Ep. # 117 True Rest Float Spa is changing how Charlotte approaches stress relief and recovery.

Curious about why NBA star Steph Curry swears by floating in 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt? Michael Shoniker, managing partner of True Rest Float Spa, joins Regina Lee to unpack the fascinating world of sensory deprivation therapy and how it's transforming wellness in Charlotte.

Michael shares his journey from corporate sales professional to wellness entrepreneur, driven by a passion for natural health solutions and an unexpected discovery of float therapy through Curry's endorsement. After experiencing the benefits firsthand, Michael and his partner Doug committed to bringing this unique therapy to Charlotte residents who were "missing out" on its remarkable effects.

Floating, as Michael explains, involves resting in a spacious pod filled with 10 inches of water and a thousand pounds of Epsom salt. This creates a uniquely buoyant environment that removes gravitational pressure from your body while allowing magnesium absorption through the skin. Beyond physical benefits, the sensory deprivation aspect offers a rare opportunity to disconnect from our chronically overstimulated lives. Though many clients require 2-3 sessions to fully appreciate what Michael calls the "magic float," the therapy provides significant relief for pain management, stress reduction, improved sleep, and enhanced mental clarity.

Addressing common concerns like claustrophobia, Michael reveals that many initially hesitant clients become their most dedicated members, often describing the experience not as confining but expansive—"like floating in outer space." With locations in Plaza Midwood and Fort Mill Indian Land, True Rest offers accessible wellness to the Charlotte community through their intuitive booking system and comprehensive orientation process for first-timers.

Ready to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with yourself? Visit TrueRest.com to book your float session and discover why this therapy is becoming an essential part of wellness routines across Charlotte.

True Rest Float Spa - Charlotte

Michael Shoniker

906 Pecan Avenue Charlotte, NC 28205

[phone]

[e-mail]

truerest.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good
Neighbor Podcast.
I'm here in South Charlotte andI love to talk to local
business owners.
Today, I have with us themanaging partner of True Rest
Float Spa, michael Schoniker.
Welcome, michael.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you, regina.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it, excited totalk today about floating.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I've heard about you guys for a long time and I have
a lot of questions.
But first tell me a little bitabout you, how you got into this
.
I know you've got a partner,but tell us the story yeah,
absolutely so.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Um, I I've been in corporate sales my whole life,
um, but I've also had anentrepreneurial spirit and my
first endeavor was in anindustry that I I didn't really
have a huge amount of interestin, but I've always been very
interested in health andwellness and just natural
therapies and whatnot, so infitness.
So for my secondentrepreneurial endeavor, it was

(01:13):
important that it be somethingthat it was passionate I was
passionate about, and it just sohappened that stars aligned.
My partner Doug was moving downto Charlotte right around the
same time where I saw this videoon SportsCenter of hometown
hero Steph Curry, and he wastalking about how amazing float
therapy has been for him, notonly in his basketball career

(01:36):
but also just in general life.
You know, stress levels, mentalclarity, his creativity, his
focus, all those things, andthen also pain relief and
recovery for from practices andgames.
So I was like a huge fan ofSteph Curry.
So I was like I have to lookinto this.
My partner Doug and I tried it acouple of times and you know,
as we learned, it's kind ofcommon to really not fall in

(01:59):
love with float therapy yourfirst couple of times.
It takes some getting used to.
It's a very foreign concept tosit in silence and in the dark
and away from our phones andaway from our screens for an
hour and just kind of be alonewith our thoughts, right, so
you're thinking about yourproduct, your to-do list, all
the things you got to get done,and it's a little bit sometimes

(02:20):
for some people, hard to getused to.
But after, like the third float, we fell in love with it,
started feeling all the benefitsand we're like, ok, we have to
bring one to Charlotte, likethis.
You know people in Charlotteare missing out on this, and so
that's when, about 2018 timeperiod, we decided to bring a
float spot to Charlotte.
And now we are on our secondlocation down in Fort Mill

(02:43):
Indian Land area.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
That is amazing.
So describe to me the settingyou know like.
Are you in this room byyourself?
Does the pod lid close?
Are you in a swimsuit?
Just describe how it goes.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
So so, yes, so it is a thought you're in a sensory
deprivation pod and um, sensorydeprivation sounds like a scary
word, it's really not just meansyou're not overstimulated by,
you know, sounds and sights andthe feels and all that stuff.
It's takes that stuff out ofthe equation, um, and the
sensory deprivation pod is.
It's pretty big, it's about thesize of a volkswagen beetle, um

(03:22):
, and you know you lay down inthere and a thousand pounds of
Epsom salt and 10 inches ofwater.
So it's extremely concentrated,to the point where if you were
to put any more Epsom salt inthere, it would solidify.
So what it does is creates amattress of salt and water.
And that mattress is importantfor a couple of reasons.
Number one it takes the gravityoff of your joints and muscles,
so it helps with recovery.

(03:44):
That Epsom salt is rich withmagnesium, so you absorb that.
It's the number one deficientmineral we have, and and and
today's day and age is magnesium.
So it's it helps for relaxationand it's involved in something
like 200 chemical reactions inthe body.
So very important for, for, forthat aspect.

(04:05):
Then there's a whole slew ofbenefits I can go through in
terms of, you know, mental andphysical benefits of floating.
But the essence of it is isyou're, you're floating for an
hour and a thousand times poundsof Epsom, salt and water.
You float effortlessly.
It's impossible to sink.
I'll tell you that right now wedo tests with bowling balls and
all these different things,dumbbells, and they float right
on top.
So you just, and then, yeah,you're essentially in there for

(04:28):
60 minutes.
You shower before you shower,after we got an oxygen bar after
to kind of get youreinvigorated with your senses
and whatnot, and then you're offand feeling great.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
How often do people that truly get into this, how
often do they float?
How often do people that trulyget into this, how often do they
float?
So?

Speaker 3 (04:46):
we recommend?
Yeah, we recommend once perweek.
That's not always doable forpeople's schedules and or their
budgets.
So we have memberships thatstart at once per month and then
you know anybody that's amember floats, you know, a lot
more cost effectively on aregular basis if they want to
buy extra floats.
But once to twice per month isreally where you want to be in

(05:08):
terms of a baseline.
And then we have we've hadunlimited members float every
day since we opened almost,which is, you know, if you can
do it every day, do it every daybecause you're going to feel
amazing.
But not everybody has the timeor the budget for that.
So you know, just to answeryour question, especially for
pain relief, we recommend atleast once a week.

(05:29):
That'll typically get people,you know, to the point where
they're pain free after a monthor two and then after that it's
maintenance mode, once or twiceper month.
So it's about how frequently weoffer or recommend Share the
typical feedback after someone'sfirst time floating.

(05:50):
Yeah, I'm glad you askedbecause, yeah, like I mentioned,
my partner and I, doug, weweren't huge fans at first and
that's, I'd say, probably about60 percent of people feel that
way, especially if you don'thave a number of practice yoga
or meditation especially if youdon't have, if you've never
practiced yoga or meditation,it's, you know it's.
It's kind of takes somepractice to be able to kind of
ground yourself and focus on thebreath and stuff like that

(06:11):
which really helps, you know,set you into that deep
relaxation mode.
So typically, you know again,the majority of our customers
it'll take them a time or twobefore they really fall in love
with floating, maybe even threetimes, usually usually no more
than three times.
You know they get to that pointwhere they we call it their
magic float um and then fromthere you know they love it and
they they're seeing all thebenefits from floating um.

(06:34):
So typically your first coupleof times you're just really
getting used to.
You know, um, that type ofenvironment.
You know we're, like Imentioned, we're always, we're
chronically overstimulated intoday's day and age between you
know screens and iPhones andtablets and you know TVs and
computers.
It's just, you know we're sooverstimulated it's foreign for

(06:56):
us to sit there alone with ourthoughts.
So in regards to that, it'stough to get used to.
Usually it takes a couple oftimes and then people are good
to go from there.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
So, for that first timer, what do you?
How do you educate them beforeyou leave them alone in there?

Speaker 3 (07:14):
So, yeah, I mean it starts with.
It starts with our social mediaaccounts.
You know we're we try toeducate people on what to expect
there.
Just just in terms of give it atime or two, here's what to
expect for your first float.
But we do have an introductoryprocess.
For every new customer we haveabout a six or seven minute
video they watch that goesthrough all the FAQs.

(07:36):
A lot of people are worriedabout claustrophobia, a lot of
people are worried about thewater cleanliness.
All those things are answeredin that video so that they feel
100% comfortable with theirfirst float.
And we also tell them, givethem tips and tricks.
Okay, if you're not really kindof easing into that relaxation
state, here are some tips andtricks to do with your breath,

(07:57):
you know, just some things tofocus on in terms of how to get
in that deep relaxation mode.
So, yeah, we do have a videoand then we take everybody on a
tour on how to have the perfectfloat their first time.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
So are you literally closed in for those of us who
are claustrophobic?

Speaker 3 (08:15):
You know how do you get yourself out of that mindset
.
Yeah, yeah.
And the answer to that is youdon't have to be all right.
We do recommend a float withthe pod closed, is?
You don't have to be All right,we do recommend to float with
the pod closed, but you don'thave to be.
But we get a lot of people thatcome in and they're very
nervous about beingclaustrophobic and they leave
afterwards and they're like, wow, that wasn't bad at all.
And some of our highestconverting members that people

(08:36):
come in, new customers and endup being members are
claustrophobic, areclaustrophobic and what they'll
do is they'll start with the lidopen.
Um, see how they feel, closethe lid.
What we get, just anecdotally,there's just people telling us
and I can, I can vouch for thisas well what we get the most of
is people saying it kind of feltlike I was in like outer space,
like like a limitless amount ofspace in there, that opposite

(08:58):
of claustrophobia, so, andthere's a lot of, a lot of space
in and of itself in there.
It's not very closed in, it'snot like a tanning bed, um, it's
not like it.
Can you still hear me, regina?

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Okay, it just went to a different window on my screen
but, it's not like a tanningbed or anything like that.
Where it's closed in, you havean abundance of room, so it's
usually not an issue in terms ofspace.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, I was just thinking for those of us who
might get panicked.
How does that?

Speaker 3 (09:31):
work.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Just open up the lid and hop out, I guess.
Yeah, open up the lid and hopout, I guess yeah, open up the
lid and hop out.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
You know it's not locked or anything, you just pop
the top open.
We have two different.
You know, in Charlotte we havelids that on pop up, and Indian
land we have just like Frenchdoors.
They open up and close veryeasily.
So yeah, if you're, if you'renot comfortable and or you feel
enclosed in any way, shape orform, you can keep that open so

(09:56):
I've had girlfriends say hey,let's go do like a float session
.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Are you alone or are there group type situations?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
so what typically for what we'll have, you don't
float in the same pot at thesame time, but we have um three
pods in each hallway.
You know three in one, three inanother and you float.
You know you can float in thesame hallway at the same time or
at certain times of day you canfloat with up to six people.
Five or six people.
We've had, you know,bachelorette parties where
people come in.
They come in and kind of shutthe whole place down and float

(10:29):
together like that.
So you know you can float withfriends just not in the same pot
as friends.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, got it, got it.
So you have two locations.
The one in Charlotte you saidis Plaza Midwood.
Is that correct area?

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, the one in Charlotte is Plaza Midwood.
It's on Pecan Avenue If you'refamiliar with.
There's a couple of businessesthere's Vellani's Bakery and
Rico's Acai Bowls, right acrossthe street from us, right in the
Plaza Midwood, elizabeth area.
And then our second location isin the Fort Mill Indian Land
area, in the Redstone Theater,right across from Redstone

(11:07):
Theaters.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Gotcha and talk to us about the booking process.
Do you do that online or call?

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Some people.
Some people do it online, somepeople call you know today's day
and age, a lot of people liketo do that stuff online.
So we do have you know, justthat.
Truerest.
com.
They can book.
We also have a mobile app theycan book on.
Some people prefer to call.
You know our employees areusually available to book them
in our system live, if they callus over the phone.

(11:37):
There's also an option you canbook where, if we can't answer
the phone for any reason, youget an automated text that
allows you to.
You know, press one to book anappointment, press two to
reschedule your appointment.
So that's pretty easy that waytoo.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Gotcha.
So when you're not running thisawesome business, what do you
like to do for fun in the area?

Speaker 3 (11:59):
I love to.
I love to golf.
I'm not very good at it, but Ilove to golf.
I love to watch sports.
I love to.
I love to play outside with myson, mikey he's a little over 18
months old now and my wife justmy wife, taylor, I like to, you
know, hang out with her as well.
She just is taking up golf aswell, so we're going to be able

(12:21):
to get out there on the courseand have a little bonding
experience and she'll see allthe frustrations, the highs and
lows of being a golfer.
That's right.
And I also like to travel too.
Traveling is one of my favoritethings to do as well.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, Charlotte is a golf area for sure and there's
so much to do here.
Well, Michael, it's been apleasure chatting with you about
true rest float spot.
I definitely am going to haveto come, but I'm going to get my
mind right, so I'm not nervous.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Absolutely.
Yep, yep, yeah, we welcome youto come try it and I, I think
you're going to love it.
I think you're going to love it.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNP southcharlotte.
com.
That's GNP south charlotte.
com, that's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.