So it’s been a week now and I finally have a little time to layout the specifics of the project and it’s genesis.
Bullet Points for those who don’t want the gory details:
- I’m sinking into the theta state a lot faster already and it’s stronger every time.
- Each session gets better and better and better. I’m feeling my spine lengthen and twist back into place more so each session
- By day 5 I am embarrassingly giddy when I get out. Like scream at the top of your lungs powerball jackpot winner giddy.
- I reconnect with physical sensations I adore, but are hard to access (requires deep meditation) every time now.
- This project and other ideas I’ve had for the studio are beginning to manifest themselves.
- I am more appreciative of the world around me, beautiful San Diego (specifically North Park where I live) and my relationship with and within it.
- I have the best job ever
- Link to images of my brain scan
I’ve been wanting to own and operate my own float center for years now, ever since having been given the opportunity to work the graveyard shift at Float On up in Portland. It was rad. I worked alone and found a real sense of ownership on each shift. Plus it seemed I was given carte blanche by the owners to conduct affairs as I saw fit. No one ever bothered me. They rarely complained. It was an amazing experience, I seemed to do well and I let my imagination run wild. How would I run things? What would my place look like? Could I do things better?
And then I floated a helluva lot. And then I began noticing a lot of interesting, positive changes in my life, attitudes, body awareness and emotional states. And then I began learning about the many benefits of floating, from the literature, but perhaps more importantly, certainly more profoundly, by experience. And then I was way into it. No and then.
So this past December I was given the opportunity to help run Float North County out here in Solana Beach, arguably the slickest of coastal Southern California towns. One of the nicest places I’ve ever been lucky enough to find myself. Once again, I’ve been given near free reign of the operations here and my imagination runs wild. I thought to myself one day near Christmas, how could I make this gig the best gig anyone could hope to work? What would I do differently? What sets my float center apart from the rest?
So if you’ve read up on anything about floating you’ll hear about a myriad of benefits, some wilder than others. It begins to sound a bit like snake oil at times. Some of these benefits are backed by a decent amount of science, some are largely anecdotal, some are beginning to be researched and some are just outlandish. But the majority of spots wave the benefits around in an effort to get people in the door to this bizarre experience that cannot be found anywhere on planet Earth outside of our doors. The fact is, all of us owner/operators have seen improvements in our lives that we attribute to floating, felt these benefits ourselves and we want you to know them as well. We are in the business of helping people. I absolutely love it. When people come out of my tanks and they can’t wipe that ridiculous grin off their face, or they are blown away by the time dilution (how fast the appointment goes by), I feel amazing. I’m hooked at this point on helping people find the joy in the void within. Try it sometime.
But my point here is that, to me, from this angle, these places are saying “you have this problem, we can help you.” No one is saying that floating in itself is just fun and makes everything in your life better and more enjoyable. That’s the real deal here. It’s simply an amazing experience worth trying 3 times. That’s the charm.
Just do it, because it’s fun. Watch how much fun I have over the next year. You’ll see, and hopefully you’ll try it.
So to make this job the best job I’ve ever had (which it already is but I’m greedy) I decided to perform some lifestyle experiments on myself and any of our members who are willing to experiment, in an effort to transform my mind/body because at the end of the day, that’s the product we have here over at FNC transformation. Evolution. That I can sell you with confidence and over the course of this year you can watch me do it myself. Beginning with this first experiment.
The Be Excellent Project: 30 days of Discipline and Intent
So that was the idea, plain and simple. What happens when you daisy chain these things, 30 in a row? According to the research, there have been no sign of diminishing returns with consecutive floating. You don’t build a tolerance. You don’t get less out of it. In fact, it seems to be quite the opposite. I can attest to this, and I will a bit later.
But this seemed a bit too simple. I needed to start something else in conjunction. Something health related, New Yearsy and at least somewhat difficult. Glenn came up with the genius idea to do a diet cleanse. Well I’ve never completed one of those and the times I tried to start I failed miserably. Really, really, miserably. So I figured why not try again. Maybe floating will instill me with the discipline to actually complete this challenge. I found out right away that I was correct, but that’s an even longer story.
So what’s it been like? In a word, amazing. Seriously. I haven’t really felt this way in a very long time, but I’ll start by trying to explain what I do in there and what happens to me, the bullet points anyway because at the end of the day this is something that you experience for yourself and the things that I understand in there function the same way dream understanding works (i.e.- you’re in a field in your dream that you “know” is outside your high school, even though it doesn’t resemble anything like that park).
Day 1 I was actually hesitant to get in the tank. I had never once approached a float session with any other intention than to just check out for a while. So the thought of having to ascribe some sort of purpose to this particular hour filled me with a bit of dread and anxiety, but I finally said the hell with it and wrote one down. My intent for this initial session was. . . Non Specific.
Ironically, that was probably the best thing I could have done because I feel like I didn’t box my mind into something it wasn’t ready for. I mean, December was hectic enough for us over here (and for me personally) that I walked into this project with a sort of half-baked idea of how to pull it off. In reality, I had very little idea of what was going to happen or where I’d find the time to write it all down, but over the course of that first float I found a calm acceptance of the chaos that i created for myself, and the faith to know that this will just play out the way it’s supposed to. The craziest and most novel thing that happened to me on Day 1 was feeling a strong sense of resolve to actual see this whole thing through, hell or high water.
On day 3 is where I started to notice a few things. For starters, I was able to connect with two feelings I simply lust after in the tanks. One is this feeling of having my legs pulled down, away from my torso. It literally feels like someone is grabbing me by the ankles and gently pulling down, stretching out my lower back and making me feel incredibly tall. I love this physical separation I feel between my torso and legs at the waist line and I become aware of the alignment issues I have with them. The second feeling comes when I am able to access the tension at the very top of my spine, on my atlas. When I get a hold of that, it feels like my entire head expands, my eyes are as big as grapefruits, I feel my airways open up, I can breathe easier, I feel all the space in my face, my jaw aligns, even tension I never knew could even exist releases at the back of my head and when that happens, I don’t even know how to describe it. I go somewhere else and am bummed when I come back. I think there exists that type of trigger for every client of ours and that indescribable place becomes very sacred to them and occasionally a dragon they continue to chase for their floating career.
By day 5 I was literally emerging from these tanks, giddy. Giddier than a tween at a Justin Bieber concert. More excited than Sarah McLachlan when you adopt a puppy. It’s just nuts. I want to scream in the shower out of sheer joy and I do when no one is here with me. I obsessively sing Frank Sinatra songs at the top of my lungs. This feeling comes highly recommended by the way. Ever since day 5 this happens every single time in some variation.
And the diet? Piece of cake. Kinda. I mean, now that it’s been a week my brain is all like, “See bro. We knew you could do it. Now grab us a midnight burger from In n Out. Or at least a red eye in the morning!” But that’s part of this whole deal right? How to uncover the programming that leads us into these particular habits that might not be killing us but perhaps they prevent us from fully thriving. Ya dig? Cause if you’re like me, you can become a slave to certain habits, think you need certain things to get by day to day. As I’m discovering, I can do just fine on one meal and two smoothies. I even developed a new one for myself that has mangoes, pineapple, coconut milk, avocado, salt and cayenne. Plus it’s gotten me away from my rice and eggs with sriracha routine or constantly wanting to eat chips or cookies throughout the day. I miss these things to be sure, but it’s only a month and when it’s over, I’ll see what works for me.
So to wrap this thing up (I’m about to jump in for float number 8) I’m beginning to think that this program is a fascinating way to uncover the mindsets we might have that lead us into good and bad habits. I’m beginning to think that for people who want to make an accelerated change (quit smoking, lose weight etc) or for those with a specific goal, skill to learn or training regiment, combining a number of consecutive floats in conjunction with some type of imposed discipline (mine being the diet) and being held accountable to someone is absolutely the best way to do that. I have in mind an idea for a float boot camp. We’ll see how that pans out.
So stay tuned in folks, thanks for reading and stop by Float North County if you’re in the area to say hi. As usual, if anyone has any specific questions or ideas for float related experiments I can be reached at bryan@floatnorthcounty.com.
Float through life.
Bryan
