Float 88 - Pink Floydscape

Stoned out of my mind Pink Floyd float. Listened to Meddle and then Obscured by Clouds. This float was truly one of a kind and had a deeply impactful meaning and revitalization for me...

I believe that I have perfected my ritual of entering the tank and preparing it's environment to my personal taste. I had a pre-emptive shower and ran the pump for 20 minutes or so with the heating pads cranked up, went and then smoked a joint and had a smoke before getting into the tank. The temp was 97.5 and then I left the door open for the first few minutes while I got in with my head by the door and stared up at the shifting colors of the LED lights (which sub sequentially caused my visuals during the float to be very color dynamic). I then closed the door and switched positions to the back end with my head by the speakers. I was able to quickly enter into the void and heavy visuals started.

The amount of things that I saw were baffling. I used the flame and the void technique to help clear my mindscape, but when certain images occurred I did focus solely upon them. For example, multiple occasions I saw a distinct form of an aged old patriarchal bonobo appear (my power animal?) and hold it's place amongst the chaotic swirling images surrounding it with an extremely stern and forceful presence. This then faded and another bout of evil faces within my lower right field of view emerged. I then started to force movement of my eyes and applied various levels of pressure on my optic nerve. Looking far upwards and rolling my eyes into the back of my head caused massive amounts of white and blue lights to fire upwards from below to beyond me. A handful of spasmodic twitches then occurred and I closed and opened my eyes to reset.

When I opened them again I was somewhere within a cellular world with monads evolving and consuming each other, when I focused upon one individual cell it divided a few times and then out of nowhere it became multicellular. During this period, I started to notice that my toes were becoming cold and it induced a feeling of a cooled down bathtub, I put my attention on my toes and all of a sudden it hit me about the subject effect of temperature upon my consciousness during the float. I moved around a bit and found that by crossing my legs/feet I was able to fully submerge my toes under the water and officially found my new and improved floating posture. While figuring this new posture out a drip of salty condensation feel upon my right nostril and into my mustache and due to the startling nature of it I took a big inhale (I breathe most often through my nose in the tank) of salt water went into my nostril. I exhaled immediately but was too late to stop a slight drip of it hitting the back of my throat. I coughed and ended up having to get out of the tank and having a shower to clear off my face and wash out my mouth. Oddly this occurred right at the end of Meddle and as Obscured by Clouds began I was re-entering the tank.

I practiced a bit of my breath work and played around with a few mantras while losing myself in the music. My mind started to become clearer and clearer and my internal conversations began. I debated about Nietzsche's Will to Power, me thriving off being a devil's advocate, and that amazing discussion that I had with Gregory the night before. There was an overwhelming emotional of acceptance that has occurred and realizing what I can do with my own nature when I want to. This then transitioned into a more defined argumentative experience with my internal debate on the ever changing and growing nature of Float House. Projecting a handful of possible futures I was delighted to test the metaphysical verses that each small decision can have. Also, when I reflected back to Buddhist ideal of having to polish and purify the mirror of the mind, yet in truth the is no mirror, my mind instantly went black and there was a strong sensation of me 'flying' through the intensity of space, in my new floating captains chair position, with stars, nebulas and galaxies soaring by me. They speed and rate of projection was tied directly now to the notes of Pink Floyd. At one point, my attention was then drawn to the word 'Choice' and in a flash of intense images I lived and died three times. Each time I was faced down by the same Patriarchal Bonobo. No words were spoken but a deep understanding was transferred. A sense of conflicting moralities was swept over me, but with each conflict there was a surrendering to it, "without pain and suffering we would have nothing".

The final chanting of the album began and a strong wave of hilarious laughter consumed me and I laughed deep and heartily as I exited the tank. Tom Waits "Old Shoe" started playing while I was cleansing myself in the shower and I sang loud and proud. The cycling of colors were also extremely pleasing and added to the impression of my ever forming ritualization of my floats. 

80th Float

This morning before work I had an amazing Float. It was like an extension of my float from last night but more Lucid in nature ending in maniacal laughter.  

I made very good use of my mantra and breathe work allowed me to enter the void space quickly. Then used the flame and the void to clear my mind. Once in a lucid dream state I changed the color of the floor to a bright red. Then I instantly transported myself to St. Patricks and walked around the pews and up to the alter and set that mother a blaze. I watched the flames climb the walls and spread. I could feel the heat on my face and walked down the aisle to the front door and watched as the flames followed me across the pews and start climbing into the choir. 

I exited the building and watched as it then changed to a full exterior burn and started laughing like a maniac. Could not stop the laughter and had to get out when salt water got into my eyes. Kept laughing during my shower. I was only in the tank for 35 minutes. 

69th Float

This morning after work I had an intensely short but sweet float. The Tank was so nice and warm that I simply melted into the void. After a few rounds of my mental workout I slipped into a state of bliss and joy and it felt like I was being covered in silk. Not just like a silk blanket being put on top of me, but being molding tightly over my whole body. I opened my eyes wide to check if it was real and I was instantly privy to an amazing view of space filled by an expansion of white stars and blue galaxies, all the while still maintaining that molded in silk feeling. While gazing at this I started to hear soft chanting in the distance. As I focused my attention on the sounds it became clear that is was exactly like the Pink Floyd song AbsoluteCurtains.

That then dissipated and my visuals shifted to more darker imagery. I had previously been looking at pictures of the riotsin the Ukraine and I was placed above an old city, looking down upon a scene of burning chaos. The area looked war torn, almost apocalyptic, the city was spewing thick black plumes of smoke while swarms of people in gas masks ran around tossing debris at each other. It was interesting to note that when I reflected on my emotions at this point I was neither sad, or mad, or glad. The best description I can make was that I felt very detached from the scene but yet in awe at its surging power, both physical and social. This got me thinking of a section from StephenBaxter's Weaver where a young woman describes her experiences during the London Blitz.

I dwelled on this for a bit and then shook it off and SUCCESSFULLY willed myself onto an asteroid sailing alongside a massive red dwarf star. I could see multiple planets orbiting in the vast distance and then started to laugh maniacally while overcome with that sweet taste of accomplishment. After that my moustache began itching my nose and I satisfied it with a good hearty scratch, which lead me into another Jeff Goldbloom chaos theory moment of awareness of the subtle movements of the drop of water along my skin and coursing through the hairs of my beard. 

I lol'd again and then did some basic stretches, got out of the tank, and had a shower. I had only been in tank for 45 minutes. 

Audio Floating With Finntroll

I have come to realize that one of my favourite things about active floats within the tank is that I can immerse myself in an almost infinite amount of settings, both positive and negative. One oddity about me I've noticed is that I am always drawn to both ends of the spectrum.

A good example of this was a float I had before christmas where I listened to 25 minutes of my go to meditation music, insuring that I was in a deep state of Theta when I then had it transition into one of my favourite folk metal EPs by Finntroll, Visor Om Slutet. The album is a themed ballad about a Troll attacking a small village in an isolated fjord. There are many ups and downs in the tone and mood of the music and when it started playing within the tank I was transported to a Skyrim Valley hot tub and was overcome with an extremely peaceful feeling during the first minutes. It is hard to describe all that occurred after that. The album was such a roller coaster of personal sensations, emotions, and ideas that there were movements of pure clarity and others of pure fear. That being said, it was an exhilarating experience and I look forward to trying it again. 

40th Float.

I started today off with a float before my night shift and was lucky enough to end my shift with my 40th Float at Float House and I experienced another intensely 'present' audio float.


It started off as I went through my mental clutter and as each thought emerged I fed it into the flame of a candle, which is a technique called The Flame and the Void that I learned while reading Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series and have found to be extremely using when meditating and within the tank.

Then I let go of my body and it was highly emotive to start off and I was overcome with waves of what I can only describe as bliss and compassion flowed around and through me as I listened to Time and Space. I could feel the music in my body and each note swept through me and caused a feeling similar to chills going down my spine and into my extremities through my nerves but instead of that creepy chills it was accompanied  with a strong positive emotion.

I Noticed that I was able to create waves of yellowish red energy of enclosing patterns by slowly closing and opening my eyes. 
This proceeded to then morph into a white and black pattern similar to the swirling designs seen often in porcelain.Then silence occurred and I became aware again of my breathing and started to practice the breathwork technique of in through my right nostril and out through the left.

Then Surface of the Sun came on it was an exhilarating sensation as I focused on the subtleties of the background sound effects of his heart beat and breath underneath the building piano and orchestra. Again, waves of bliss surged through me along with the notes and surges of the music.




When Pangaea started I began to reflect on how during all of the above emotional sensations that I just went through, I had very faint and sporadic visuals that didn't really focus upon my visual cortex. I tried using my gaze manipulation tricks with little result. I do feel that when I float after having taken my Concerta it does inhibit the visual and dream states that I do have when I float before my meds. But yet, this float was more emotionally focused. Is there a connection? Or is this just another variety of float? More must be read and experienced to find out.


It is these kind of differences that I have been noticing to be occurring within my own cognitive processes and consciousness while using the float tank and I am become more and more interested in trying to find out the relation to my own neurochemistry and endocrinology is definitely something I would lobe to pursue for a masters thesis.


When pink Floyd came on I could barely hear it so I just got out. 50 minute float felt like 2 hours of hiking my Mindscape and I as I exited the tank with laughter and a massive smile on my face.

Audio Float #3

First half was settling in with minimal visuals, there was a memorable experience of the whole tank illuminating blue light from beneath me and a radiating feeling of 'glow'.

After 2nd Crash Test Dummies song I became aware of the temperature of the water being a bit cool and got out. I ran the pumps and checked the gauges and found that one of them was slightly unplug so only 1 heating pad was working. Fixed this and watched best of Dune quotes and did a load of laundry. 

Re-entered tank @ 12:45. Started where I left off on the play list. 

I don't know where to start. I entered the void quickly and wisps of smoke and coloured patterns emerged. 

During the heavy beat of music I had a overly red hued vision of a group of men in ski masks opening the tank and grabbing me out by my legs. My heat rate increased and I immediately formed a small flame and focused all that emotion and energy into it, more images fueled the flame brighter and brighter. Faces of orcs, goblins, genlocks, and shades went into the flame and as it grew I was able to force the flame back down into the candle through my will alone. This then transitioned quiet well into Elegy where the stars opened up and I explored the nebula's and stars across time for a while. 

Then as the next song came on I was overcome with a quickening sense of stimuli as clouds of gas spun and millennia passed as a planet was formed from the star dust. This then lead to what felt like information overload as my eyes darted around and tho used of flashing images of nature and its beauty and cruelness was witnessed. As cities grew and crumpled across the land I zoomed out and saw a starship fire something at the planet and with a bang the atmosphere ignited and all life died as the planet burned. 

It was so much for me that when the song ended I was breathing heavily and I suddenly remembered the name of the song, Pangaea, and I realized I just witnessed the creation and destruction of a world with my minds eye. 

I then underwent a wide range of deeply emotional moments as Kara's Coordinates and Assault on the Colony played. There were obvious differences between the two dominant tones of mood through colour.

The more aggressive drum beats and musical pieces were always red hued and some images included a predator sitting upon a black carved stone throne on top of a vast pile of skulls. Hundreds of evil faces with vivid features flashed by from almost all recognizable lore and fiction that I can think of, which had a distinct anime feel to the images. The more pleasant pieces had me uplifted into the stars again surrounded in flashes of whites, blues, and greens. It was simply breath taking. 

As the surface of the sun came on I was immediately placed with a front row seat for a storm of solar flares across a star. This was from a window in a ship resembling the one in the Doctor Who episode 42. Also, during this I heard an arrangement of quotes from Dune going through my head with me chanting internally "the sleeper has awoken". 

Repeatedly throughout both floats I had reoccurring image of a direct front view of an owl and coyote. This were very distinct and overlaid many different parts of my visions. 

Then It's a Sin to Tell a Lie came on and I sang along and went through my 'wake up' movements and looked back upon my experience and laughed. I was suddenly alert and wanting to write down the experience. Subsequently the selection of Bach's cello suites was a poor choice because I often use it for background music while working or mentally focused on a task and was unable to slip back into the void. I emerged from the tank refreshed and full of laughter. 

Nude Beach Thoughts

First Audio Tank Experience

After work today I had my first audio tank experience.

I listened to Between The Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence. It was intense to say the least, yet also very euphoric. When a heavy part of the song would play my mind would race and ideas and thoughts flew by. Unfortunately, only a few held fast once out of the tank but all directly sorted and complete. I could respond by having my heart beat sync with the rapid tempo, and 'feel' the vibrations from the speakers flowing into my back and out through my chest.

During the melodic parts of the album I was able to sink deep into the void. Every time the piano kicked in I immediately saw a massive expanse of white and lightly hued stars with my eyes wide open and wide awake, and as I scanned from side to side, it was a feeling similar to when you hold and scroll within Stellarium. Flashing colorful systems and shooting stars began to shift following the flow of the music and then more concrete patterns started to emerge. I couldn't help but laugh.

One particular image set that stands out was a blooming white rose edged in bright blue. It then stared to shift into an albino Ankole-Watusi bull. This then raised its head upwards and slowly dissipated as the song again shifted. This occurred during the song Bloom.

All I can say is that I now have a new found reverence for the power of the mind and deeper appreciation for the album.

Fixing my mums laptop.

We live on opposite sides of the country and I now have the joy again of managing her computers. This is why I love the internet and the ever increasing Singularity. 

Steam Causes Me Various Internals Dilemmas.