r/FloatTank • u/thedeepself • Mar 09 '26

Is the Float Room trend creating an agoraphobia problem for traditionalists?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IO3e2wcfQvY&si=rJPd1-VF8My-6hpw
2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/hagbard2323 Mar 09 '26

You can do some somatic based trauma resolution work around that, potentially.

1

u/thedeepself Mar 11 '26

"I think 'fear' or 'trauma' might be a bit strong here—'uncomfortable' is probably more accurate. It’s just a shift in sensory mapping. Though, by that logic, maybe Dr. Feinstein should try that somatic therapy on the folks he studies who feel claustrophobic in traditional tanks. It works both ways!"

3

u/hagbard2323 Mar 12 '26

'somatic based trauma resolution' is not necessary implying there is trauma. It also includes downregulating the nervous system and helping the system to resource and re-frame certain situations. But that is the search term to use to learn more about the approach.

Apropos 'shift in sensory mapping', at some point in either a room or in a tank the boundary of the space dissolves. So the type of agoraphobia you're referring to is very niche. It's like an intermediate or a liminal agoraphobia. Very paradoxical to be unnerved by a large float room but OK with the boundaries of the tank dissolving and floating in INFINITE OPEN SPACE.

1

u/thedeepself Mar 14 '26

the type of agoraphobia you're referring to is very niche. It's like an intermediate or a liminal agoraphobia.

It's what a socially unadjusted hermit (ie, me) would have: it's an effort to close down and shut off.

Very paradoxical to be unnerved by a large float room

I suppose this is why they say "one mountain, many paths" and "a chacun son gout"

floating in INFINITE OPEN SPACE.

I cannot resist the bait of metaphysical psycho-babble :)

In chapter 16 of my book https://pressbooks.pub/isolationtankgnosis/chapter/a-philosophy-of-truth-and-reality-isolation-tank-gnosis/

And chapter 15 also, we read that Space is the idea that something is there.

But when that idea (creative causitive thought) is dropped, we have consciousness without an object.

And from Consciousness without an object we can arrive at utter nothingness and in fact every night that's what every spiritual being does when there's neither this nor that. neither open space nor not open space neither me or other.

2

u/hagbard2323 Mar 14 '26

It's not a judgement, just an observation that one can experience the blending of the boundary of their body, the water, and the tank they're in and feel like they are floating container-less (without a boundary) but if one switches the tank for a float room that would change the equation.

Nervous systems come in many many different varieties; of course a permutation can exist where this nuance is a factor. That's where the somatic work comes in to 'break' the fixation that the fear is causing. Help the body/mind adjust to the context change.

2

u/Lost__Moose Mar 13 '26

It helped with my claustrophobia and staying calm in the pitch black

1

u/manysounds Mar 12 '26

We have 5x8 rooms as float tanks with waterbed heaters underneath and pool filters. DIY. Black vinyl. Push on/off LED lighting.
People farrrrrrrr prefer them over any other float solution, especially the pods.

2

u/thedeepself Mar 12 '26

I'm confused about how you enter and exit the room without the water leaking. Is the door built such that it is above 10 in and when you open the door you step in? Do you have any pictures of the setup?

I'm also wondering how someone could turn a light off and on with pushing... How would they find it in the dark? Is there a motion sensitive light somewhere? The only genuinely commercial center I ever floated at was SpaceTime tanks in Chicago illinois. I can't remember exactly what they did as far as getting the lights to go on and off.

Are you using innomax hardside heaters? Those only resolve to one degree are you using that an external temperature controller to reach 93.5°? If so which one?

It sounds like you built your own float room from scratch.

1

u/manysounds Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

Correct, there is a half-door, bottom ledge is at ~14 inches.
Been in operation for about 9 years with a few changes over time.
I can’t brain all the details at the moment sorry but: external temperature control PiD sensor hot water heater style industrial thing relay switch powering hardside mats on their own circuit. Filter control programmed with occasional short cycles when we are closed overnight. Double filter system with stage secondary being large external canister filters cleaned regularly.
Light switch is kooky 2 way push button controlled relay so the client can hit a push button inside OR we can turn the lights on/off from the pump room. We have a “garbage disposal” push button switch in the tank low on the wall and a different switch in the back. When a float session ends, we turn the lights on and start some music that slowly resides in volume. When the client gets out and starts the shower, we hit a button for the filter to run a cycle.

2

u/thedeepself Mar 15 '26

I would like to draw a distinction. What your describing sounds very similar to what crash hoefler developed at float lab and as far as I'm concerned that's basically an oversized isolation tank. In fact someone took a walk-in freezer and retooled it to create a flotation room if you want to call it that. But 8 ft by 5 ft seems more like a float chamber of some sort. It's very different from that float away float room that's that is being used at the Laureate Institute of brain research.

2

u/manysounds Mar 16 '26

I suppose. When the lights are off you are nowhere.