The Joy of Floating
I was first introduced to floating by my buddy Jim in Boulder, Colorado, in 1995. I began floating regularly, and the results were at first subtle, and then spectacular. Floating brought the inner and outer worlds into sharper focus, it helped with my stuttering, and perhaps most startlingly, it brought out my dormant other half. After a few months of floating once or twice a week, I began spontaneously writing with my left hand, and I am still ambidextrous 20 years later.
Before this time, my only exposure to floating was the movie Altered States, which is a bit of a stretch from the true experience of being in the tank. Reading John Lilly’s pioneering work into the journey of consciousness which the float tank makes clearer and sharper, and then Michael Hutchison’s somewhat more accessible work, was only the beginning. The true work takes place in the tank, floating on your back in the darkness with 800 pounds of epsom salts keeping you afloat. You literally close the lid, and away you go…
After leaving Colorado for New Mexico in 1996, I only floated now and then, but I met Michael Hutchison in Santa Fe around 1997 and floated at his place. Then, for quite awhile I stopped floating, only going once or twice to Fort Collins where Jim had located a tank. Then time passed, and although I didn’t actively float, I never forgot about it, and always followed Jim’s floating journey, as his health issues and the pain he experiences are best mitigated through floating. He had a tank in his apartment in Boise, and floated regularly for a long time before finally selling the tank last year.
Koan Float Center, Amsterdam – state-of-the-art floating facility.
Jump to 2015. I am teaching in Vienna and I go to Paris for a training, which dovetails into Austrian Independence Day and a week-long vacation. I go from Paris to Amsterdam, and while biking around the city I run into Koan Float Center – a godsend! I float once, and remember instantly what it was like, the relaxation, the stress release, the journey. I float again a few days later and resolve to find a tank in Vienna.
There is one – an old-school Samadhi tank operated by a guy who uses it mostly for himself but rents it out cheaply if you know what you’re doing and don’t need his assistance. It’s in a basement room and it’s definitely not for beginners. I have floated seven or eight times in the past month, and the clarity and the equipoise is astounding.
I’m having all kinds of visa issues here in Austria, and my job and my future in Europe is in serious jeopardy. US citizens are allowed only 90 days out of every 180 in the EuroZone, and my time is running out. The whole story is irrelevant — the point is that throughout this entire debacle I have been clear, focused, and able to see the situation from all sides, which enables me to see the issues clearly and make decisions accordingly. My stress levels, which should be through the roof if I am really leaving, are almost nil, and my body and mind feel lithe and fluid, even though I am not exercising nearly enough. For this peace and clarity, I have floating to thank.
If this sounds like an infomercial, it is. Most big cities (and some smaller ones) have float centers, and if you’ve never tried it, get yourself inside a float tank and take the journey of a lifetime — your lifetime. You won’t regret it.
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