What’s new?
“I tried entering a trance state using stroboscopic LEDs.”
Tell me more.
“It’s a new offering at the place where I’ve gone for the last 15 months to float in a sensory-deprivation pod. They are expanding. They plan to do sodium-chloride treatments and other things soon, but they already had available a new device called PandoraStar.”
What is that?
“You recline in a chair and close your eyes, wearing noise-cancellation headphones, and light patterns are projected onto your eyelids. I believe this sort of thing was once used for epilepsy treatments. Anyway, the waiver mentions epilepsy quite a bit.”
What made you try it?
“A members’ email. I had to schedule the month’s float, anyway, and on the website it indicated you could also schedule an experience with the PandoraStar, and I’m sort of always game to such things. When I called to make the appointment, the guy told me there was a long menu of offerings, including an LSD setting and a hypnotic setting and a deep-relaxation setting.”
What did you choose?
“An energy one. A selection that is intended to increase energy.”
What did you hope to experience?
“I had no expectations. I wanted an extreme event, I suppose, because I have no goals round these things. The guide told me most people begin with relaxation. But I’m already plenty relaxed. He started scrolling through the menu, and the energy one sounded interesting.”
What was interesting?
“That you were going to get something that woke you up.”
Go on.
“Man, did it! The first 30 seconds – I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of it at all. You have this real fear that you are going to open your eyes accidentally. The light is so bright and intense. Like a lightning storm in a dark room, times 50 or 100. It was unsettling. I could feel myself gripping the arms of the chair.”
What else?
“I couldn’t think. I was incapable of a thought. The mind is so blitzed by these sensations and patterns and intensity, you can’t connect a thought. It is a loss of control – which I generally don’t mind – but in this case it brings a fear your eyes are going to open involuntarily. That is the only thought I had. Well, two. One, don’t open your eyes, whatever you do, and two, I should have started with the relaxation experience!”
What happened after that?
“I had no real sense of time, but I would guess that sometime after five minutes, I was back in my right mind. I was unsure I could think yet, though. I managed to sing the ABCs silently in my mind. Then I was back to voluntarily doing things, or at least not fearing I might involuntarily do something I shouldn’t.”
Like what?
“Open my eyes!”
Tell me more.
“About halfway through, I began to treat it like a meditation. I could hear myself breathing. That was about all I focused on. The final, say, 10 minutes, are just a pulsing orange light. I would guess the light pulses every 15 or so seconds.”
What effect did you feel afterwards?
“Nothing much. I drove home without any issues. I tried to think of what to do with this surplus of energy. I decided to read a book about Scaled Agile Framework, SAFe, for a certification class I’m taking in December, but it was no use. I couldn’t concentrate much. Then I assumed I’d have trouble sleeping. But I didn’t. I was asleep by 10:30, like usual, and felt well-rested when the alarm sounded the next morning.”
What else?
“I told the guide I didn’t know quite what to make of it, as I went into the whole experience without any purpose. I’m a happy fellow with little anxiety and a general sense of abundance. I don’t think that makes me the perfect candidate. But I’m happy to say yes to everything.”
What did you worry about?
“Very little, actually. I sort of told myself beforehand that, so long as I did not abandon my daily meditation sessions, any negative effects would wash-off eventually.”
What’s next?
“I get to spend a week with my son in Guadalajara in a few days, and then I have my CTI Balance class in Boston after that.”
Will you be observant to possible effects of your PandoraStar experience?
“Absolutely.”