That black silence of my first float aroused in me a curiosity and a real craving for more sensory deprivation float tank experiences. I started scheduling regular floats, always 90 minutes, sometimes in the little coffin pod with its tightly fitted lid, sometimes in the bathtub-style tanks with tall ceilings, and most fun of all, quite often in the seemingly enormous pool-sized tank. I’ve logged about 25 floats, thanks to the convenient subscription membership service at Float On in Portland that I shared with a friend.
Then I found out about the 2.5-hour late night float option. Oh. My. God. That sounded crazy! From 11 pm to 1:30 am? Wow. I’d be a limp noodle when I got out. Would I even be able to drive home? But the peace of that mental dark place, that utter quiet of the Shitty Committee, drew me toward the long float. The visions of the theta brainwaves also beckoned. Who needs acid when you have the dark quiet of skin-temperature saltwater?
I booked the large pool so I could float all around the big space and feel like I was spinning in outer space. Sometimes I’d get pretty distracted when I floated in the big pool, playing around in the dark waters before I could settle down into deep breathing and relaxing into stillness. This time, though, I definitely wanted that vast feeling of space. I settled into the water with my head completely relaxed, almost thrown back, careful not to scratch my eyes or touch my lips with my fingers (so salty! a mistake I’d re-learned many times over).
Breathing deeply, in and out, and keeping my arms and body so still until the water temp matched my skin and my body disappeared into the void. The blackness so dark that there was just nothing to see. Letting the visions dance in my mind’s eye and just watching them, like a witness, allowing them free reign and just noticing what they morphed into. Sometimes the analytical mind (beta waves) would try to pop up again, as it was wont to do during floats, but I just thanked it and asked it to rest, trying not to scurry down its worrisome, mundane rabbit holes. If the dream images didn’t want to return, then deep breathing would bring the blackness (alpha waves). During that two-and-a-half hours, I know I entered the delta brainwave state of deep, restorative sleep for a while. After so many floats, I was entirely confident I wouldn’t roll over and put my face in the saltwater. I trusted the salt to keep me afloat. When the ambient music gradually began to crescendo and the lights to slowly dawn, I emerged from my saltwater womb-bath refreshed and noodly, but also somewhat alert. 10/10 would float long again