To Float…

Ever since I was in my teens I have always been fascinated by isolation tanks. I first was intrigued after watching the movie, “Altered States(1980),” where through using an isolation tank, the main character was mentally and physically altered through his experience.

None of that happened during my “Float.” But something did…

So on Facebook, or should I say NSA? I saw an ad for a place called Float Central in Bend, Oregon. When I walked in the Owner, Seth, invited me to help myself to tea or a piece of fruit while the filters were doing there job on the Float Tank I was going to use. Filtered between floaters answered a question in my mind.

When they were done, I was lead back to one of the rooms. It was small, cozy, with a large rectangular tank in it.

 There was a shower, and it was inviting. I was instructed on how to get in and out of the tank without slipping. And to shower before and after.

I had heard about people floating in the Dead Sea, because of it’s salt content. Well, these tanks had, I believe, 200 pounds of Epsom Salt to recreate that type of experience. The lighting for the tank was a simple magnetic push light that you stick inside the door. I chose darkness.

So I had taken my shower and stepped into the warm water. The room was quiet, the only noise, a slight sloshing as I made sure not to slip on the slick bottom.

I was in… Now time to close the door and lay down. The quiet from the room became a silence in the tank. I lied back onto the water, not really trusting at first that I would not sink. After a few minutes, I realized the tension in my neck, as I was holding my head up, slightly. Not bad, but it was a little claustrophobic at first, not because of the tank or darkness, it was the air. The air was warm and thick, kind of like a humid summer day. I live above 3,000 feet and on the high desert side of the mountains because I like the crisp dry air.

I noticed that time became pretty irrelevant quickly, and I was enjoying the peace, deeply… I don’t know what I was expecting and then I started to Bless… Everything and everyone, as everyone is fighting their own battles. I started to play in the water, stretching, and making little waves that would move me to touch a side wall. At one point, I kept spinning like a compass needle, my head constantly wanting to move North.

Soon a peace fell upon me…

Throughout life, as an introvert, and a left handed right brain empath, life sometimes becomes to much with me. I felt, as in the movie, “Dare Devil(2003),” when the young boy hears and feels every wave of stimulation around him. And when he was older, he slept in a float tank to escape the noise of the world.

I felt that… The isolation became a haven from the world… I wanted to curl up into a ball, sink, and be completely submerged, as in the womb. It was a sublime moment of peace and tranquility.

The distraction, and also the ease to focus upon my breathe while meditating was really the only noise experienced. Well, that and when my heartbeat would pound in my ears.

As the 90 minutes of my float came to an end… slowly ascending music waft through the tank. A gentle reminder that the world was still outside, and I would once again be entering it. I did so with a balanced mind, soul and body, which made the transition much less of an onslaught of stimulus,  more a re-merging of the external and internal.

If you can find a place to Float, (if in Bend, OR, look up Float Central),and are not too claustrophobic, it is so worth it. I am going again, and again…

Blessings, Love & Light…