Floating in a sensory deprivation tank serves as a real hack to meditation. This is a heck of a tool. We should have these in our homes. They should be available to all at minimal charge, something recommended by the doctor. It sucessfully isolates the mind and deprives one of all the usual distractions. The water is set at a comforting warm yet not too hot neutral. It feels lovely and warm going in but after awhile begins to seem neutral, almost cool.
There is a small purple light in the container. When you turn it off, you're plunged into absolute darkness.
The first 15, 20 minutes is spent just kind of assimilating, trying to arrive at a calmer meditative state as you'll experience a literal pain in the neck at this time. This is because we store so much stress in the neck and shoulders. Being sensory deprived you become acutely aware of it. But the pain begins to dissipate after 15 minutes or so.
The only thing you can hear is your breathing and your heart.
The first 20 minutes I spent kind of relaxing into it. I was doing what we do in yoga. Focussing on the breath while directing my attention to my third eye.
IN: one....two...three.....HOLD...one...two..three.....RELEASE....one....two...three....pulling in purple light and releasing white, feeding it into the space around me, my aura.
They give you a kind of headrest thingee, but it's actually more comfortable without it. The water completely supports you.
A couple of tips: even before taking the first shower before going in the tank, first thing is put in the earplugs while you're still dry. Second, keep a washcloth at hand and a squeezebottle of fresh water (just outside the tank) to rinse then wipe ones face before opening the eyes. Because the saltwater in the eyes...stings like heck. This is not like going swimming in the ocean. There is 1200 pounds of epsom salt in the water. It's highly concentrated. Don't rub or touch your eyes while in there.
After the falling into the silence, allowing oneself to drift...and breathe....and simply be present...the space feels like it is suddenly opening up around you. It felt like floating on the bosom of a deep underwater sea grotto, I began to see lights in my third eye, glints of color reflecting off the stone, off the water. And then that feeling became the feeling I had when I was lucid in the dreamtime.
I'd become lucid in the middle of a dream. I pulled a piece of chalk out of my pocket (willing there to be one in there...and it was). I drew a door with a circle for the knob. Grasping this I announced my intention: I will see the earth from orbit. And stepped through.
I found myself floating in a quiet deep of drifting blackness, punctuated with tiny stars. And then the feeling of rotating forward, looking 'down' towards my feet, seeing the vast illuminated curvature of the earth coming into view past my toes...
I had this exact feeling now in the tank...like I was back in that moment. I wondered if I'd see the planet again...but no. Just drifting, rotating in this weightless state.
This reminded me of when I fell two stories, hit a fence, spun away from that, hit the ground on my feet...then fell backwards like a felled tree. When I hit the earth (I was unable to move), I didn't lose consciousness, I fell into the earth as though it was water and found myself in this same dark velvet deep. Floating with tiny distant stars studding the velvet. A comfortable feeling, not a frightening one. A place I feel I've been many times before.
And here it was again. No sound then I could hear the beating of my heart. My breath was loud. Back then (in the near death state) I was out of my body and so there was no sound, no heartbeat, no breath, no bodily sensations. I could still observe and think. And now, in the tank as this silent observer stepped forward and observed, I saw lights...soft flashes of pink, red, blue and other colors..glinting off the wet stone and water in a fabulous undersea grotto. So while I'd shifted to 'seeing' with eyes shut (meaning seeing with the third eye), it wasn't an active kind of seeing but a passive, contemplative one.
It was extremely peaceful.
The last thirty minutes passed in what felt like 5. I would love to spend a few hours doing this but the session was 75 minutes in total.
The attendant asked me how it was. I mentioned how the last 30 felt like 5 and he said that's good; I'd gone into the alpha state.
What I find very interesting is that this brain state or frequency is the same frequency of the earth.
I said yes, this is what we also call void. Which is not about emptying the mind but simply whatever you're doing in the present moment, focussing all attention and energy on that. I have done this for a long time as an artist. We also call it the zone. No thoughts of the past, no thoughts of the future. Being completely present. When you sucessfully enter this state, you hit the no time space where hours pass like minutes. You move into the intuitive side of the brain. Shift hemispheres.
The tank is a wonderful tool to assist one who is interested in doing this. It also provides a host of health benefits.
Afterward, I felt amazing. Rested, refreshed. If you have the chance I'd highly recommend trying it. I know I plan to make this a regular part of my practice from now on.
The regular person typically does not enjoy spending 6-15 minutes in a room alone with nothing to do but think. This was proven in 11 studies. People prefer doing mundane activities rather than spending time alone with themselves. This is so true I think; especially in the age of social media. The social media companies...all that stuff is a distraction and outside of the person. It actually isolates you but in a different way than the tank...which is really about allowing a person to re-connect to...themselves. Without all the distractions.
Heres some health benefits of floating:
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This is a terrific aid for those wishing to learn meditation. It ought to be recognized by doctors as a vital health treatment. It reduces mental illness while enhancing wellness. People who entered with high anxiety left with a feeling of peacefulness that lasted the rest of the day.
I know for myself I felt terrific and rejuvenated.
Source for the graphs:
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