I recently tried something new and went for a session in the local Float Tank. I’d heard about the benefits of this type of sensory deprivation for a while and a friend invited me so we went. More on floating found here.

I didn’t conduct any due diligence before going. Although we are mostly comforted by “knowing what to expect” part of the benefit of trying something new is to challenge our brains to become open, agile and alert. So I passed on researching in advance, and simply showed up.

Since my friend and I were having dinner afterwards, I’d had a fresh shower and dried my hair (women know why this is an important piece of information) which was my first mistake. Part of the pre-float preparation is to completely shower off all make up, lotions or products of any kind. So the hair and makeup efforts for dinner went swiftly out the window.

After showering off, I stepped into the float pod where I “floated” for 30 minutes. I was glad to have a “short” session for the first time as it was definitely an intense experience which I didn’t totally surrender to. Although I had some fantastic glimpses of what that might be like, meaning exceptional solitude and periods of “non-thinking.” A longer session may have overwhelmed my “non” sensory experience!

The water was still, thick and conformed around any movement I made. It was the same temperature as my skin, and the air, so the idea is that our bodies sort of become “one” with the environment.

The room was silent. I wore earplugs to keep the salt out of my ears and with that, being partially submerged could hear only what sounded like the loud pounding of the slow but steady beat of my own heart.

When my time was up, there was a chime of sorts to let me know. Somewhat off kilter I slowly moved to the shower and washed the salt off. I felt a little like I was off of the ground by an inch or so. I moved intentionally so as not to get dizzy and fall, and carefully got dried and dressed, in the room where both the shower and the float tank were.

It was very quiet in this studio. I literally moved around from the float tank room I’d been assigned, into one of the two bathrooms without seeing or hearing anyone. I felt present, proud to have taken on something new and very much in the “Zen” mode. I had an intense awareness of every step I was taking and all of my body mechanics were in slow motion. I was deeply in my breath and actually still in a meditative state.

As I entered the bathroom, almost like a floating lotus, I looked at the wall where I saw a beautiful poster of a Buddha statue, with the words “Let that shit go” written underneath. I snapped out of my trance just as fast as I started laughing out loud, and remembered that I am in a human body and it was time to return to being in it!

Later, in talking with the Chris, the owner of Synergy Float Center, we were chuckling about the implied irony of the Buddha poster. Chris said some people take issue with it, saying it is inappropriate. The irony of course, is that the very fact that someone would “take issue” with it supports the need for us to be reminded to in fact, do what the poster said and let that shit go. Even the Buddha has a smile on his face, and taught us not to take ourselves/egos too seriously.

Bottom line, I will definitely try floating again, and be a little better prepared. But in the meantime, I will continue to benefit from the session I already enjoyed by being reminded to detach from outcome, which is the underlying goal of most of our therapeutic practices.