Shut out the world in your own personal isolation chamber

[Hum]

As marketing pitches go, it's a tough sell: For the low, low price of $1,500, we will deprive you of all your senses.

Yet Zen Float Co.'s monthlong Kickstarter project was fully funded within a week. The founders sold five units within the first five minutes.

On second thought, maybe it's not hard to see why. In this modern age, who hasn't wanted to just shut out the world, with all its bustle and distractions, and just be perfectly alone with your own thoughts for a while?

Zen Float Co.'s innovation is the first real home-based isolation tank. At less than $2,000, with a footprint of 4 by 8 feet and a weight similar to a big water bed, it's far cheaper, lighter and more portable than any previous sensory deprivation chamber. The big breakthrough was wrapping it in special canvas rather than chunky metal cladding. Up till now, so-called float tanks have typically cost $10,000 to $30,000; the cheapest one cost more than double the Zen Float price, unless you wanted to go used.

Here's how it works: You float in an enclosed pool with 10 inches of heavily salinated water brought to exactly skin temperature. Your ears are submerged, and maybe you're wearing ear plugs too, so you can't hear anything. No light seeps through the enclosure, so it's pitch-black whether your eyes are open or not. Your body feels nothing -- no hot, no cold, not even gravity -- because the saltwater ensures you can't sink. (It's the same principle that keeps swimmers afloat effortlessly in the Dead Sea.) People who have tried it describe sensations like heightened lucidity, openness, calm and "un-ness" as well as, fairly rarely, a brief "euphoric" moment followed by "paranoia" and a hallucinatory "long waking nightmare." It's thought mostly to produce relaxation, mental focus and physical pain relief.

But it's gaining traction among the public at large for its perceived mental and physical health benefits.

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[DocM]

Time to toss in the Altered States DVD

[Vykranth]

This is actually scaring me. Until now, I only heard about sensory deprivation coffins as a mean of torture or psychological breaking of people in certain sects or cults. Not as a hipster relaxation couch.

[DocM]

They've been used as relaxation / therapy devices for decades.

[Haggis Veteran]

Would love to try a Sensory Deprivation tank

 

sounds great

[Hum]

These can lead to OOBE's -- just saying.

[rr_dRock]

Joe Rogan is a huge proponent of these. I've been meaning to try one, but never did get around to it.

 

This seems like the best relaxation technique around.

[simplezz]

I want one!

[cacoe]

People who have tried it describe sensations like heightened lucidity, openness, calm and "un-ness" as well as, fairly rarely, a brief "euphoric" moment followed by "paranoia" and a hallucinatory "long waking nightmare." It's thought mostly to produce relaxation, mental focus and physical pain relief.

 

Maybe just get out before the bad things happen...

[mudslag]

This is actually scaring me. Until now, I only heard about sensory deprivation coffins as a mean of torture or psychological breaking of people in certain sects or cults. Not as a hipster relaxation couch.

 

 

I used to live right down the street from a place that had these for use for $20 an hour. It was very relaxing and I even tried it once on shrooms, awesome trip btw.

[madd-hatter]

Psychedelics in the AM while shut in an empty closet...

 

Cost: <$100