In the last days before the holidays, I decided to write such a “unloading”, easy post. It's time to take a break from the informative, long articles and write a short review. Not so long ago, I visited the camera of sensory deprivation or float in a different way. I would like to write float tipthis interesting, unusual and enjoyable experience and give some advice in case you decide to go through this procedure.
The sensory deprivation chamber is a dark tank filled with water, which contains high concentration of salt. Neither sound nor light penetrates this camera. The high salt content allows the liquid to hold the person on the surface of the water. Due to the temperature of this solution, which is equal to the temperature of the human body, a person placed in a chamber ceases to feel this water in his body. He seemed to hang in weightlessness.
The camera was invented in the middle of the last century by the representative of the American scientific counterculture, psychoanalyst and neurobiologist John Lilly. Lilly experimented with altered states of consciousness, tried to develop a language of communication with dolphins and studied the thinking of these aquatic mammals.
The sensory deprivation chamber was an attempt by a scientist to check what was happening with the human brain, if he was completely deprived of sources of external influence. And interesting things can happen. Someone experiences unusual sensations, even visual, auditory and tactile hallucinations.
"Mad bath"
I first learned about the floating camera (excluding the Simpsons series) in a story by one of my favorite writers, Stanislav Lem. The story is called the “Conditioned reflex”; it enters the cycle of stories about the pilot Pirks. In the “Conditional Reflex,” the camera was used to prepare and test people who would take part in space travel. Students of the "cosmic" high school jokingly called the camera "crazy bathroom."
The amount of time a student could spend in a crazy bath was a measure of individual psychological endurance. If a person could lie in a cell for 5 hours, then this indicated that he could withstand long journeys to the stars, passing alone, lack of entertainment and live communication.
The protagonist of this story spends 7 hours in a cell, experiencing the most borderline states. He ceases to feel the body, ceases to realize the boundaries of his ego, breaks up into a lot of I, falls into unknown space and, in the end, experiences such experiences that none of the existing languages can describe!
Perhaps the author, after all, exaggerated the possibilities of the camera. I think so, although I can not know for sure. One hour in the floating chamber passed for me without any “special effects”. This is probably due to the fact that my brain has become accustomed to the daily rest from external signals - meditation. And with the habit can be anything. When I first began to meditate, I saw some images during meditation. Then it stopped.
But everyone can have different things ...
One session in the sensory deprivation chamber
I signed up for a session in one yoga center. I will not give advertising, everyone will easily find such centers in their own city, if they exist. Before the dive, the administrator conducts a briefing and suggests taking earplugs. After the shower, I got into the camera naked.
I could not relax for a long time. At first it is difficult to find a comfortable posture. A couple of times the water accidentally got into the eyes and nose - it was terribly pinched, because there is a lot of salt in it. Therefore, if you scratch your eyes or nose, scrub these parts of the body gently: keep your eyes tightly closed and do not open for a while until the water that has fallen on the eyelid from your fingers does not evaporate from its surface.
Do not be afraid to relax the body. The neck will instinctively strain to keep the head on the surface. Just relax it and lower your head completely. If there is enough salt in the water, then the head will not sink.
Claustrophobia method
I admit that at first I was even a little worried. But I understood that the body had fallen into a somewhat unusual situation: it was placed in some kind of deaf darkness, as if a grave. The reaction of the body, responding to excitement, was quite natural. Of course, not every day this happens!
I did not drive the excitement from myself, I realized that it was not going anywhere, so you just need to “score”. What I did: my heart was beating fast, but my mind remained calm. I did not identify myself with my anxiety, realizing that nothing would happen to me and I had to stop paying attention to the disturbing signals of the body. After a while, the heartbeat became normal.
It was a great practice in controlling fear and anxiety. Many people who suffer from claustrophobia and other phobias may be frightened by this experience. But I would, on the contrary, advise them to float as a therapy. This is radical and requires courage, but it effectively eliminates the fear of confined space and other fears associated with darkness, being alone and so on. Of course, the therapeutic effect will manifest itself only if you can take control of your fear and hold on to the camera for at least some time.
Nothing will happen to you. Do not chase fear away, just stop identifying yourself with it. Just watch him.
Deep meditation session
Let's return again to my feelings in the chamber. Some time after the start of the session, I still began to relax. The state has become similar to that which occurs during meditation. Calm and tranquility. I will not confuse this state with anything. Just concentrating and getting rid of thoughts was much easier than during meditation. It was happening as if by itself. This must be directly related to the fact that much less tactile signals enter the brain than during normal meditation, so it is easier to stop the flow of thoughts.
The relaxation was very deep and pleasant. The only thing that slightly disturbed the effect of the absence of external stimuli was that I still felt the water. A little bit, but I felt it and knew where the boundary of water and air passes. In general, the promised feeling of weightlessness was not as bright as I imagined it. Perhaps you will be better off with this: there will be another chamber and body temperature, after all, all people differ. But it was not a big problem for me.
The second is that I sometimes put my head or hand against the wall of the chamber. It also created unnecessary sensory signals. But it did not hurt much.
An hour later, I got out fresh and rested. Took a shower dressed and went out into the street. The state was very relaxed, like after yoga or meditation, only much brighter and stronger. This is a feeling that makes all problems irrelevant, and fears and anxieties are insignificant. This feeling of lasting inner balance and comfort. It seems that no event can shake this spiritual balance. It is filled with love for life. I want to keep such a feeling in me always, so that it penetrates every moment of life ...
This state lasted for several hours before going to bed.
Summary
Sensory deprivation became for me, first of all, an excellent relaxation, high-quality rest.
If you have the opportunity, be sure to visit this procedure. But do not wait and hope for some very unusual sensations. If you float only for this, you may be disappointed. But if you want to relax, relieve tension, clear your head of thoughts, maybe come to some important life decision, then you will really like this procedure.
Floating is an excellent therapy for managing stress, but at the same time, this pleasure is not cheap. In Moscow, one hour costs 1500 - 2000r.! Not everyone can often afford to relax in the chamber of sensory deprivation. Fortunately, there are free, but equally effective ways to relax and get rid of stress, such as meditation.
If you decide to visit the floating, please write about your feelings in the comments to this article. Or maybe you already were there? Then it would be very good if you shared your experiences with other readers and with me in the comments.
