Ever wondered where to find a place to float while traveling internationally?
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Floating through life just got easier!
Get your '08 FLOAT onBy Justin Juul
Doesn't it sometimes seem like the world is working against you? It's bad enough those days when you wake up feeling like shit for no reason, but it really sucks when things just get worse from there. And it's always their fault, isn't it? The dickhead at the liquor store forgets to stock your brand of cigarettes. Some yuppie in a fancy car nearly runs you off the road. Your manager fires you, your landlord evicts you, your friends diss you. Sometimes other people are just too much to bear. Don't you wish you could just make them all disappear for a while? Or better yet, don't you wish you could disappear?
I mean let's face it, even if you could temporarily get rid of all those other assholes, you'd still be stuck with the biggest asshole in the world: yourself.
Keep reading ...
When the wheel of contentment begins to rotate downward, most of us turn to drugs, go into workaholic mode or -- for those who can afford it -- go on a vacation. But all that stuff is too predictable and it often leaves us feeling worse. What if there was a way to temporarily disconnect from life without any of the usual consequences?
Well, if you've ever seen Altered States, you know all about sensory deprivation chambers, those weird water-tanks psychology students use to study brain chemistry or whatever. It's supposed to be the coolest experience in the world, something like meditating on acid.
In a deprivation chamber you are utterly alone. Your body is suspended in warm Epsom-water, your ears are submerged so you can't hear a thing, and it's totally dark, odorless, and soundproof. After a minute or two in an isolation-tank, the entire world melts away and you're left with raw brain waves. Outside of a bad ketamine trip, it's the most detached experience humanly possible. Sounds great right? The only problem is that the tanks are hard to get access to unless you work in a medical lab or live in Spain or London where they've become fashionable for some reason. Not anymore.
The owners of FLOAT, an urban art gallery in Oakland, got their hands on some tanks a couple years ago and are offering their services to the public. A psychedelic dip in one of FLOAT's tanks is the perfect cure for those post holiday-with-the-family blues. Just strap on some Speedos, shut your eyes, and forget about those assholes (and yourself) for a while.
New Year Package at FLOAT – 3 Floats for the Price of 2 ($140.00)
1091 Calcot Place, #116 Oakland
510-535-1702
www.thefloatcenter.com
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Info@TheFloatCenter.com
Artwork influenced by the Iraqi war
All media types encouraged.
We are also looking for War Poets.
If interested please call or send
website link or images to:
A DIY Show & Contest
Show runs through Jan 17/08
Opening on D
ecember 13 ROBOTS ARE ART a DIY Robotic art show & contest made a kinetic splash.
Here are some image and video links:
Robots served beer, painted paintings and even a disgruntled beggar robot roamed up and down the sidewalk asking for 50 cents. Ugobe Pleos played with the children in the crowd, who had an opportunity to shake Monty’s hand and get a signed autograph from the robot. And a small gold robot did
a floating Zen version of Tai Chi.
Party goers won raffle prizes including a visit to anybots to meet Monty and Dexter in person, and free robotic magazines and travel mugs were dispersed to the crowd.
The exhibit encompasses a diverse group of robotic artists including mixed media, painters and kinetic artists. The Art is 100% violence free, and will focus on form, function, and fun.
Robotic Artists:
Cheryl Finfrock - Painter
Camp Peavy - Robotic artist
Mike Wilder - Robotic Artist
Willy Matsuno - Mixed Media (Prize Winner)
Max Chandler - Robotic Artist
Paul Gibson - Painter (Prize Winner)
Christoper Palmer (CTP) - Robotic Artist (Prize Winner)
Mark Murry - Mixed Media (Prize Winner)
Scott Wiley - Painter
Liz Mamorskey - Mixed Media
James Lovekin - Mixed Media
Paul Baker - Kinetic Artist
Nemo Gould - Robotic Artist (Prize Winner)
Al Honig & Dr. Johnathan Foote - Robotic Artists
Mark Galt - Robotic Artist
Frank Garvey - Robotic Artist (Prize Winner)
This is a not to be missed show!
“When you get here you’ll shower and shampoo; then you’ll float like a cork for an hour; then you’ll shower and shampoo again to get the salt off.” And no, I didn’t need a swimsuit. “Just bring
a brush or a comb. Everything else is here.”
Prepping me for what used to be called a sensory deprivation experience when I was a psych student in the ’70s was Allison Walton, the managing partner at Float, a “flotation center” and art gallery that she and her partner, Filomena Serpa, call an urban art spa.
The gallery showcases
Stepping into the body-temperature water in which 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts have been dissolved—to keep one buoyant, remove toxins, facilitate relaxation and more—and wearing nothing but the yellow earplugs floaters are given to keep the ears dry, I wondered what to expect. I closed myself in, as instructed, lay down in the 10.5-
inch-deep water—and immediately popped to the surface, as Walton had said I would. She has floated for years for stress management. When traveling in
And what better way to duck off and get instant relief from sensory overload? I quickly felt remarkably “held” and able to relax, alone with myself in the silence and the pitch dark, doing “the lazy person’s yoga,” as Walton called it later. When I left, my senses were alert. The traffic noises seemed magnified. Later, at the Alameda Library, the sound of a woman snoring and teenagers talking—usually distractions and annoyances—made me smile. Someone must have pulled my cork—or was I still floating? A week later my upper back tension had not returned, but I knew I would.
—By Wanda Hennig
—Photography by Jan Stürmann
Comments (1)
Using the floatation tank is the reason why I was able to avoid back surgery and stop living a life of debilitating back pain after 6 years with a pinched nerve. I still have a pinched nerve but I don't get paralyzed anymore.
After seeing my x-rays, my doctor said that he could only attribute my remarkable recovery to floatation therapy. I've dedicated a lot of my time to educating people on the therapeutic value of floating - for stress reduction, deep relaxation, pain relief. If you're really uptight and stressed out, go ahead and float for an hour and see if you can maintain your stress level - I bet you won't!
Posted by Floatation Tank | January 7, 2008 07:53 PM
How Sweet is this post I just found:-)