The Great ShopBot Samadhi Experiment

[kodiak]

Very Nice Brady... I also have been trained in Reiki-II ... and have been an avid practitioner in meditative practices such as Kundalini Yoga and practice Buddhism. I have always wanted to try out an isolation chamber. Now that I see what you have done here I just might be a few months away from building one myself.

[Brady Watson]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. There's not really a whole lot to it & I spent more time researching a double checking myself before building. I wanted to make it very elaborate, but decided to do the no-frills version to make sure I had the basics down pat. Plus, my old house will only let me get 30X96" panels max down the steps...so that had to be considered when building it, or I would have just milled out an organic shaped mold on the Bot and laid up a fiberglass tank.

-B

[dray]

is that a Sensory Deprivation tank?

How damn COOL!!!!!!!!!
How does it reallly feel after time?

immediately all of carlos Castenedas stuff comes to mind, although not deprivation tank. then my childish side remmebers the simpsons episode where he talked to johnny cash the wolf on a pyramid(actually mini golf course)

[gene]

BRADY
Thats very intresting to an old country boy like me.
I tried a meditation class one time but i got asked to leave cause i kept falling asleep and snooring.
On a serious side does it help to heal things like back disc problems ? i I know you arent no doctor so i will take your info with a grain of salt.. (get it )SORRY i couldnt help it.....I am going to google ...

[Brady Watson]

Gene,
There are many benefits to the tank, including relief of back pain. The tank equally distributes your weight across your spine, allowing your spine & supporting muscles to completely relax. This is something that is difficult to achieve on this planet using any other method. I've had 2 back surgeries and nothing helps my back more than a float when the cold, damp weather rolls in...you know what I mean by this!

If the instructor threw you out for falling asleep when you were supposed to be meditating, then - you are better off not learning from that person in my opinion. For someone new to deep alpha & theta brainwave states (the frequencies associated with meditation), falling asleep is a common occurance. It is afterall, the state you are in just before waking. The tank offers an accelerated path to arriving at alpha and theta brainwave states while maintaining full consiousness. If you fall asleep in your tank, so be it - you can try again during another session.

It turns out that my preconceived ideas about my tank experience are very different than actual. What is really mind-bending to me is that some of the time, I can get into the tank, float for a while, feel like I am just floating around in a box, and then get out of the tank. When I get out of the tank, it is as if I am sucked back into the physical world and I had no idea how relaxed and 'far gone' I was until I actually get out of the tank. Usually when you meditate, you can feel the transition from one brain state to another, as there are visual and physical cues to tell you where you are - so you are completely conscious of where you are in the brainwave spectrum. With the tank, it isn't this way (at least for me) and the shifts to different states are so subtle that I haven't been able to notice them until getting out of the tank.

Being a purist, and a long time meditator, I frowned on the idea of using any kind of audio in conjunction with the tank. That being said, I have been listening to some of the Hemi-Sync music put out by the Monroe Institute for the past few years. I highly recommend any Hemi-Sync program, as it facilitates left & right hemisphere syncronization and helps you to use both halves of your brain more fluently. I noticed a big difference after listening for a few months. I am thinking about piping in some of this music to the tank as I think that it would enhance both the tank & Hemi-Sync experiences. I just have to come up with a way to keep it all water & salt proof and still be able to make adjustments or stop/start from in the tank. If you are not ready to build your own tank, and are not ready to go back to learn meditation (Transcendental Meditation is probably the best to learn - http://www.tm.org/ ), then I highly recommend the Hemi-Sync programs to get your feet wet and start exploring your own inner space. There are some excellent excersises on each CD to help you clear your mind and get relaxed - something that we all could use with our busy schedules.

Sorry so long winded...

-B

[wooden_innovations]

Brady,

Attach a pair of sound pads from the 06 Jamboree to the outside of the box. They would be exempt from both salt and water.

Rodney

[Brady Watson]

Thanks Rodney - that's exactly what I was going to do. I just have to find a salt-proof remote of some sort to cue things up and adjust volume etc while in there...

-B

[gene]

Brady
How do you do Transcendental meditation?

[Brady Watson]

Gene,
This is something that you have to learn in person http://www.tm.org/learn/index.html

-B