Joe Rogan's Isolation/Sensory Deprivation Tank

[Lightfiend]

Anyone have any experiences with an isolation tank before?

I've always had an interest in altered states of consciousness (I think most people do to some extent, that is why we dream).

 

[Xenophon]

I remember there was a really lame movie called altered states about something like this.

 

[Lightfiend]

Yeah, that movie was KINDA interesting until the dude devolved back into an ape...then it was just absurd.

 

[strollingbones]

i cant do the tank.....dont like anything closed in like that....but i do, do it to an extend....basically you are in a warm water..supposely creating a "womb" experience...you cant see or hear anything other than your heart and breathing...try going to a pool or hot tub....hot tub is better and simply close your eyes ...put most of your head underwater and float...relax as much as you can...

if i am not mistaken....b f skinner came up with the tank.

 

[Lightfiend]

Article says John C. Lilly was the first to use it but BF Skinner came up with the tank?

 

[The Illusion]

Ive heard a little about the tank.. that it alters your state of consciousness. It does create a womb like experience and it creates isolation. I found the following on it:

History of the Tank
Does the Brain Need Stimulation?

When: 1953

Scientific Question: What happens if you remove the stimulation of the outside world?

Hypothesis:

Many scientists wondered what would happen if a person were cut off from all sensory stimulation and from interactions with the world outside. Scientists influenced by the "behaviorist" school, thought of the brain as an organ that reacts to stimuli. They predicted that if all outside stimuli were cut off, the brain would cease its activity resulting in a condition resembling coma, or dreamless sleep.

An alternate hypothesis was that in a state of profound isolation from stimuli and interaction with the world, the brain would continue operating and generating experiences.

Dr. John Lilly tested these hypotheses with experiments he set up at the National Institutes of Mental Health Lab in the Virgin Islands. He limited stimulation to the minimum possible level while removing sources of discomfort and stress. His "isolation" tank design approached this ideal as closely as possible and the experiment was up and running by the end of 1954.

Read more at: Samadhi Tank - Origins

Jamie