It’s happened to almost everyone at least once while floating;
You are in the tank, breathing, relaxed, thinking or not thinking and then all of a sudden you WAKE UP!
“Where am I? Did I just fall asleep? How long has it been? Did I not hear the music? Have they forgotten about me?!”
The questions are common ones, and at this moment many people decide to end their float.
“I was just ready to get out.”
We hear it all the time.
By all means, honor your mind, your body and your intuition, but consider this:
If you are running, either a mile or a marathon, there’s a point when you’re “just ready to stop”, but that point is not often when you are crossing the finish line, it’s when you begin to break a sweat.
Many of us decide to push on and continue the race, and for that we feel better.
Floating can be looked at similarly to that proverbial race.
Sometimes it’s MORE difficult to choose to stay in the tank than it is to choose to keep running.
When you’re running a race you’re in all your athletic gear, you’re physically moving forward, and everyone’s watching you, but in the tank (or in meditation) it’s so easy to just open your eyes, to get out.
Try shifting your perspective— consider that THIS is when your float truly begins.
Think about it, you’ve become so relaxed in the tank that you’ve dozed off. Your mind and body are completely at rest, and your heart rate is slower and more regular than it has been all day. What a perfect time!!
Observe your mind and your body in this space.
Settle into the assurance that you are here for this— to take the time for yourself—don’t sell yourself short on some personal, and much needed, ‘ME’ time.
But what to do…?
An easy way to lasso your attention is to BREATHE.
Inhale deeply, hold for just a moment at the top of your inhale, and as you exhale, exhale the thoughts right out of your head. Imagine it happening.
Relax your jaw, remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth, and let your muscles relax;
relax your hands, your shoulders, your neck, your abdomen, your hips, your thighs, your calves, your feet.
Focus on the sensation of your breath passing your nostrils, and nothing else.
Try counting your breaths, back from 200.
You will feel yourself go deeper.
You will feel the coiling spring of your monkey mind begin to unwind again.
Breathe.
There are other techniques to relaxing yourself back into a float, but this simple method is tried and true.
Happy floating :-)
Buoyantly,
Greg and the Float Fam at Weightless Float Center