DO WE DREAM IN COLOR?

Imagine stepping into a room and seeing a spaceship looking pod that is capable of reducing all of your senses so that you can let your entire body REST. Weightless.  Effortless. Just… Floating.

What will you see when you can’t see?  Hear when you can’t hear?  Feel…

I want to know. I’m too curious. Adventurous. Starving for new experiences. I have to explore this.

I arrive at Aspire - Center for Health and Wellness in Manhattan for my “Float” appointment.  I’ve read several articles about these float tanks.  I’ve listened to a dozen podcasts either mentioning them or all about them.  I watched the VICE documentary and the Float Nation documentary.  I don’t want to build up my expectations for the kind of experience that I imagine having… or WANT to have - but it’s too late.  What if nothing happens?  What if it’s a huge disappointment?  Nevermind.  How can relaxing for an entire hour be a disappointment? If nothing else, I’ll have an hour of ME TIME.  I love ME time.

I want to experience this R.E.S.T. thing that I was learning so much about.
Restricted
Environmental
Stimulation
Therapy/Technique.

The attendant greets me and leads me down a long hallway, up the stairs to a second level and down another hallway to a private room.  Her name is Daniella and she briefs me about the pod, how it works, which button to press to lower the lid, the one to dim the lights off and the one for an emergency.  She also tells me that for safety reasons, they can hear me so feel free to speak if I have an emergency.  [Note to self:  Do not pass gas or make other embarrassing noises].  She asks me if I meditate and I hesitantly reply, “Yes, but I’m very new to it.”  She says, “That’s perfectly okay. It helps.”  After my briefing, she steps out and locks the door to which I am now left to my own devices.

I look around for any hidden cameras.  [Don’t see any].  Okay.  Clothes are coming off!  I step into the shower to rinse all of the oils and debris from my body.  New York is dirty! Okay. I’m all clean now. One last trip to the bathroom to avoid the risk of contaminating the water.  All clothes remain off! Earplugs in!!  Here we go!!!

Stepping into the comfortably tepid water, I lower myself down and slide my feet out in front of me – levering back as if in a lounge chair made just for me.  I’m floating… just.like.that. My head rests in the water with my face exposed as well as a few peaks of my body.  Wow.  This is going to be RELAXING.  If I could dehydrate RELAXING into a powder form where all you have to do is JUST ADD WATER…. This would be it.  Uh, Epsom Salts. One thousand pounds are in this tank right now.  1,000!  Relaxation in powder form.  It already exists. Damn.

The water feels perfect. Not too Warm.  Not too Cold. Goldilocks Right. 

CAUTION:  DON’T GET THE SALTWATER IN YOUR EYES.  IT BURNS!  Allegedly.

I press the black button to my left to lower the pod lid.  Suddenly I feel like a timid pearl getting enclosed by a giant clam. Let me just take it all in for a moment. This is the last thing I’ll see with my eyes for an hour. Okay. I'm ready.

My left arm drifts over to reach the white button, push in and…. fade…… to…… black.  PITCH BLACK.

Complete DARKNESS.  A BLACK so black that I don’t remember seeing such a lack of all colors before.  What is the color black?

I had to look this up later on Google University:

“Black is the absorption of all colors and the absence of light and it means power and control & it absorbs negetive [sic] energy.”

[blink, blink] I’m not sure how much I can trust the source of this definition since whoever wrote it misspelled “negative.” But I digress.  VERY BLACK.  I think you get the picture.  Or lack of one.

I’m floating. Weightless.
In darkness.
In silence.

In…

Nothingness.

[Deep Inhale. Exhale.]
Oh! That’s right! Meditation!  I know how to start.  Focus on the breath.

Take a deep breath ~  Inhale ~ Exhale.
In:::::hale:::::   Ex:::::hale:::::

Let’s try Box Breathing:  
Inhale for 5 seconds::::: Hold for 5 seconds::::: Exhale for 5 seconds::::: Hold for 5 seconds:::::
Meditation is elongating my telomeres.  I love that word. I think it’s my new favorite term. TELOMERE.     (ˈTe-lə-ˌmir).   The key to anti-aging.
!!! Focus on the breath!!!
Fine. I’ll think more about telomeres later. 

Be present. Relax. Don’t try so hard. Breathe slowly - deeply.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale::: Exhale::: Inhale::: [deep sigh]
How much time has passed.  10 minutes?  I have no idea.

Let’s go through my Gratitude List.  What am I grateful for today?

1. I’m grateful that it’s Friday.  Happy Friday!
2. I’m grateful to be here experiencing something so NEW.
3. I’m grateful….

Hey God?  How are you?  Please forgive me. I’ve been a bit distant all week.  Are you with me?

[Inhale. Exhale.]  Oh, look…. Stars --- in a moonless sky. My eyes are closed and I’m seeing sparkling golden stars.  10. 20. 50 – 100 - A sky full of them now but water is rippling over them.  I’m seeing them from under water.  Maybe 10 feet below?  I’m staring up through crystal clear water - softly undulating – but I can see all of the stars through the water. So many. Blue Stars. Some Magenta now! Oh, this is interesting.  I’m afraid to open my eyes.  What if it all disappears?  One way to find out… Eyes Open.  It’s all still there!  Eyes closed. Still there.

Open. Close. Open. Close. OPEN. The same. FASCINATING.
Hey, Brain - Are you seeing this?!?! There is so much more to learn about you.  You are so cool. 

NO!!!  It’s disappearing!  I like seeing all the stars!  We don’t see them here in New York.  [sigh].

Swirls.  I’m seeing swirls of purple on black. A beautiful eggplant purple. Where are these colors coming from?  The swirls turn into a Siamese Twin version of myself.  I can’t see my face, ehr faces, but I somehow know it’s me.  My hands are in front of my throat and my fingers are extended and flickering.  Then my twin-self splits down the middle and a third ME emerges. Splitting again several times into a kaleidoscope of me.  That’s enough of ME.  I don’t know what this is.

Jellyfish.  The many MEs have turned into Electric Jellyfish.  Bright flicks of a neon cobalt blue flash in the middle of dozens of pulsating jellyfish. Or Amoeba.  But with tentacles.  And those golden sparking purply-blue filament looking things just flashing here and there.  CRAZY!

Ah, I’m back in space.  Traveling at great speed this time.  The stars are flying past me but they’re getting bigger – and rounder.  They’re blue.  Like an ultramarine blue.  And big now like bubbles.  Or marbles – and so many of them funneling toward me.  Warp Speed!  I’m soaring through space – this is exhilarating. 

I see light to my upper left.  My eyes are open.  How can I see light?  It’s a swirling Nebula of Pink, Turquoise and White continuing in a whirlpool off to my left.  I see some stars to my right but I’m not traveling anymore. 

Black fuzzy caterpillars take over my field of vision.  They create a sort of netting but I can see through them to a dark gray sky.  A distant fiery sunrise appears to my right.  Brick Red, Burnt Orange, Golden Yellow – behind one section of the caterpillar fence.  The colors are so warm and beautiful.  And now gone.

The jellyfish are back.  Nope.  Not really jellyfish anymore.  Eyes.  BIG eyes.  Three of them. In a row.  Feverishly batting their lashes.  The eye in the middle opens wide and I’m staring into the Iris. It’s navy blue and indigo with flecks of gold and green.  It must be eight feet tall.  It’s not blinking.  It’s just staring at me. Into me. Through me.  What does it see? And like a puff of smoke… it wafts away in all directions.

I hear violins in the distance.  Muffled.  Far Away.  Maybe someone’s playing music in a room somewhere.  It would have to be quite loud for me to hear it, though, right?  Could the water be conducting it?  Hmmm… 

Rap Music.  A man with a white suit and fedora raps, “I’m sorry ‘bout the co-in-ci-dence.”  I can feel the water rushing over my legs.  There’s lots of movement in the water.  I must have fallen asleep and jerked myself awake. “I’m sorry about the coincidence?”  What does THAT even MEAN?  Dubious lyrics. Weird.  WHAT coincidence? Anyway. Rap music.  smh.

The lights are on. Eyes close.  Eyes open. Close. Open.  Nope.  The lights are not on.  Where is this LIGHT coming from?!  The shapes continue. The sparks of color.  A flower develops. I don’t recognize the type but the yellow petals are long and tubular with white tips and deep in the center is a rich peachy-pink like salmon. I don’t think this flower exists but I don’t know my flowers either. It moves as if being captured by a motion-stop camera as it grows and seeks out the sunlight.  It’s magical. Alive. Peaceful.

Briefly, I see a reflection of me on the ceiling.  Floating.  Upside down.  The inversion of me.  At rest.

I have no concept of time.  How much time has passed? How long was I asleep? I don’t want it to end but surely it must.  And eventually it does. The lights are really on this time.  I know I have 6 more minutes to hover around and do what I want before the pod lid will automatically lift.  Why have I not done this sooner?  This is WILD!  Living in a city and time that is so over-stimulating, it’s ironic to find such exhilaration from a complete lack of stimulation. 

Time to get out, rinse and get dressed to return to the physical world.
What a gift to have this hour to myself. This float. BLISS.

I am inspired to implement some take-aways from this experience:

• Close my eyes to be able to see more completely.
• Sit in silence so I can listen more intently.
• Quiet my mind to help find the answers.
• MEDITATION.  It’s so obvious now.

I will experience floating again.  Absolutely.
All of this aside…
I never thought much about it until this moment - But there is no doubt in MY MIND…

I DREAM IN COLOR.