Pittsburgh’s First and Longest-Running Float Spa Locally owned and operated since 2012.

Science-Backed Wellness.Elevated by Experience.

Pittsburgh Float Spa brings together time-tested wellness practices and thoughtfully selected recovery technology within a carefully curated, one-of-a-kind space. Every detail has been handpicked and intentionally designed to create an atmosphere of deep comfort, privacy, and restoration.

Book a float First time? Start here

HSA & FSA We accept HSA and FSA funds — floats, sauna and memberships can be paid for with your health spending account.

New to floating?

Ways to start

Try it before you commit to anything. Both are for first-time guests.

Best way to try floating properly

3 · 6 · 9

3 floatsfor the price of 1

Three floats that build: a 35-minute float, then 60, then a full 90. Starting short and working up lets you ease into a longer float.

See intro pricing

All three within 30 days of your first float. One per customer.

Best if you already know you'll be back

25% off month one

Membershipany tier

Take a quarter off the first month of any float or sauna membership. Mention this offer when you book or at check-in.

Compare memberships

Offer ends 9/30.

Not sure which fits? Read what to expect on your first visit, or call us at 412.337.9882.

Memberships

Pick a rhythm that works

A set amount of service value each month to spend however you like — floats, sauna, massage. Whatever you don’t use rolls into next month.

Start a habit

Signature

^$129/ mo

$161 of services every month, plus 20% off everything else.

20% off every service
$161 of value each month
Member-only pricing & perks

Join Signature

Premium

^$199/ mo

$284 of services every month, 30% off everything, and a guest each visit.

30% off every service
$284 of value each month
Bring one new guest a month

Join Premium

Make it your place

Elite

^$329/ mo

$506 of services every month, 35% off, and guests can come without you.

35% off every service
$506 of value each month
Two guests a month, on their own

Join Elite

Swipe to compare — three tiers

Every tier: unused value rolls over month to month · spend it on floats, sauna or massage · 3-month commitment

Float • Infrared sauna • Massage • Wellness services

New to this?

What is a float tank?

A float tank — also called a sensory deprivation or isolation tank — is a private, light- and sound-proof space built around a shallow pool of water made dense with about 1,500 lbs of pharmaceutical-grade Epsom salt. The water is held at skin temperature, so once you settle and stop moving, there is no temperature difference to feel and no weight on your body. With the light and sound gone too, you lose track of where the water ends and the air begins.

Why people float6 topics · with research

Floatation therapy was developed in the 1950s by physician and neuroscientist John C. Lilly, who wanted to study the mind free of outside stimulation. By the 1970s the modern float tank had been perfected, and it has been used ever since to help people rest, recover, and reconnect with themselves.

This is the most-studied use of floating, and the reason most people first try it. Without gravity loading the spine, the muscles that hold you upright all day finally stop working.

In a randomised trial of 37 people with chronic neck and back pain, nine floats over three weeks significantly reduced their worst pain intensity, alongside lower circulating noradrenaline metabolites, improved sleep onset, and less anxiety and depression. A separate trial in patients with stress-related muscle pain found improvements in pain, stress, anxiety, depression and sleep quality across a course of sessions. An earlier study in rheumatoid arthritis reported improved range of motion and grip strength with reduced pain, and participants described relief lasting a day or two after each session.

Kjellgren et al., Pain Research & Management, 2001 · Bood et al., Pain Research & Management, 2005 · Turner, DeLeon, Gibson & Fine, 1993

The Fibromyalgia Flotation Project recruited 81 people with a fibromyalgia diagnosis across five countries, each given three one-hour floats. Participants reported significant reductions in pain, muscle tension, stress, anxiety and sadness, and significant increases in relaxation, well-being, energy, ease of movement and sleep quality.

For anyone managing pain every day, a few reliable hours of relief is often exactly the point — and it is one of the few things you can book on a Tuesday afternoon.

Schneider, Russell & Borrie, Fibromyalgia Flotation Project, 2012

Floating is well established in elite sport. A study of 60 international-level athletes across nine sports — including members of Australia’s Olympic program — found improvement across nearly every mood measure after a single session and a large drop in perceived muscle soreness. Athletes who fell asleep in the tank benefited most.

Follow-up work in team-sport athletes found better sleep quality, less soreness the next day, a higher pressure-pain threshold, and faster sprint and jump numbers the following morning compared with passive rest. A 2022 trial in trained men found floating improved perceived recovery after high-intensity resistance work, and an earlier study measured lower blood lactate after floating than after sitting.

Driller & Argus, Performance Enhancement & Health, 2016 · Broderick et al., 2019 · Caldwell et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2022 · Morgan et al., 2013

The Float Clinic & Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research studied fifty people with anxiety and stress-related conditions — PTSD, generalised anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia and social anxiety, most also experiencing depression. A single one-hour float produced a large reduction in anxiety and improvements in mood, serenity and muscle tension, in every participant regardless of diagnosis. Later work found the effect persisting beyond 48 hours, and a 2023 randomised trial ran repeated sessions with co-authors from the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has since funded floatation research directly, and float centres across the country including ours see veterans among their most consistent regulars.

More on floating and mental health

Feinstein et al., PLOS ONE, 2018 · Garland et al., PLOS ONE, 2023

Floating has a long history with writers, musicians and artists, for the same reason it works on stress: there is nothing left to process.

The traditional explanation is that the tank quiets the analytical, verbal, list-making side of the mind and gives room to the right hemisphere, long associated with imagery, music, pattern and intuition. Neuroscientists now treat that left-brain / right-brain split as a simplification, since real creative work draws on both. But the experience it describes is real and reported consistently: attention stops narrowing, thinking turns loose and associative, and ideas arrive sideways rather than on demand.

It has been measured. In randomised studies, people who floated for 45 minutes produced more original work on creative problem-solving tasks than those who sat in an armchair or lay in a dark room, and a separate study found creativity scores rose after floating.

Norlander, Bergman & Archer, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1998 · Forgays & Forgays, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1992

No phone, no notifications, no to-do list — an hour alone with your own thoughts. Across the pain and stress studies above, better sleep turns up again and again as a secondary finding: participants fell asleep more easily and slept better on the nights following a float.

Whether you already meditate or have never managed it, this is one of the easiest ways in. The tank does the work.

Where you float

A look at our float tanks

Every tank holds the same 12 inches of skin-temperature Epsom salt water, in purified, carefully maintained condition.

Zero Gravity

The float suite

Room-like, walk-in comfort with space to stretch out and stand comfortably.

8 ftLength

6 ftWidth

7 ftHeight

About the size of a king bed footprint, with full standing height. Room-like, walk-in comfort with space to stretch out and stand comfortably. Spacious enough for two and used for our couples floats, but equally suited for a solo session.

Scale diagram: a 5 ft 10 in person beside the float suite, which is 8 ft long, 6 ft wide and 7 ft tall, with a 59 inch door and 12 inches of water.

Zero Gravity

The float pod

Enclosed comfort meets effortless floating for the deepest kind of relaxation.

8.5 ftLength

6 ftWidth

4.5 ftHeight

Spacious and designed for solo floating comfort.

Scale diagram: a 5 ft 6 in person beside the float pod, which is 104 inches long, 70 inches wide and 54 inches tall, with 12 inches of water.

Now on site

Infrared sauna

Our Sunlighten mPulse is a full-spectrum infrared sauna — near, mid, and far infrared in one cabin. Floating quiets the mind; the sauna works the other end, with deep heat that loosens tight muscles and gets circulation moving before or after your time in the tank.

Unlike a traditional sauna that heats the air around you, infrared warms your body directly. That means a deep, comfortable sweat at a lower ambient temperature — easier to sit in, and easier to stay in. Full spectrum means you get all three wavelengths rather than just one.

Most people use it as a warm-up before floating, when tight shoulders and a stiff back make it hard to settle. Others use it after, to stretch out the afterglow. Either works. Book it on its own, or pair it with a float.

The cabin seats two comfortably and fits three, so it works just as well for a couple as it does on your own. It has its own shower too — not shared with the float suites — fitted with two shower heads as a couples shower, close enough to share.

Sauna sessions are included in our membership options, and can be added to any float booking.

Book a sauna session

Floating & mental health

When your nervous system won’t stand down

Anxiety, depression, and chronic stress all share a common thread: a nervous system stuck in a state of alarm. Floating removes nearly every input that keeps it there — no light, no sound, no gravity, nothing to react to. For an hour, there is nothing to be on guard against.

Anxiety

Turning down the alarm

In the tank, heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension drop measurably. People who spend their days braced often describe the first float as the first time in months their shoulders came all the way down.

Low mood

A break from rumination

Depression often comes with a loop of thought that’s hard to interrupt. Floating doesn’t argue with the loop — it removes the stimulation feeding it, and many people surface with a noticeably lighter mood.

Trauma & PTSD

Practicing safety

Hypervigilance is exhausting. A private, controllable space where you decide the light, the sound, and when to open the door can be a way to practice being at rest. You are never locked in, and never out of control.

Sleep & burnout

Rest that actually restores

Poor sleep and stress compound each other. An hour of deep parasympathetic rest often carries into that night’s sleep, which is where a lot of the real recovery happens.

The research & how this fits with your care2 min read

What the research actually shows

The most-cited work comes from the Float Clinic & Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa — the first lab dedicated to studying floating and mental health.

In a 2018 study published in PLOS ONE, fifty participants with anxiety and stress-related conditions — PTSD, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social anxiety, most also experiencing depression — completed a single one-hour float. Researchers recorded a large reduction in state anxiety along with improvements in mood, serenity, and muscle tension. The effect showed up in every participant, regardless of diagnosis. Follow-up work has looked at how long those effects last, with some participants reporting benefits carrying into the next day or two.

It’s worth being straight about the limits: that study was open-label with no control group, and the field is still young. Floating is a promising tool for short-term relief, not a proven cure for anything.

Read the 2018 study · About the research center

Floating alongside your care, not instead of it

Floating is not therapy, medication, or medical treatment, and we’re not clinicians. If you’re working with a therapist, psychiatrist, or doctor, keep working with them — and don’t change any prescription because of anything you read here. Plenty of our regulars float between sessions with their therapist and find the two work well together. Some mention it to their provider first, which is never a bad idea.

If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please reach out to someone who can help right now — call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time, any day.

Inside the spa

Have a look around

Follow along at @pittsburghfloat.

The lobby, with red leather chesterfields and the living plant wall

Before you come in

Your first visit

Everything worth knowing before you arrive — tap any section to open it.

Your first visit, step by step8 steps

Before you arrive

Skip caffeine for a few hours, and avoid shaving or waxing beforehand — salt water stings freshly exposed skin. Fill out your waiver ahead of time if you can.

What to bring

We provide towels, ear plugs, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. If you wear contacts, bring your own case and solution. You are welcome to bring your own products.

Getting ready

Start relaxing on the way in. You will shower before your float. We recommend floating nude, since clothing on the skin becomes a distraction. Every float room is fully private.

In the tank

Lie back. Without gravity pulling on your muscles, your body stops holding itself up, and the line between water and air starts to disappear.

During your float

The light fades as your session begins, and one button brings it back any time. Float in silence, or use our underwater transducers for gentle sound. The door is always within reach.

Afterward

A quick shower rinses the salt from your skin and hair. Take your time in the afterglow — many people feel the effects for days after a single float.

Worried about tight spaces?

Our rooms are larger than a king bed with a seven-foot ceiling, so you can stand up inside. With the lights off, the space feels open rather than enclosed, and you can prop the door open at any time.

How we keep it clean

The salinity is too high for microorganisms to survive. Between every float the water is filtered and treated with UV light and ozone, and monitored continuously to stay pristine.

How to prepare5 tips

A light meal an hour or two beforehand is ideal. Floating on a growling stomach is distracting, and floating right after a big meal is uncomfortable. Skip caffeine for a few hours — it makes settling down harder than you’d expect.

Give it at least a day. Epsom salt water on freshly shaved skin stings, and it’s the single most common thing first-timers wish someone had told them. The same goes for fresh tattoos, cuts, or scratches — we can cover small ones with a barrier ointment.

Bring a case and solution if you wear contacts — you’ll want them out. If you color your hair, wait a few days after a fresh dye job. We provide ear plugs, which we’d recommend; salt in your ear canal is annoying afterward.

Arrive about ten minutes early. Rushing in stressed and immediately trying to relax rarely works. The entrance is on the Ellsworth Avenue side just past the corner — ring 1100 on the keypad to be buzzed in, then take the elevator to the lower level. Afterward, don’t schedule anything urgent; most people want to move slowly for a bit, and that’s the best part.

Common questions10 answers

Nothing, ideally. Every float room is completely private, and clothing on your skin becomes a distraction you’ll notice the whole hour. If that’s not for you, a swimsuit is fine.

Just yourself. Towels, ear plugs, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion are all provided. Bring your own products if you prefer them, plus a contact case and solution if you wear contacts.

Most people spend the first ten or fifteen minutes with a busy mind. That’s normal and it isn’t failure. The tank does most of the work for you — you don’t need any meditation experience. Many first-timers say the shift happened without them noticing.

Our float rooms are larger than a king bed with a seven-foot ceiling — you can stand up and walk around inside. The door opens from the inside and can be propped open the entire session if you want. With the lights off, most people describe the space as feeling open rather than enclosed. You are always in control.

No. The salt density makes you float like a cork — you couldn’t sink if you tried. Falling asleep is common and perfectly safe. Some people consider it the best nap of their life.

It would if you got it in them, so we keep a spray bottle of fresh water and a towel within arm’s reach inside the room. Most people never need it.

The salinity itself is too high for microorganisms to survive. On top of that, the water is fully filtered between every single float and treated with UV light and ozone, and monitored continuously to keep the chemistry exactly where it should be. Everyone showers before getting in.

One float is a genuine reset, but the effects build. Most regulars land on every week or two. If you’re floating for stress or pain, three sessions relatively close together will tell you far more than one.

Check with your doctor first if you’re pregnant, have epilepsy, kidney disease, low blood pressure, open wounds, or a contagious skin condition. If you’ve been drinking or are under the influence, we’ll need to reschedule you. If you’re unsure, call us — we’d rather talk it through than have you guess.

Ways to float

Find your rhythm

From a single session to a monthly practice. Live pricing and availability are pulled straight from our booking system below.

Single float

One session, flexible scheduling. The easiest way to try it for the first time.

Book a single float

Float packages

Multi-float packages at a better rate per session. Best once you know you want to keep coming back.

View packages

Memberships

Float or sauna every month as part of an ongoing routine, at member pricing.

View memberships

Gift cards

Give someone an hour of complete quiet. Redeemable for any session.

Buy a gift card

See live prices & availabilityupdates automatically

Trouble loading? Open the booking page directly.

Groups & gatherings

Bring your people

Six float tanks and an infrared sauna make for a very different kind of team offsite, birthday or bachelorette. Book the whole spa for a group of up to 10–12 and give them an hour they’ll actually remember.

Most group bookings run one to two hours. Everyone floats, rotates through the sauna, and takes their time in the lounge afterward. We handle the schedule so nobody is standing around wondering what happens next.

Bring food, drinks, or decorations if you want to make an occasion of it. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll build the timing around your group.

Team offsites Birthdays Bachelorette & bachelor Athletic team recovery Bridal & baby showers Corporate wellness days Client appreciation Grad celebrations

Tell us what you’re planning

Fill out the form below with the basics — group size, a date you have in mind, and what the occasion is.

ii.

We’ll send a quote

You’ll hear back within 24 hours with available times, pricing for your group size, and any add-ons that make sense.

iii.

Lock in your date

A deposit holds your time. We take care of the rest — your group just shows up.

Plan your eventreply within 24 hrs

Tell us what you’re thinking. We reply within 24 hours, and there’s no commitment until you’re ready.

Leave this empty

Your name *

Email *

Phone

Type of event *

Group size *

How long?

Preferred date

Flexible? Leave it blank and tell us below.

Preferred time

Interested in any of these?

Infrared sauna Guided intro Food & drinks Gift cards Full buyout Not sure yet

Anything else we should know?

We respond within 24 hours. No commitment until you’re ready.

Group questions5 answers

It depends on group size and how long you want the space. Send the form and we’ll come back with a real number for your group within 24 hours — no runaround.

With six float tanks and the sauna running on a rotation, we can take groups of up to 10–12 people comfortably in a two-hour window. That is our maximum — for anything larger, get in touch and we can talk about splitting it across two visits.

Food, soft drinks and decorations are all welcome. No alcohol, though — not before or during a float or a sauna session. It doesn’t mix with heat, salt water or an hour of lying still, and we’ll have to reschedule anyone who arrives having had a drink.

That’s most groups. We’ll walk everyone through it at the start so nobody feels lost, and first-timers get the same guidance they’d get on a solo visit.

Yes. If your team wants something regular rather than a one-off — discounted memberships, a standing monthly recovery slot, or floats as a benefit — note it in the form and we’ll put together options.

Who’s behind it

About Luke Raymer

Luke Raymer, founder of Pittsburgh Float Spa, holding his son

Luke Raymer is the founder of Pittsburgh Float Spa, a business that began rather unconventionally — with a Samadhi float tank in the living room and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber beside the bed of his second-floor Squirrel Hill apartment.

What started as a personal pursuit of health, recovery, and human performance has since evolved into a full-scale wellness spa in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood.

— Luke, founder

Read Luke’s full story4 min read

Luke’s interest in health began long before Pittsburgh Float Spa. Always drawn to physical performance, movement, and understanding what the human body is capable of, his perspective changed significantly after being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition at 23. What followed was years of self-exploration, research, experimentation, and a growing appreciation for the body’s remarkable ability to adapt and recover.

Rather than looking for a single answer, Luke became interested in the fundamentals — movement, nutrition, recovery, stress, environment, and the often-overlooked practices that help the body function at its best. That curiosity led him to seek out teachers, practitioners, and experiences around the world.

While traveling to Toronto to train with renowned movement teacher Ido Portal, Luke booked his first float after hearing about sensory deprivation tanks but never having experienced one himself. He had injured his back only days before the trip and arrived unsure whether he would even be able to participate in the training.

The float changed that — and much more.

The combination of weightlessness, complete environmental stillness, physical relief, and the mental experience of floating opened a door to something Luke hadn’t encountered before. He left knowing he wanted access to that experience regularly.

There was just one problem: Pittsburgh didn’t have a float spa.

So he bought a tank.

Initially, there was no grand business plan. The tank went into his apartment, where Luke intended to use it himself and share the experience with friends and family. But as more people floated and he saw the impact it could have, the idea became much bigger. He eventually left his job, moved the tank into Shadyside, and Pittsburgh Float Spa was born.

More than a decade later, that original curiosity still shapes the business.

Luke personally approaches Pittsburgh Float Spa as both a wellness facility and a continually evolving environment — bringing together simple, time-tested practices like floating with carefully selected recovery tools and an intentionally designed space where people can genuinely disconnect.

His background in construction is evident throughout the spa. A builder and creator by nature, Luke has personally designed, built, sourced, and handpicked much of what surrounds the experience, from functional details to local and one-of-a-kind pieces. For him, the environment isn’t decoration; comfort, craftsmanship, atmosphere, and attention to detail are part of the experience.

That same curiosity extends well beyond the spa. When he isn’t buried in a project or working on the business, Luke is usually building something, exploring a new idea, spending time outdoors, or at home with his wife, two children, and an ever-growing assortment of farm animals.

At the center of it all is a fairly simple philosophy: stay curious, respect what the human body is capable of, spend time close to nature, keep creating — and don’t lose the sense of wonder that started the journey in the first place.

“In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true, either is true or becomes true.” John C. Lilly, who developed the first float tank

Come float

Visit the spa

On Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside. Book online any time, or call with questions.

Also under our roof3 partner services

You can pair a float with other wellness services in the same building — book with each provider directly.

Luvi Wellness

IV hydration and vitamin therapy, vitamin injections, and NAD+ treatments, with a LuVIP membership if you go regularly. Consultations are free — a good pairing with a float if you’re recovering from training or a hard week.

luviwellness.com →

Massage therapy

Licensed massage therapist working out of the spa.

Permanently Perfect Makeup

Microblading and permanent makeup with Angela Crist — nano and ombré brows, permanent eyeliner, lip blushing, scalp micropigmentation, and paramedical tattooing including scar camouflage and 3D areola work.

permanentlyperfectmakeup.com →

Address

5850 Ellsworth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Get directions

Phone

412.337.9882

Email

luke@pittsburghfloat.com

Getting in

Ring 1100 on the keypad and we’ll buzz you in, then take the elevator to the lower level.

● 5850 Ellsworth Avenue Tap to open the map and get directions

➤Directions ■Parking nearby ☎Call

The main entrance at 5850 Ellsworth Avenue: glass double doors under the 5850 stone sign, between two globe lamps. — Enter here

Finding the door

The entrance is on the Ellsworth Avenue side, just past the corner — follow the arrow. Ring 1100 on the keypad and we’ll buzz you in, then take the elevator down to the lower level.

Parking

Free 2-hour parking one block off Ellsworth, in the neighborhood streets.
Paid street parking along Ellsworth itself.
Paid garage next door, across from the lot — see the parking attendant.

Ready to float?

Better sleep, less noise in your head, more room to think. One session and you will feel the difference.

Book a float Call 412.337.9882