The trip also provided me with an opportunity to try two new experiences. The first was a 2 person flotation session (sensory depravation) with my wife and the second a visit to a German sauna.
While I have floated on many occassions, this was the first time I did it in the same chamber with another person. It was a totally different experience. Typically a flotation session is about getting some time alone to be with your thoughts in deep meditation. However, the experience of going to float with your partner is based on a completely different intention. It's much more about making time for a relaxing initmate experience together. We both enjoyed it tremendously. The float was particularly powerful as we had consummed a delicious hash brownie a few hours previously allowing us to both go fully into the experience and drift away to another dimension during the session. Uber cool!
My visit to the Sauna was something I had been looking forward to for a long time. It is a ritual that many German's follow on a weekly basis. After work on a Friday evening typically the most popular time as it sets one up nicely for a relaxing weekend.
The Sauna is co-ed and fully naked, which often puts a lot of folks from the UK off. However, once you visit it seems like just the most natural thing in the world. The venue I visited had a number of Sauna's both inside the main complex and outdoors in a beautiful Japanese garden. Having visited the Sauna one could cool off outside with a naked stroll through the Japanese garden or with a dive into an ice cold plung pool. I had to work up the courage to try the plung pool, but, once I did there was no stopping me diving back in on numerous occassions. Outside also offered seating beside a number of wood fires where many folks wrapped themselves in a gown and pulled up a chair to share a chat or just stare into the flames and contemplate life's mysteries. If one fancied a swim then there was also an indoor heated pool. So many wonderful little spots to stop meditate and then move on to the next spot. The Sauna is truly a great place to have a think and I can understand how one could achieve great clarity of thought by building it into one's regular weekly routine.
I decided to take full advantage of the opportunity that the German Sauna offers to roam naked and free in nature and consummed some Psilocybin mushrooms prior to my visit. The effect was spectacular with my senses hightened I really felt fully alive and in the moment. The nature of the Sauna means that you can't spend too long in any one spot before you get either too hot or too cold. This was perfect for my mushroom meditation as it allowed me to explore a particular avenue of thought, then snap out of it come back to the moment fully in my body and move to another location to begin a new avenue of thought. In many ways the Sauna acted as a natural mechanism to enable me time block my meditations and visions. Uber cool!
It is a pity that the German Sauna is not something we have in the UK. The British attitude to nakedness clearly a barrier to entry. Personally, I found it a wonderful experience and if I was ever to live in Germany would certainly make it part of my regular routine. As an opportunity to relax, think and connect with both nature and one's body it is second to none.
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