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Sinking Into a Float Tank
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16668 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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10 / 1989 |
1,411 Words |
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J. Louis Gillis
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In Hollywood, where people are subject to unusual stresses like smog and film production deadlines, there is an abundance of ways to relax, most of which involve playing outdoors on sunny days. But today, I was to engage in one of the most unusual free-time activities ever devised. For one hour, I would lie naked in the dark, floating in a solution that most people only soak their feet in.
On hour spent inside a sensory deprivation tank is like going on vacation for a week, according to promoters. This promise appealed to me. After all, there would be no way to get a speeding ticket while floating in a tank containing eight hundred pounds of water and Epsom salts.
But sensory deprivation has not always been easy to come by. Consider what the tank's inventor, John C. Lilly, had to go through to get away from it all.
Lilly's First Pad
Back in 1954, Lilly was a scientist doing brain research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He wanted to find out what would happen to the brain if all external stimulation were cut off. Would the brain fall asleep? Or was it auto-rhythmic, meaning that thought would continue without external stimuli?
In trying to discover the answer, Lilly imagined a sound- and lightproof tank filled with water heated to 98.4 degrees F. Lilly talked about this idea with his superiors, who suggested he go to the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases to speak with Dr. Heinz Specht.
As it turned out, Specht had access to a facility that would work for Lilly's uses. Within a soundproof chamber behind two locked doors was a tank the Office of Naval Research had constructed during World War II for experiments on the metabolism of underwater swimmers.
That old tank, according to Lilly, "furnished the most profound relaxation and rest [I] had ever experienced." But there were attendant problems. The tank itself was huge, and Lilly required rubber support hoses to keep his arms and legs from sinking to the bottom and a special breathing mask. It was too risky and expensive to be of use to the average citizen who wanted to relax.
Over the years, the tanks were refined. A solution of Mg-SO47H2O (Epsom salts) replaced the standard tap water. This allowed a person to float on top of the solution more easily. The substitution also eliminated the need for breathing apparatus and the rubber hoses. At the same time, the size of a standard tank shrunk to eight feet long by four feet wide, which allowed it to fit into confined spaces. It was this newer type of flotation tank that I would be using at the Altered States Float Center in Hollywood, California.
Inside Information
Upon arrival at the Float Center, my initial order of business was to sign in and receive my "orientation" as a first-time floater. This consisted of an introductory tape and tour of the facility.
The voice on the tape told me of the experience
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