[jisaacks]

I forget what they are called, but I have heard of places that immerse you in total darkness and total silence and have you float in water that is the same as your skins temperature so that you feel like you are floating in nothingness. I never went but want to try it sometime. So I cannot say if it works or not but at least according to these places you would not feel the water. I wish I could remember what they were called. We have one here in Atlanta.

EDIT: found it based on SCHiM's comment: http://flo2s.com/floating/what-is-a-float-tank/

[pgrote]

Flotation tanks

http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-floating-in-a-tank-of-water-...

[modoc]

I've always heard them called sensory deprivation chambers.

[icebraining]

That's the name I knew them by (mostly from watching Altered States), but apparently they're now called isolation tanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank

[tjradcliffe]

These things are a bit of a fad where I live. There are two "float houses" within a few blocks of me. My girlfriend bought us a session in one last last year (she said she was "giving me nothing" for my birthday.)

You do feel the water, at least a bit. It might have been a little on the cold side, which didn't help the experience. I wasn't freezing to death or anything, but by the end was thinking, "Yeah, this could be half a degree warmer."

I didn't experience anything special. I meditate and whatnot and am pretty comfortable in the company of my own mind, so it was kind of like a long meditation session, though I never got in really deep. I was too busy watching myself for any novel reactions, I guess.

It lasted for an hour or ninety minutes and was pretty boring. My girlfriend reported a similar experience. YMMV, and you should try it and find out. It wasn't unpleasant, there just wasn't much there there (which is likely a commentary on the sterility of my mental environment or something.)

[thret]

I've heard this can give you interesting waking nightmares and is a form of torture. Are you certain you want to try it?