Hommage to Esalen

Meeting the Samadhi-Tank

I first got into contact with the Tank in Esalen, while joining a discussion of American and Russian astronauts in the bathtubs.  Esalen is a camp on the pacific coast, half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles located at the highway number one.  There you can learn and experience nearly everything, you can imagine.  They have hot sulphurous bathes with a view to the pacific ocean, where everybody is soaking and having a look at the whales crossing in January.  This was in 1981. They had - at this time really sensational - a meeting of astronauts and cosmonauts.  Of course, the Americans did not speak Russian, but some of the Russians spoke quite fluent English and explained : „We learned it within three weeks in the Tank : Superlearning by Lozanov", and somebody mentiond a book called „Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain" written by Ostrander and Schroeder, and they mentioned John Lilly, the inventor of the Floating-Tank.

I did not hear any more about it at that stage, but my curiosity was aroused.  Then it took a year of search, until I could participate in a Superlearning-workshop with the author of the book, Lynn Schroeder, in New York. The question concerning Superlearning has always been, how do I get into the mental state of Alpha..., and with the help of the Tank, you get there without any problem.

I asked her about the combination of Superlearning and  the Samadhi-Tank, and she said, that it functions very well and mentioned Dr. Glauberman in New York, who had already used it with great success for two years.  I took every chance I could find to float and read all the books by John Lilly ( The Deep Self,  The Center Of The Cyclon , etc.). Subsequetly I bought a second-hand Floating-Tank in New York, shipped it to Europe and installed it in my Foto-Studio in Zurich. After a workshop with John Lilly and Robert Anton Wilson I began with my experiments of altered states of mind during floating. Soon I became interested in the construction of Floating-tanks, too.  My aim became to produce a beautiful Floating-tank of high quality.

I believe floating to be a splendid tool. It is soft, tender, wonderfully relaxing. "Flap closed, monkey dead." This can be taken literally . Our inner monkey, who is wriggling and jiggling and lacking concentration, suddenly gets calm, can outgrow himself, can get human.  You have access the higher brain-circuits, you can park your body in the Floating-tank and experience your boundless mind.

Mental Training and Floating 

The Samadhi-Tank is a very useful tool for all forms of mental training.  Especially for the following tasks:

1. Reduction of stress, higher stress-tolerance.
2. Synchronisation of the brain hemispheres, reaching of alpha/theta-state.
3. Higher learning performance, better visualisation ability, increased creativity.
4. Higher receptivity for suggestions.
5. Easy entry to the „inner worlds" by isolation of the outer-world.

Relevant aspects concerning the above points:

1. Stress is a direct counterpart of mental progress. To be non-stressed is the basic condition for any mental training.  While using the Tank, the stress is removed immediately by the deep relaxation. The even higher benefit is the long-term increase of the stress-tolerance : An input, that acted as a stressor before floating, does not any longer lead to stress afterwards.

2.& 3. The synchronisation of the brain hemispheres offers a powerful ressource: Intuition.  The alpha/theta-state promotes imagination, motivation to learn, fascilitation of learning and creativity.  The advantage of the Floating-Tank is the faster access to the alpha/theta-state and its higher stability.

4. Besides visualisations, suggestions are the most common elements of mental trainings.  In no other sphere suggestions are taken in so fast and directly. This effect results from the so-called „stimulus hunger",  that develops from the sensory deprivation in the Floating-Tank.

5. In the context of mental training „entry to the inner worlds" also means entry to your own mental blocks, your prevention strategies, your belief systems and metaprograms. Because of their changeability in the Floating-Tank, the mental training can get to the meta-level of the mind.  The possibilities of the thinkable are transcended and the unthinkable comes to be a usable ressource.

Medical Use of the Tank : Today and Tomorrow

Scientifically proven are today:* pain reduction due to endorphin distribution (Fine)

• Injury prevention ( for athletes ) due to deep muscular relaxation
• Vasodilitation : hypotension and faster transport of nutrients to the cells (Turner, Fine)
• Accelerated healing processes due to decreased distribution of stress hormones
• Reduction of stress by the „relaxation response" (Benson)
• Increased suggestibility and performance of suggestions (Glaubermann)
• Better performance in visualisations  (Glaubermann)
• Neuromuscular programming / muscular memory (Stanford University)
• Better learning performance, especially in case of complicated exercises (Taylor)
• Higher sensibility of the senses (for example : 25.000 times higher light sensibility)
• Treatment of eating disorders and sleep disorders
• Naloxon-reversible euphoria (Turner, Fine)
• Treatment of alcohol and drug abuse

Empirically tested are:* relief in case of:    a)  psoriasis b) backache (lower back syndrom) c) PMS (premenstrual syndrom)

• Synergetic effects in psychotherapy (e.g. : agoraphobia, claustrophobia)
• Strengthening of the immune system
• Regaining of imagination of the own body in a holistic sense
• Libido enhancement

Tomorrow«s possibilities :* psychosomatics : treatment of allergies and infectous diseases

• As part of holistic psychophysiological treatments
• As process-assistant concerning long-term diseases
• As tool to experience peak experiences
• In treatment of illnesses caused by civilization

The Filtration System -
                              Concept of the JüTa Floating-Tank Filtration

Flow Chart : JüTa Filtration System: 1.) Pump : 0,5 to 1,5 Kw. 2.) JüTa-Cascade-Filter l - 3 my. 3.) UV-Ray-Chamber, 2 x18 inch, including light sensor. 4.) Continous-flow waterheater 220 V / 2000 to 8000 W, including temperature sensor. 5.) Dosage pump for hydrogen peroxide. 6.) Valve.

A Floating-Tank contains about 700 litres of saltwater.  A circulation-tank is filled with 3.000 to 5.000 litres, depending on it«s size.  Floating-Tanks have to be hygienic for every user. Therefore our filtration system is complex and innovative. The smell of chlorine and bromine can be very disturbing, the respiratory tracts are irritated and the skin gets weakened.  Doctors in the field of dermatology often recommend to stop the use of chlorine. So either ozon or hydrogenperoxide are the choice. The resulting oxigenated magnesiumsulfat water even has healing potential.

Hydrogen peroxide produces no remains except for water and radical oxygen.  This radical oxygen sterilizes the bath.  Hydrogen peroxide is common in medical use as an antiseptical solution for wounds and can also be bought for private use without persciption in every pharmacy.  Ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide act synergetically.

Activated Carbon: Cleans the water, removes all smells and stenches. The filter contains 7 kg of activated carbon. The filter pad has a density of 1 to 3 my.  All suspended matters, even the finest ones, are filtered  out.
UV-ray-chamber: Two 18 inch ray-lamps kill bacteria, virus and moulds.  Liquid proteins coagulate.
Disinfectant: Gets injected automatically into the filter-system immediately after the floating-session.
Program Control: After every float the bath gets filtered, radiated, disinfected and heated.

The Circulation Tank

- a slowly rotating
                              epsom-float-bath

„ Still later, a fifth tank was built of concrete blocks in a circular design, with an inside diameter of about seven and a half feet.  This was the joint effort of John, Joe Hart and Will Curtis.  Inside this round tank the water rotates counterclockwise at about one revolution per five minutes. I mention these different tank shapes because each had a definite influence on the nature of the experience; a good example of the unexpected preprogram.  The round tank was especially far-out because although you had no sensory clues to that slow rotary motion - unless you touched the side or bottom - on some other level you still knew you were spinning very slowly at the air-liquid interface in a roomy lotuslike Container - a real, live Experiental Mandala - and this produced some uniquely cosmic experiences." (Dr. Craig S. Enright in: John Lilly, The Deep Self, S.21, New York 1977)

Within this short article we wish to show you the principles of our newest development: The JüTa Circulation Tank.

Our Circulation Tank is a round tank of 3,6 meter in diameter.  It has several Jacuzzis to get the bath into a spinning move and to center the person in the middle of the bath.  The sound comes to your ears by underwater-loudspeakers, designed especially for saltwater.

The visual experience is created by a mix of spotlights, which are shining through the water and thus projecting your silhouette overhead. So you can see your own lightshow at the dome-shaped roof above, which at the same time opens up and closes the Tank-environwent.  Light and sound are computer-synchronised. Furthermore there is enough space to share this experience with friends.

Therefore the main differences to a common tank are the social dimension and the natural ease of the wide and open architecture.

If you have questions or ideas concerning the Circulation Tank, please contact me. Thank you. tapprich@jueta.ch

Floating from Esalen to Esalen

After eight years of work in a hospital in New York, Currie Prescott went to the Esalen Institute in 1979, where he lived, learned and worked for several years.  He teached Massage and Movement Integration, has qualified in Trager Bodywork, Esalen Massage, Acupressure and Chakra-Balancing.  He is the founder of PABI-Bodywork and has a center in Zurich.

      Margarete v. Lupin: Currie Prescott, eight years ago you founded The Center in Zurich. It is designed as a place for seminars and formation in psychological and body-centered therapy. You are directing this place and have installed a samadhi tank five months ago. What are you using it for?

    Currie Prescott:  Well, I work in several ways with it. One is, that for my clients who are busy at work or busy with life, a lot of times the first half hour - if not longer - of massage is just getting them to be present and settle down, before I can really get them into relaxing deeply or becoming aware of what is going on inside of them. This is part of the process of massage. I accept this in my work with people. But, since I have been using the tank with my clients, I found out that when they go into the tank for fifteen minutes to an hour and come out having already had that time to be with themselves, my work actually goes further for them and for me as well. My work becomes easier and there is not so much bringing people back into their bodies and out of their heads, out of thinking of what they have done all day long, what they have to do later, problems at home or problems at work. They are more present.

The second way I work with it is for people who would like to know how to relax, but may have fear of being touched by another human being - usually because of some pastxperience they have had. Laying in the tank gives them the feeling of what it is to lie back, to be weightless, to be thoughtless for fifty minutes to an hour, and then from there maybe they will take that next step to hands on body work.

Thirdly, when I am not available - f.i. I am on vacation or just overbooked - and my clients want or need something, I can say: „Well, I am sorry, I can't take you right now, but you can come and float in the tank; of course, it is not the same as having my hands on your body or moving you around." Floating, however, gives them definitely the feeling that they have done something for themselves.

Zero Gravity 5

    MvL:  Can you state any specific discoveries or results in your therapy due to the application of the floatation tank over a longer period of time, being different from therapy without the samadhi tank?

    CP:  Like I said a lot of what my work is about is bringing awareness to people«s bodies, what they do with them or what they don«t do with them, to bring them back to themselves, feeling themselves. So again, without the tank the first half hour is spent simply for getting them to settle down and arrive at this place mentally. I  won't say it is wasted time, but it is time that could be spent to do other things. The tank allows them to relax easier, to feel their breathing, to feel their heartbeat, to get a sense of themselves and to let go of the day. So, when they come to my work room the muscles are more relaxed, the movements, the very light movements I use to help people open up, go deeper and further within themselves. My clients have also remarked this.

    MvL: Compared to clients who have not been in the tank so far, can you state an overall acceleration of  the complete therapy process during the past months?

    CP: The whole idea of doing any sort of therapy, be it psychological therapy or body therapy or any awareness training, is not so much that you only do it while you are there in the therapy but that you go out into life and work it out there. Thus, if they are getting a deeper awareness during the session, they are bringing  that awareness and relaxation and sense of self into life. Life is the biggest „Ausbildung" we are doing right now, anyway. Otherwise, all the therapy you are doing is not worth anything. And most people do come here because they want to change some sort of core resistance or core pattern, which they have  been living with for a long time and in fact does not give them very much, as far as the quality of life itself. So yes, the acceleration will naturally follow, it couldn«t be anything else.

    MvL: How many Swiss Francs is one hour of floating in The Center?

    CP: For our students and clients it is fifty Swiss Francs for fifty minutes. Somebody who is coming from the outside, who is not connected to The Center, either to the school or to one of the therapists, would pay sixty Swiss Francs. And we also have different abonnements. I have seen other tanks and we feel very positive about this filtration system, because the water is even cleaner without  aggressive chemistry, which would be disturbing for the user and ecologically harmful.

    MvL: How do you use the floatation tank personally?

    PC: I do not have the expectation that I lay in there, come out and see that all of my problems have vanished. That would be too ridiculous to even think about. The main purpose I use it for is deep relaxation. It is amazing, I go in there and have the impression that I have been floating for about ten to fifteen minutes, but in reality one whole hour has passed. One time I spent up to two and a half hours in there and took it for a total of about fourty-five minutes or an hour at most.

Along with that there is the weightlessness effect. After about five minutes or so you don«t even think that you are floating in water, it is like you are floating somewhere in the sky, somewhere in the space. In fact, the astronauts did use floatation tanks for simulation getting ready for the feeling of being weightless.

    MvL: Did you work with a floatation tank in Esalen?

    CP: No, I didn«t, but they did have one - unfortunately not this type.  In those days, fifteen or twenty years ago, it needed a lot of maintenance and nobody there knew how to do it or wanted to learn how to do it. But I was living at Esalen much later, and there was no samadhi tank. So I am happy that I have got one here and now.

    MvL: Currie Prescott, thank you very much for joining the interview.

An Experience of a particular kind

Foto: Jürgen Tapprich

I go into the Tank.  Thus I leave the space of my habits, the space of my everyday-life.  I undertake a journey to the space, where my common habits do not exist anymore.  I let fall my body into the gravity of the saltwater.  I turn off the light and stop the music.  I leave the space of my sensual perceptions, first partly, then completely.  I undertake a journey to the space, where my common sensual perceptions ( to hear, to see, to be in the gravity field ) do not exist anymore.

I let myself fall into my thoughts, until my thoughts fall apart from me : I leave the space of thinking and undertake a journey to the space of non-thinking.  For the moment this space seems to be strange. Maybe I go back to the familiarity of my thoughts for a short time.  But the time will come, when the strange space of non-thinking does not frighten me anymore.  Now the non-thinking is attracting.  Then I let myself fall into the ocean of non-thinking.  I experience my breathing, my heart-beat, the existence of my body in Zero Gravity.  I observe my experiences.  Then I let my observations fall apart from me.  Now I am my breathing.  Nothing more.  Then I forget this, too; and undertake a journey to the space, where my body does not exist anymore and where my perceptions of my body do not exist anymore. Now I am pure bodiless sensation without any thought or input. I am this sensation, until the sensation is vanished.  Then I undertake a journey to the  „Nichts", the non-existence of all being.  I experience the „Nichts" as an active existence, the  „Nichts" as „nichtendes Nichts" in terms of Martin Heidegger, the German philosopher.  I will come back into the world some time or other.

Alexander Brückner

What is Zero Gravity ?

We see ourselves as trigger within the network of those people, who are interested in Floating.  The concept of Zero Gravity is to be a forum for the different forms of „how to use the Tank". We want to give all floaters the possibility to bring their opinions and experiences to the public. Furthermore we are very interested in your essays and scientific articles.

Zero Gravity
Bulletin for saltwaterinduced gravity compensation

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