Nude Beach Thoughts

A Battlestar Galactica float to start the day.

Slept in today and woke up at 2:30pm. I did a brief bit of work and then headed to Float House to meet up with Mark and Hannah for their first floats. I ended up listening to Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica solo piano mix again and by the third song I had relaxed enough for closed eye visuals to occur. 

There were waves of white lights that had a distinct impression of Cylons ascending into Heaven while wisps of quick red strings of light shot downward and felt like humanity descending into hell. This float was rife with emotional undertones that flowed along with the music. 

As it progressed I noticed a large crack of light leaking in the back of the tank and had to compensate. I kept my left eye closed and positioned myself in the tank so that it would not impeded my visuals too much. After this distraction the music got more uplifting in nature and I felt revitalized and was uplifted into a state of cleared void space. There was a brief pause between tracks and during this silence I became aware of the cooler temperature of the water. I did a minor stretch and submerged my feet under the waterline and right as the next song began I was bombarded by visual clutter filling up my void space. 

I used the flame and the void technique and was able to clear it out by the first chorus of the song and felt a strong sensation of my body going numb and limp. There was a moment where I couldn't feel my breath or heart beat and with the next note of the piano I reemerged into a full awareness of my time and place within the tank. I opened my eyes and then found and measured the light leak to inform the guys about it. Did a couple more stretches to ease my muscles and got out to have a wonderfully soothing shower. Overall a good and insight float. 

A little Gojira to wrap up the night.

Tonight, I listened to Gojira's album From Mars to Sirius in the tank. 

It was an interesting experience indeed. I was able to settle myself down cognitively and still myself  physically by the end of the first song. I didn't need to implement the use of my mantra due to heaviness of the music and by focusing my attention on the lyrics. If my mind wandered, I would simply lock into the music again and kept my attention on the words. It was honestly the first time I paid full attention to the words of the songs after hearing this album countless times in the last few months since I was first introduced to it. I focused on slowing my rate of breath down and by the time Unicorn came on I was able to slip easily into my visual space and my breathing became involuntary.

Instead of my typical starscape my whole visual field was covered in red glowing embers. As my eyes shifted across them they would move and were molding themselves into various forms and would transition back into an expanse of coals. This did last for quite a while and I was really surprised at how clear my mind was. I was absorbed by the music and at some points I even felt it surrounding my whole body and I my fingers, arms, and feet would twitch along with the tempo. Near the end of the album I had faded further into the void and when the song From Mars came on I was ecstatic with a full immersion into the words. This verse particularly seemed to be imprinted upon me and I found myself repeating it while I was showering.

Took off from the red place

In the sky I fly

I have lost my reason 

And I've made my sense

From up there I will see 

Where I'm From

And where the force of love 

Will tell me now to go. 

When the music had ended I was really hesitant to get out but I knew Nick was waiting on me to wake him. Got out with the drums and riffs of the album repeating in my head and humming them as I reflected on the float.