[krnjason]

I thought this would interest some of you guys. im a noobie member and forgot i was registered here but yeah. It's lengthy but if you're interested here it is... :)

Date: June 17th, 2010

I finally got a chance to experience an isolation/floatation tank at a low-key facility on the beachfront of Venice beach. An Isolation tank is a lightproof tank that is filled with water and roughly 800lbs of Epsom Salt so that a human body will be buoyant enough to where it will float effortlessly. The water and the air in the floatation tank are regulated so that it mimics the temperature of the skin (93.5°F). The tank is supposed to be a method of sensory deprivation so that one may experience relaxation as well as utilize the hidden abilities of the mind in such a state of sensory deprivation.

My experience began at 1:30pm after I had done the mandatory pre-shower and got into the tank. As I opened the door, the air was quite stuffy and the tank itself smelled of plastic-y/filtered water. I got in and shut the door. The water was warm and a lot more slippery feeling that I was used to. I positioned myself by lying down with my feet facing the door and my head, which was at the opposite end of the tank. The initial feeling of floating there was VERY odd and unique. I had never felt complete buoyancy so I had to adjust my body to get comfortable. After I got comfortable, I began to relax.

The first stage of my session was mostly trying to relax and adjust to the complete darkness of the tank. As I began to slide deeper into relaxation, I began to experience similar, if not the same, visuals that occur to me right before I sleep. The visuals were white in color and can be described as various firework explosion-like flares that came and went throughout various points in my field of vision. They were mostly circular in shape, but there was an instance where for several waves of flares, the white colors congregated into the shape of a white heart.

The Second stage of my session I tried to reflect upon my life, but as I tried to reflect, I noticed that it was subtler and not as brutally blunt upon my mind as where if I had taken mushrooms, Ayahuasca, or any other psychotropic substance. I went through the usually stuff such as family, friends, and any other conflicting things I have been facing the past couple weeks/months. The introspective reflection differed drastically in that although I did come to some conclusions, I was not able to come up with those usual profound epiphanies/ resolutions I have with the use of psychotropic substances. Around the middle portion of my session, I noticed that I could control my breathing considerably more efficiently than in my normal state of mind and I have never been able to achieve this outside of using psychedelics. I was amazed and terrified that my body/ mind was able to regulate with such efficiency.

The Third stage of my session was mostly me dozing in/out of being awake and falling asleep. As soon as I would fall asleep my body would twitch and wake me up. This is where the unusual thoughts, scenarios came into play. I remember that Kobe was in my scenarios as was an elephant and other random elements of reality began to shift and blend into my thoughts. During this stage I began to experience nausea, which I thought was very odd because out of all the experiences I’ve had with altered states of mind, Ayahuasca was the only substance that had the similar signs of nausea. As I thought about this later on, the tank makes you feel like you are spinning in endless directions as if you are lost/floating/ spinning in space, so maybe this had something to do with it. I’m not sure. The nausea got worse up to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and got out of the tank. As I looked at the clock to see what time it was… it was 2:30. Wow.



All in all, it was a unique experience and would recommend it to anyone that is curious or just wants to relax. I felt very refreshed physically and I’m not sure if it was just me but I noticed that my pupils were dilated for about an hour after the session.

[Elan]

I have always wanted to try sensory deprivation. I consider myself quite an imaginative person, so I'm very curious as to the experience I would have in such a device. I'm not really interested in psychotropic drugs outside of ecstasy, so the idea of doing sensory deprivation is very appealing to me. But... the sensation of spinning is a big turn off! Even as I was reading your description of it, I could feel myself getting dizzy.

I live very close to Venice, so maybe I'll give it a spin in the next couple months.

[Linus]

I'm interested in this too.. I'd like to find a way to create it in my own home. There was a guest on the Tyra Banks talkshow, he said he was a vampire and uses a coffin as his sensory deprivation chamber. I've noticed certain things happen when my body gets very tired, like after a workout or a long walk..that my state of mind changes the same way as when I meditate. I've been able to do some things only in middle of the night, as I'm in a sort of rural area and it gets quite dark and quiet here.. but there have been recently some 'cat' disturbances in our yard.

I guess you had your eyes closed when you went in. If the chamber itself was also dark, it would be interesting if you could see those hypnagogic white flashes even while eyes open. There are many times when I'm in a dark room with my eyes closed and have to ask myself if my eyes are really closed.. because the space I look at seems 3-dimensional

[ThatGuitarGuy]

This sounds really cool! I'd like to try it out and see what happens. It seems like it'd be a great way to relax.

[krnjason]

If the chamber itself was also dark, it would be interesting if you could see those hypnagogic white flashes even while eyes open. There are many times when I'm in a dark room with my eyes closed and have to ask myself if my eyes are really closed.. because the space I look at seems 3-dimensional

Actually i tried it both closed and open and the white flashes stayed effortlessly with or without my eyes closed really had me a bit freaked out when i first witnessed it.