Over two years ago I read about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s participation in an isolation tank experiment conducted by St. Paul-born, Mr. John C. Lilly. Later this year thanks to an article in Vice about flotation tanks, I was really motivated about finding them. I wasn’t just lucky to find one in the Twin Cities area, but also to find one nearby my home: The Wellness Center.
A floatation tank, also called sensory deprivation tank, is a tank in where one floats in salt water at skin temperature, most of the times it’s soundproof and completely dark. One enters nude (must shower before and after). In my case, there was a little aqua color lamp and I had binaural beats playing. The main purpose of the floatation tank is that it’s used for meditation and relaxation.
Here’s the documentary made by Vice, which I I highly recommend you watching to get to know about the experience and the industry involving this artifact:
My 90 minute experience was: laughter the first 10 minutes, I couldn’t help but laugh intensely, I guess my body was really happy. Later on, all my thoughts started running through my head, I was getting frustrated trying to relax, and then there was a moment where I wasn’t thinking anymore, I hadn’t ever achieved this in my life, I don’t know for how long this went on, for the first time I was nothing. I felt nothing, I was somewhere else. It was beautiful. After that, I started laughing again. I had purchased a 90 minute session, but 60 minutes was more than enough for me.
Afterwards I thought my body would feel more loose, but it wasn’t until four days later that I realized how much work I had completed at work like never before, and had no stress at all. I had a lot of energy and my insomnia was gone. For me it was a more long term result.
This device may not be for everybody, but it’s worth giving it a try. Believe me as an ‘always-active’ person, you need to allow to enjoy doing nothing… il dolce far niente and float on!
Here you can find a list of floatation tanks around the world.