On today's episode, we talk float tanks with veteran flotation expert and researcher Richard Bonk.  Sometimes called sensory deprivation, isolation, flotation or REST (restricted environmental stimulation therapy) tanks, we chat about their beginnings in 1950s neuropsychiatry research and their resurgence today as a therapeutic tool for modern man.The thought of paying for the privilege to step into a small, enclosed box filled with water and spending ninety minutes alone in the dark with nothing but your thoughts to keep you company, seems terrifying to some.But those that try it rapidly discover, contrary to how it may appear at first blush, that it is one of the most relaxing, rejuvinating and transcendent experiences they've ever taken part in.More than a novelty new age fad, there's solid science showing that float tanks can massively alter your stress response, alleviate chronic pain, lift depression, enhance athletic performance and even allow to you achieve the same results as decades of regular meditation - in hardly any time at all.For those interested in delving deeper, there's an unprecedented opportunity to explore the frontier of your own consciousness.Release your expectations, relax and step into the box that will change your life - the float tank - on this episode of Remarkably Human Radio.IN THIS EPISODE:What is a float tank and is it different than sensory deprivation?What to expect while floating.How float tanks got their start with neuropsychiatry and a man named John Lilly.Practical concerns, such as why you won't drown, claustrophobia, and how you lose the sensation of gravity and of having a body.What happens to the brain when you remove stimulation?Why floatation induces relaxation rather than fear.How flotation relieves chronic and acute stress, chronic pain, fibromyalga, high blood pressure and more.How to use flotation to explore consciousness and how it may be "faster and more supportive than long term meditation."The positive benefits of magnesium sulfate.How floating is like hitting the "reset button" on the mind and body.Floating can enhance sense experience.Flotation's effects can last for a couple of weeks.How you can use flotation to enhance imagination, creativity and sense experience.What it's like to suspend yourself between waking and sleeping and destroy Resistance.Richard and Roderick's personal float storiesRichard's groundbreaking Alternate Waking State Induction Method