WE TRIED A FLOTATION TANK, AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED…

Forget about yoga; the new way to self-improve is to do nothing at all. We asked resident AT floater Steve Madgwick whether we should take the dip. What’s it like when you first get in? The lack of distractions is frankly distracting. The neutral-temperate water is ridiculously buoyant; it’s deathly quiet and you can’t see diddly squat. How long is a session? My float was 75 minutes. I went through stages: busy-head, denial, trippiness, happiness, weirdness then relaxation. Any longer and my mind would say, “Is time up yet?” they say you can hallucinate. did you? No, not dragons-talking-to-me hallucinations, but I saw strange bursts of light. I also started laughing manically and making bizarre whooping noises, which I couldn’t (and didn’t want to) stop or explain. Were you able to forget your digital existence? More or less. The day/work thoughts and stresses swirled around in my head for half an hour and then, with other senses calmed, my subconscious came out to play, big time. ‘back in the womb’ or ‘near-death experience’? Neither. It’s like your mind separates from your body. You forget your eyes are open, pupils frantically searching for stimuli. I was intensely mentally alert, but physically lying in a giant chill pill.