Float Tanks, Sensory Deprivation,

[Kate G]

I was wondering, has anyone ever used deprivation or float tanks? This is something I am looking at doing in the near future.

My question is if you have done it what is your experience?  Some of what I have heard about the experience sounds quite mundane and some of it sounds utterly fantastic.  Hopefully in the near future I will be able to add my own experience.  As always thank you



For those who are unfamiliar with sensory deprivation tanks or float tanks here is a more or less informative video on the subject





A video by Joe Rogan





First of a series of three videos by VICE

[Sandra M. Lopes]

May I ask what you intend with experiencing sensory deprivation?

As far as I know, and that's really not saying much, the most interesting aspect is having to deal only with your mind, as all your senses are "numbed down", and whatever happens in your mind, you cannot fail to pay attention to it, because it will be the only thing you have to pay attention to That's why the overall experience can be quite different for different people: for some, used to constant entertainment and sensory overload, those tanks might become a nightmare experience bordering on insanity! For people used to spend some time watching what goes on in their minds, a sensory deprivation tank might actually help by shutting down all senses and letting you focus only on your mind.

I can suppose that in this time and age, when most people are always looking for sensory overload in order "not to think", those tanks can be a nasty shock

In my case, well, my daily practice is to watch my mind very carefully without shutting down the senses, and simultaneously pay attention to everything I experience. It's a bit harder, but more functional: in everyday life, we all get constantly bombarded with sensorial input, and we have to keep a clear mind to deal with all that. However, I suppose that, for some, paying attention to your own mind might be quite hard, and that those sensory deprivation tanks might help, at least at the beginning, to maintain some tranquility in order to be able to observe one's mind more carefully.

[Kate G]

Thank you for the reply Sandra

I have some background in Zen meditation and I lead a fairly quiet lifestyle, not a lot of sensory input.  I was researching Dimethyltryptamine tripping, the substance that the pineal gland produces at birth, death and to some degree during lucid dreaming.  I don't use drugs so the DMT trip is something I want to accomplish naturally with my own pineal gland.  Essentially I want to activate my pineal gland and trip on the Dimethyltryptamine my own pineal gland produces while I am in the chamber and if I am unable to experience that I am just going to go for a deeper meditation experience.  I have noticed that I have incredibly vivid dreams when I take MSM before going to bed (a nutritional supplement) so I am going to be taking MSM before the session.

[Kate G]

Despite the fact that our own bodies produce dimethyltryptamine it has been made the most illegal drug in the United States (according to the information I have found on it).  There is controversy surrounding DMT and the illegalization of it.  I was researching ways to have the same trip legally without taking external DMT and I found some youtubes by Joe Rogan and various people that seemed to suggest that a natural DMT trip might be possible while in a sensory deprivation chamber via my own pineal gland.

DMT is absolutely fascinating.  If you are unfamiliar with it here is a short video on it.

[Jamie D]

I have lived in Bakersfield.  Why do I need any more sensory deprivation?

[Cindy]

I have lived in Bakersfield.  Why do I need any more sensory deprivation?

I thought you Americans lived that way!!

[Sandra M. Lopes]

Oh, I see your point, Kate. Yes, I can understand now your desire to use a sensory deprivation tank to stimulate the natural production of DMT. Besides the desired psychedelic effects, there might also be some (physical) health improvements due to the action of DMT in the organism.

It's interesting, but I actually had never connected the two things — sensory deprivation to stimulate psychedelic trips — and thus my perhaps innocent question!

However, let me assure you that if you're doing Zen meditation under the supervision of a proper teacher, you will not experience any "psychedelic" effects — i.e. a distortion of reality due to altered perception at the brain level — but rather see the world just as it is more clearly, which would be quite the contrary of what you seem to wish to achieve

Then again, an improper teacher might — who knows?? — train you to get hallucinations, but it's definitely not Zen meditation. You can get some spectacular effects just by hyperventilating and rolling your head around (really, I mean it!), and that requires little training and is completely legal

Still, I'm somehow a bit sad that all you wish from meditation is to get an altered perception of reality, when the whole point of Buddhist meditation is to get a clearer, more functional perception of reality, which can enable you to deal better with any issue that might happen in your life — instead of a cheap, clean way to escape reality.

But hey, whatever rocks your boat...

[Ovada]

The tank was actually what got me to this site. I started visualizing the ideal me.. And I thought deeply about myself for an hour. I wasn't satisfied, and knew what to change.

Nothing was really the same after that. I had no psychedelic experiences, seen no flashy colors, but I was able to think very deeply with absolutely no distraction. I learned a lot about myself that day.
I'd recommend trying it at least once! c:

[Kate G]

The tank was actually what got me to this site. I started visualizing the ideal me.. And I thought deeply about myself for an hour. I wasn't satisfied, and knew what to change.

Nothing was really the same after that. I had no psychedelic experiences, seen no flashy colors, but I was able to think very deeply with absolutely no distraction. I learned a lot about myself that day.
I'd recommend trying it at least once! c:

Cool .  Thank you very much for sharing that.

[Kate G]

I'm somehow a bit sad that all you wish from meditation is to get an altered perception of reality, when the whole point of Buddhist meditation is to get a clearer, more functional perception of reality, which can enable you to deal better with any issue that might happen in your life — instead of a cheap, clean way to escape reality.

But hey, whatever rocks your boat...

Sandra, I had to laugh when I read this !  Be of good cheer because honestly you put me into the wrong box.

I mentioned that I practice Zen Meditation this is true.  The reason my meditation practice is Zen is because it involves being entirely present in the moment and without thoughts.  If my meditation suited any other purpose it would not be Zen, it would be something else but I was honest when I said I practice Zen meditation .

I guess it has been a couple, maybe a few years since I first read about DMT and Ayahuasca (brew). Here is some information that I find relevant.

People who have consumed ayahuasca report having spiritual revelations regarding their purpose on earth, the true nature of the universe as well as deep insight into how to be the best person they possibly can.[2] This is viewed by many as a spiritual awakening and what's often described as a rebirth.[3] In addition it is often reported that individuals can gain access to higher spiritual dimensions and make contact with various spiritual or extra dimensional beings who can act as guides or healers.[4]

It's nearly always said that people experience profound positive changes in their life subsequent to consuming ayahuasca[5] and it is often viewed as one of the most effective tools of enlightenment.[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca

Anyway...

let me assure you that if you're doing Zen meditation under the supervision of a proper teacher, you will not experience any "psychedelic" effects — i.e. a distortion of reality due to altered perception at the brain level — but rather see the world just as it is more clearly, which would be quite the contrary of what you seem to wish to achieve

I understand why you would say this.  Because if it were possible to exist in the moment, without any thoughts while inside of a sensory deprivation chamber then conventional theory might conclude that the experience would be limited to experiencing the inside of the box.

However...

The theory behind the sensory deprivation chamber is that the brain is no longer focused upon the task of gathering sensory information.  It is completely dark, the water is body temperature, there is enough Epsom salt in the water to cause the body to float limiting the sense of gravity, there is no sound, the olfactory senses equalize...  Zen meditation depends upon being aware of what is going on around a person while they experience their senses but do not engage in thoughts.  In Zen meditation the subject sees the area in front of her, hears the sounds, feels his or her body compress onto whatever he or she is sitting on and often times holds a lotus position or various other sitting or kneeling position and holds the hands in a certain manner.  The biggest challenge I ever have when meditating is looking at the ground in front of me without seeing patterns that begin to move.

Anyway...  What am I going to see in pitch blackness?  How am I going to remain attached to my environment via my visual senses?  How am I going to remain aware of my environment when there is no sense of gravity, no sense of warm and cold, no sound but the sound of my heart or my breathing?  Zen meditation is dependent upon and restricted by the environment so what happens when you remove the environment via a sensory deprivation chamber?

I think it depends upon who is in the sensory deprivation chamber.

I have heard a lot of experiences of sensory deprivation chambers just as anyone can do by watching YouTubes and those experiences typically fall into two categories, Spiritual experiences and Earth bound experiences.  I think it depends upon the person.  It probably also depends upon what a person eats and drinks.  I am reminded of how often it seems that everything has to be either this or that, black or white, left or right, good or bad...  But how real life isn't so "binary"  Though often times people's thinking tends to be incredibly binary.  What kind of world is regulated by two possibilities or two outcomes? Where does that kind of thinking come from, our education system?

Anyway...  Perhaps you have heard the saying that we are Spiritual Creatures having an Earth Experience.  I know that in the past people have looked at Spirituality as all-or-nothing.  As if a Spiritual person could be All Spiritual.  Perhaps in another "realm" but here on Planet Earth the people that I am aware of tend to be a mix of Spiritual and Physical. All of the Spiritual people that I (currently) know or am aware of in every day life tend to be physical.  Everybody poops and I have never heard of anyone who pooped white light.

It is true that DMT is referred to as a psychedelic drug even though it is in you right now.  Even though your own body produces it.  How often can you say that about a "psychedelic drug"?    I can't find the specific YouTube but recently I was watching a YouTube where a guy was talking about what he has done to sort of activate his pineal gland / determine if his pineal gland is working.  I have heard that the pineal gland which is also known as the third eye, that it has rods and cones in it, that it functions as an eye.  But being located inside of our head, what kind of light does it see in pitch blackness?

Anyway... this guy was saying that what he does is he sits in a completely dark room with his eyes shut and he tries to see with his third eye.  No where else would this be more effective than in a sensory deprivation chamber though I have tried to do it in my bedroom and I have seen things, the things I have seen were not that amazing, just colors, lights.  Nothing vivid.  Anyway... this is a complex subject but it is safe to say I am not a junky looking for a naturally stimulated hallucination.  This isn't a matter of on/off, junky/clean, left/right black or white.  I have no idea what I am going to find inside of the box, for all I know it will be Schrodinger's cat.  Maybe I will just float in darkness and listen to my heartbeat.  I have no preconceived notion as to what is going to happen.

But I will say this...  DMT is more than a psychedelic drug, you are using it right now.  Your pineal gland is all about DMT.  The third eye is more than a way to get a cheap high.  Perhaps I triggered you Sandra when I used the word "trip" because of it's association with drug use.  I have not been exposed to drug use so for me the word "trip" simply means to move from one consciousness to another which is what I understand the sensory deprivation tank to be all about, to move from a body experience to an out of body experience in as much is possible.  At the risk of creating yet another rambling wall of text there seem to be primarily two categories of experiences that people have, one of being tied to the experience of floating in a dark box and one of infinite possibility.  I am hoping to experience more of the latter than the former.  I believe that my third eye or pineal gland is the way to that "infinite possibility" and I am talking about a "trip" as in being able to experience a realm that can go far beyond the walls of a dark box filled with salty water.  Will I get there or will I just float in a box?  I have no idea.

The interesting thing about DMT trips that people have when they smoke DMT or drink Ayahuasca is that their experiences are often so similar, traveling to another dimension, meeting the same species of beings. 

Anyway... I am not entertaining the idea that I am going to be tripping out on a huge dose of DMT, rather I am aware that it is my pineal gland and the DMT my own body produces that will allow me to connect (to whatever degree) with whatever it is that is usually goes unnoticed.  Transition allowed me to experience a level of "enlightenment" where "I" no longer existed and infinite possibility was able to rush in and fill the gap. Zen meditation allowed me an experience where "I" stopped existing and infinite possibility was able to rush in and fill the gap.  Zen meditation allowed me to know things that I never learned.  It allowed me to connect to something bigger than myself.  I believe that it is DMT and our pineal gland that somehow influences our connection to this "bigger thing".  This consciousness that exists in everything.

Maybe someday I can travel to another country where Anahuasca is legal and I can be guided by shamans and participate in the ceremony but no, I'm not just looking for a esoteric orgasm or a head rush.  If all I wanted was that I would just beat myself in the head with a piece of lumber or hold my breath so please don't be sad for me.

[Kate G]

The tank was actually what got me to this site. I started visualizing the ideal me.. And I thought deeply about myself for an hour. I wasn't satisfied, and knew what to change.

Nothing was really the same after that. I had no psychedelic experiences, seen no flashy colors, but I was able to think very deeply with absolutely no distraction. I learned a lot about myself that day.
I'd recommend trying it at least once! c:

I have been told that the Sensory Deprivation Chamber experience works like peeling away the layers of an onion.  That the more you do it, the deeper you can go.

[Ovada]

I have been told that the Sensory Deprivation Chamber experience works like peeling away the layers of an onion.  That the more you do it, the deeper you can go.

I can see that. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can go back in to the tank with an idea to explore~
I'm actually looking to go back within the next month or so, I'll be sure to post about it!

[Kate G]

Ok I went to the float center and I did ninety minutes in one of the tanks and then I went and had lunch, came back and did another 60 minutes.

The first float session I experienced a tremendous amount of pain in my upper back and neck.  I tried floating with my hands above my head but it didn't feel right so I tried floating with my arms at my sides instead.  This position seemed to cause the most amount of pain.  Eventually after a long time I twisted to each side and popped my spinal column and neck joints.  Then still experiencing a lot of pain I later brought my arms behind me and up and popped a bunch more stuff.  The pain wasn't nearly as intense after this but in trying to float with my arms at my sides I continued to experience discomfort.  Eventually I realized that clasping one hand around my other wrist while holding my arms above my head was the only way to float without pain.

So my first session was mostly getting used to floating and dealing with pain and discomfort.

Then I came back and began my second float session.

At the place where I went they play music inside of the tank during the last five minutes of the float, then the light comes on and the hydraulic door opens.  I was already familiar with this from my first float.  The soft, New Age flute type music came on and five minutes later the light came on and the door began to open signaling the end of the float session.  Well on my second float after some time the music came on so I realized my float session was nearly up but then the music faded away and the light never came on, the door never opened.  Then after floating for what felt like a half hour the New Age flute music began playing and five minutes later the light came on and the door began to open.

I thought the music had come on but it hadn't, at least not through the speaker in the float pod.  And the music I heard was not New Age flute type music which the guy told me is the only kind of music they played.  The music I heard that was never really there (apparently) but which sounded like real music to me sounded kind of like a music box playing only with richer and more varied sounds.  Sorry, I feel like I didn't write this very well.  Essentially I heard music playing when there was none and it wasn't a kind of music that they used at the float center but it was very real to me and it tricked me into thinking my float session was over before it was.

I also saw more visuals the second time but they were the kinds of visuals I normally see when trying to sleep at night.  Just shapes and color/light variations.  Nothing amazing.  I did forget to take my MSM so I am going to try to remember it for my next float session.  The only real thought I had during my float was during the second float and it was something along the lines of, "I need to do something with my life, something I can feel good about before my life is over."

[Sandra M. Lopes]

It's such a pity that you were threatened with a ban, because, speaking strictly for myself, I was curious about your experiences in the float tank! The "pain" bit certainly was unexpected to hear about, because, well, when I float in seawater, it certainly isn't painful, although, to be honest, I never did 90 minutes of floating — perhaps half an hour at most.

Then again, I also remember that sitting crosslegged on the floor was rather painful at the beginning, too. So I guess it's just a question of training.

As to the original issue — the reasons for, uh, experiencing an out-of-body experience — well... I guess it's all up to what you wish to accomplish. From your words, I still think that you looked at Zen Meditation as another way to, somehow, achieve an "experience", and, when you described that you lost your sense of self and the whole universe rushed in to fill the void, I guess that was the experience you were looking for.

I also still maintain that the whole point of Buddhist meditation is not about the "experience"; that matters little, really, because there are lots of ways to provoke that experience, and they're actually absurdly easy to learn. After several years of more common meditation, where nobody was looking for "experiences" but just learning to become a more functional human being, one of our teachers thought that it was time that the more skeptic among us got a taste about how "physical" meditation can become (in the sense of having "experiences"), a bit like to show how powerful the techniques can be if they're properly applied.

It was actually quite interesting to see the result of that session. The more intellectual types, who were only interested in the philosophy and ethics of Buddhism, and didn't care much about meditation, didn't really have any kind of "experience". Similarly, the few that are only meditating in order to get "experiences", had no results with that technique. The majority of us, however, who just do meditation in order to become more functional human beings, and care little about "experiences", and do all the techniques very regularly every day — well, for those, this technique was extremely powerful! And it came as a huge surprise, since it was pretty much the reverse of what we've been doing for years.

But the whole point of the exercise was not to show, "hey, cool, we can use our minds to induce extraordinary experiences and feelings" — because the ones who actually thought like that did accomplish nothing. Instead, it was a proof of concept of how your mind dictates pretty much what happens with your body, your feelings, and your sensations. And the session was not open to the public, either; it was limited to a number of students that had spent some years not looking for meditation as an experience-inducing tool. I personally still think it was a bit too early for us — usually those kinds of techniques are taught after decades, not years — but I also guess that the whole point was to show that there is so much more that your mind can accomplish, much of which can be very physical.

Naked monks melting snow in a 2-yard radius in the middle of the winter? Piece of cake. :-) It just needs practice. But it also needs the understanding that the whole point of those exercises is not to turn yourself into an eco-friendly heater, but to turn your mind towards becoming more functional in daily life. It's just that there are many, many different methods for that, and some of them can be quite physical, if one is able to understand what is important beyond the mere physical effects or feelings...