First off, do not take this title too seriously. As I explain myself I hope that my attempt of being alternatively poetic will turn into a justified analogy.
I would like to share with you an experience I had that changed the way I view, well, a lot of things. A moment of complete serenity that I had previously never experienced before and something I feel that everyone should experience at some point in their lives. No, I am not going to promote drugs, as I am just realizing I am beginning to sound like an aging hippy peddling LSD. It is actually quite the opposite, but still provides a sense of euphoria. This is my story about my experience with the isolation tank.
Isolation tanks can be referred to by a laundry list of terms such as: float tank, floater tank, sensory deprivation tank and so forth. For the sake of continuity, I’ll stick with isolation tank as I was introduced to it by this name. What an isolation tank is, in the broadest sense, is an egg-shaped tank (the one shown above is the "classic" model) filled with water and approximately 800 pounds of Epsom salt (yeah, that’s a lot of salt). The water is heated to the exact same temperature as your skin, which is around 93.5 degrees and is sound and light proof. When you add that much Epsom salt to a fairly low amount of water, the water’s density increases, making your body float on the surface – a lot cheaper than flying out to Israel to kick it in the Dead Sea.
So let’s put all of this information into perspective; once you close the lid of the tank, it becomes completely black (no sight). The water is warmed to the temperature of your skin, so you can’t tell where your body ends and the atmosphere begins. On top of that, you’re floating (no touch). While you float, your ears remain under water in an already quiet room (no hearing). And, unless you went to Burrito Boyz an hour before and you’re chewing a piece of gum, the no smell and taste kind of go without saying.
So, here you are, deprived of all your senses and thinking where the hell else can I accomplish that? Well, the womb would be your closest answer, but even in there you can hear and often touch in the later parts of your growth. There is one more sense that I’ve become much more connected with though – the sense of “self”.
I found out about isolation tanks through the help of my brother, Chris, who did some research on tanks after an inquisitive blog posting from Joe Rogan. Rogan, an advocate of the machine, owned one in his house and was giving away his old one so he could upgrade. I was immediately intrigued and thought, I have to do this.
I discovered a place called the Toronto Healing Arts Centre, located just across the street from the Christie Subway Station on Bloor, which happens to be the only place to “float” in Toronto. Once there, I filled out a form and was escorted upstairs. I entered a wooden-bound room that was fairly simple: a shower with all-organic soap and shampoo and a big tank in the middle. After washing up I jumped in and began my two-hour session.
The first half hour or so was spent trying to get my body adjusted. I knew I wanted to be as relaxed as possible, but when your body has never experienced being deprived from all its senses, you do some crazy things. The mind tries to busy your body, involuntarily twitching, scratching and essentially delivering signals to your nerves to keep them aware. After sometime, my body seemed to finally submit to this unusual atmosphere and I became much more relaxed. Disorientation takes over for a bit and questions like “where the hell are my arms right now?” arose often. At times I thought my arms were above my head until a finger would graze my leg and freak me out. Another phenomenon that occurred was my sense of lying on my back. Gradually I would feel as though I was actually standing up in the tank, knowing this was an impossibility but unable to tell the realistic difference at the time. After I became comfortable, yet again, with this new environment, I began what I like to call “emotional laundry.”
This is the closest that I’ve personally ever been to a meditative state. An honest discussion with me and my “self” took place. I started to consider all the things I have to do this week, this month, this year, in the next 5 years and so on. I began to categorize the importance of the objectives I had in my life and in contrast, the things that should not be as important to me. Even relationships came into play, who my real family and friends are, how I treat them or how I could be treating them better. I reflected on a lot of things that affect me and how I affect others and I came to realize that I had never thought about these things critically before.
I guess it was a slow day at the office because the lady who worked there let me stay in for an extra 45 minutes. I had no idea of this because after a while you lose all sense of time. The most bizarre thing was at some point in my session I just decided to sit up and go “whoa, where did all of that come from?” and right as I did that, I got a knock on the door telling me my time was up.
I came to realize that there are so many distractions around us and 99% of those distractions are unimportant to our lives. Turning off those distractions allows you to assess what you want to be distracted with. I know we can’t just turn off our senses for two hours each day, but I think a little “me” time is necessary for everyone. It will keep you in check and I personally think it will make you a better person. Have a little morning meeting with yourself and see if it helps you. Or, if this advocacy blog has inspired you, go to http://www.torontohealingarts.ca/floattank.html ... you probably have some emotional laundry to do anyways.
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