Sensory Deprivation or Floating Away Stress

Everyday in retirement holds infinite possibilities for experiencing new things, traveling new places. And I’ve been one busy young retiree. Immediately after I retired my lifelong BFF found a 3 day Primordial Meditation Workshop – was I in? Abso-freaking-lutely! I knew meditation would be good for me but was always too stressed, too tired or too fill-in-the-blank to commit to it. Fast forward to now. I’ve rarely missed a day, sometimes meditating twice a day. Using a free smart phone app called Insight Timer, I’m up to 221 days, 87 hours of meditation and that doesn’t count the meditation done in my private yoga class. I began working with an awesome yoga instructor/life coach/spiritual guide every other week, leaving each class feeling more zen, younger and flexible.

So when my sister gave me a brochure to Great Lakes Floatation and asked me if I’d be interested in going, I thought “but of course”. I deduced that being in such a great mental place, I could easily handle being inside a sensory deprivation tank for an hour. Just me floating in a mega-salt water bath, in the dark. My sister by contrast, approached our girls-day-out in the midst of a catastrophic, money-hemmoraging home repair nightmare that for two days prior to the float included jackhammering her basement floor. I knew that she desperately needed this but wondered if she could “let it all go” and just float.

I needn’t have worried. There is something magical about the silky, tepid salt water. About the dark and total absence of sound. I repeated my meditation mantra for awhile, I think I dozed off a few times. I stretched and floated in a state of nirvana. I liken it to transporting back to the safety of the womb. (too much?)

When we emerged from our private tank and after a shower, we met up in the after-floatation lounge. I felt fantastic but the transformation in my sister was remarkable. All the frustration and stress that she carried in with her, had “floated” away.

My tank