John Dickerson floating, courtesy of CBS News
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream . . .
(“Tomorrow Never Knows,” The Beatles)
This 1966 track from The Beatles’ Revolver album, composed by John Lennon, was a watershed moment not only in that band’s evolution but for popular music in general. Built on a single-chord drone and utilizing a pulsing, tribal rhythm, the unearthly sounding track emulated the experience of taking psychedelic drugs. Lennon’s own use of mind-altering substances was symbolized by the altered sound of his voice, using a rotating speaker enclosure to lend it a foggy, swirling effect.
Looking at Lennon’s life in retrospect, it’s evident that he was seeking relief through whatever means were available to him at any given time. As a member of the world’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band, there was little that wouldn’t have been available to him. According to a 1988 biography on Lennon, the famed musician turned to a float tank in the 1970s. Lennon was said to have adopted the practice of floating in conjunction with breaking an addiction to heroin, and that the tank’s therapeutic effects aided him in staying clean. The tank afforded the world-famous musician a respite that he likened to the emotional and psychological relief of taking drugs—without, of course, the dangers of exposing himself to addictive substances or unpredictable chemicals.
More recently, studies have indicated that floating is indeed a useful tool in breaking addictions ranging from opiates to alcohol and cigarettes. In this respect, Lennon may well have been on the cutting edge, just as he was when he wrote and recorded “Tomorrow Never Knows.” For all the song’s trippy, hallucinogenic haze, though, its most enduring value may be in lyrics that urge the listener to seek inner awareness and lay down all thoughts. Though Lennon didn’t know it at the time, his opening admonition in the song to turn off your mind, relax and float downstream was foreshadowing the float tank, a tool that would most safely and conveniently provide the mental and emotional release he had so actively sought through drugs and therapy.
While the list of proven benefits includes relief from physical pain, pregnancy fatigue, stress, anxiety and depression, the bottom-line benefit of floating is its ability to bring users into a zone of deep rest that is more than merely physical. It does this by placing the user in sensory deprivation. Don’t make the mistake of misinterpreting that phrase. In this case, “deprivation” is a positive, not a negative. It means that your brain and nervous system get a long-deserved break from handling the continuous input and crackling static of daily life. The elimination of all physical and mental stimulation, which happens when you’re effortlessly suspended atop body-temperature water in a private, soundproof environment, provides refreshment you’d forgotten you needed, if you ever even knew it was possible.
Clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Justin Feinstein is a leading authority and researcher working with float tanks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The internet is loaded with videos both compact and meaty in which Dr. Feinstein shares findings and information about the many therapeutic applications of float tanks. A four-minute excerpt titled “Floating and the Brain” takes a look at various regions of the brain and their respective functions, while Feinstein explains why floating renders them temporarily inactive.
A clip of a CBS This Morning story features the neuropsychologist meeting the show’s co-host John Dickerson at the Tulsa-based Laureate Institute for Brain Research, where cameras roll as Dickerson experiences his maiden float, outfitted with an EEG, heart rate monitor and blood-pressure cuff. Readings are taken during the float to confirm the body’s measurable signs of relaxation. While the majority of floats are done in enclosed tanks, or pods, the open pool (which best served the goal of videotaping Dickerson as he floated) was originally designed for Feinstein’s lab. Enclosed tanks, he learned, were often too intimidating for the clinically anxious patients he worked with.
Float Alchemy, Murfreesboro’s mightily equipped community health and chill-out center, offers both the open-pool option in a soundproof room, as well as enclosed tanks of differing sizes. I’ve tried all three, and if you’ve been following this series, you’ve learned about my personal journey as a floater and heard some of the material I’m revisiting this month. My own story (in several installments available at boropulse.com/floativation) has been shared in order to report the benefits firsthand, pull back the curtain for the residents of Rutherford County and remove the potential apprehension some might feel about trying an unfamiliar offering like floating. You won’t get any benefit if all you do is read about it.
Incidentally, Dr. Feinstein recently responded to a personal email I sent him with questions about my own floating experience. When I bring closure to my story next month, I’ll share what he had to say. The respected neuropsychologist was interviewed in 2018 for Art of the Float, a podcast series co-hosted by Float Alchemy’s own Amy Grimes. (She’s no newcomer, folks.)
Anyhow, for me, a guy whose mind tends to bounce all over the place, it’s been a real treat to experience a slowing-down of thoughts in the tank. This occurs because floating promotes theta brain waves, a notch above the brain waves accompanying sleep, permitting a calm, relaxed yet conscious state. These kinds of brain waves are increasingly less typical in our society, due to the constant flow of external stimuli: phones, dinging text messages and Facebook posts, traffic and GPS directions, omnipresent music, disembodied voices at drive-thru restaurants and banks . . . and in these days of social distancing there’s even more noise and artificial communication going on than usual. Usual was already more than enough.
So, this profound relief from life’s Tilt-a-Whirl is what makes floating something special, regardless what your specific goals might be. In response to our announcement of a free one-hour float at Float Alchemy in last month’s issue, we heard from readers with a variety of reasons for wanting to try the tank, from neck, back and joint pain to rheumatoid arthritis, from fibromyalgia to anxiety, depression and stress. Statistical evidence affirms that floating offers relief for every one of these conditions.
Not enough folks evidently understand the true value of a float, based on the only 20 or so responses to the giveaway that appeared on the Pulse‘s Facebook page. But that’s good news for those who entered, because the odds of winning were pretty fair. Sincere apologies to those who fell on either side of the randomly generated number that determined our winner—so many of you had excellent and compelling reasons for wanting to try out the tank—and congratulations to Lindsay Binkley, whose post mentioned how the chaos of today’s cultural landscape was increasing her anxiety. I’d be willing to bet that there are plenty of others reading this who can relate.
I will personally purchase a float for you, Lindsay, as testament to my satisfaction with the wonderful folks and facilities at Float Alchemy, and your name will be, as they say “at the door.” Practice your deep breathing in the meantime, and may your first float be an experience you’ll look forward to repeating, as well as telling your family and friends about!
As always, may the freedom of the float be with you. Or, as John Lennon once sang, turn off your mind, relax and float downstream . . .
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