InfuseSA in the Community: Evolve, Float
This week we’d like to give a shout-out to Evolve Human Optimization Labs over at Embassy Oaks near Bitters and 281. Their stated mission is “creating an accessible center for people to biohack wellness, recovery, and better performance into their daily lives.”
What is “biohacking?” It’s a variety of things.
Evolve’s “cognitive and neurotraining” tests hand-eye coordination, peripheral vision, memory, decision-making on a “touchscreen lightboard.” Among other things, there are also infrared saunas, cold water immersion tanks, and rooms that combine the two.
Chris took a fifteen-minute spin in a near-totally enveloping massage chair. If any muscles or parts of the skeleton were left untouched, he couldn’t tell.
They also has “guided meditation” with headphones and “Back to the Future”-like eyewear. Evolve’s owner, Jeremy Jacob, takes meditation to the next level at his other business.
At Float Wellness Spa, which opened back in 2016 at Fredericksburg and 410, the aim is a “peaceful environment for healing.” To achieve this, they offer halotherapy, which is a giant equivalent to a Neti-Pot, where fine salt particles are inhaled. This respiratory hygiene acts as an anti-inflammatory.
There are also massages, but the main offering is in the name, which takes the sensory deprivation to the next level.
Their flotation therapy involves a tank holding two-hundred fifty gallons of water, in which twelve-hundred pounds of Epsom salt is dissolved. Laying on the surface of this foot-deep mixture adds tactile deprivation to that of the visual and audible.
To maximize the effect, the water is set to skin temperature, about 94 degrees.
In this day and age of constant visual stimulation of screens, added to the usual routine of raising kids and going to work, this treatment allows for a maximum amount of rest for the mind and nervous system.
For his part, Jeremy hails from a modest upbringing. He made these ventures possible by going on the Dave Ramsey debt-purge diet after college while working as a sales rep for water softeners, reverse osmosis and the like.
So confident was he in the idea for Float, he took on debt to add to the savings he’d accrued from his financial diligence. He is the prototypical American entrepreneur, and his success with Float led him to do what many other entrepreneurs do: open another business, Evolve.
In both cases, he saw untapped markets. But he knows that if he’s successful in his goal of changing the culture of personal health here in San Antonio, he’ll attract competition. That’s why he’s always trying to look “ten steps down the road” trying to anticipate what’s next.
It would be helpful to have a local government that makes this as easy as possible. One issue he mentioned was an arbitrariness regarding capacity limits.
Rather than relying on some sort of “formula to determine capacity,” the process “seemed like a negotiation.” It came across as if they were limiting capacity rather than seeing how they could help “make the business successful.”
If he were serving food however, he might be allowed twice the forty people they settled on.
People like Jeremy are cut from a different cloth. But because they are much smaller in numbers than consumers, they don’t get as much respect from the public sector as they should.
If you’re trying to keep your body and/or mind in shape, and experience a couple nicks and bruises along the way, go see them. Tell them you heard about them at “infusesa” and they’ll knock 20% off your first day pass at Evolve.