I’m giving away my isolation tank.
One of the coolest things from the psychedelic movement of the 60’s that for some reason never really caught on with the mainstream is the isolation tank.
It’s an amazing invention by the late, great psychonaut John Lilly. He was trying to find a way to isolate the mind and the thoughts to be completely independent of the distraction of normal sensory input from the body- like touch, sound, sight, etc.
The idea being that if you could get away from all of the normal, natural signals and distractions your mind could function on a much deeper level.
What he came up with is a tank filled with water that’s heated to the same temperature as the surface of your skin, and it’s got 800lbs of Epsom salts in it, so that you float on the surface of the water. The water is heated to the same temperature as your skin, so when you lay in it after a while you can’t feel it.
Your ears are under water so you don’t hear anything, and when you close the lid of the tank you’re in complete darkness.
It’s a really freaky feeling, and at first it’s kind of hard to get comfortable.
Your brain isn’t used to the experience, so it’ll start giving you “busy work” – making you think that you’ve got to itch your nose, or move your arm or something, but if you can just breathe and relax you can get past this stage.
Once you learn to get comfortable it becomes amazing how clearly you can think and see things.
Being alone with your mind is a very odd feeling and it takes a while to get used to it.
Outside of the isolation tank there’s really no experience like it.
There isn’t another environment like it in the world; where you can go so quickly, so deeply into the human mind. It takes you to a place where it would take the average person many years of meditation to achieve a similar mind set, and it throws it at you right away.
For some people it can be really unsettling in it’s self-analytical effect. When there’s nothing to distract you from your thoughts it’s very difficult to ignore things that have been troubling you.
Any aspect of your behavior or your life that you’re unhappy with will be dragged out of the shadows of neglect and denial, and put on center stage with a giant spot light on it. If you’re the type of person that is trying to evolve and grow, it’s an amazing tool, but if you’re the type of person that would rather go through life with blinders on it’s going to give you a psychic beating.
I’ve had one for about 3 years now, and it’s helped me tremendously.
Initially I got the tank because I wanted to experience the psychedelic effects that I had heard it could bring, but at the time when I was thinking about that I was imagining wild, hallucinogenic visions. While it certainly can bring that, especially when you get really comfortable with the experience, another aspect that is just as psychedelic is the extreme introspection it provides.
It’s fascinating, but it hasn’t all been comfortable and fun. I’ve had quite a few experiences in there that were a little unsettling to say the least. In the long run though, it seems like those experiences are the ones that you really seem to grow from the most. For me, when I’m disappointed in my behavior, or the choices that I’ve made in my life the tank just makes those thoughts and memories so uncomfortable that it immediately makes me change my reaction to any future similar situations.
When you’re alone in the tank it’s a different kind of being alone.
It’s the kind of alone that just doesn’t let you bullshit yourself. If you were wrong, or off base about something, no matter how much you’ve been deluding yourself thinking that you were in the right, you’re going to see the whole picture with crystal clear clarity when you get into that tank.
You can just feel negative energy that you’ve caused or projected so clearly, and you can see how putting that kind of energy out there really is a choice, and it’s not a choice that you have to make most of the time.
You just have to approach it with that perspective.
The tank makes me see how we often live our lives on the momentum of the past, constantly defining ourselves by how we have already behaved, constantly cycling through a pattern of pre-determined thoughts moving around on these pre-arranged tracks, instead of running our time on this planet through a well considered, best-case scenario approach.
“I want to live my life in a way that, were I not me, and I saw that behavior, it would inspire me to be a better person.”
I know that sounds like some hippy, trippy horseshit, but isn’t it possible to live like that? Wouldn’t it make the world a far nicer place to live if everyone came to the true realization that the only way to truly be happy in this life is if you’re nice to other people?
Because truly, that is the only way, and if you ask basically anyone in the world what he or she wants most in life, it’s to be happy. Happy and in love, that’s the best feelings life has to offer, and the only people that want anything other than that, are the kind of people that need happiness and love the most.
The tank tries it’s hardest to steer you in that direction.
The real problem with that kind of thinking, of course, is that the world is infested with morons and douche bags.
Chances are I don’t need to tell you that, because you’re reading this on the greatest platform for scientific study of the common douche bag that has ever existed- the Internet.
No generation in the history of humanity has had a better look at the common douche bag than this one.
You think your grandfather knew what the fuck was up when he was 20?
What he didn’t learn from his neighborhood or see on “the Little Rascals” was all just speculation to him. They really had nothing else to go on.
Back then kids didn’t even know to avoid getting into a van with a clown. That move was actually still working 60 years ago.
Your grandfather’s knowledge of douche bags when he was 20 compared with the average college student of today, is like comparing what a blind man sees to a guy on mushrooms looking through a kaleidoscope.
Every fucking day I get a hundred or so links sent to me in the email, and 80% of them involve either a story, a picture, or a video of a douche bag in action.
Douche bags from all over the world. There’s soldiers throwing a puppy off a cliff, men stoning a young girl to death because she was in love with a boy from the wrong religion, a guy shits on his friend’s head while he’s sleeping – you can SEE all these things. Not just fucking hear about it, like that Richard Gere gerbil rumor – I’m talking you can actually experience watching each and every one of these things, and you can do it over and over again.
There’s never been a time like this ever.
We know SO much more about the average asshole than any healthy person has ever known about the subject throughout human history.
The average 15 year old of today has a better idea of what horrors people are capable of than a prison guard from the 1940’s.
So what I’m trying to say is that this certainly isn’t a perfect formula, this whole “be nice to everyone” thing. There are going to be moments in life where you run into said assholes, and you have to respond accordingly.
But what I’ve found in my life though, is that the nicer I am the less assholes I meet, and that my time in the tank has made me nicer.
The more I make a concerted effort to be positive, the happier I am. To me it’s like a much less annoying form of “The Secret.”
The really weird part of the tank experience comes once you get comfortable with the experience.
Once laying in this weird, warm, salt-water box becomes a regular thing, it becomes easier and easier to relax and go deeper and deeper.
To me, it feels as if there are layers of bullshit I have to peel away before I can get to what “me” really is. I always feel as if I’m following a series of machines on a network; each with their own specific job of making life move along, and that I have to recognize and understand how each one works in order to pass it and eventually get to the “source.”
The human systems go in a pretty predictable pattern that starts with my personality, and then connects to the various people I come into contact with in my life, and as I pass over that, I eventually branch out to an overview of people in general; egos, relationships, self discipline, then it starts to drift away from individuals, and go to examining cultures, human motivation, symbiotic life, universal consciousness, then slowly but surely it gets to “the place.”
“The place” is the ultimate goal – a state of consciousness at the center of it all where your “mind” doesn’t exist. It’s a place where the ego is temporarily forgotten, and where in the complete absence of sensory input you converge into “everything.” The more I get in the tank and go through the process, the deeper I can go, and the freaky thing is, it doesn’t seem like this experience has an end point. Every single time I get into the tank I get a little bit further, and a little bit closer to the source.
Whatever the fuck that “source” is, it’s very much like following the cords on a computer network to it’s source. Everything feels solid, tangible, and easy to follow – up until you get past the machines and to the spot where it all plugs into the wall, and then it all gets a little sketchy.
I mean, the computers, the keyboard – all that shit makes sense, they’re all solid items, but what the fuck is really going on past that plug in the wall? I mean, what the fuck is electricity all about?
The monitor you can touch, and when you move the mouse you can see the cursor respond, and that all seems to make sense, but what the fuck is going on when you follow those wires to the internet? The information you get from it is obviously real, but the concept behind it is so hard to wrap your mind around, really.
The “source” of it all. Well, there’s a “source” of it all for you, too. You’ve just got to slowly make your way though all of the components of your human network to get into contact with it.
Mystical visions have been a part of the growth of humans forever, but a lot of so-called “no nonsense” people may tell you that the pursuit of such visions are just a self indulgent waste of time. They will tell you that serious men and women of science have no use for seeing things that aren’t really there.
What’s hilarious about that, is that a visionary experience was the motivation behind the work of the man who invented modern analytical thinking, René Descartes.
He had a series of dreams in 1619 where the angel of truth came to him and explained to him how he was going to measure and define the laws of thought with mathematics.
It’s one of the main foundations of modern scientific thinking, and it came to him from an angel in a dream.
Pretty trippy shit, huh? And especially ironic considering that a lot of people who consider themselves to be scientific thinkers won’t put any thought into considering the influence or power of things that they can’t actually measure.
I think we may have to learn to accept the idea that there may very well be something that we’re all a part of that we’re not completely aware of – that we really are just a part of this huge, gigantic oneness of everything that we can’t really detect under normal circumstances because of our ego and our physical limitations.
Just because we can’t sense something doesn’t mean it’s not there.
One way that I like to put it that makes it easy to grasp is what I like to call “the fart analogy.”
The way it works is, if I cut a fart in front of you and you didn’t hear it, and you don’t have a nose, how would you know?
You wouldn’t have a clue, would you?
You would just be sitting in my stench, completely oblivious.
Well, I think it’s absolutely ludacris to think that all of our limited physical senses detect all of the energy around us all the time. Ever wave your hand over a colony of ants? They don’t have a fucking clue you’re there. You have to physically touch them before they’re even aware of your presence. How do we know that there are not an infinite number of different types of consciousness around us all the time that we’re just as clueless of as the ants are of us?
It’s much, much more likely that we’re only seeing a tiny fraction of the big picture, and the deeper you get into the tank experience the larger the piece of this infinitely big picture you’re able to see.
The bottom line about this life is that as of right now, it’s confirmed that it’s temporary.
You’re going to die, and no one knows what the fuck is going to happen when that moment occurs. There’s a lot of speculation, but until you cross over to the great beyond and come back to talk about it, I’ve got nothing to go on.
And if you DO cross over and come back, then you’re a fucking zombie, and I’m gonna hit you in the head with a shovel before you can steal my brains.
How weird is that, whenever someone dies and comes back to life, it’s ALWAYS a bad thing? They’re always walking around trying to kill everyone they meet and eat their brains. No one just comes back to life, and is like, “Hey, sup, I’m not dead anymore. You guys wanna go get some Chinese food? Nice to be back.”
Now, I know to the uninitiated this shit can sound like some spaced out nonsense, but that’s really because you haven’t experienced it! What I’ve given you with these words is the best description of it that I can give, but the only way to really know what the fuck I’m talking about is to try it. It’s 100% safe, and if you’re ever uncomfortable with the experience you can stop it at any time by simply getting out of the tank.
If you google “where to float” it’ll show you places where you can hopefully find a tank for rent close to you where you can try it out for a small fee.
That’s how I got started in this whole thing. I rented a tank at a place in Burbank, CA called “Soothing Solutions.” I then went on to buy a tank from the people that provided their tanks, The Samadhi Tank company.
Well, I recently had that tank replaced with a new, crazy high tech model, so I’m giving my old tank away online. To win it, simply sign up for my mailing list, and at the end of June I’m going to randomly pick a name on it.
As long as you live in the continental United States you’re eligible, and I’ll even pay for shipping and hire a guy to come out to your place and install it.
Watch the video at the top of this story for more details, and good luck!!
[...] mind: The dude’s also got a sensory deprivation tank. In fact, he’s got two right now, so he’s giving one away for free, shipping and all included! Being alone with your mind is a very odd feeling and it takes a while to [...]
This is one of the web’s most interesting stories on Thu 13th Mar 2008…
These are the web’s most talked about URLs on Thu 13th Mar 2008. The current winner is …..
I have a lot of faith in random chance and coincidence. If I’d known you had a blog sooner, I’d have probably already signed up for your mailing list any way. Will I win? Probably not, as probability is against me. Hopefully I can just afford my own tank soon enough. I hear you have a new, high-tech version.
I’m going to trick my tank out, whenever I get one. Some spinning rims, hydraulics, with some really good speakers inside and a flat LCD. Oh wait… that kind of defeats the purpose, huh?
Hey Josh, I appreciate your writing down your experiences in a down to earth fashion. For my 30th in a few weeks I convinced my wife to rent a tank for a few hours to try it out. I’ve read much about it and have been dying to give it a shot. Pretty cool of you to give your old one away as well!
Cheers!
Zach
What a fantastic opportunity for someone who would most likely never get a chance to experience this. Hopefully whoever wins takes it serious and treats it well! Good luck everybody!
Namaste
Joe: I think it is wonderful you are popularizing and making people aware that there are tools to enter deeper into their being and experience the vastness that is inside each of us. It is what the mystics always said and you don’t necessarily need a cave to meditate in — just a nice warm, salt filled tank.
But if you do want to go the meditation route, I suggest you take a look at Isha Yoga. I’ve been practicing their yoga and meditation for a few years now and I’ve had some truly explosive experiences when you tap into your core and you see what a huge vibrating existence this all really is.
In the same way that we have figured out the way to engineer the temperature around us, there is a method to engineer the climate inside, to go beyond the normal limitations of the mind and body and experience life in a completely different dimension. I hope all of humanity has a chance to touch this, whether through meditation/yoga, an isolation chamber, or whatever method works for them to touch this space.
I Am a Married Father of Two boys,That had a really fucked up childhood and now at 35 find myself questioning everything, I am really into the universe and how things work and why, For some reason i feel like the answer to everything is right in front of us but we just cant comprehend what we are seeing, Joe i have always tripped off of your analogies and think your spot on brotha, your a cool cat and we think alot alike.. but dude couldn’t you have at least let us watch you beat the fuck out of that bitch on the fear factor that back talked you? lol “we love ya Joe”
[...] Rogan has put up a new blog post in which he talks about isolation tanks. I’ll let you visit the link if you are [...]
[...] it looks like he’s building a better one. The Joe Rogan Blog » Conduit to the Gaian Mind I’m giving away my isolation tank. [...]
Boo – Just read this contest is for US peeps only…. what about us snowbirds up North in Canada!!?? :’(
[...] One of the coolest things from the psychedelic movement of the 60’s that for some reason never really caught on is the isolation tank. It’s an amazing invention by the late, great psychonaut John Lilly. He was trying to find a way to isolate the mind & thoughts to be completely independent of the distraction of sensory input from the body.http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/225 [...]
“No one just comes back to life, and is like, “Hey, sup, I’m not dead anymore. You guys wanna go get some Chinese food? Nice to be back.”
FYI: The tv show Pushing Daisies has some very likable folks who also happen to be “undead” .
Great post btw. Fantastically stated….
thats so cool. i was just researching these again today. i signed up for an appointment tomorrow to try one for the first time. i hope i win! that movie altered states is pretty cool. in the hallway where hes fighting to not succumb to the abyss. ill put it to good use!
Joe, howbout announcing the winner on Opie & Anthony? I think that’d be a great idea. Also, the next time you’re on the show I’m going to call in and ask what your thoughts on the content and ideas behind all of the Star Trek series are. Can’t wait for Serra/St.Pierre 2!
[...] avid psychedelic and spiritual explorer, is giving away one of his isolation tanks. Rogan writes on his site about how has experiences in the tank have aided him in expanding his awareness and tapping into a [...]
[...] One of the coolest things from the psychedelic movement of the 60’s that for some reason never really caught on is the isolation tank. It’s an amazing invention by the late, great psychonaut John Lilly. He was trying to find a way to isolate the mind & thoughts to be completely independent of the distraction of sensory input from the body.http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/225 [...]
[...] been fascinated with consciousness and it was reading an awesome post by Joe Rogan that prompted me to start reading a psychology book called “the two of me” by John Birtchnell. [...]
You are a beautiful human being!
Thanks for making the world a better place.
i have been a fan of secret knowledge for a long time, and except for lilly, I have never heard anyone talk about repeated experiences in a tank. Thanks for that, and also the wisdom you brought back, though a skeptic would say that it is just your basic beautiful shininess already apparent in your previous work.
Nice.
Thank-you for the publicity you have brought to floating! Floating changed my life – helped me heal a lot of pain on many levels. I hope that more people give it a try and see how amazing it really is.
What to say…
GIVE ME THE TANK!!!
That said, the only other thing I will offer here goes thus;
T
Holy hell, my computer has become possessed by demons in the last few hours. Of course.
What I was going to say went like this;
THE POINT TO EVERYTHING–THE TRUTH WITH OR WITH OUT A TANK!
1) You have only right now
2) Death
Getting to this on a level that works is a whole other thing entirely. Hence the value of the tank.
And as far as value goes, those of you interested in having your own should remember the cost of the salt. Tremendous.
But if Joe is willing to give the tank away and the recipient can handle the cost of that much salt, and use it… results are insured.
I want that tank, I have wanted one forever, just have not been able to make it happen financially. It makes so much more sense than trying to get to certain places of yourself with drugs. And meditation, while helpful, has limitations when a brain works like mine, ADD, just too distracted.
We should all have one as far as I can tell. Seems it could beat most therapy if your willing to face your own truths. And demons, don’t forget.
I’m ready.
And as for Joe’s thoughts on all this, ROCK ON! Finding out who and what you are, what it means (right now and death) and passing that on gets others thinking. Keep it up with no fear.
Give me the tank!
Peace
The cost of the salt is hefty, but keep in mind that once you get the tank set up, if it is just for your own personal use, you won’t have to replace the salt for a long time. Floating helped me get off of pain killers and anti-anxiety meds, made me feel better than any massage i’ve ever had and greatly reduces healing time if I catch a cold or flu. It is definitely worth it. I’d like to see more float centers open, or more spas, gyms and healthcare facilities incorporate tanks into their services.
The meditation aspect was huge for me. I can’t sit still or even lay still for very long and stay awake or stay out of physical pain to be able to meditate. My only successful meditations have happened in the float tank.
You’re like a guru/genius. Support geniuses ftw!
Never knew much about this form of self provocation before viewing some of Joe’s videos on line. I am absolutely intrigued and want to find a place to try it out. Think I may have just gotten myself into another expensive part of life, but this sounds like the rewards are more then worth it. Can’t wait to learn more!
wow this looks and sounds so amazing. i still cant even believe it. i googled “where to float” and unfortunately there are no places that i could find that were very close to me…hopefully in the near future i will be close enough to get to one. until then ill just turn out the lights put on some hard core ear protectors and wait.
Be careful with that ozone generator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! shit is really really bad for you the better way to filter your air would be a carbon filter!!!! you can find one at any hydroponic supply store
i reccomend waterbabysindoor.com
[...] looking for videos for my last 420 post, I came across this page on cannabis activist Joe Rogan’s web site. This has to be one of the most mature things I have ever read by anyone in the public eye related [...]
[...] first stumbled across the idea of sensory deprivation on the website of TV personailty Joe Rogan. The deprivation tank is based on the work of Dr John Lilly, famous for his work during the [...]
So do you have to do anything to have a chance to win the isolation tank?
http://www.floatworks.com
http://www.floatfinder.com
Try this link for nearest centers…………
http://www.floatfinder.com
Joe. I wanted to say I really enjoyed the hell out of reading that. I have been wanting one of these since I saw Altered States with my Dad when I was 10. It also made me want peyote, I since gotten that out of the way, but no tank. We met a long time ago at the comedy place on Sunset, next to the Hyatt. I was visiting the manager Richie. I have to tell you I didn’t take you to be such a deep thinker. I like your outlook man, its optimistic but realistic. I’m also a HUGE fan of the word douche.
Anyway, I’m totally in for whatever I have to do to win this tank. Confronting shit is something I have to do if I want to progress in life. Sounds to me like this is the ticket. Anyway, I sent this page on to some people to check out.
Take it easy..
Benjamin
i need this thing bad i think it would help with all the pain i am in maybe get me off the morphine if i could buy one of them thing i would be on it help a rick out
ha
JOE! anyways love the site and all the crazy shit you get to do reading about all the crap is kinda like bein there wiht out all the fun ofcourse
Man, I read your whole post, it really seems to open your mind up to something that I have never experienced before. Even if I don’t win your isolation tank (Which I hope I do!), I gotta go find a place that lets you in one for an hour or two, to see what it’s like. Found this just in time, it looks like too!
You Rock Joe!!! I wish more public figures would be as open and honest about who they are and what they can give back to keep us evergrowing……
Giving it away in JULY??? Wait is it passed july or july of 2009? AAHAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! must have!
Hey Joe,
I met you personally after your preformance at the Improv in San Jose, CA. It was the second show on the first night. I just wanted to tell you again that it was the most hilarious, intelligent stand up I have ever seen. I am 47 years old and have seen so many stand up routines from Richard Pryor , Steven Wright< Dangerfield at the Improv in New York, Murphy, Bob Nelson, etc etc. And while you are awesome in the UFC and I am sure have many talents….fuck man, comedy has made an evolution thanks to you. Your observations are briliant and hyserical but what seperates you is that your so fucking smart…The tiger at the San Francisco Zoo…OMG LOL
to put this lightly, your all fucking idiots. sorry don’t mean to offend, but truth is to often left behind social confinments. Still stuck in the societal restriction, not willing or aware enough to pass any boundaries, it’s sooo taboo isn’t it!! ha
reality is where you are, and the formation of thought. create what you want if you dare to go past the threshhold of formed conformed patterns.
release to oneness and all is you. Should this be grasped.
I am you, as you are me, and we are all together.
has a winner been named for the isolation tank?
this sounds like a crazy cult way of getting masses of people into those tanks from the Matrix… or am I just high? :S