The Great ShopBot Samadhi Experiment
This is a personal project that I have wanted to do for about 10 years now. Thanks to the Bot, lots and lots of research and many nights after work I've got it up and running. I've been using it now for about 2 months. For those that have absolutely no idea what this is, just Google "Samadhi Tank" and do some reading.
It's not often that I display my 'metaphysical side' in the public eye, but the benefits of a floation tank are so numerous, that the greater part of me felt the need to share this with the group. I'm formally trained in the healing arts (Reiki & Integrated Energy Therapy - IET Master Instructor) any other areas for personal development. I always aspired to build one of these things if I only had the time & means...well here we go!
The basic tank portion consists of a sheet of 3/4" RTG sitting on 2X4 treated studs. Side walls are 1.375 thick MDO fastened to each other and the base sheet via 2" X 1/8" AL angle and Kreg panhead screws. Inside the tank it is insulated with Reflectix double bubble foil insulation. Two Low or Zero EMF waterbed heaters were installed and the thermostats tucked under the insulation. The outside of the tank was painted navy blue (some say ShopBot blue)
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Then a Firestone HDPM fish-safe (no outgassing in water) was fitted to the inside of the tank. It is retained by staples along the top edge of the 1.375" MDO and then capped off with AL angle.
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Then the top sides were cut using a 1/4" downcut 4-flute cutter out of 10mm coroplast. Panels are notched at the bottom to sit on the AL 'ring' that caps off the liner. Stainless screws and hardware was used to fasten the sides to the bottom MDO ring of the tank. Finished tank size overall is about 4 X 8 X 4 feet. I'm glad I made it that big...
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The rest of the Coroplast was cut and adhered to the sides/each other using foil tape. This was initially just to tack it in place, but it worked so well that I just rolled with it. So far so good. Here's me laying in it to see how well I fit...Grover is looking in wondering why I built a big crate
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Here's what it looks like from the outside. The 2 digital waterbed heater controllers can be seen on the floor. They need to keep the water at exactly external body temperature - 93.5° F. The sloped roof helps condensation roll gently down the back.
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Here's the business end of the 'water works' in the back of the tank. On the left is a UV sterilizer, in the center a canister filter, and to the right a salt approved pump. Notice the groovy clamps I made on the Bot to hold everything. Also note the Reflectix insulation (you can just see it) that is covering the entire deal on the sides. The entire box was covered 2X in Reflectix. (not shown)
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Here's the inside of the tank while I just started filling it up. The solution level needs to be about 10" high. I brought it up to the 5" mark.
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Now we start to get into what most think is the 'crazy' part of the project. 900 pounds (yes that's correct) are added to the solution slowly over the course of 2 days. The water was about 91° before adding about 400# of salt. Right after, the temp dropped to 68° !!! Salt was agitated by hand to disolve into the water. Then the remaining salt was added. Check out the MOUNTAIN of salt!!! The salt was SO COLD while disolving that my fingers needed to take a break to warm up. Imagine a pile of snow under water.
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All of the salt is nearly disolved and only a little remains. The patterns in the water are from the circulation pump doing it's thing. It only runs when you are not in there.
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900 lbs of medical grade epsom salts will render your body completely weightless. You literally cannot sink. The solution is kept at 93.5° (external body temp) so after a few minutes you get the feeling of complete weightlessness...and since your skin cannot feel the temperature differential, you no longer feel your skin. Just a floating ball of consciousness - provided that you are not monkeying with your ear plugs or feeling the sting of concentrated salt water in your eyeballs. You learn what to do and not do quickly. The 1st float was really about getting past being in the tank. Since you are weightless, you have a tendency to bounce off of the walls if you slosh around. There's no light...no sound...no nada.
What's all this equate to? Probably the most relaxed naturally induced state you will ever experience. When you get out of the tank you have NO IDEA how 'far away' you really were. Your hearing is sharper, everything is more vivid and brighter and you are completely relaxed, yet totally energized like you haven't felt in ages. It's quite nice as the common man's quick track to meditation. You're experiencing things that people meditating took a long time to achieve - in the 1st few floats. The basic physical advantages are complete relaxation of your spine, muscles and majority of your nervous system. Pain seems to just melt away. The epsom salt - being made of magnesium sulfate, will readily give up it's sulphur for carbon, as Mg loves C more than S. This means that the salts will pull out toxins in your body thru the skin that it otherwise would have a difficult time doing. (your skin is the largest organ in the body) A nice bonus is your skin is left healthier and smoother than every before.
In terms of mental benefits of the tank, it is downright amazing. Since most of your brain is being used to help you keep your balance, sit upright and walk, the brain finds other things to do when you are completely weightless and sensory information is greatly reduced. Endorphin production goes off the charts and the body heals much quicker since it is not spending energy holding you up or filtering out the huge amount of data that comes in every second. Theta brain waves are produced enmasse, and this becomes the frequency that you run on most of the time in the tank. It is associated with high creativity, problem solving and visualization. While my experiences haven't been 'all trippy', the speed and volume of information that comes to me when I throw a tough problem 'out there' is astounding. I can tell myself that the goal of my session is to come up with a perfect solution to a problem that I have been having, and my brain goes into hyperdrive using information from the logical and creative brains (left & right) simultaneously, giving me multiple possibilities. It's really a 'trip' to experience being your own oracle of sorts. It can be everyday stuff too...Like 'how can I hold this part down' or show me some new designs I can work with etc.
There are many other benefits too that I won't drag on telling you about...but being that several ShopBotters I have had conversations with around the world seem to be on their 'higher path' I thought that there must be others too that may have thought about making one of their own tanks. This won't appeal to most, but that's OK.
Rough material costs were about $1500 for everything including the salt.
-B
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