Episode Details

Kevin Johnson is the owner of Zero Gravity Institute, the float spa in Austin, Texas where I go for my weekly one-hour floats.  We get a chance to chat outside of the spa in this week’s show.

You may be scratching your head thinking, “What in the heck is a float?”  Well, unlike what might come to mind for many of you-- ice cream scooped into root beer, this kind of float is incredibly good for your body, mind, and spirit.  Maybe you’ve seen the float references plastered all over the blogosphere lately.  If not, here’s the basic idea:

It’s total sensory deprivation.  You slip into a chamber that’s about the size of a large walk-in closet or a small room where you float in about twelve inches of highly salt-saturated water in complete silence and darkness.

The water has been filled with 1,200 pounds of Epsom salt, so you become incredibly buoyant, to the point that gravity is nonexistent.  The water is warmed to skin receptor neutral, 93.5˚F.  You register neither warm nor cold.  Without gravity, temperature, light, or sound, you fall into a state of complete relaxation.

Sound good?  Let me tell you, when you walk out of the float spa you feel like you’ve had the best massage of your life… but even better!  In this show, Kevin and I talk about:

• How a good float gets creative juices flowing.
• The past, present, and future of floating… from the deprivation tank to float spa!
• The major benefits of floating for athletes.
• 100 floats in 100 days:  Kevin’s exploration of the mind.
• Tapping into other states of consciousness.
• Why our overstimulated brains need time to reboot.

SHOW NOTES

When I first walked into the float spa, I have to admit, I was skeptical.  How could something so ridiculously simple actually help?  I was completely blown away.

In 1954, a neuroscientist, physician, and psychoanalyst at the National Institute of Mental Health, John C. Lilly created the sensory deprivation tank to explore human consciousness.  Without stimuli, would I cease to exist?  Would I shut off?  He set out to answer some of these questions.

Why would this process be beneficial for the a