DOSE:

2 hits

smoked

Cannabis - High THC

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

Cannabis Sans Senses

This is a combination of cannabis and sensory deprivation. As cannabinoids were the only substance I had taken, this is not listed as a combination of substances. However, the sensory deprivation was the largest contributor to the experience and without it, this would have just been a normal Saturday night high.

I arrived at the 'Alternative Health Center' for the second time with hopes high for a better experience. My first step into 'the tank' left me only slightly disappointed. I suppose just about everyone has a tendency to exaggerate experiences in favor of the more incredible. After all, it makes a better story right? Call it the Hollywood effect. Few things hold up to the 'hype' with which they are introduced. Supposedly with practice people can relax in the tank quicker and will have more time in lucid-dream mode. I, however, thought fuck-all about discipline, training and patience. I wanted a real trip and decided to use some very potent weed- an organic and hydroponically grown Satori strain. This visit did not disappoint. After I locked myself in the private room, I took two decent sized hits from my pipe, jumped into the shower for an initial rinse-off, then slid my way into the tank.

They typically play two piano pieces (usually solo piano) for a 10 minute period to help you relax when you get into the tank, then again after the hour has passed as a signal your appointment was finished. I'm not a fan of their music, but I like to use these as a benchmark to set my internal clock so I don't lose track of time entirely. I occasionally experience some mild time contraction when high... chronologically things seem to pass more quickly than usual. I would later find out that wasn't the case in this environment.

After I got in and was floating around for a bit, I heard the current song fade out. I wasn't sure if it was the first or second so I waited for a bit, listening. After what seemed to be several minutes, I began to hear individual notes playing (just like my first trip to the tank which happened to be sober, but on that visit the audio hallucinations happened near the end of the hour- this was at the very beginning). The notes seemed to occur one or two at a time and spaced far apart. I tried focusing on the noises around me, trying to determine if these were real. After what felt like another 10 minutes, I decided they were far too irregular and solitary to be real, and I must be hallucinating them. I couldn't tell how much time had passed, but eventually the notes ceased.

Silence once again.... The disoriented feeling came very quickly afterward (something else I hadn't experienced until the last few minutes the time before). I began spinning and tumbling through the darkness, losing my general reference to the earth. As I remained perfectly still, the water faded away, melting my extremities and taking them with it. I thought about how unbelievably strange it was to lie there unable to feel my limbs. People say the 6th sense is proprioception- the brain's ability to determine the body's orientation relative to it. This had been lost to my limbs. Even amputees report they can still 'feel' their lost parts. Proprioception apparently never dies... except here. I literally couldn't sense their existence. All that remained was my head and torso. I couldn't determine how long I spent in this amputee state, spinning through space. I couldn't even decide how long it felt like.

A few notes returned, but more in pace. This reminder of the real world popped my limbs back into place. This seemed like a song. Was the full hour up? I couldn't tell. I knew they only played music for 10 minutes at the beginning, and I was dead certain it had been longer than that. I sat up and pushed my way out of the tank. After wiping down with my towel I walked over to a dresser I had placed my wristwatch upon while undressing. 5:38? Did I forget to set my watch ahead last month? Surely I would have noticed by now. I dried my hands off more completely and reached for my cell phone. 5:39. My appointment began at 5:30. I started doubting myself, recounting the process of signing up for the session online. I knew one happened at 7.... spaced an hour and a half... yes... my appointment must have begun at 5:30. I'm sure. After toking up and rinsing off to get in the tank, I couldn't have been in there for more than 5 minutes. The first song would have ended around 5:35, leaving.... Three minutes?

That timeless expanse, tumbling through space, the limb melting... all took place in under 3 minutes. Three minutes. The end of one song... the lead into another. The notes I was sure I was hallucinating were real. They appeared to be spaced apart by entire minutes... even several minutes each... but the actual spacings were just seconds.

Oddly, I felt like I was done. I could have showered and left, fully content in the return I had gotten for my money. But what's the fun in that? I stepped back into the shower for a second rinse-off (some salt water had dripped precariously close to my eyes and I didn't want to suffer a second ocular encounter with the fire-water... seriously, that stuff burns like hell). I hopped back into the tank in time to catch the trailing end of the last song. I was hungry for more. At least now I knew if I heard more notes, it would really be time.

As I settled down I became aware of the water sloshing around in the tank. I must have been less careful this time around getting in. After I stopped bumping into the walls of the tank, the slow, gentle sway of the waves seemed peaceful. I rolled over them until they died down, imagining myself floating on a cloud. I was told to imagine a lot of gay shit like that when I was growing up as a way of instigating an out of body experience. It never worked, of course. If they had ever given me any useful advice, it would have been 'toke up, kid!'

The waves eventually stopped, giving way to a second round of limb-melting. I marveled at how the vanishing act slowly crept from fingers, to elbow, to shoulder. It reminded me of when I was shocked by household AC as a kid. I once grabbed both prongs of a plug between thumb and forefinger trying to pull a plug out of a live extension cord. My fingers locked, leaving me helpless but to merely observe the wave of muscle paralysis that slowly crept up my arm heading to my heart. Supposedly, that's when you die. Realizing the immediate danger, a quick shot of adrenaline gave me the strength to pull away.

At this point my body's nerves were calm enough that the tiny, inevitable muscle twitches that come with forcing yourself to relax had subsided. I was perfectly still. The water was no longer lapping against my sides or hair. Without motion, I quickly lost sensation of the water against my body. As my mind wandered, I tried identifying where the water line really was. I moved my mind's focus around, from small of back to navel, not being given any hint as to what was underwater. As an aid, I imagined various water-lines coming up to different levels, at one point imagining myself completely submerged underwater. This is where the panic started to creep in. I was losing control.

As best I could tell, my body was falling asleep. I tried to move, but couldn't. Or maybe I wanted to, but my internal desire to be hit with a full-blown sens dep trip wouldn't let me. I imagined myself being dead on the bottom of the tank, and actually started believing it. It was at this point that the body melt started moving in from my dismembered arms. My shoulders faded into space, followed by my abdomen, then creeping up my chest toward... my heart!! I thought about the electric creep of death from my childhood. I genuinely panicked. After the wave consumed my chest, my mind frantically searched for a heartbeat. Nothing. As my head started to dissolve into the background ether, one simple thought screamed through my mind.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! Bad!'

I knew at the core of my being that what I was experiencing was very wrong. At no point in my life did I ever lose track of my body. Even when I dreamed I still existed in human form. I had control of legs, arms, fingers. I could feel myself. I had a body. I existed. My arms melting earlier seemed kind of cool since it was still, in a way, nonthreatening. But this? Fuck this, man... No normal human experience could explain this but one: death. This is what happens when you die.

'Shit... this is it. I'm dying. Or am I already dead? I pushed too far. I fell asleep and drowned... fuck... FUCK!'

The room felt distant and far away, almost like a past life. The details of the person I was and events that had happened to me prior to climbing into the tank were being ripped away- floating just outside the limits of my consciousness. I struggled to hold on to any memory of my life. It was almost as if time had stopped. It was in this deafening blackness, this surreal nothingness, where fear had finally released me. I felt like I could sense another world around me. Something obscured by the normal world which persists constantly... distracting us at every second and every turn. I couldn't see it, or hear it, or touch it.... but something I can only describe loosely as 'feeling' it existing through spatial proximity. It was like floating across the universe on a cosmic trip, passing by black holes and nebulae; galaxies whizzing through a vast expanse of nothingness and everything simultaneously. Surrounded by this explosion of universal energy and activity, I knew I was dead... and I embraced it.

Then... a note pierced the silence. Sharply. Painfully. It hit me like a blinding, white hot light. This audial intruder sent ripples through the ethereal world, scattering its sharp lines like grains of sand in the wind. I struggled to keep it in focus.

Another. I snapped back into the tank with a panicked gasp. There was no gradual journey back. No manifesting. I was just there... floating in some water in a dark box. Earplugs crammed awkwardly into my ears. Chest rising and falling with each breath. Water sloshing from my thrash back to reality.

I started sliding to the door, somewhat disappointed to be back in a room on the planet earth. Somewhat angry to have arms... to be breathing... to be matter. I tried pushing my way out of the tank- only to find the door much heavier then when I got in. It slowly creaked open with a second attempt. Standing up was a heavily labored endeavor, only revealing how dizzy and disoriented I was. I plopped back down heavily into the water, opting to rest for a minute before trying again. Looking around the room with blurred vision, I was sure I was back. It felt like I had climbed a mountain- I had absolutely no energy left.

It took a minute for me to realize I was still quite high, making the walk out of the office somewhat awkward. I was convinced the receptionist knew I was stoned, but I couldn't quite tell if she cared. Maybe that's why I have to sign a 'dangerous substance' waiver... they know what really goes on in there.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 87401
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Nov 2, 2024	Views: 35
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