Deprive Yourself
While in Chicago over the last weekend, Kate and I had our first opportunity to float in a sensory depravation tank - a little place in Lincoln Park called Space-Time Tanks - highly recommend for price ($40/hr), atmosphere (incense, diffuse lighting, and a salt-water fish tank), and plain ol' friendliness.
A sense dep tank is an enclosed structure about the size of a full-size bed wherein sits about 10 inches of water. The water is saturated with epsom salts - about 800 lbs - so it is quite thick and amniotic-feeling. Lying on your back, you float effortlessly. This water is also heated to 93 degrees fahrenheit, the temperature of the skin. It's dark and silent. The idea is that a large portion of our everyday brain activity is occupied with interpreting mundane sense data. When this capacity is freed, the mind is opened. Thoughts race; the mind goes into periods of deep meditation; a clarity of thought it achieved. Some people have out of body experiences or profound hallucinations. I would refer you to this site - Rebirth - to read various experience reports. The tank was invented in the 1960's by John Lilly, who was probably best known for his work in dolphin communication.
The question of what the mind is without the body is an interesting one. I am in the process of building my own tank at home from plans, and, having tried it, I'm even more excited about finishing the tank.
My own long float experience (2 hrs) was very calming, and I did go into periods of lost time or sleep. I would say it is a distilled form of meditation - expansive and pure. I did not regress to a fetus or leave my body. I did begin to see a pulsing white light, however, and some aurora borealis-type lights. Thoughts came and went easily as if they weren't my own. Reintegration into the world was very pleasurable, as you might imagine, and the buzz remained with both Kate and I for a good 24 hours. I felt extremely refreshed, and I believe them when they say that a 2 hour session is equivalent to 8 hours of sleep.
Kate and I talked to the owner of Space-Time for quite some time before going in. I was most interested in the reasons people come to float, which range from self-exploration to work-a-day relaxation. The tiny float tank business has gotten progressively smaller since the 1970s, but has recently undergone a bit of a resurgence. According to the owner, "sensory depravation" was euphemized for most of its life as "floatation," but now, people are starting to warm up to "sensory depravation" again. In Chicago, I went to a birthday party at Dave & Busters, a giant adult arcade. Blindly feeling my way through clouds of white noise and strobe lights, I now know why "sensory depravation" doesn't sound that scary to folks anymore. I recall a section of an interview with Gilles Deleuze in "Negotiations" where he is discussing the "control society" - a social existence where every surface of body and brain are electronically or chemically "hooked up." Deleuze's comment was that in the near (or now) future, a person will have to make of herself a "circuit breaker" if any kind of personal existence is going to be had.
Good stuff. Highly recommended. Perhaps a cure for ADD in there somewhere.
A sense dep tank is an enclosed structure about the size of a full-size bed wherein sits about 10 inches of water. The water is saturated with epsom salts - about 800 lbs - so it is quite thick and amniotic-feeling. Lying on your back, you float effortlessly. This water is also heated to 93 degrees fahrenheit, the temperature of the skin. It's dark and silent. The idea is that a large portion of our everyday brain activity is occupied with interpreting mundane sense data. When this capacity is freed, the mind is opened. Thoughts race; the mind goes into periods of deep meditation; a clarity of thought it achieved. Some people have out of body experiences or profound hallucinations. I would refer you to this site - Rebirth - to read various experience reports. The tank was invented in the 1960's by John Lilly, who was probably best known for his work in dolphin communication.
The question of what the mind is without the body is an interesting one. I am in the process of building my own tank at home from plans, and, having tried it, I'm even more excited about finishing the tank.
My own long float experience (2 hrs) was very calming, and I did go into periods of lost time or sleep. I would say it is a distilled form of meditation - expansive and pure. I did not regress to a fetus or leave my body. I did begin to see a pulsing white light, however, and some aurora borealis-type lights. Thoughts came and went easily as if they weren't my own. Reintegration into the world was very pleasurable, as you might imagine, and the buzz remained with both Kate and I for a good 24 hours. I felt extremely refreshed, and I believe them when they say that a 2 hour session is equivalent to 8 hours of sleep.
Kate and I talked to the owner of Space-Time for quite some time before going in. I was most interested in the reasons people come to float, which range from self-exploration to work-a-day relaxation. The tiny float tank business has gotten progressively smaller since the 1970s, but has recently undergone a bit of a resurgence. According to the owner, "sensory depravation" was euphemized for most of its life as "floatation," but now, people are starting to warm up to "sensory depravation" again. In Chicago, I went to a birthday party at Dave & Busters, a giant adult arcade. Blindly feeling my way through clouds of white noise and strobe lights, I now know why "sensory depravation" doesn't sound that scary to folks anymore. I recall a section of an interview with Gilles Deleuze in "Negotiations" where he is discussing the "control society" - a social existence where every surface of body and brain are electronically or chemically "hooked up." Deleuze's comment was that in the near (or now) future, a person will have to make of herself a "circuit breaker" if any kind of personal existence is going to be had.
Good stuff. Highly recommended. Perhaps a cure for ADD in there somewhere.
posted by thebaffler at 4:11 PM
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