Desiring to be better is a natural thing. People want to be better by making small changes or large changes to their lives. That’s one reason why making resolutions to ring in a new year feels like a cultural rite of passage in modern society. Sticking to resolutions as time goes on is a problem. It is easy to let the stress and fast pace of everyday life interfere with reaching these worthy goals. We soon forget why we made resolutions like losing weight or quitting smoking in the first place and get derailed from keeping those goals. A promise is made to do better when another new year arrives and the cycle begins anew. Floating can be a powerful tool in breaking the cycle of unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions. When a person spends time floating in an isolation tank, they can harness the mental energy they need to make changes at a subconscious level. A person can be influenced in their action by subconscious thoughts. Floating in an isolation tank lets you build a bridge to your subconscious self. You can explore deeper thoughts and feelings that might be acting as an obstacle to keeping resolutions and change those things so they no longer hinder your personal happiness. The human mind is a powerful thing. How a person thinks and feels can mold their actions more than anything else. That’s why floating should always be a key ingredient in the self-improvement recipe. Floating can enhance the power of new year’s resolutions. Take time to break the cycle of broken resolutions by spending time in an isolation tank this year.
Ever experience one of those days where you can’t find your car keys? How embarrassed have you felt when someone greets you and you can’t remember their name? Memory lapses happen to everybody at one time or another. Forgetting things seems to be a part of the human experience. The good news is you don’t have to live with a bad memory. Floating offers a great solution for memory enhancement. How can floating make you remember things better? The simple answer is that nothing awakens your entire mind faster than floating in your own isolation tank. The entire float tank experience is designed to let you shut out the outside world and delve into your subconscious. Once inside the tank, you feel a gradual change. Your brain waves shift to lower frequency Alpha, Theta and Delta waves. All of the noise stops inside your head and, for the first time in a long time, you feel true mental clarity. Floating gives the left side and right side of your brain a chance to work in harmony. During your floating session, you experience improved circulation in your body. This means your brain gets the blood and oxygen flow it needs to function at a higher level. In essence, floating builds a better memory because it helps your brain to operate more efficiently. You learn to drown out the noise and retain what is important. This can be helpful as you age, as an active mind is more resistant to developing age-related brain diseases. If you’re worried about forgetting important things like your spouse’s anniversary or what happened to the remote control, floating can help solve those memory issues for good.
When Hollywood gets the chance to portray real world things, it always takes ample creative license. You can pick out a dozen random topics and discover how these things are shown on screen don’t always mesh with real life experience. This is especially true with floating and isolation tanks. TV shows and movies are quick to take floating and shroud it in mystery, danger and fantasy. “The Pretender,” a TV series which aired from 1996 to 2000, offers a good example of this trend. An episode from the second season, titled Over the Edge, deals with the impact of an isolation tank on the series’ main character Jarod – played by Michael T. Weiss. Jarod helps reunite an estranged mother and son. This plot device serves as a jumping off point for Jarod in his efforts to reconnect with his own long lost mother. Jarod uses an isolation tank to revisit his past experiences with floating. The audience witnesses flashbacks where a younger Jarod is compelled to float inside an isolation tank as a relaxation tool. He is forced to float so he can be used for scientific experiments conducted by a shadowy group known only as The Centre. Young Jarod’s time inside the isolation tank produces hallucinations of his mother. He attempts to connect physically with these hallucinations. Since Jarod was kidnapped and used for experimentation from a young age, he cannot even remember hugging his mother and longs to feel her touch. The tank offers a chance at the physical contact Jarod craves in the form of hallucinations. In there, he can touch his mother and speak to her once more. Young Jarod enjoys floating in the tank. There, he can enjoy a taste of freedom away from his kidnappers. Floating is portrayed in a positive light on “The Pretender.” Jarod uses floating as a relaxation tool at different points in his life and he uses it to access memories as an adult. Still, “The Pretender” does bend reality as it relates to isolation tanks to suit its own purposes. Young Jarod frequently hallucinates inside the tank. Adult Jarod is shown using the tank for days at a time without taking a break – a practice that isn’t recommended or safe. One disturbing aspect is the role an isolation tank plays in scientific experimentation. Young Jared is forced to float as a method of relaxation, so he is refreshed enough to be experimented on by his captors. Real isolation tanks are not used for such diabolical purposes. Real-life floating is an experience designed to improve your life. It creates an environment where stress and pain melt away. Floating is the perfect way to recharge your internal batteries when the pressures associated with work, school, family and daily life wear you down. Hollywood once again fails to pass the reality test with floating in “The Pretender.” Isolation tanks need no embellishment. The effects and realities of what it can do are better than fiction.
Isolation tanks are guaranteed make you crazy, reckless, violent and eventually break down your genetic material. That’s the philosophy put forth by Altered States. The 1980 film stars William Hurt as Eddie Jessup, who studies and experiments with different states of consciousness using an isolation tank. At first these floating sessions only produce hallucinations. Over time, and with the aid of hallucinatory drugs, Jessup experiences escalating side effects from the hours he spends inside the isolation tank. He begins to experience altered states of consciousness both inside and outside the tank. It starts with waking hallucinations and eventually turns into physical manifestations of his altered states of consciousness. Jessop undergoes genetic regression at the same time as a direct result of his floating sessions in the tank. First, he regresses to a sub-human hominid and then finally morphs into an unborn state of cellular ooze. At this point, Jessop barely survives his final session in the isolation tank. Even after being rescued from the isolation tank, he still experiences the waking hallucinations that plagued him before. He is only saved from his hallucinations and ultimately cured by the love and support of his wife. This film of course is a completely fictional account, but Hollywood gets isolation tanks all wrong. Isolation tanks do not have the negative and horrific impact that movies like Altered States want you to believe. Far from creating dangerous hallucinations, floating actually helps clear a cloudy mind and increase focus. Floating eases pain and aids in recovery from injuries. It frees the body and mind from the stress and trials of daily living. Floating is neither a calm nor tranquil experience for Jessup. He finds himself in a waking nightmare from his time in the tank. This is just nonsense. Floating in an isolation tank will not cause people violently hallucinate outside of it. Jessup experiences a physical change that breaks his body down and erases his humanity. The physical changes found using an isolation tank are positive. Salt water offers benefits to the human body and floating relaxes muscles. The weightless of floating eases stress on joints. Floating is one of the best ways to relax body, mind and spirit. If you are want to enjoy some rather strange entertainment on a Friday night, Altered States may be your answer. If you want a true depiction of floating, look elsewhere. The ideas presented here are foreign to anyone who spends time in an isolation tank.
It’s no secret that floating inside an isolation tank makes you feel better. Can spending time there also make you look better? The simple answer is yes. Floating can be a fountain of youth. It works better than applying facial masks and creams to recapture a younger and healthier looking face. Stress can age a person prematurely. The tension it creates in the muscles and joints doesn’t just result in stiffness and pain. It can also cause facial muscles to tighten and wrinkles to form on the forehead and around the eyes. Only a short time passes before stress takes a visible toll. The skin’s surface is covered with wrinkles. Visible aging only adds to stress. This in turn increases aging. It all turns into a vicious cycle that becomes nearly impossible to break. Floating in a float tank is the best antidote to stress and premature aging. The tranquility inside the tank relaxes the tightened facial muscles. It doesn’t take long before the skin looks and feels smooth again. People can take several years off their appearance after a few sessions. They feel more attractive and are much more energetic. This leads to increased confidence and makes it tougher for stress to come back and attack again. Beauty may only be skin deep. Still, there’s nothing wrong with making your skin look as good as you want it to look. Floating is a good tool for realizing that goal.
Nothing can ruin the mood of floating in an isolation tank faster than feeling cold. It becomes difficult to lose yourself in the moment if your teeth are chattering from the water temperature. Properly heating your float tank can solve that problem. You have a pair of options in heating your tank. One option is a in-line heating system that incorporates circulation heaters. The second option is installing heating elements directly underneath the tank. In-line heating systems rapidly raise the water temperature and are efficient in keeping the temperature constant. The only drawback is that these systems can only be run between float sessions because the water must be pumped into heating system and circulated through it before being released into the tank. It limits the amount of time a person can float inside the tank since the water temperature naturally decreases in increments after being heated. In-line systems are best used for floating sessions lasting less than two hours. Placing a heating element below the tank makes it easier to do floating sessions that last several hours. The heating element will keep the water temperature constant for hours at a time. It is also a less efficient heating method. The heat dissipates through the shell of the float tank instead of heating the water directly. That means a substantial amount of heat is lost in the process. In-line heating systems offer simpler maintenance than heating elements. They are located outside of the tank in the pump and can be changed or repaired without much trouble. Heating elements, on the other hand, typically require more intensive maintenance. The tanks must be drained and the shell lifted to access the element. It also can be prone to suffering damage from leaks being beneath the water. Both heating systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The one you choose ultimately depends on how much time you want to spend in the float tank.
Spending extended amounts of time in a float tank can feel a little scary if you have never done it before. It isn’t hard to feel nervous when you aren’t sure what to expect. You can erase these fears by preparing before you go. One thing you can do is to simulate the floating experience at home. Find a room in your house or apartment where you can block out all sunlight and indoor lights. Lie flat on a bed and put on headphones to block the sound. Remain motionless for at least five minutes. If you feel more relaxed when finished with your five minute test, floating might be something you will enjoy. You will be ready to indulge in an experience that offers great benefits to your mind and body. During your first time inside an isolation tank, spend a minute finding a comfortable position. Avoid touching the sides of the tank and avoid sudden movements that will cause you to drift. Do not touch your eyes or your face. You can inadvertently splash salt water in your eyes and cause them to burn. Avoid opening your eyes at all while floating. Spend a little bit of time intentionally relaxing your muscles right at first. You don’t want to spend too much time on doing it, but this will help you work through any tense feelings you might feel on your initial journey inside the tank. It won’t take long before you realize there’s nothing to fear when you float. This is an experience anyone can enjoy and everyone should try at least once in their lifetime.
Going green does not need to be limited to physical actions alone. Recycling cuts down on garbage. Riding a bicycle to work instead of driving your car reduces dangerous emissions. These things are just a beginning to being at one with the environment. You need to be green on the inside before you are green on the outside. Attitude directs behavior. A person must gain a concern for their environment in their hearts to motivate themselves to protect it in their own portion of the world. Where does floating fit into this picture? Spending time in an isolation tank can foster this fundamental shift inside our brains. Floating gives us time to reflect. Our thoughts are revealed as we delve deeper in the subconscious mind. It is like peeling off a new layer on an onion and discarding the old layer. We see what really matters to us. And we get a better perspective on what is important on a universal scale. When people float, it inspires them to cast away stress and fear. They embrace a more relaxed attitude. They are more calm in the face of problems and produce solutions that help themselves and others. Creativity and optimism come alive in this mental environment. People work to improve their lives and the lives of others. They care about the future and the selfishness of the present no longer seems as important as it once did. Taking care of the environment is a natural outgrowth of these new attitudes and desires. A healthier planet begins with a healthier human race. Floating can help people take those first few steps forward in the right direction.
Fear is a driving force behind action and reaction. Many people make decisions out of fear and it can influence their lives for good or bad. When it comes to floating, some people let fear make up their minds for them. They hear incorrect rumors about what goes on inside an isolation tank. Wild images pop up inside their heads. Suddenly, they treat the idea of a floating session with the same level of horror as going to the dentist or waiting in line at the DMV. You cannot pay them to get near an isolation tank, much less float in one. It does not need to be this way for anyone. A little bit of education can help first-time floaters relax so that they let go of their internal fears and soak in the experience. The best thing for dispelling fears is to address them from the start. Some first-time floaters worry about not being in control of the situation. They might harbor incorrect fears about being trapped in the tank, not having enough breathable air or potentially drowning. Other floaters worry about being in the dark or a small space because they suffer from claustrophobia. Confronting these myths before they enter the tank will bring a sense of relief. Make a point to let a floater know they can leave the isolation tank at any time. Emphasize to them they can use the tank in the way that feels most comfortable to them. Feeling safe drives away fear every time. Once a person gains a better understanding of floating, they will embrace the positive mental and physical changes it brings. Usually all it takes is a single session to eliminate a fear of floating.
Comfort is essential to enjoying time spent in an isolation tank. You can’t feel comfortable if you don’t feel safe. One important safety element in floating is ventilation. If you build your own isolation tank, one thing you need to do is build a tank that has proper ventilation. You also need to make sure the floatation tank room ventilation is at safe levels so you don’t risk overheating, dehydration or other possible dangers to your body. Some people worry about the water cooling too rapidly with vents on the isolation tank. When you build your own tank, you can insulate the tank or use heaters under or around the tank to keep the water at a fairly constant temperature. But it is important to remember ventilation is always required. The whole room needs to ventilation to exchange warm wet air with dry cool air. It lets the floater have a constant supply of fresh air. Exposure to stale air can be dangerous over a prolonged period of time. Human lungs expel carbon dioxide during breathing. Carbon dioxide can be suffocating in concentrated doses. Allowing outside air to circulate inside the tank allows fresh oxygen to enter. Oxygen is important to the health of your brain. And since brain activity powers the entire floating experience, having plenty of fresh air to breathe enhances floating so it can be enjoyed at the level it should be enjoyed. Breathe deep and enjoy the atmosphere during your next floating session. The fresh air is good for your body and your mind.
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