![]() I got bored then I got giddy then I got bored again then I actually laughed out loud. I meditated, following the movement of my breath. I listened to my heartbeat, which echoed loudly in the silence. I sat up, groped for the door handle and opened the door a little to admit a sliver of dressing-room light.įor a while I kept the door cracked. How would I find the door in the pitch-blackness if I wanted to leave before the two hours were over and the lights came back up? That’s when I experienced the beginnings of panic. ![]() I realized how easy it would be to become disoriented. I stretched my hands over my head and circled them down to my sides. Here was the shock: The chamber measured 5 feet wide, 8 feet long and 7 feet high, but it felt vast. As instructed, I sat down, closed the chamber door, reclined and then pressed the button on the side of the tank to turn off the lights. After showering, I grabbed the heavy handle to the floating chamber-the kind you’d find outside a meat locker-and stepped inside. Inside each was a small dressing area with a shower and amenities such as earplugs and petroleum jelly for covering any cuts so the saltwater wouldn’t sting. We were led down a hallway to our private floating rooms. That was our signal to slowly get up and take our second shower (you take the first before the float). With his dark glasses, shaggy hair and loopy demeanor, Crash, who owns this facility and another one in Venice Beach, looked as if he had just stepped out of The Big Lebowski.Ĭrash told me and the half-dozen other clients waiting for our appointments that at the end of the two-hour session, we’d hear knocking at the back of the tank. Three days later I opened the door to Float Lab’s bunkerlike office suite and was greeted by Crash. Among other terms, I had to confirm that “I understand that it is not possible to predict every situation in which I will or will not mentally release…”Īlthough I wasn’t certain whether mentally releasing was something to be pursued or avoided, I e-checked my consent. Before you can reserve your session, you have to agree to a release form. Its floats last two hours and cost about $40, which is longer and cheaper than most places. I booked my first float at Float Lab in Westwood, near the University of California, Los Angeles. Tolerating a little uneasiness wouldn’t be an altogether bad thing. But part of why I wanted to experience the float tank was to step outside-or, in this case, float outside- my comfort zone. While I don’t have a full-blown fear of confined spaces, my heart has on occasion raced when I’ve been wedged into center seats in packed theaters. That left my second concern: claustrophobia. What’s more, between floats, the water in the tanks is circulated multiple times and treated with hydrogen peroxide and/or ozone and/or UV light, depending on the facility. ![]() The water’s high salinity means that no life form, including microbes and other pathogens, can survive. If I expanded my consciousness in the void, so much the better.Ī little online research quieted my qualms about whether the tanks were sanitary. While suspended in the saltwater solution, you achieve a state of relaxation that shifts your brain waves to the low-frequency theta state in which you experience a rarified sense of clarity, spirituality and oneness with the universe. But the promise of mindfulness is what attracts most floaters. ![]() You can find float centers from Miami to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, from San Francisco to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and New York to Nashville, Tennessee.įloating gravity-free in complete darkness and silence provides a host of putative health benefits, including joint-pain relief and decreased blood pressure. Now, however, they are back and more popular than ever. He would reportedly take a dose or two of LSD before floating in an attempt to “explore alternate realities.”įloat tanks became available to the public in the 1970s, and enjoyed a boom in the ’70s and ’80s before pretty much vanishing for a time. ![]() Lilly was the first to develop the sensory deprivation tanks, though his original purpose for them was somewhat different. Alternately called float or flotation therapy and sensory deprivation or isolation tanks, these pitch-black, soundproof pods date back to the 1950s. I hadn’t expected an epiphany when I signed up for my first floating experience. The third time I stepped into a chamber smaller than the average prison cell and floated naked in 250 gallons of salt-saturated water, I experienced an insight that was pretty close to life-changing. The first time I did it I nearly had a panic attack. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |