Today I spent 75 minutes in a flotation tank

(also known as sensory deprivation tank)

I became very curious about flotation tanks a few months ago so for a late birthday present from my parents I asked for a voucher for the local float place (and mrshill got one for her birthday too!). We were greeted by a guy named Zack. He took us down and told us everything we need to know. Each pod is in its own private room with shower. Inside the pod is a lamp. It is not claustrophobic inside. You can comfortably sit up inside with the door closed. The water is not deep at all - about 20 centimetres. One thing that I was looking forward to was being in absolute darkness - so dark that when you hold your hands in front of your eyes you can’t see them. For the first half hour or so it wasn’t like this. It was dark but there was a small crack of light coming through at the top of the pod. I decided to change ends inside the tank to see if it was darker at the other end, but when I put my head down I noticed that the crack was even bigger! I pushed the door to see if it would close any tighter. It did. From then on it was completely dark. Funnily enough ... although it was pitch dark I didn’t really feel relaxed with my eyes open, so I closed them.

This is the pod. What’s that orange light in the corner?

A Himalayan salt lamp of course!

I found the float tank very relaxing physically. I normally don’t float in water at all - something to do with my body mass, so floating without any effort at all is a novelty. At times I felt like I was suspended above the water. I learned a lot about myself mentally - I need to practice being present and slowing down. I knew that already but I thought being in the float tank would be different. It wasn’t. I was expecting life-changing, profound, deep philosophical thoughts. They never came. Sigh. So pretty much the things I think about all the time were the things I was thinking about for 75 minutes, in a jumbled, frantic mess.

So what? I would like to try floating again but not after I’ve tried meditating again. I tried it a year or so ago but it didn’t work for me. I can and will try again! From tomorrow I am going to try a James Clear Atomic Habit - while my coffee is brewing I am going to sit with some soft mood music playing and see if I can practice just being present. Normally while my coffee is brewing I’m doing other things (usually scrolling through reddit, twitter, steem, YouTube) so I will have to make time for it, which is a good thing. I’ll be replacing a bad habit with a good habit. Yay! Fingers crossed it works out ...