation. The modality traces back to neuroscientist John C. Lilly’s isolation-tank experiments in 1954 and re-entered the mainstream wellness market during the 1990s float revival, when commercial pod designs and a generation of dedicated centers began appearing in U.S. cities. Nashville’s float scene is anchored by independent operators that opened during this revival window, and the three spas below were selected for verified Nashville addresses, multi-pod facility design, and clear public disclosure of sanitation protocols between guests.
Pre-session screening at every float center listed here covers a standard set of contraindications shared across the industry, including open wounds, recently dyed or chemically treated hair, active ear infection, contagious skin conditions, and uncontrolled epilepsy. Each center below pairs floatation with at least one adjunct recovery modality such as infrared sauna, massage, or guided meditation, which gives guests a stacked session pathway rather than a single-modality visit.
Quick Comparison #
| Spa | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Float Nashville | Tennessee's first dedicated float-tank center since 2013, founder Amy Grimes licensed massage therapist, co-owner Mark Chesshir, TripAdvisor top wellness ranking | Three-tank layout including open-style option, 75 and 90 minute floats, BrainTap meditation, Revibe vibrational chair, ionic foot bath, Reiki |
| Float Horizen | East Nashville studio since mid-2010s, founder Zane Ritter with UTC psychology and biology background, Float Conference Portland trained | Dreampod enclosed and Wave Room chromotherapy tank, 60-minute floats, licensed Swedish deep-tissue prenatal massage, full-spectrum infrared sauna, sound meditation |
| Pause Studio Green Hills | Local owners Mike and Zach Bailey since November 2024, Pause brand founded 2014 with first studio Venice Beach 2016, national footprint | Private-suite Epsom-salt float tanks, whole-body cryotherapy, infrared sauna, cold plunge, contrast therapy circuits, LED light therapy, Aescape AI massage |
1. Float Nashville #
Float Nashville is located at 2701 Greystone Road, Suite B, Nashville, TN 37204, in the Berry Hill district just south of downtown, with phone (615) 567-7222. The center was established in 2013 by Amy Grimes, a licensed massage therapist, alongside co-owner Mark Chesshir, and is widely cited as Tennessee’s first dedicated float-tank center. That 13-year operating history gives Float Nashville the longest continuous float-specific footprint in the state, and the location earned a TripAdvisor ranking as a top wellness experience in the Nashville market. The Berry Hill address sits within a low-rise commercial corridor that has become a quiet wellness cluster, which keeps the surrounding street environment calmer than a downtown drop-in.
Three-Tank Float Layout and Open-Tank Option #
The center runs two traditional enclosed float tanks plus a third open-style float tank, which broadens access for guests who feel uncomfortable inside an enclosed pod. The open tank delivers the same skin-temperature, magnesium-rich brine and the same sensory-reduction conditions but removes the enclosed lid, which gives a claustrophobia-sensitive guest a workable entry point into the modality. Session lengths run as 75-minute and 90-minute floats, which lets first-time guests choose a longer arc than the 60-minute industry baseline if they want a deeper acclimation curve.
Adjunct Holistic Therapies On-Site #
Beyond the float rooms, the spa offers BrainTap audio-visual meditation paired with a Revibe vibrational chair, ionic foot-bath detox sessions, and Reiki energy work, with breathwork programming announced as a coming addition. This stack lets a guest book a quiet pre-float meditation block or a post-float Reiki session as part of the same visit, which is a practical pairing for guests who want to extend the parasympathetic state after stepping out of the tank. The presence of a licensed massage therapist among the founding ownership also keeps the somatic-care orientation embedded in how intake and aftercare are run.
Membership and Local Wellness Anchor #
Float Nashville offers a membership program built around monthly float credits with rollover flexibility, which the spa describes as designed to fit varying weekly schedules rather than locking a member into a fixed day. Operating hours run Monday and Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Thursday from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Friday through Sunday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM, with the spa closed on Tuesdays. The 13-year local track record, three-tank capacity, and combined float-plus-meditation menu make this center a foundational reference point for Nashville’s float community.
2. Float Horizen #
Float Horizen is located at 1012 Russell Street, Suite 204, Nashville, TN 37206, in the Five Points neighborhood of East Nashville, with phone (615) 490-8656. The studio was founded by Zane Ritter, who first encountered floatation while studying psychology and biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and attended a float industry conference in Portland, Oregon to deepen his technical preparation before opening. Float Horizen has been operating in East Nashville since the mid-2010s, which places the studio in the same opening generation as Float Nashville and gives it close to a decade of continuous local presence. The East Nashville address puts the studio inside one of the city’s most walkable neighborhoods, with surrounding cafes and bookstores that make a post-float decompression hour easy to extend.
Dreampod and Wave Room Tank Options #
The studio runs two distinct tank configurations. The Dreampod is an enclosed pod with an optional lid, which gives a guest the traditional closed-pod sensory-reduction profile. The Wave Room is a step-in chamber with a higher ceiling, a shower-style door, and integrated chromotherapy color lighting, which serves guests who want the salt-brine flotation experience without the enclosed-pod profile. Standard float sessions run 60 minutes, with the brine held at skin temperature so that the boundary between body and water becomes difficult to locate during the session.
Massage, Infrared Sauna, and Sound Meditation #
Float Horizen pairs its float menu with licensed massage therapy that includes Swedish, deep-tissue, and prenatal modalities, a full-spectrum infrared sauna, and guided sound meditation sessions. The pairing of float plus massage is the most common booking stack at the studio, and the staff coordinates session timing so that a 60-minute float and a 60-minute massage can be sequenced within a single visit. The infrared sauna gives a guest a heat-driven adjunct that contrasts with the cool-water flotation environment and rounds out the recovery menu.
ZEN Club Membership and Private Events #
The studio runs the ZEN Club membership tier, which packages monthly float credits with member pricing on adjunct services, and the studio also hosts private and corporate ZEN parties that can be customized with add-ons such as Reiki, aromatherapy, and acupuncture. Founder-led operation, two distinct tank formats, and the integrated massage-and-sauna menu give Float Horizen a defined East Nashville identity within the Middle Tennessee float scene.
3. Pause Studio Green Hills #
Pause Studio Green Hills is located at 3822 Bedford Avenue, Nashville, TN 37215, in the Green Hills retail corridor, with phone (629) 702-2393 and daily hours from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The Green Hills studio opened in November 2024 under local owner-operators Mike and Zach Bailey, who run the location as part of the broader Pause Studio recovery-wellness brand. Pause was founded in 2014 by two former Equinox staff members who opened the first studio in Venice Beach, California in 2016 and have since expanded into a national footprint of company-owned and franchised studios. The Green Hills address places the studio inside a dense retail-and-residential pocket that already supports a cluster of premium wellness operators, which gives Pause a natural neighborhood fit.
Private-Suite Float Tank Configuration #
The studio offers sensory deprivation float tanks filled with warm Epsom-salt brine inside private spa-style suites, so each guest moves through pre-float shower, float session, and post-float rinse within a self-contained room rather than a shared corridor layout. The private-suite configuration is the structural differentiator at Pause compared with traditional multi-tank float houses, and it pairs well with the studio’s contrast-therapy bookings where a guest cycles between hot and cold modalities. Float sessions at Pause are positioned as a recovery-and-reset block rather than a single-modality destination, which fits the studio’s broader stacked-session model.
Cryotherapy, Infrared Sauna, and Cold Plunge #
Beyond floatation, the Green Hills location runs whole-body cryotherapy, infrared sauna sessions in 30-minute and 60-minute formats, cold plunge stations, contrast therapy circuits, and LED light therapy. This menu lets a member build a stacked recovery visit that pairs cold exposure, heat exposure, and float flotation within a single booking window, which is the brand’s signature programming approach. The contrast-therapy pathway in particular is a common pairing with a float session, with the cold plunge or cryo block scheduled before the float so that the warm-brine environment lands as the closing parasympathetic block.
IV Drips, Aescape AI Massage, and Compression #
The studio rounds out its menu with IV drips, vitamin shots, NAD+ infusions, pneumatic compression therapy, and Aescape AI-driven massage tables, which moves the operation closer to a multi-modal recovery clinic than a single-discipline float house. The combination of a private-suite float experience and a brand-standard cross-modality menu gives Green Hills a distinct positioning within Nashville’s float landscape, especially for guests who want their floatation block embedded inside a broader stacked-recovery visit rather than booked as a standalone modality.
https://pausestudio.com/locations/green-hills
Reference Notes #
- Floatation Tank Association industry standards call for between-guest water turnover that combines high-strength filtration with chemical and ultraviolet disinfection. A typical commercial sanitation cycle pairs 35 percent food-grade hydrogen peroxide dosing, ultraviolet exposure at 254 nanometers, and one-micron particulate filtration so the brine is processed multiple times between sessions.
- Each float pool is loaded with roughly 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of pharmaceutical-grade Epsom salt, which is magnesium sulfate, dissolved into approximately ten inches of water to produce a brine dense enough to hold a human body in passive flotation. The water is held at skin temperature near 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit so that thermal sensation at the skin boundary fades during the session.
- Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy, abbreviated R.E.S.T., is the academic name for the modality and traces back to neuroscientist John C. Lilly’s isolation-tank work beginning in 1954 at the National Institute of Mental Health. The commercial float-center model re-emerged during the 1990s float revival and accelerated again in the early 2010s, which is the window when Float Nashville and Float Horizen entered the Tennessee market.
- Standard contraindications recognized across reputable float centers include open wounds or recent surgical sites, recently dyed or chemically processed hair, active ear infection, contagious skin conditions, uncontrolled epilepsy, and intoxication. Pre-session screening at first visit captures these points and the studio reserves the right to defer a session if a contraindication is present.
- Pod manufacturers active in the U.S. market include Dreampod, Float Lab, i-Sopod, Superior Float Tanks, and Royal Spa, each producing closed-pod, open-tank, or room-style configurations. Center-by-center equipment choices vary, and a guest who has a strong preference for a particular pod profile should confirm the equipment on the spa’s own page before booking.
- Epsom-salt flotation delivers transdermal exposure to magnesium and sulfate ions, and while the wellness literature on transdermal magnesium uptake remains mixed, the buoyant brine itself reliably removes the gravitational load on joints and the musculoskeletal system for the duration of the session.
Selection Methodology #
Float therapy operations rest on tank engineering and Epsom-salt water chemistry rather than on cosmetology licensure, so the filter for the three spas above started with tank-manufacturer disclosure (Float Pod, i-sopod, Samadhi, Dreampod, or custom-built open pools) and Float Tank Association alignment on cleaning protocol. Each spa publishes the water-treatment cycle (UV plus hydrogen peroxide, filtration micron rating, total-cycle turnover between sessions), magnesium-sulfate concentration target at saturation, single-tenant room privacy detail, ADA accessibility posture for one tank if applicable, scope at the session level (60-, 90-, 120-minute floats; group concurrent capacity; add-on infrared sauna or compression therapy), and Davidson or Williamson County address tenure. Operators without published water-treatment protocol were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How does the clinic handle informed consent and risk disclosure?
A: Ask the clinic to share the standard consent form before the appointment, review the risk and side-effect disclosure with the treating clinician at the visit, and request a copy of the signed consent for personal records. Documented informed consent is required for medical aesthetic procedures in Tennessee.
Q: What is the cancellation and rescheduling policy for the procedure?
A: Many clinics request 24 to 48 hours notice for cancellation, with a deposit forfeiture for late changes on procedural appointments. Confirm the policy in writing at booking, ask whether deposits transfer if you reschedule, and understand the policy for cancellation due to illness or medical contraindication.
Q: Are any of the three spas paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: How does the clinic price treatment packages versus single sessions?
A: Many medical aesthetic and wellness services price by series or package, with a per-session discount for prepaid packages. Ask for the current written price sheet, the package terms (expiration, transferability, refund policy if you stop treatment), and any membership programs the clinic offers.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.