02/27/02

Cleveland Heights

- There's a black hole in Eric Schneider's living room - a dark, quiet void where people go in, and experiences come out.

This portal to possibility lies within a Dumpster-sized white fiberglass box containing 10 inches of water so saturated with 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt that to do anything but float is like trying to sink a cork.

Realists may see a skinless waterbed, the first chance since the womb to drift in a fluid cocoon in effortless relaxation. Visionaries might see a way to strip all distraction from pure creative thought, probing the deepest recesses of the mind.

But sometimes, what you "see" in total darkness and silence while floating on near-body-temperature water, can be more than what you expected to get.

The experience essentially was born a half-century ago as a way of finding out whether the brain, when deprived of all outside stimuli, would shut down like a dead battery. To that end, Dr. John Lilly developed what has been called the "isolation" or "sensory deprivation" tank.

Lilly, who died last September at age 86, inspired the 1980 movie "Altered States." In his work, he discovered, "The mind does not pass into unconsciousness, the brain does not shut down. Instead, it constructs experience out of stored impressions and memories. The isolated mind becomes highly active and creative."

Isolation is somewhat of a misnomer, according to Schneider, who bought what he calls a "sensory enhancement" tank 10 years ago when seeking a way to relieve pain from a back injury.

He has since shared it (for a fee) with more than 300 fellow floaters, from age 15 (with parental permission) to 65. (For details, see his Web site, www.FloatFactory.com, or call 216-231-2400.)

"It's restricting the stimulus, not the sensation," said Schneider, 37. "If anything, it's enhancing the sensation."

Which is, he added, "one of the most healing, rejuvenating, meditative and therapeutic experiences imaginable."

To novices who may fear a water-coffin feeling, Schneider said, "When you close the door, you feel like you're in a planetarium or vast space, because there's no visual reference points. You're not aware of anything confining you."

Marchelle White, 35, of University Heights, started floating in Schneider's tank last fall as a way of relieving some of the stress in raising two small children. "It's kind of like drifting away in an ocean and not worrying how far you're going to go out," she said.

Her husband Don, 36, also took the plunge, and described the sensation as a gradual, loosening of tension until "it felt like being jelly, but not in a bad way where you couldn't control yourself. The water is almost seamless. In time, you can't tell where the water ends and the air begins. I feel like I'm floating in nothing."

Regis Sedlock, 37, of Cleveland, recently floated for the first time. He had been looking for a way to reduce the stress that goes with owning a recording studio, and figured floating might be just the ticket, and possibly help him quit smoking.

He said he discovered an experience not unlike "lucid dreaming, like just before you go to sleep when you get these random images in your head. Very surreal, very visual and very liquid."

Another first-time floater, Matt Gerovac, 23, of Cleveland Heights, said he underwent some intense introspection, "almost seeing my thoughts" in the dark.

Other floaters report mild visual and physical hallucinations. "You feel like your body is slowly spinning, from head to toe, on some kind of horizontal plane, and see flashes of colors, blending together and coming in and out of focus," said Brion Trivers, 30, of Cleveland. "It's like your brain is grasping for anything, and says 'OK, I'll make my own sensations.'

"It amazes me what just a tankful of water and darkness can do to a body."

Most people typically spend about an hour in the tank, though there is no set time limit. And when floaters finally step out, salt-slicked and wearing what Schneider calls "that morning after smile," he will often say, "Hey, welcome back," because it has definitely been a trip.

"I come out tingling and energized, yet at the same time peaceful and relaxed," said Don White. "It's an odd combination."

The after-effects linger for what many floaters described as the best night's sleep they ever had, and sometimes beyond.

Michelle Myers, 30, of Mentor, said floating eliminated her former need to take sleeping pills.

Marchelle White described the feeling as even more refreshing than a bath. "It's better than any anti-depressant you could find. It's a lasting awareness, a connecting of your mind, body and soul," she said. "It just makes those little things in life seem even smaller."

Contact Brian E. Albrecht at:

balbrecht@plaind.com, 216-999-4853