I am curious if anyone has tried a float tank (or sensory deprivation tank)?
I have always wanted to try one.
I've wanted to try it too.
@Minestrone101 Wanna go with me man? Lol
I prefer float tanks over saunas... I do not tolerate heat well. The sensory deprivation can definitely take some getting used to, especially if like me you have ADHD and generally don't do well with not doing anything. But they're amazing for my chronic pain issues and a nervous system reset.
@Jova114 Maybe. we shall see. lol
@cuddlefaery Thank you for the feedback! I have grown to enjoy just laying doing nothing. It is a challenge as I do have ADHD as well, but when I've meditated and just remained still and calm, and my brain slowly relaxed it felt really, really good. I really need to try a float tank
@Jova114 - I am did my first 3 floats in a full blown sensory deprivation chamber in the physiology lab of a University. The tank was great but the changing area / showers were… an experience (a converted broom closet turned into a shower and changing room. The room was 100% total dark and sound proof and both the air and water temperature were body temperature so you really struggled to determine where the water ended and where the air began as you floated in the tank.
The first 2 times were relaxing, the third time was intense (had someone else described what happened during my 3rd float I would have thought they were making it up).
I now have a monthly float membership at a spa where the shower and changing room are much nicer and the float tank is also nice but it is NOT sound proof and light proof. It is still dark and quiet but not to the same degree. I float a couple times a month and I enjoy the physical relaxation and the mental relaxation as well.
I have done a lot of meditating while floating and have had some intense experiences from the float tank at the spa.
One hint - if you ever feel like your consciousness is floating above your body and you notice a silver cord connecting your consciousness to your body - DO NOT PULL ON IT 😱
Did you become an IPhone in that tank?
@JohnR1972 what happens if you pull?
@JohnR1972 Duly noted lol
Now when you say "intense experiences " do you mind elaborating? I've only heard rumors of these tanks. They can make you hallucinate or something like that. I want the truth!!!
@Jova114 I think he was making a Matrix reference
@Jova114 How you float is a personal preference. The vast majority of my floats have been alone and I float nude (I have also done 2 tandem floats with another person and we both wore swimsuits during those floats and showered separately).
Assuming you float alone, you are in there with nothing but your thoughts so I STRONGLY suggest you guard your mind before a float. Stay off social media, the news, or anything else that might plant negative thoughts or stress in your mind. I like listening to babbling brooks or meditation music as I drive to the spa to help set my mind in a good space prior to the float.
When the float begins, I take 3 to 5 minutes to really clear my mind with slow deep breathing as I consciously think about relaxing my toes, then my ankles, then my calf’s, etc. I work my way up to my neck and head and by this point my mind is usually a blank slate (unless I accidentally drag some negative thoughts into the tank with me).
Most people are accustomed to either being awake OR asleep. There is a transition time between awake and asleep but it is normally very brief and most people never notice it.
Over the next few minutes (it is impossible to measure time in that environment so I am purely guessing about elapsed time) my mind enters that beautiful playground that exists between awake and asleep. It took me 6 to 8 floats to really figure this out so don’t worry if you don’t get there on your first couple of attempts.
In that “twilight zone” mental playground between awake and asleep, I have often experienced lucid dreaming which is incredibly fun and mentally stimulating. If you have never experienced lucid dreaming - there is nothing else like it.
However, on a couple of occasions, was not in control of my dreams. I saw things that shook me to my core. The best description I could give you is a “Ghost of Christmas Future” type of vibe to it - like I was being shown things for a reason. One of those experiences “followed me home” after the float was over.
Before my float, I had booked a very comprehensive physical in the physiology lab that included a DEXA scan, VO2 Max measurement and several other test not normally included in a routine physical. I had solid data from a lab just moments before going into the float chamber. I was 100% healthy with excellent measure on pulse, blood oxygen etc. after the intense experience in the tank, I was so physically drained I could hardly stand up. After I got dressed, I put on my Apple Watch and my Oura ring (with heart rate and body temp sensors) and within a couple of minutes my Apple Watch heart rate alarm went off. My heart rate was over 140 and all I had done was slowly walk down a hallway.
My heart rate slowly dropped over the next several hours but it took about 15 hours to get back to normal. My Oura ring did not alarm (it wasn’t designed to) but it closely matched the data recorded by my watch. Whatever happened in the float chamber had a physical impact on me that kept my heart rate way above normal for about 15 hours.
@BoomerSpooner I believe @JohnR1972 is making a reference to the mythology that has developed around the idea of astral projection. Some believe that your soul is literally disconnected from your body rather than you experiencing the deeply felt simulation that your mind is able to give you. So, some think that severing the silver cord will forever disconnect your soul from your body.
However, there has been no concrete proof that people experiencing OBE (Out of Body Experiences) are really leaving their bodies. There’s one pretty interesting test done by Susan Blackmore; a brilliant mind in the science of the mind and someone who’s really experienced at trying to solve the so-called “hard problem of consciousness”. The test goes like this: she’s invited people she knows who astral project to come in their spirit form to her house in a certain room where a word is written on a board. If they can tell her the word that would be amazing proof that the soul leaves the body! However, so far no one has completed this task.
@Minestrone101 - In two different floats at the spa, I felt like I was floating over my body. Probably just a hallucination or possibly some old memory from a movie that rose to my subconscious during the float and was integrated into my perception of space.
Anyway, I did see a silver cord running back to my body. I looked it up online after my float and there are ancient beliefs about a silver cord connecting the spirit to the body. There is even a verse in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes talking about people nearing death and things they should do “before the silver cord is broken”. I’m not pushing the religion here, just showing an example of a well known, ancient writing that connects the breaking of the silver cord with death.
@JohnR1972 Interesting. So if you pull it , you'll die or separate from your body ?
Very very interesting @JohnR1972
Also, glad you and your heart are ok my friend
If your brain is deprived from your senses, it hallucinates. It makes something up for you to experience.
@Minestrone101 - “breaking the silver cord” is believed by ancient cultures to separate and the spirit and body resulting in death. I saw the silver cord BUT this was in that mental playground somewhere between being awake and asleep.
Sometimes I lucid dream in that state where I can control my dreams and it is oh so real. It not like watching a movie, it is a full sensory experience where I feel the warmth of the sun, the breeze on my skin, the grass under my feet, etc. However, anything you have ever read, watched or thought could rise from your unconscious memory and become a part of your experience. I know had read that passage from Ecclesiastes about the silver cord years before I ever did a float. I did not understand what it meant and some footnotes on that passage tried to explain it away as a person’s hair turning gray (silver) with age and the silver cord being broken meant them losing their hair. That seemed like a lame explanation from whoever wrote the footnotes but the concept of the silver cord was already in my head years prior to the float and that is probably why it surfaced when I was experiencing a sensation of floating.
I am not claiming it was anything supernatural (although at times it feels that way). Someone once described what happens during a float as standing on a river bank and looking into the water. If it has been a long time since the last rain, the water is slower moving and much clearer and you can see the rocks on the bottom of the river. However, if it has recently rained, the water is faster moving and cloudy which really limits your ability to see beneath the surface.
Floating eliminates OUTSIDE distractions (nothing to see, hear, feel, taste, or smell). If you can silence your INSIDE distractions (your todo list, kicking yourself over past mistakes, anxiety about upcoming events, etc.) you create the conditions to see deep into your personal river. You can call it lucid dreaming or a vision or a hallucination. I believe it is all coming from inside of you but I can understand why some people might believe it was coming from somewhere else.
My “ghost of Christmas future” type experience (that led to an elevated heart rate for 15 hours) was an experience that SEEMED like something else was present but I am not claiming that was the case. But to this day I can’t explain why I had such an elevated heart rate following that experience, especially since I had just finished a very thorough physical literally moments before the float and everything about me was perfectly fine.
@JohnR1972 @Mike403 This is all very very interesting. I'm definitely gonna do a float tank, probably around my bday in a month. I will make sure to dust this thread off and share my experience
@Jova114 - I wish you all the best. A lot of people just float and relax almost like you would in a hot tub but quieter. I really try to maximize my experience by the mental prep before the float (listening to soothing music on the drive there) and deep breathing / meditation at the beginning of the float session. What happens next is a role of the dice. I don’t always hit that lucid dreaming state but I usually enjoy it a lot when I do.
I look forward to hearing about your experience!
@Mike403 @JohnR1972 Very interesting perspectives. thanks for sharing. Definitely a lot of food for thought. I might research that this weekend. Thanks again.
One drawback is many tanks have mold and mildew on the inside.
@BoomerSpooner Ewww I'll definitely check for that
@BoomerSpooner - Or they can clean the tanks? That's like saying that swimming pools have mold in them. They shouldn't.
@Mike403 I helped build, service and clean pools in high school and part of college for my best friend’s dad’s company. Chemicals are not 100% effective and if you are in humid climates they still get mold and mildew in areas you don’t always notice. You can only shock the water so much. What you are saying is tap water shouldn’t have fecal content yet the water you drink, despite all the water filtering and enzymes brought to bear by modern science has acceptable levels of fecal content. Read your annual water report your water supplier should provide.
I went into one pool at a school once to scrub inside the drain at the bottom. It was black with mold.
But here are the findings on risk. As I said chemicals help but are really not foolproof, and the salt does not kill microorganisms on contact. It can take several hours. Public use raises the risk:
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/E/2016/eb-floatation-tanks.pdf
After working in hotels as long as I did, I got wary of cleanliness issues so before I started floating I definitely knew what to look for. Thankfully the level of salts in the water helps kill most microbes before they have a chance to latch on to surfaces. Float spas that use pods rather than rooms are likely to be easier to clean, but still a good idea to check corners and crevices for signs of mildew. Locations with good protocols fully drain and clean each pod/tub between clients and have great ventilation to allow the rooms to fully dry out so that they don't remain humid.
Always shower thoroughly afterwards regardless and don't go if you have any cuts or scrapes (the salt would sting like a mofo anyway).
(removed off-topic post.)
Gosh @TxTom Get your own forum! Lol
Hi tried one a few winters ago. I had a bad habit of scratching my ankles when they get dry in the winter and I had Lytle cuts and I didn’t put petroleum jelly on all of them. With all that salt water it was a very irritating experience. I could not release myself to go deep. But I felt great for at least two or three days because of it being a giant Epson salt bath.
I've done floating sometimes in the past. Found it was an effective measure when experiencing severe insomnia, and also for "clearing the cache" on the nervous system - for several hours after it would help me think clearly about hard decisions, with less mental or emotional baggage.
Just a couple recommendations, from my limited experience:
Embrace the idea of "sensory deprivation" in the isolation tank - even though it can be uncomfortable at first. There are many floating spas today that offer music, podcast, light shows or all sorts of distractions... I'm waiting for the first shop to offer to project an xbox in the tank. But with all that stimuli, your nervous system never changes state - you're just floating in salted water... which is nice for your back, but there's probably easier and cheaper ways to do that.
Prefer a 90+ min session if at all possible. There are good reasons this was the canonical lenght of a session for decades, before the recent wave of commercial spas popularized the 60mins. There is a qualitative difference in the experience, once yout brain "clicks" and gives up seeking external stimuli - and that literally takes time. For most people that seems to be past 70+ mins, sometimes less sometimes more... and sometimes it takes more than one try. Modern spas often offer 60mins only because its easier to sell to new customers, and easier to pack the tanks all day. They're not bad per-se but again, the experience will basically be "floating on zero g in salted water" and an isolation chamber is overkill for that.
I have been several times to a float tank. My therapist actually gave me 3 90 minute sessions. I went to Still Point Wellness and Float Spa in Asheville. The experience was quite different. I had memories from my childhood pop back up and just felt weightless and free at times. I highly recommend.