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| Good enough for Timothy Leary |
So before I got in to the experience, I thought I would give a little bit of information on Optimal Wellness Center in Lakewood Oh. This is a nice clean place. If your in Cleveland, its worth going to. My complaints partially stem from it being too sterile/medical. They are great at keeping things efficient and the water levels consistant. I really miss the little extras like I got at Space Time Tanks in Chicago. Stuff like red light dimmer so you come out and its not like light system shock. Essential Oil diffusers and some meticulously laid out altar like decorations). Of course, if you went on the wrong day at Space Time, the water levels were just off enough so your butt would touch the bottom. It makes a big difference when you have the build of a Offensive lineman or Biker dude. One inch of water is killer.
They make you sign a waiver of course basically stating if you loose your shit, its your problem and second don't do any Timothy Leary/Altered States ass shit in there, not that I would ever do some Timothy Leary type experiments... Me. No... Never.. Absolutely Not, inconceivable. Just would never happen. Got to be someone else, who might do that.
My experience was weird this time. I stepped in their and immediately had all these bullshit concerns. What if the water got in my ears and hurt my sinuses? What if this happened? Mind you, I am not a noob, I have done this before several times. It has been a rewarding experience every time. And as I said, there was no Timothy Leary experiments going on, seriously.
I close the door on the Floatation Talk and get lay in the water. I literally FREAK out. I have a pretty heavy viseral, and hard core panic attack. I am neither claustrophobic or afraid of the dark. Your fine narrator, Papa Vitimus however, does not really give in to that. I had the tools, technology, magic and Will.
Although an isolation tank may amplify the reaction, this can happen in meditation, in hypnosis, in breath work, or even Gigong. I being me, was absolutely going to get in the tank and enjoy it.
What is an Adverse/Ab-Reaction Reaction?
What I had, was in hypnosis terms called an abreaction. Before going into the tank, I performed a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and then Prayed to Papa Legba to keep me safe. I have on occasion went on a astral journey that wasn't complete safe. While its possible to have a real spiritual encounter while in the tank, that isn't what initially happened to me here.
Before I continue, I have to give a little background as to help you, my most excellent reader, understand the what and why of an adverse reaction. I have been under enormous stress do to a situation well to be blunt, is really my friend's major issue. It is not a thing that I can easily walk away from. This stress has been really taken its toll physically and there were other issue that lead into a reaction. What I do is center, ground, and keep the chrakra's working. I also have this little trigger, I call it the overload trigger.
The overload trigger, is a "this situation is too hard for a human to deal with", so simply any negative emotion ( and some positive ones ), just go to off. This kinda of thing lets me power through difficult situations cool headed. It works 99.9% of the time, since I do not add to the situation, and seek out clear headed resolution, find the opportunity for the road to a different situation. If you focus on the bad, you miss the road. In this case, I had been doing that sort of, let's just turn this off for a while, for way too long.
Relax, rest, recover you say. Oh really. My subconscious mind would HAVE none of that. Fully supported by the water in a dark place, F@#@$# that. Basically, the universe is a nasty place, people are horrible cruel monsters and you know that Andrieh. Its like being told, no... your still in SIEGE mode and you still need to be in near adrenal land. Hence, red flag on field and the strong panic attack. Did I mention, I had been doing this, just turn it off for a while.
Why the Adverse Reaction?
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| You wont like my subconscious mind when its angry. |
Pretty clear, that I can turn off the experiencing of those negative and frustrating for a pretty long time, it does work. In this case, relax and rejuvenate was the mind was objecting too. Because in a elevated stress state, I will adapt.
The Adverse reaction in meditation, Gigong, isolation tank visits or any of it, is a pretty clear message, that something isn't right in Demark. I do not agree, that that is the time to end the session... No, now its time to do some heavy lifting and keep going. This moments are real opportunities for transformation if you can stay with it. To me the reaction itself, was an opportunity for real change, so I took it.
The why of this is pretty simple. The subconscious mind believes you either need something you are trying to get rid of, or that what you are doing will lead to certain DOOM. It is in essence protecting you from yourself or you have hit a patch of badlands in the psyche. A patch that can have little to do with what you are trying to do but might correlate to what work you have been doing. It just doesnt have to be a linear cause and effect.
Transforming the Adverse Reaction
So in this situation what do you do. Surprisingly, the single biggest trick is to breathe. Realize a panic attack or adverse reaction cannot last forever.
Step one, own it and keep going.
Admit, hmmm, this is not a conscious thing and it is from and by myself. In the tank, I forced myself not to move at all. I sat up, put my butt on that floor and breathed. I almost got out of the tank a couple times, but reminded myself, STAY on point. It was me and by me. The tank wasn't flawed. The water wouldn't destroy my sinuses, and it wasn't so cold ( 94 degrees), that I would get hypothermia. All of these are reactions and basically mental tricks to from the subconscious to get you to move. Ride it out.
Step two: Relax your way out of it.
Usually, just force yourself to sit still,breathe, and use all 5 of your senses to calm each muscle down. Literally just focus on each muscle.
I cover this more extensively in
I did exactly this and proceeded to progressively relax each body part in the darkness. I won't lie, I am pretty experienced at meditation and it still took me a good 5-10 minutes. My breathing calmed down as did the visceral reaction.
I cover this more extensively in
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| Energy Work, Meditation Enchantment, Spirit Work Yes its in there. |
Step three: Keep going and Adapt in your meditation
Now, the ab-reaction is over, the meditation needs to continue.
Usually, when you get through the reaction you'll have other issues that pop up, and clarify the issue.
For me, I neck really hurt and different body parts hurt. Like excessive stress and wear and tear from stress. It didn't take long for me to realize that the continuing stress was having a negative impact. That should be obvious, but when your under-siege you can work on adrenaline for a while.
In this case, the understanding was obvious but in other cases you might get a flash of something horrible that may or may not have happened Its a clue. I got tons of body issues ( and later in the meditation concluded it was Root Chakra issues (too much threatening of survival). The important part is that you listen to all your senses for a clue. If you are meditating, stay in the context (aka the room), ask yourself for some clues as to what is going on.
Step Four: Actionable meditative steps
If presented with an imagine of sadness, focus on joy and love. If there is a black ooze on your body in your mind, concentrate or feeling that wash away in light. Use all of your five senses, to really see, feel and know it gone. Basically, use the opposite steps depending on the metaphor. If their is a part of you giving you the metaphor, its also asking for a solutions. Pay close attention. Usually the reaction will start or be more severe in certain parts. If you can isolate those, those are the areas that you use to really focus on. Now, it would take me large parts of a book to really get into producing an emotional energy and focus. Kinda like this book, right here.
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| Yes, I should really finish writing a new book. |
An easy way is too simply focus on those body parts and remember times you felt the emotion. See, feel, hear them and then imagine if all those sensations. Even laughing, or smiling is usually sufficient to start working through the energy issues. If a hostile form (which could be a metaphor or a spirit) steps in, simply imagine it dissolving in the light, or whatever is appropriate. Again Fire dissolved by water, darkness by light, cold by heat, and so forth. That might take a little while. In an Isolation Tank, everything really is amplified. Since I was giving mostly physical aches and pains, I focused on Reiki work and did the Reiki work to the extend that I was loosing tract of time. For me, the idea is to work toward a certain stillness while in the tank, then you might have an OOB or other experiences.
While I was in the tank, stray thoughts would enter my mind, really why I was so upset. They were related. I would practice my zen meditation technique and acknowledge the thought and let it go. Sometimes, I would get uncomfortable or a body part would ache. Reiki till was comfortable and move on. Time would pass very quickly then. In the tank as I was clearing out the ache areas, I would soon after have somewhat strong Kundalini responses and the energy would spike up and through my whole body ( which with the water around, I was able to cool down).
Then in my mind, I was finally clear of the stray thoughts and SEE a clear image of an Ogun, and a non-verbal "get on this" aka work on getting the stress down, so you have better vitality. Took the whole session to get there. Not 2 minutes after, knock knock. times up.
It happens. Afterwords I felt very refreshed, and I would love to build one of the Floatation tanks in my home.
There is several lessons from this story, besides the obvious of deal with stress better. First, these reactions are a way for the body to process shit, and detox it fast. Take the opportunities, don't let the reaction stop you. Thats exactly what happened to me. Second, just because you are meditating and doing what you think you need to, do not think that negative situations do not take their toll. More stressful and toxic situations require possibly greater action. Third, use the meditation tools itself to unravel the issues further, till you get clarity.
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