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Flotation Tanks
ThailandTom
Veteran
Any experiences with these? Sounds interesting with regards to exploring consciousness
0
Comments
[LINK]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_torture
It is quite likely that flotation chambers will be substituted for waterboarding in the future. There is of course a time limit for recreational/relaxation use of sensory deprivation . . .
Here is the 'spiritual' version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_retreat
Not really much interested to try either . . . :wave:
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/17765/bubble-bath-meditation
A few points:
1. Whatever you bring into the tank…is yours... If you are not comfortable in examining yourself then you should not get in a REST tank.
2. Whatever expectancy set you bring in the tank…will likely occur.
3. The first few times in a tank will take some time to get used to the environment. There is a process or a mastery of becoming accustomed to the tank environment in which once you have floated a few times the initial adjustment to the float environment will be quite short.
4. Most of the research are a few single clinical case studies, physiological sympathetic/parasympathetic type studies and sports performance.
My model/framework that I imagined concerning flotation tanks and meditation is thus. The flotation tank is the laboratory, meditation is the experimental process and a person’s experience is the result. The tank environment is in an environment in which there is very little external distraction and with a bit of experience one can learn to quiet the physiological internal environment and the result is that your body seemingly disappears or dissolves. So in a sense of all that is left is a person’s mind/consciousness.
Thus the mind/consciousness is where meditation becomes the experimental process. So if we look at meditation as a twofold process, like vipassana. The first process is active, i.e., concentration/focus/one pointedness. It’s the ability to hold or focus upon whatever…like your breath. Then once are able to hold your attention upon the object, like really focus like a laser beam. Then you switch to the other process, which is the insight stance or position. The insight position is where you can passively observe or be aware of the object and yet maintain a detached state and merely observe without attraction repulsion or judgment. Thus IME, you can focus on something and have insight....or recognize or become aware of patterns, associations seemingly causal relationships of how our mind works, how we experience things and interact with others and our environment.
Anyway, I’ve had some very interesting insightful and healing experiences in the REST environment...wet tanks, dry tanks and chambers. They are not for everybody and there are people that probably should not get in a tank. I do think that a rest tank has environmental and physiological properties that could enhance the meditation process and experience. However they are costly and there are issues to deal with and having one in your home. On the other hand, meditation and hypnosis and auto hypnosis are seemingly effective and cost less.