Man I can talk about this all day. I''m gonna post a lot . here goes: I have been doing it for about 2 years but prior to this year I was just going sporadically. At the beginning of this year I made it a point to go at least 1x a week. When I first started going I would try to go with a goal in mind, like some shyt to think about or 'think through', and hope to sort it out out...if that makes sense. I would have some sort of expectations...but that never or rarely works. I was really focused on hoping that it would ultimately help me creatively since I've been experiencing a huge block in that part of my life. I just go now and focus on my breathing and let whatever thoughts kinda come and go.
I've came away from a few sessions with some really insightful stuff that has carried into my day-to-day life. Unfortunately I'm not disciplined enough to consistently apply what i've 'learned' day-to-day and I usually fall back into old/bad habits eventually. but the goal right now is to make those gaps between falling back into old/bad habits bigger. One of those insights I've had - back to hoping that it'll help me creatively - was that nothing's just going to magically appear and help me be creative, I can't wait for some big inspiration or miracle, I just literally have to do the work as much as possible. I've also had some sessions where I came out of there on cloud 9 and the feeling lasted days. But I've also had some sessions where I came out almost just as frustrated as I did coming in. It's a dice roll really, but if I had any advice I'd just say to try to do it as often or consistant as you can with no expectations and see what happens. At the very least, besides your wallet, it's not going to hurt anything
Just the benefit of literally shutting down and turning off is priceless though. These days you have to really go out of your way to disconnect, and this kinda takes it to the extreme and forces you to do it. No phone, no alerts, no getting bombarded with random info. There's so much noise in life today, it's really fukkin crazy and IMO it's not normal. This helps you quiet it down for 90 minutes at least, and hopefully you can take that sense of peace and bring it into your day to day life. For example one thing is I hate to ride the subway. I get frustrated with the people, the delays, the failures of the MTA..then I start getting into thinking about moving and how shytty NYC is. But I come out of a float and have to take the train home and im not thinking about anything.. just enjoying being alive
It's not for everyone. the actual physical aspect of it turns a lot of people off. getting naked. the dark. i swear sometimes it's so quiet you can hear your blood move. having to shower at the place. most of the time those places are staffed with good people but lets be real they're all weirdos and can be kinda off putting. but once you get over all of that little shyt and move past it, it's totally worth it