I floated at Samana almost every day for about a month (on Dr's orders to heal an injury) and unfortunately experienced the dark side of this place.
After my experiences at Samana, it's somewhat shocking to me that they have so many 5 star reviews, except that I suspect anyone who would give a negative review may be afraid to - Fort Collins is a small town. I also know 1 other person who had horrible experiences here, but I didn't take her word for it because of the 5 star reviews. She didn't leave a review because she's afraid of Heather (owner). If she reads this maybe she'll "me too" and leave a review for you all as well.
I told my Dr about everything that's happened to me at Samana and he said "Update - write a thorough review for the community and we'll figure out a different plan for your healing."
Thorough review for the community:
There are many unwritten and unspoken rules at this center. If you violate any of the rules unknowingly you will be written up by the staff without your knowledge and you may be reprimanded in a shocking way by the owner. This is what happened to me.
The unwritten rules I found out about (there may be more, these are the ones I now know of from the confrontation) are: you cannot use more than 1 additional body towel, you are limited to a certain amount of hair product in the shower (I don't know what that amount is I just know I was told I used more than what the owner expected), you cannot arrive late to your float, you have 10 minutes after your float to shower/get dressed/leave the float room. The issue is that the staff will tell you that you can "use as many towels as you want," "take your time," that it's totally fine to arrive late, and won't mention anything about shower product usage to you. Word to the wise: do not be misled by what they say. The staff seem to be unwilling to enforce the rules made by the owner in the presence of clients so they'll tell you all of these things are fine, but if you violate any of the unspoken rules (even if they told you explicitly that something was OK) they will write you up for an "infraction" in the notes system they need to leave for the owner following each person's float. The manager took no responsibility for having told me rules that weren't the owner's rules (she stood by and listened while the owner reprimanded me). It makes sense to me that staff members could have a hard time with the rules/policies the owners have in place once I learned them, they aren't exactly service oriented. Regardless of her reasons for how she chose to handle this, all I can say is the manager doesn't manage and is untrustworthy.
Being confronted about violating rules I didn't know existed and in fact was told the opposite of by the staff was extremely shocking to me and I can only imagine what a more sensitive individual might feel if this happened to them. This happened on my lunch break when I went to float, expecting a healing experience. I communicated to Heather that I was uncomfortable with the sudden and intense interaction and the timing of it and she insisted. I wouldn't have thought this could/would happen at a business, much less a healing center right before a scheduled appointment with no written warnings (or presentation of the rules) outside of appointment time whatsoever.
I'm writing this review so people have the opportunity to be aware of what's going on behind the scenes at this place since no one else has yet. It seems lovely on the surface because all of the staff are super nice to your face, and it's very aesthetically pleasing, and behind your back, if you happen to be someone who asked for and were given extra towels, you're being written up for an infraction by the person who gave you those towels and you are then at risk of being accosted by the owner for a reprimanding talk before she'll let you float again (yes, even if you ask for something in the moment, after a staff member including the manager offers "if you need anything just ask" and the staff then says yes to your request - that happened to me multiple times).
If you're thinking this sounds unreasonable, yes, I agree. It's an alarming protocol and I'm attempting to help by sharing it.
Lastly, the owner I also believe is not necessarily to be trusted. I had the experience of her telling me a story about a woman who she had to ask to leave because she verbally abused a staff member. Of course, if someone verbally abuses this action taken against them is very reasonable. However, the staff member who the owner shared this story about happens to be someone I was very fond of. So next time I saw her, I offered my compassion towards her. The staff member was perplexed, and said to me that she's fine and she didn't know why Heather would have presented that situation as verbal abuse because it wasn't.
If this wasn't the only float center in Fort Collins I wouldn't have stuck around long enough to experience all of this, and I won't be back. read more
