HAMILTON MORRIS: All right.
So, it's breakfast time.
We're going to get some sprouted Quinao oatmeal and
hemp seed vegan pizza with squeezed Goji berry juice, and
a bowl of persimmons.
And so what is your involvement in the tanks?
JASMINE POTTS: I work here, I intern here for free
floatations, basically.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Any horrific, traumatic experiences?
JASMINE POTTS: Not completely traumatic.
I've definitely come in touch with my total inner creepy
weirdo a couple of times.
I've had a couple experiences in there where I've had like a
demon or something emerge, that I realized was just in
there and I never thought it was really like a part of me.
One time he said--
it was like in this weird Gollum voice, I hear this
like, kill it, you know just kill it.
And I was like, where the hell did that come from.
I had no idea where it came from.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Jasmine's account of demonic possession
made me think twice about sealing myself inside what
could easily become a tank of nightmares.
Really accentuates the alien abduction sensation that comes
with being in a floatation tank.
Like just talking to you I feel like it's a big furry
probe that's about to extract semen from my testes.
End of review.
BRANDON: It's a pretty cool looking tank.
HAMILTON MORRIS: It is.
I'm almost skeptical for that reason.
Cause I'm like, you're a cool looking tank
but how do you float?
I have a feeling that [INAUDIBLE] is going to have
some strong words about the chlorination of these tanks.
He's going to be against it, I'm just going to bet you a
Kombucha that he is going to be against that.
I'm going to bet you a GT, Dave.
spirulina enriched trilogy of flavors that that is going to
be against the chlorination of the sensory deprivation tank.
Time to treat this Excruciating eye pain with a
therapeutic none salt water shower, that will be cold as a
[INAUDIBLE].
Oh, that's cold.
There was definitely a difference in the ventilation
of the tanks, that's for sure.
Like it was muggier, more humid.
BRANDON: In this one?
HAMILTON MORRIS: In the other one.
This one had a much dryer air zone.
But now I'm a tank connoisseur, so I can just
knit pick all the live long day.
All I know is that every tank I've used, they need to turn
up the air temperature a little bit.
And I'm not afraid to say it.
I understand you don't want to feel hot, at the same time
it's not suppose to be a hot tub.
But almost every tank I've ever used, I've always felt we
could still be--
BRANDON: Warmer?
HAMILTON MORRIS: A little warmer.
Especially in the air.
BRANDON: My experience was when I went to the new spirit
wellness center that the float tanks were to hot.
And when I mentioned that to them they said, well that's
the way people like them.
The whole reason you're floating is to
not feel the water.
If you can feel it at all, then it's not floating.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Right.
BRANDON: The most powerful drug I've ever taken was that
first float.
It was such a pure unadulterated high.
And such a deep perfect high.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Yeah.
BRANDON: It's sort of like a peak experience that I just
keeping looking for over and over again.
There's a lot of mental space to explore, I call it the
innerverse.
And when you have the right environment of the tank and
the environment outside the tank, it gives you the freedom
to explore that space.
And you shouldn't even have a single drip in your float, not
a single one.
Because a single drip could pull you out of the best float
you've ever had in your life.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Fully convinced by the tank guru's
expertise, I decided that a transformative experience
could be achieved by no less than eight hours of
uninterrupted flotation.
I don't want to see any of these trees,
the spectacular view.
I want to see nothing but blackness and a feel of
complete loss of sensation in my skin and my body.
That's what I'm looking for.
I feel like we're all damaged by technology to some degree,
even though of course technology has all these
extremely beneficial qualities.
I think just this entire culture of like having a phone
in your hand and being able to compulsively check to see if
anyone has tweeted at you, or sent you a Facebook message,
or liked an Instagram photo, and I feel like it actually
changes the way you think, and destroys your ability to
concentrate or do things like read a book that require
sustained commitment to concentrating on something
that isn't immediately stimulating you personally.
And I wonder if sensory deprivation or something can
work towards deconditioning or mitigating the damage caused
by all this technology.
BEN: Yeah and not just the technology.
I think that it can kind of mitigate the damage of living
in our society in general.
HAMILTON MORRIS: And then I was wondering if I should try
and smoke weed before doing it this time.
BEN: Do you want to?
I've got a bunch of good weed.
HAMILTON MORRIS: I'm tempted.
BEN: Got some NYC Deisel, from the dispensary.
It's high-high quality.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Oh man.
BEN: And it's delicious.
HAMILTON MORRIS: I--
much like Joe Rogan, Ben was eager to teach me about the
effect medical marijuana has on flotation.
BEN: Smoking wax.
This is Hamilton's first time ever smoking earwax or butter.
HAMILTON MORRIS: As the cannabis released negativity
from my crown chakra, I was suddenly struck with
inspiration.
If I could implement by normal meta programming positive
affirmation technologies to free myself from the negative
thought templates of ADHD, then I could streamline the
optimization of myself projection.
It was worth a shot.
What do you think would be a good positive
affirmation, Nick?
NICK MANDRYK: What are the things that you'd like to
change in your life?
HAMILTON MORRIS: I would like to be able to not allow
anxiety to interfere with completing necessary tasks.
BEN: The thought of future task, brings only the
potential for growth and development.
HAMILTON MORRIS: Yes, that's good.
Wow, yes.
I will regard tasks I must complete
with cheerful readiness.
BRANDON: When you're in the tank you're sort of cleansing
the doors of perception, all of your sensory
input is being cleaned.
And when you come out, you're sort of like a baby coming out
of the womb.
And you're seeing things with fresh eyes, and fresh skin,
and with fresh nose, and with fresh ears.
HAMILTON MORRIS: I float in complete tranquility cleansed
by the tears of the mind's eye.
[LAUGHING]
BEN: Sorry.
BRANDON: I know now not to eat, or drink anything like
right before.
Two cranial sacral alignments and 10 kombuchas later, I was
ready for what would be the longest float of my life.
BRANDON: When you feel like it's time to get out, either
get out, and go to the bathroom, and get back in.
Or just move your body a little bit and then go back in
to the float.
HAMILTON MORRIS: I will do that.
I realized that no advice any floatationist offered could
prepare me for the task at hand.
For the first time in my life I had to take responsibility
for my own flotation.
BEN: When you want me to play your programming?
HAMILTON MORRIS: I guess just like--
BEN: In the beginning?
HAMILTON MORRIS: I'm already--
I'm so zoned right now, I'm so in the zone that it's going to
take 40 seconds in the tank before [INAUDIBLE].
BEN: Well you already floated today.
So, yeah, you're ready to go.
So you want to play
HAMILTON MORRIS: Ever in my entire life--
BEN: Good.
Great.
HAMILTON MORRIS: I am the master of my own
concentration.
I am the master of my own concentration.
I will approach necessary tasks with cheerful readiness.
In a world overrun by electronic distractions, it's
appropriate that a tool as simple as a darkened box of
salt water could create an environment of total and
complete focus.
After dozens of hours of floating, deconstructing my
thoughts, and meta thoughts, I began to understand
distraction, and how I allow it to invade my mind.
A powerful understanding that remained
after I left the tank.
I owe all to Joe, Crash, Ben, Jasmine,
Brandon, and the rest.
Tanks for the memories.