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Flotation tanks

 
 
The Sinister Haiku Bureau
04:27 / 25.06.02
Not entirely sure if this belongs in the Magick or in the Lab, move it if you so desire.
I recently came across a place which offers the chance to do sensory deprivation floatation tank type stuff, and being something of a sucker for 1960s hippy psychologoweirdness, was thinking about trying it out. Has anyone tried flotation tanks or sensory deprivation? What was it like? Was it worth the money (25 quid, according to their website)? Should I just buy a bunch of acid instead? How does it compare to other systems of headfucking and relaxation- drugs, Holotrophic breathwork, meditation, and suchforth?
Also, any ideas for any cool magickal/conciousness-altering/metaprogramming/sigil casting stuff I could do if/when I do go in for it? Or is trying to use the experience in some way missing the point of trying to empty my head?
Oh, and disinfo waxes lyrical on the subject here: http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id451/pg1.html
 
 
Sebastian
12:19 / 25.06.02
I recently made my own web search on the subject. Apparently it has become somewhat fashionable among yuppies and stressed business people who come out of it feeling better to go back to the office. For other purposes more relevant to our discussions I consider it would be worth giving it a try, or even several tries. Since you ask about LSD, I would say yes, buy it, and then go to the tank with it, if you dare. Use at least something you are familiar and comfortable with, and, most optimally, use it once you are used to staying in the tank on your own.

As compared to other things, flotation tanks stand pretty much as a kind of their own. Although you can achieve sensory deprivation through getting yourself in your grandmother's closet at night, I think that the propioceptions (the sensations your body joints from toe to head report) of floating in the solution of the tank should be quite unique.

Lastly, in The Invisibles, there are references to those agents of the enemy (the mirmidons?) as working from deep floatation tanks while using mantras to achieve their "journeying" through space-time.
 
 
Ganesh
12:53 / 25.06.02
I've tried flotation twice. Both times were relaxing, the second more so. 'Shutting off' definitely takes practice: when I realised I didn't have to lie there woodenly but could float gently from one side of the tank to the other and enjoy the motion of the saline, I think my musculature gradually unwound itself.

If you try it, I'd recommend the 'no night-light, no pillow, no whale music' option. Silence, blackness, ears below water-level. Lovely.
 
 
Persephone
14:42 / 25.06.02
You know, the picture of Ganesh the Elephant-Headed floating gently from side to side in a dark tank of salt water is inordinately pleasing. Just thinking about it is relaxing me right now.
 
 
Fist Fun
15:17 / 11.03.04
I tried it a couple of times in London as a general health booster anti-pollution type thing. The first one seemed to last ages and I felt as if I had had a really good bath afterwards. The second one a week later seemed to fly by and I did feel more relaxed.
 
 
trixr4kids
17:33 / 11.03.04
just check how often they change the water...a friend in environmental health had to check one of these flotation places for basic hygene standards...nasty things were found in the rarely changed ,often used salty baths....other than the health risks(!)they sound great,but after my friends story I just cant bring myself to go...I might have to build my own one in the spare room
 
  
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