By Nicole Dobarro
I was naked in the darkest space I have ever been in. I willingly
shut the door but my fingers refused to let go of the handle. Instead
they only gripped tighter. My mind filled the seemingly silent space
with an intensely loud, body-shuddering noise. As the first couple
seconds passed the sound of my breath grew loud, competing with the
rhythm of my racing heartbeat. I voluntarily decided that I was going to
stay in this pitch-black, salt-water filled tank, also known as a
sensory deprivation chamber, for an entire sixty minutes. It was a
decision I started to regret.
After what felt like ten minutes, my mind progressed from a state of
panic to reason. I was only naked in a soundproof tank where I couldn’t
see anything. I thought, “How bad could it be?” My fingers finally
released the death-grip I had around door handle and I began to sink
back into the salt water. As I surrendered, my entire body was instantly
lifted by the insane amount of Epsom salt mixed into the water. I was
experiencing my first “float” and it felt really weird.
The story of sensory deprivation chambers begins in the 1950s with
Dr. Jonathan Cunningham Lilly. He was sort of a fringe science
jack-of-all-trades. He was a physician, biophysicist, neuroscientist,
inventor and author. Many call him a pioneer in the counter-culture of
modern science, while others would simply call him batshit crazy.
Besides being the inventor of sensory deprivation chambers, Lilly is
more famously known for his research done on communicating with dolphins
and doing a lot of LSD in the name of science. His so-called
eccentricity went on to inspire films like Ken Russell’s film
Altered States and Mike Nichols’ film
The Day of the Dolphin.
While Lilly’s research produced somewhat of a cult following, he was
aiming to learn more about the human state of consciousness and its
limits. Lilly’s research began in 1953 when he took at job with the
National Institute of Mental Health. There he began studying how our
brains work, what keeps it functioning and how it reacts to our
environment. Lilly began toying around with sensory deprivation tanks to
study the effects on the brain when all stimuli are removed. Stimuli in
this case refers to vision and hearing. Lilly hoped that isolating
these senses would prove that even without external stimuli, the brain
and consciousness would continue to function.
Since research like this had never been done before, Lilly and his
colleagues acted as the test subjects. Early designs of the tanks
required them to be fully submerged in a water-filled tank wearing only a
tight mask with a pipe for oxygen. Because of the uncomfortable state
of having their heads wrapped in a tight neoprene fabric, the design
evolved into the coffin-like tank design common today. Once the design
proved more logical, Lilly began promoting the use of these tanks by
sharing his experiences. Perhaps the most intriguing experience he
shared with people he titled “First Conference of Three Beings” which is
currently published on his website. Lilly recalls leaving behind his
body in the tank and having a conference with three unknown entities “in
a dimensionless space, the spaceless set of dimensions somewhere near
the third planet of a small solar system dominated by a type-G star.”
Was Lilly tripping or was this a legitimate experience? Who knows?
However the act of floating in what feels like a zero-gravity tank
caught on and is growing in popularity today. Today people “float” for
different reasons. Most people float to reap the mental and physical
benefits, though there are some who float as a shortcut to meditation
and out of body experiences.
To gain a better understanding of how sensory deprivation tanks work,
I decided I would need to get into the tank. I contacted Allison
Walton, the owner of the Bay Area’s oldest float center called
FLOAT
located in Oakland. Allison opened FLOAT, which also acts as a
constantly changing art space, in 2005 after she experienced a
life-changing float twenty-five years ago. There are actually a couple
spots in San Francisco that have float tanks, but none of the ones I
found focused only on floating. I didn’t want to go to a spa that
happened to have a tank. I wanted to talk to someone who actually knew
what she was doing.
When I entered the space Allison greeted me with a glass of water and
talked me through what I was going to do and what I could expect. She
explained the types of tanks she had, which are manufactured by a San
Diego company called Oasis. “Our tanks are the largest in the Bay Area.
Everyone can fit in them,” says Allison. The white rectangular box is
made of fiberglass with a vinyl inner liner. Allison explained that the
solution, or water, used to float contains a high concentration of Epsom
salt which increases the density of the solution causing a body to
naturally float. “Average tanks require about 800 pounds of salt, but we
use 1000 pounds,” Allison told me as she pointed to a stack of what
looked like giant rice bags. “These tanks are also the most sound and
light proof,” says Allison. “These don’t depend on the room it is in
for a lightproof or soundproof float.”
She continued to explain what my brain might experience when it is
disconnected from all stimuli. Though first-time floaters rarely
completely “let go” and experience out of body experiences, it was
likely that my brainwaves would slow down and enter the state of
theta.
Our brains experience five states of being; alpha, beta, theta, delta
and gamma. In the beta state, our brain waves reflect a waking state and
entirely conscious state. In the alpha state, our brain waves reflect a
relaxed state. This usually happens when our eyes are closed. And
theta, the state our brains are likely to enter while in the tank, is
when our brain waves slow down and allow dreaming. We generally
experience theta when we’re falling into a deep sleep or are awakening
from a deep sleep. The theta state is also when lucid dreaming occurs.
Some people even recall experiencing vivid visualizations comparable to
visualizations caused by hallucinogenic drugs. “Some people go straight
into the theta state, even during their first float. But the rest of us
are mortal,” says Allison.
I finished drinking my water and headed upstairs to the second floor
loft where I would enter a tank and “unplug” from the world. An hour
later, I was not sure about what I had experienced. What I had just done
was weird and I could not tell if removing myself from external stimuli
affected me in any way. I only remember waking a couple times from a
light sleep and before I knew it the hour was up. “It’s is a really
weird thing,” says Allison. “Not everyone gets used to it and just
fights the experience the whole time. I once had a friend that refused
to let go of the handle and she exerted herself so much to prevent
herself from floating that she eventually fell asleep.” Because our
reactions to the tanks all differ in experience, the types of floats
experienced differ as well. No two floats are ever the same. “Everyone’s
brain is completely different,” says Allison. “Some people see crazy
light shows or budding paisleys the second they close their eyes. Some
people don’t fall asleep but just think.”
When I asked about the type of people that float, the answer I got
surprised me. I honestly that it would be a small niche of people into
odd alternative medicine. “When I opened, I thought there’d be a type of
client,” says Allison. “But our clients are really busy people,
business people or people with families. There really is no profile
because we get all ages and all ethnicities.” Allison did mention that
her clients do tend to be of the more creative type if anything. “Lots
of people float to clear a mind block, whether it be doctors or artists
or writers,” says Allison. “And every time someone comes to float
because they need a new idea, the second they step out of the tank, they
got it.”
The benefits of floating truly seem to be all over the grid. The
benefits range from mental relaxation and rejuvenation, similar to the
effects of a deep meditation, to physical relaxation, like entering a
state of savasana. “We’re constantly reacting to stimuli in our
environment, in particular to technology,” explains Allison. “Our bodies
are doing things [like using technology] that humans aren’t designed
for. We’re designed to be creative, thinking beings.” Floating is a way
to unplug from it all. Today, floating promotes the entire and complete
relaxation of our most complex organ, our brains. “For almost everyone,
floating will be the only time we’re completely alone with ourselves
since the womb,” says Allison.
It seems like Lilly’s isolation tanks are all grown up. Even the
language is evolving from sensory deprivation chambers to isolation
tanks to float tanks. “It’ll probably be another ten years before
they’re actually called float tanks,” says Allison. Though the change in
views on floatation therapy will take some time, Allison believes that
we will soon be seeing float tanks, or “unplugging stations,”
everywhere. We are continuously online and the growth of technology
doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. So in order to keep our
heads screwed on while constantly receiving new information and the
stress that follows, we need to find a way to disconnect. As crazy as
paying to be shut into a dark, soundless water tank sounds, it may be
one of the few ways to keep us sane.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/xpressmagazine/2014/05/19/sensory-deprevation/
