F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Just Plain Weird

The Riverton Orb

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The Riverton Orb, Mountain View Cemetery, Riverton, Wyoming. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, September 4, 2016)
The Riverton Orb, Mountain View Cemetery, Riverton, Wyoming. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, September 4, 2016)

This past Labor Day weekend, my wife and I made a trip to Riverton, Wyoming to visit a relative. While there, we visited the local cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery. We’ve been to this cemetery many times over the years, and never seen any owls…or orbs.

We were visiting my cousin-in-law (CIL). His parents (Jim and Signe) are buried in this cemetery, so we stop by every time we visit. This time, we walked and checked out the entire cemetery (I love to check out cemeteries and their art, and post blogs about them; I’ll do the same with Mountain View in the coming week or two). It was about 2:30 p.m. or so, on Sunday, September 4th, 2016. As we walked around the cemetery, around 3:15 – 3:30, I spotted a huge bird take flight across the cemetery and land in a nearby tree. Some deer we spotted might have spooked it. Anyway, my wife and I go to investigate and find this huge owl nestled in the branches, looking down at us! Right at us! It was the coolest thing! We watched it for a few minutes, when it again took flight—it was incredible! I had my iPad mini with me and snapped off a couple of shots, but it was right into the sun, so I couldn’t see what I was doing. As the owl took flight this second time, my wife had mentioned that her Aunt Signe loved owls.

As we go to follow the owl, I stop to take a look at what I’d shot, and find the photo at the top of this post. See that beautiful, multi-colored orb at the bottom right?

Orbs are frequently talked about and “photographed” and discussed in paranormal circles…and also in non-paranormal photographic circles. Paranormal folks say they’re some kind of energy manifestation “from beyond,” while the more mundane discussions insist they’re from light reflecting off particles of dust, etc. With all the photos I’ve taken over the 50+ years of my life, I’ve never seen an “orb” in any of my photos. I’ve also never seen any orbs first-hand in any locations that were supposed to be haunted. Never seen any in any cemetery I’ve ever visited…and I’ve visited a lot of cemeteries in many different lighting conditions. But there is a lot of insistence from both camps…and the optical folks have their “science” to rest upon—which I’m not discounting. Light refraction and reflection can create some really cool displays—look at rainbows! But, I also believe in the paranormal…and that “coincidences” are nothing to sneeze at nor dismiss.

I should state that my iPad mini photo did not use a flash. There is no flash that I know of on these things.

The fact that my wife mentioned Signe’s name and the photo I just took had an orb in it are too much to simply and lightly dismiss. I don’t believe in coincidences, as I’ve often said, and my wife’s mention of Signe tells me Signe must have been around, given the circumstances…and the orb—the first I’ve ever taken in my life, with all the pictures I’ve taken—I can’t just dismiss as “mere coincidence” and simply a reflection of light off a singular dust particle that is supposed to manifest from flash photography. That, to me, seems more farfetched than a paranormal visit from a family member from beyond the grave.

After my wife went in search of the owl, I walked all around those trees, and took some pictures around it. I looked off into the distance of the area around the trees, and the angle of the photo—there was nothing reflective anywhere. I even took a photo of some hanging reflective ornaments in another area of the cemetery, and they didn’t even show up. So…I’m sticking to my version that Signe decided to show up and “display” an owl for my wife and me. We’ve been to this cemetery many times and have never seen an owl. Ever.

Owl Art. (Artwork is © to Jim Aspinwall, 2006; photo is © F. P. Dorchak, 2016)
Owl Art. (Artwork is © to Jim Aspinwall, 2006; photo is © F. P. Dorchak, 2016)

And there’s another thing: while at my CIL’s home the day before, I ‘d “noticed” an owl painting that Jim (Signe’s husband) had painted. It had just really stood out to me for some reason. I actually stood before it and just stared into it. Now I know why. Then as my wife and I had driven back to Colorado, I continued to see owl statues and images everywhere we went! But there’s more:

Later that same night when we’d first spotted the owl, we went back to the cemetery so my CIL could lay some ornaments on his folk’s gravestone, because it was his dad’s birthday that next day. It was around 7 p.m. We told my CIL about our cool encounter and showed the picture, so he wanted to drive around the cemetery and see if we could again find the owl. So we took our time driving around it. I asked the owl[/Signe] to please show itself again.

A few minutes later, as we drove around the cemetery talking, I found myself just stopping at an intersection. We all just sat there and apparently I was just staring out into the distance and growing darkness. I wasn’t really listening much to the conversation between my CIL and my wife…when something my CIL says catches my ear: “…Frank must be having one of his moments or something….” We all laughed and I snapped out of my reverie. Apparently I was just sitting there at this intersection…staring off into the distance…and I hadn’t really realized what I was doing.

Within a minute or two, there it was! I’d again spotted the owl!

Owl on Double-Hearted Gravestone. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, Sept 4, 2016)
Owl on Double-Hearted Gravestone. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, Sept 4, 2016)

It had taken flight low across the cemetery and landed on a double heart gravestone! As I watched it fly, I thought, Gee, it’s like the damned thing just up and flew out of nowhere!

I know, dramatics…but it’s what went through my mind at the moment….

This time the owl just sat there on the double-hearted gravestone for quite some time, swiveling it head back and forth at us. We took more pictures with my mini iPad, but the shots are really grainy, because of the lighting and the distance. You can, however, still make out the owl on the headstone. No orbs. I hadn’t said anything to my CIL and wife at the time, but I felt the headstone was somehow significant, and it just wasn’t quite “clicking” until later:  Jim and Signe were quite devoted to each other, so I find that the owl resting upon the double-hearted headstone was also no “mere, dismissive coincidence.” It would have been much more “chilling” and neater had the owl been on their actual gravestone, but we had already been to their grave site and were on our way out…so, I was extremely excited to get the sighting we got, when-and-where we got it!

Owl on Double-Hearted Gravestone. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, Sept 4, 2016)
Owl on Double-Hearted Gravestone. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, Sept 4, 2016)

The owl sat there and swiveled its head for several minutes, and we drove around at a different angle to try to catch some better shots.

It was so incredible to see that imposing, majestic creature!

So…was the orb a mere display of rare physics that I just managed to catch at the right time and place, or was it something more? And the whole “owl thing”…again, mere coincidence? And how about my asking the owl/Signe to again make an appearance, just for my CIL? My pausing at just that intersection? All just well-timed, coincidental coincidences?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Float Number 3: Or Where The Hell Am I?

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Luna Float Spa (Image, by Luna Float Spa)
Luna Float Spa (Image, by Luna Float Spa)

Holy.

Cow.

I did my third float at Luna Spa, yesterday, Saturday, June 25, 2016. At 10:00 MT. I had not planned on doing one so soon, but the thought entered my head, so I contacted them…and they had a session open.

Weeell, not exactly….

At first they said that they’d been booked all day Saturday…so I scheduled for Sunday…cool. Then they got back with me a short time later saying they’d just had a cancellation…and my preferred time was open!

It was meant to be.

I used the pod I’d originally used, not the larger one from my second float.

So, I show up…get situated…get ready to do it…when I thought, huh…maybe I should do a 90-minute floater this time, since my first two were 60 minutes. As I leave the hallway for the room, Ana-Alycia calls out to me from the front desk and asks: “Hey, Frank, do you wanna 60- or a 90-minute?”

Stuff like this happens to me all the time.

My Luna Dreamwave Pod. The Lights Change. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, June 25, 2016)
My Luna Dreamwave Pod. The Lights Change. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, June 25, 2016)

I took the 90.

So…I hose off…enter the pod…and let ‘er rip….

During the entire 90-minute session I was actually in the float pod maybe all of…five minutes?

You read that right.

This was the most incredible float I’ve had to date…it seems that with each float my experiences escalate. This one, however, is extremely hard to quantify. So much happened I simply couldn’t keep track of it all, yet alone to keep track to write these experiences up! For this post there is less to write, because there was so much more to the experience! It was freaky. I tried to keep track of all that happened, but it was impossible…I “became” a part of so many mini…”micro-experiences”…in this float it was nuts. In fact I even joked to myself during it that I needed a little consistency, please!

I kept becoming part of vignettes.

I’d be either part of it, watching it, actively taking part in it, actually doing something, holding, or manipulating some object…didn’t matter, I was there (not in the pod)…then…I’d jerk back into the pod. I actually and literally felt like I was elsewhere.

And I’d believe it.

Behaved as if I were…actually doing whatever was going on in these metaphysical vignettes…then jump back into the pod, sur-fricking-prised I was actually in “a pod”! This is for real…several times I couldn’t remember where I was!

Was I at home?

On a street somewhere?

Talking to who?

Messing around with what piece of some “thing”?

Then I’d be yanked back into the pod.

I felt like some weird-assed Billy Pilgrim.

I was seriously confused multiple times during my 90-minute session. It was fricking crazy. It was fricking cool! It was the wildest ride (Susie Lindau!) I can remember…ever. And they kept coming one after the other, after the other: bang-bang-BANG! There was a period of time in the middle where there was nothing, and I wondered, huh, wonder what’s going on…but then my mind would stray…and before I knew it I was in another…and another…vignette after vignette! And a couple time it was like where my mind strayed to…I was creating these vignettes? It’s kind hard to define…but once or twice I actively tried to consciously steer my “little trips” and once or twice it worked. But most of the time, it was like, la-de-da…I’m floating around in warm salt water—then I’m talking to people…and someone is saying “…domestic 90!” very forcefully to me…then <smack!> I’m back in the pod. It went on and on….

Then—boom!—it was over.

Just like that. And that last time I returned I felt different…like I knew my 90-minute roller coaster through the metaphysical was over. My legs were vibrating with all kinds of “electric” energy. Then the automated pod-voice came on right after that, signifying the end of the 90-minute session.

Really? Had it really just been 90-minutes?

It felt like five.

I felt like I do when I wake up from deep, extremely lucid dreams, like “That’s all, Frank, time to get up, now!” All the incredible, crazy, metaphysical, gyrational energy was simply “gone”…and I was back to my awake life, now. Whatever it all meant, it was certainly “meant” to happen, given the impulse to do this at the last-minute…that cancellation.

And there was another thing I forgot to write down from my second session that also occurred in this one at the very end…I, um, felt…how do I say this without sound pervy?…um, extremely…well…sensual—or (more to the point) a “heightened sense of my physical encapsulation.”

Wow.

Okay, then. So, here are some of the sensations I remember, and there were oh, so many, many more I wish I could remember! Some of them were voices that voiced things quite loud and seemed very important at the time…some were me doing things…other people doing things…but I’ve already largely forgotten them all, because of the sheer quantity of them—but I was extremely cognizant and had a presence of mind with each of them at the time they occurred!

These I did remember:

  • A “big guy’s” booming voice that said “Bo, Bo, Bo—he’s your Bo!” Then this guy back slaps me on the back (my left trapezius area) like a good buddy delivering a punch line. I felt the slap and jerked in the water.
  • This was particularly cool! I heard an extremely “soft,” beautiful female voice that felt like it came from “behind” me say (remember, I’m floating on my back): “Ask….” So I went asking away about all kinds of things! Don’t feel I got answers to them all, but she never said “…and I’ll answer….”
  • One of my vignette people forcefully uttered “…domestic 90…” or “…domestic 9….” I think it was “90.”
  • I think once or twice I as “at home”…or some place where I felt “at home”…only to awaken to find myself in the pod, disappointed because where I’d been had been so peaceful and relaxing…and I found myself naked and floating in tub full of salt water out in public…which meant I had to go back out in to the public to get back home! But, once I realized where I physically [now] was…I realized, dude, you are relaxed and peaceful and doing a float! Bummer part is you have to drive home through “the public”….
  • Jerking body and arms
  • Tingly and expansive-feeling in hands
  • Voices without being voices
  • “Real” voices
  • Legs got extremely tingling and “vibratory” at the very end
  • A “heightened sense of physical encapsulation.”

Luna Float Spa Contact information:

Website: www.lunafloatspa.com/

Phone: 719/309-6776

E-mail: Contact@LunaFloatSpa.com

Luna Float Spa First Blog Post

Address:

Luna Float Spa
202 E. Cheyenne Mtn. Blvd., Suite R,
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Hours: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Mountain Time

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunafloatspa

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunafloatspa

Related Articles

Floating and Freezing

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Luna Float Spa (Image, by Luna Float Spa)
Luna Float Spa (Image, by Luna Float Spa)

Floating

On June 4 I again visited Luna Float Spa, in Colorado Springs. This was my second visit. See this link for my first visit. On this visit, I used the larger pod…I think they called it “The Colorado”? In any event, it was larger than the first one I was in and I like have more open space in there to float around in, without worrying about hitting the sides….though I did notice that it seemed to take a while for me to stop “knocking around” inside. I don’t get claustrophobic, so that was never an issue. Actually, I find them both kinda cozy to be in. This pod also didn’t have the multi-colored lights. I like the blues and purples of the other lights for presentation…but once I’m in there, I turn all lights off, so it really doesn’t matter when the rubber hits the road.

Here are the sensations I had this time around:

  • Saw a tight “bundle” of vertical “pipes,” like either from an organ…or on a ship, then, immediately following that…
  • Saw a man standing and hugging an armload of newspapers! Like he held about a foot of them against his front, newspapers opened vertically*
  • Saw image of a bright blue “summer” sky above deciduous tree
  • Saw many flashes of imagery that I no longer remember, though some I do recall were about:
    • Different and multiple images of people
    • A partial conversation or two (I actually heard these partial conversations!)**
    • Bright lighting…like I thought the pod’s or the room’s lights had come on…but when I opened my eyes—nope, pitch dark
    • Dull yellows and some blue, only an instance or two of blue this time and one stark, bright, well-defined red
  • Jerking body, arms
  • Tingly and expansive-feeling in hands and body (typical mediation feeling)
  • My consciousness feeling expansive (typical mediation feeling)
  • Also near the end I felt like my thumb and index fingers of my right hand were holding a knob of some kind! Very odd! This felt so freaking real…I was moving my fingers…and even moving my fingers, it really honest-to-God felt like I was hold some kind of knob that was about 2 inches in length and about an inch wide. Of course, there was “nothing” there….

*This was probably the most intense imagery I had the entire time! This guy was as clear as day to me, standing tall, and “hugging” or holding-fast to a large mass of opened newspapers (draped lengthwise against him)! His garb was non-descript, but it happened so fast that I didn’t really get into what he was wearing—I was more curious about the danged newspapers! Who was this guy, I asked myself? Is he another me in another time? I never did get any answers…still don’t have any….

**There were at least two instances of flashes of actual conversations going on, though I couldn’t exactly make out the words…or if I had made out a word or two they were lost on me because of the sheer weirdness of hearing actual conversations going on in my head that I wasn’t actively partaking in!

When I was done, it was so danged hard getting out! My physical relaxation was so

The Luna Dreamwave Pod. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, June 4, 2016)
The Luna Dreamwave Pod. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, June 4, 2016)

incredibly “complete and thorough”…my entire body felt like concrete floating in water! Man, it took me a while getting up and out of there! I was so out of it, I actually had to pause on bent knees while still inside the pod.

But the image of the “newspaper” man! It was quite sharp, clear, and defined!  I kept thinking who is this guy? And the more I thought about the other images, I wondered if maybe they’re images from other “me’s” that I just seemed to sync up with. You know…when you find yourself daydreaming or drifting off…and you catch yourself and snap out of it—but for a moment you’re kinda “meditating” or “elsewhere”? I wonder…if maybe in this sessions I had made contact across other times and me’s during these hypnogogic/daydreaming moments. But, whatever it was, it was very weird, very fascinating, and I loved it!

Freezing

Then, after getting out and talking with the owners for spell, they told me about this new “thing” downstairs in their building that I’d noticed on the way up. It’s called Colorado Cryospa. It cites these benefits. The long and the short of it is that you’re stripped down (obviously in private!) and exposed to 2-3 minutes of up to -300 degrees of dry cold.

Yup. You read that right.

It’s like being “packaged” in dry ice! They give you booties, gloves and some shorts (I’m sure women get a top) and you stand in this vertical “tube” with a thermometer at head height and liquid nitrogen vaporizing all around you. You can see how cold you’re going. Then they lower the temperature and you can see the temps plummet! You only really need to go to about -175 or so, they say, to reap the…um, benefits…of cryotherapy, but I went to -250 degrees.

It was cool, pardon the pun!

You see all this “fog” forming around you just like dry ice! I was chuckling and smiling during all this! I mean, it was so danged weird! Then they have you turn every so often so the whole body is uniformly frozen. I felt like a piece of meat-on-a-stick being flash-frozen! And, surprising, it really wasn’t that bad! You’d expect frost bite, skin going white-then-blue-then black…remembering all you’ve been told about not touching dry ice (and I did—once…)…all you’ve ever been told about extreme temperatures and the human body and its tender flesh. But it doesn’t affect you in quite the same way.

It’s a dry cold.

(it’s a dry heat…)

It’s not actually touching you.

I never actually bean to shiver—and then, only a very little!—until we hit the -250 degrees. First my legs began the slight, sporadic shiver, then my whole body began to join in…but it’s nothing like you imagine. And the staff was right there with me. We were actually talking and joking around, because your head and shoulders are exposed above this tube. It just wasn’t that cold—as cold as I expected -250 would feel like—because it wasn’t moist cold. It’s exactly like that “it’s a dry heat!” joke. Think sauna but in the opposite direction!

The theory behind this is that when you go down to these extreme temps, your body goes into a “fight or flight” mode—I called it “the death mode”; I said just call it what it is!—and begins to shunt blood flow from the extremities to the organs, like when you really would be freezing to death. But since you’re only “there” for such a short time, and you come back to room temps quickly (you can feel the temp difference immediately, once it stops), your body gets (according to them) all these endorphins and “overcompensates” with healing stuff. It was originally developed for Rheumatoid Arthritis, but claims to have benefits for other issues. For depression, they say: “People who suffer from anxiety and depression receive hormonal benefits.” But, of course, you have to have multiple sessions, and close together. I only did a single, free session, because this outfit is new and had a thing going on with Luna Float Spa.

Apparently cryotherapy has been used in Japan for years. Of course. But, I’ve never heard of this kind of therapy before…or if I have, I’d long forgotten about it. It was cool, again, pardon the pun. But, it really just doesn’t interest me in doing, though it is actually kinda interesting in and of itself. The staff asks you all these health questions, have you review said questions and sign a waiver, then they take your blood pressure before you go in to make sure you’re okay to enter. So, be honest about any physical conditions.

And as I was actually going through it all, I couldn’t get this silly, fascinated grin off my face!

It’s just so…weird!

Seriously? I’m doing what to myself?

Oh, my wife is gonna really love this when I tell her….

But…I can’t say that I honestly felt any kind of “supercharged” afterwards…but I didn’t feel wiped throughout the day (Saturday, which turned out to be a long and busy day).

Now, I did on Sunday…I was extremely wiped and sluggish when I got up, and it took me quite a while to get my ass in gear. I felt drained. Sluggish. We had a thing later in the day-through-the-evening, and it took me the better part of that Sunday to get going…but I just didn’t feel like I was “shot full of endorphins,” like Morgan, one of the Luna Float Spa’s owner’s, said he felt like after he’d done this.

So…would I do cryotherapy again?

No. Doesn’t interest me right now, and it’s one more thing to pay for, though the rates seem reasonable. But it might in the future. See the “Local news link” link below.

Floating again?

Definitely! I love the experience!

But, go ahead, give them both a try, if you’re physically up the cryotherapy! Both are recommend for the sheer experiences of them!

Local news video link.

Luna Float Spa Contact information:

Website: www.lunafloatspa.com/

Phone: 719/309-6776

E-mail: Contact@LunaFloatSpa.com

Luna Float Spa First Blog Post

Address:

Luna Float Spa
202 E. Cheyenne Mtn. Blvd., Suite R,
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Hours: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Mountain Time

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunafloatspa

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunafloatspa

Colorado Cryospa Contact information:

Website: www.coloradocryospa.com/

Phone: 719/354-2221

E-mail: coloradocryospa@gmail.com

Address:

Colorado Cryospa
202 E. Cheyenne Mtn. Blvd. (First Floor)
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ColoradoCryoSpa/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColoradoCryoSpa

Related Article

Floating (fpdorchakrealitycheck.wordpress.com)

Floating

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Luna Float Spa (Image by Luna Float Spa)
Luna Float Spa (Image by Luna Float Spa)

“…oh, yes, they float, Georgie…they float….”

“…conducting the most dangerous experiments in the history of science…and the subject of those experiments…is himself….”

These are two thoughts that immediately came to mind (actually the second quote didn’t so much come to mind as the movie did; I was just picking a sample quote for this post…) when I undertook this little experience last Saturday (January 30th). The first quote was from Stephen King’s It, and the second from Altered States.

My Luna Dreamwave Pod. The Lights Change. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)
My Luna Dreamwave Pod. The Lights Change. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)

Well, thankfully and suffice it to say, nothing near so horrific or disfiguring occurred in my experience at Luna Float Spa, which opened in 2015.

I’d been wanting to do something like this for the longest time—ever since the movie Altered States and my research into my novel, Psychic. I’ve always been fascinated by the metaphysical  and this was an area I’d never ventured into: isolation tanks and sensory deprivation.

Now called “floating.”

In its simplest description, it’s about turning off all the lights, sticking ear plugs in your ears, and floating around in as near a zero-G environment as possible. This is to “deprive” your senses of physical existence and allow you to focus inwardly. To the less metaphysically inclined it’s to better relax the racing mind and body.

Now, there are various trains of thought into what happens when you do this, I’m not gonna entertain them all, but I am going to tell you it is one of the most pleasant experiences ever! Whether or not you’re into the metaphysical aspects of “floating,” the physical effects are undeniably incredible. The physical and mental relaxation you get is above and beyond what most can get in our every day lives. You are floating in ten inches of water infused with 800 – 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts, and many have actually reported falling asleep! I did not. You also might think there might be an element of claustrophobia associated with being “clam-shelled” into a small tank like this. I’m not prone to claustrophobia, but I felt nothing of the kind, but have read/heard that those who might be so inclined don’t seem to report that while using these pods.

I had been looking for a way to do this for over 20 years and it was either part of another package that cost a thousand or more, or the equipment had broken down (then the spa itself had shut down). I forgot about it, then Mandy, a friend of mine who also proofreads/copyedits my fiction tried it, told me about her experience with it, and that lit a fire under my ass to again look into it. To my surprise, where I had previously found none locally—I now found several!

My interest really started with Robert Monroe. Bob Monroe created The Monroe Institute (TMI), in Virginia. I’d heard of Bob a lifetime ago, with his book, Journeys Out Of The Body. Years later, while researching Psychic, I learned of TMI (curious use of the initials, yes?). I’d always wanted to attend TMI’s programs, but their rates were always just a bit out of my reach. I have, however, used various at-home programs from them—which I also recommend (but don’t get hooked on them…keep reading).

Life moved on.

The Luna Dreamwave Pod. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)
The Luna Dreamwave Pod. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)

Admittedly, I was hoping for some kind of earth-shattering experience, given my experience with the “weird” and the metaphysical in my life (see Related Articles, below), and while that didn’t happen, I did have some really cool sensations happen that I’ve detailed below. Essentially, my floating experience was like any good meditative experience I’ve ever had, so it wasn’t like the Altered States or Pennywise-the-clown’s versions. It was totally cool floating around in a near half-ton of salt water and experiencing “zero-G” moments with as much of physical reality “shut off” as possible.

And the pods are just cool looking! They reminded me of 2001: a Space Odyssey, thought they don’t look anything like the Discovery One’s EVA pods, but that’s where my mind went anyway (“Open the pod bay doors, Hal…”). Yes, I’m “troubled.”

When you arrive at Luna Float Spa, you get a tour of the place, are shown to your room (which included a rubber ducky-on-a-shelf!), asked to choose your après float tea, then are given “the briefing”: put in the ear plugs first (silicone or regular foam—I used silicone and they worked great, though a day or so later I did get swimmer’s ear), shower, dry off your head and face real good, since the Epsom salts can get in your face and eyes if you enter still wet, then enter the pod (you are recommended to do this naked, since clothing can spoil the sensory deprivation experience as you feel your clothing—but you can wear swim wear if you want to; I went naked). You can leave the cool colored lights on or turn them off (I turned mine off)…and take the rubber-ducky-on-a-shelf in with you if you want (I didn’t). Just prior to entering the pods, make sure you flip off the room’s light switch (I forgot to do this and had to get out to hit the lights; otherwise it does not get totally dark inside the pod). Inside the pod you have a fresh water spray bottle and hand towel. Use this if Epsom salts get in your face (like it did when I got up to turn off the room lights). Find a position for your arms and hands…and enjoy (I put my hands and arms above my head, but they eventually lowered to head level). Afterward, you take another shower to get all the salts off your body.

So, here is the list of effects I’d experienced while in the Luna Float Dreampods:

  1. My right side seemed to twitch more than my left, specifically my right leg and right hand.
  2. About halfway through, my entire body went through an incredible tingling, from head to toe…it was quite wild and “electric” and lasted for several moments before dissipating. I’ve experienced tingling before, but never at this level.
  3. My right leg and right arm/hand got that “expanded” feeling I typically get from good meditative sessions at home.
  4. I saw lots of patterns and shapes behind my eyelids—also what I’m used to. These were mainly a dull yellow in color, with some speckling of a bright, laser-like blue in there.
  5. Shapes: I had one “notional” male face drift by, as in it was not a “picture” of a face, but an amorphous shape forming into the shape of a face…a bearded face; lip-shaped forms (dull yellow). Then there was this…one of the most interesting things: eyes. Lots and lots of eyes. Small ones…in groups and alone…not like one big, huge one. Think of a “bowl full of eyes” then remove the bowl…and that’s what I was seeing. This lasted for quite some time…drifting in and out…came back once or twice. Quite interesting. Don’t recall anything like this in my meditative sessions before.
  6. “The Shift”: this was another curious thing, though I’ve felt similar before: I felt a curious “shift” in myself two or three times. Hard to describe…but it’s like a dull—really dull—singular internal earthquake of the body. More like an “electrical” shake or a mild “jolt.” Where the body “internally” shudders, but not physically. It was a palpable change…but I didn’t feel superhuman or anything…still don’t. I’ve felt this sensation before in meditation. I’d always just called it an “internal shift.” It’s very subtle.
  7. Respiration: this was perhaps the weirdest thing—and this I’d never before experienced—was a massive change in my respiration…or what I perceived to be a change in my respiration? This happened about three times, and the first time it actually jarred me…almost scaring me, to be honest: my breathing seemed to have stopped…but what had actually occurred was that it became quite elongated and drawn out. I’d breathe out…and didn’t feel any burning  need to breathe back in in any hurry. Nope. Not one bit: in fact—joking to myself—I was observing that I was floating there and not breathing and wondered if I’d died! It was totally weird and the first time I’d ever experienced something like this, so it really shocked me the first time it happened. This must be what Yogis experience when they slow their respiration. When it happened again and again, I just went with it…and it was totally cool. But, I don’t really know if my internal time had totally warped and I was experiencing elongated time and my [relaxed] respiration rate hadn’t really changed…or if I had truly lengthened out my breathing patterns…but for those couple of times, whatever was happening…it was wild….
  8. When I was done an hour later, my body “didn’t feel normal”—but in an extremely relaxed, good way! Moving around was slightly “difficult” and “alien,” is about the only way to put it. Another totally cool sensation. I then “messed around” in the water…trying to enjoy the feeling of weightlessness while in a sensory deprived environment, versus the trying to remain calm and still as I had for the bulk of the session. It was a fun feeling, reminiscent of scuba diving…but with a metaphysical aspect to it….

These are my experiences. Yours will surely be different from mine…but it could be similar.

My Luna Float Spa Room. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)
My Luna Float Spa Room. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)

In addition to the pod experience, at Luna Float Spa you can also utilize other aspects of the spa, like a gnarly massage chair or sauna. They have a couple of packages, but I just used the massage chair (which came with the pod float experience)…and this thing has a freakin’ living, breathing, life of its own.

I used the shiatsu massage Inada Dreamwave chair after the pod experience, but I’d recommend using it prior to it. This chair…it has 100 air cells, while your typical, commercially available chairs have 30 – 40 cells, Ana-Alycia tells me. And it has 106 body types programmed into it. Anyway, it’s simply amazing. It’s like six different people working on you at once. And I kid about the “life of its own” part, but as it works away on you, you can hear the air cells sighing upon exhaling (inflating and deflating—see, I still refer to it as if it is ALIVE…) and the material creaking and scrunching all around you as it works you.

Yeah, it’s alive.

My Luna Shower. Shower Before and After. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)
My Luna Shower. Shower Before and After. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, January 30, 2016)

After all this, I got to sit down with Morgan, one of the owners (the other owner is Ana-Alycia, Morgan’s wife). When you’re done, you get to sit in the waiting room and sip tea and reflect. I was originally going to pick this raspberry mix, but flipped the tea-card over and saw a curious mango-mix so chose that. But when it came time to have it, Morgan apologized and said that they were out of it, but he hoped I wouldn’t mind the raspberry one—

Cue Twilight Zone music!

So Morgan and I talked for some 15-20 minutes about our experiences in things-metaphysical, while watching a cool HDTV of the ocean and all its colorful creatures!

I recommend that once you experience “floating” that you write down all you experienced, however trivial they might sound to you. Give those feelings and experiences life. Solidity. Bring them out of just remaining in your head. And don’t dismiss and minimize them, because if you do, you’ll roadblock any further metaphysical development that can occur. I’m not saying floating will unlock anything in you…everyone’s different and everyone should remain open…and your beliefs will come into play…but at a minimum, your relaxation experience will be incredible. You don’t have to understand all that happens to you…just acknowledge whatever does and be open to possibilities, whether prosaic or metaphysical. Change usually comes in small increments. Subtle events. For example…let’s say that after you do this you walk into a convenience story and hold the door open for a couple…and you get the unassailable feeling that you know one of the couple…have seen them before…there’s absolutely no doubting this, so much so you almost call out to them….

The Living, Breathing Inada Dreamwave Massage Chair! (Image by Luna Float Spa)
The Living, Breathing Inada Dreamwave Massage Chair! (Image by Luna Float Spa)

But another part of you also knows that, nooo…you’ve actually never met before—in this life.

Just acknowledge that feeling…smile…and continue on your way. Don’t ignore it as “crazy think”….

Some report better sleeping the night after, and others cool, calming, and relaxing effects…calming peace of mind, etc. Personally, I noticed nothing different about myself, but I do meditate off and on and already am a “happy” and optimistic person. If I got any more so, I’d be a helluva a lot more annoying to those around me. Or myself.

Morgan and Ana-Alycia also give a discount to veterans. That was a pleasant surprise I hadn’t expected. It just came up in conversation. They are both gracious and outgoing hosts!

And one more thing: if used for metaphysical development, these kinds of things shouldn’t be used as a “crutch” in that development…but as an aid to gaining more understanding, confidence, and getting used to exploring our inner selves on our own—though a definite case can be made just for the physical rehabilitative effects! In my research for these places, I’ve read that football players—and even Air Force Academy cadets—are using it. If more people used things like this, I’m sure there’d be less violence in the world…so maybe our future world leaders will go into their careers with a slightly better, more open point-of-view about life, the universe, and everything else….

So, if you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend the “float” experience—and Luna Float Spa!

The Luna Float Spa Ducky!
The Luna Float Spa Ducky!

Contact information:

Website: www.lunafloatspa.com/

Phone: 719/309-6776

E-mail: Contact@LunaFloatSpa.com

Luna Float Spa First Blog Post

Address:

Luna Float Spa
202 E. Cheyenne Mtn. Blvd., Suite R,
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Hours: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Mountain Time

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunafloatspa

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunafloatspa

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The Twilight Zone Lost Episode!

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A humorous blast from the past I never would have known about had it not been for Paul Gallagher, aka Twitter handle, @TheNightGallery! Thanks, Paul!

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The Reincarnational Conundrum

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Life's Rabbit Hole. (Image by Amanvanasparesort [CC BY-SA 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
Life’s Rabbit Hole. (Image by Amanvanasparesort [CC BY-SA 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0%5D, via Wikimedia Commons)
On my last post, Karen, a friend of mine, posed the following:

“You know I’ve had these types of experiences (though not visualizing what I might have been – just having the results of those experiences bleed over). What I’m curious about though is whether you think a simultaneous or future life affects you now to prevent problems, warn of them, improve your understanding of them…. If so, why wouldn’t they also solve the problems of the other lives (the pressing, for example) unless we are supposed to go through pain for some reason.”

She raises some good points, points that I’ve heard many times over the years. I will try to clarify my stance on the matter in as succinct a manner as possible without getting all “book length” on the matter (which I really wasn’t able to do, as you’ll see), but in order to do so I must give some “background” information first….

On the one hand, yes, we all are better in our current point-of-view (POV) life because of something we’ve “already experienced” in another life, past or future. This can be a physical thing, like superb physical conditioning, to nonphysical abilities, like mental or emotional prowess. But even this answer is far more “trite” and superficial than Karen’s answer requires, because there are so many variables to both the question and the answer.

So many, many “rabbit holes” to explore!

All of the below are my beliefs…beliefs I’ve cultivated over my life from reading and employing all I’ve learned (I’ve studied religion and philosophy in college and on my own, as well as physics and metaphysics)…so I’m not going to caveat each statement with “This is my belief, but…,” I’m just gonna state each response as a statement. Take it or leave it, but these are my views.

Note that while some of what I’m about to say below may appear to conflict with other things I say…there really is no contradiction. Once you really assimilate what I’m talking about…step back and look at it from as outside of Human perspectives as much as is possible that any Human can do such a thing…all probabilities can co-exist. Again, I have not come up with this stuff on my own…but I’ve come to see the reality behind these concepts in action…in play in my own life. I’ve even written about these to varying degrees in my work.

Simultaneous Time

There is no inherent Time.

There is only our interpretations of physical events, known as “Time,” because we are so “close” to the corporal (“physical”) aspects of this life that this “closeness” is interpreted as “Time.” It’s not a bad thing. It’s actually quite a cool thing. I feel this is quite important for all of us who inhabit this Space/Time Continuum. For instance: if we didn’t have Time, we couldn’t consider or reconsider our actions: you hate a person for whatever reason. If there were no Time how might this “hate” manifest? It’d probably immediately “act” itself out…but, given that we have “Time” that act does not need to be immediately acted upon…but allows us reflection. Sure, others do act on such impulses, but the great majority of us do not…and the ability to reflect still exists whether or not it is chosen.

Time is really our “Safety Net.”

The Point of Power Is In The Present

This means that whatever else exits out there…however many other lives we’re living…none of those lives control who we are in the present, current moment. No other person or “entity” controls our lives.

The current moment is our “me” conscious POV of NOW.

The ME here, now, writing this…having the thoughts I’m putting down on this post…is NOT controlled by any other “me” out there. We can influence each other through “bleed throughs” (explained below)…inspire each other…but no one [other] self controls another self.

So…the “point of power” is always with the current POV’s self.

I realize this gets funky fast…like looking into a mirror that’s reflecting back  mirrored images into infinity…but there’s no contradiction here. Since there are multiple you’s and me’s out there, this applies to all of them. It’s like considering all aspects of God and S/He/It…how could God always exist?—where did he always exist?!

Again: your conscious POV is the point of power of all Life Control. This is also where the “Free Will” card resides. This is your free will…your point of power.

We need this kind of focus to really learn on WHAT to focus…and to focus CLEARLY only upon that which we really want to focus upon. To DIRECT our focuses in ways that we can’t even imagine…but certainly are learning how to….

Bleed Throughs

All of life is energy…which is never destroyed, but “merely” changes states. And since there is no Time (only our perception of it)…all energy interacts with all energy. It’s like electromagnetic waves. Heat waves. Ripples in water when objects are thrown into them. It all radiates outward in whatever dimensions exist….two-dimensional water ripples…three-dimensional radio waves…multi-dimensional Life Energy (for lack of a better term, which presently eludes me…). Our thoughts are energy. The movement of our arms…eyelashes. Internal digestion. It’s all formations and transformations of energy.

So…anything we do—anything—our thoughts, our actions, our emotions…all radiate outward and affect everything else out there.

Yes, it can truly be maddening thinking about all the possibilities/probabilities… but that is the wonder of Life!

Know Thyself

You know yourself. You do.

You may not admit it to anyone…you may not admit it even to yourself…but you know who and what you are on a basic, Human level. All your weirdnesses…your loves, your likes and dislikes.

Your beliefs.

Do you believe in struggle? Religion? War? Love? Sleep? Ants?

You weed out things you do not believe in for things you do believe in…and there are certain things the majority of us have to believe in as a basis of our very existences, like breathing air. Kissing. Eating. Dying. These are the “lowest common denominators” of our accepting Life in this plane of existence. Sure, there are exceptions and some can “bend” the rules a little, but on the whole if we all didn’t agree upon a certain set of pre-existing rules, we couldn’t BE.

As an adult you believe in things you didn’t believe in as a child—and vice versa. Apply this to the different versions of You out there in all your other existences. You’re all different…yet YOU. They (all the other “you’s”) have the very same thing…and just because they are a “you,” does not mean “you” think the same way…or even agree with…each other. Just like the “you” now may not agree with the “you” at 73 or 13. You may not even like some of the other you’s out there. So…just because one “you” out there thinks or knows something doesn’t mean YOU (the one reading this) will agree with it or even take notice, because it goes so counter to your beliefs and et cetera. And really, none of us are “perfect” in any definition of the word (see below). We all make mistakes or occasionally wake up on the wrong side of the bed and make misinformed decisions….

Our conscious minds are our filters. We choose what we want to believe…what we want to perceive, and this also works on an unconscious level. And those other areas of ourselves don’t really know that well…we are learning about….

Barriers

There are obvious physical, mental, and metaphysical barriers to life.

But, again, there really aren’t.

Only the perceptions that there are barriers. So they exist.

Perception is reality…more than you may realize.

Perceptions are every bit as real and solid as concrete footing. They’re not to be ignored. Why so-called barriers are there is too long a subject to get into…but just know that they exist. We can peek behind and around them, but for the most part they are there for a reason…one of which is to allow us the ability to focus on who and where we are NOW. If all the barriers were open, it would be such a flood of information…and our current selves are not equipped to handle that…in this probable existence.

Probable Existences

No one reality—even our “me POV” life—is THE “standard,” or “rock bed” reality. Each reality is as important as the others. Each POV is the POV for that POV.

Sounds silly, but think about it: you’re considering your current POV as The Standard. That all the other POVs are spin offs from you. To be perceived BY you. But each of those other POVs are doing the same thing…and you’re all correct.

Slightly mind-blowing?

Every action spins off a result. Every thought. You think it…”it” takes off. You cannot call it back. Whether or not you follow it, it has taken on a life of its own, much like when you approach a fork in a road. You consider taking the other path, but you take the one you’re on. Well, your considerations spawned an alternate, probable reality where you did take the “other” path…and the path you took became the probable reality.

I know…it hurts to think about. But that’s why there are barriers!

Pain

Pain is not meant to be endured and muscled through as some sort of glorious badass activity. “Pain” is meant to let you know that something you are doing is affecting you in a way that is exhibiting itself as “pain”…an unpleasant sensation to you. You are meant to stop doing whatever it is that is so affecting you as “pain” and reexamine what it is you’re doing.

The attributes of “pain” are not “good” or “bad.” They are just the attributes that manifest in our physical existence as they do…like “bitter” or “sweet” exhibit themselves are not good or bad…they just are. But pain is meant to have you reflect upon what you are doing and to make appropriate changes.

Nobody’s Perfect

We are all learning how to wield the energy of our lives, so we will and do often make mistakes. Misdirect our energies. We are learning the responsibility of our actions…our thoughts as well as their exteriorized (physical) manifestations. We are learning the sanctity of Life. We are learning all this and more…and we are dong so in a medium (physical life) where, for lack of a better description, we have “room for error” on the cosmic scale of things. If we blow ourselves and our Earth up…we only blow up our version…our probably-reality-of-many-Earths-and-lives up. Other versions of Earth and us go on to exist quite well in other probable existences.

That does not make our actions any “less” than any other actions—they are all each extremely important and not to be dismissed.

End Game

Okay, so putting all this together…yes, you can get bleed throughs from your other lives, and yes, even “warnings” or anything else you want to label them, but it’s up to you whether or not you acknowledge and accept them, let alone act on them. But by the same token, there are so many variable to all lives, with the fluidity of life/energy, that circumstances are ever-changing.

So, in answer to Karen’s queries:

  • I’m curious about though is whether you think a simultaneous or future life affects you now to prevent problems, warn of them, improve your understanding of them….
    • All time is now and there are endless probabilities. All variations are given their sway. What you avoid in one probability, you confront in another. But, as contradictory as it sounds, yes, to all of the above…if you are open to said input and acknowledge “the knowledge,” you can “prevent” and “be warned.” And you can definitely improve your understanding of anything related to “all this.”
  • If so, why wouldn’t they also solve the problems of the other lives (the pressing, for example)
    • All probabilities are given expression…it just depends on your focus. Knowing yourself…how not everything YOU do is perfect and correct…apply that to every other version of you out there. And it’s not so much a case of “solving problems” as it is one of learning and growing…and yes, we all learn and grow through all of our experiences, “good” and “bad.” Think of a movie…the crap characters go through, but after the movie they’re none the worse for wear, and hopefully have learned something from their experience in the movie. But, yes, you could “solve” problems in one probability or another…while the “problems” still exist in other probabilities.
  • unless we are supposed to go through pain for some reason.”
    • See all of the above!
    • We are all learning how to use the energy that is available to us…and as anyone can see…we have a long way to go! We have the definition of “pain” above. “Pain” is not meant to be endured or to “go/power through”…it’s meant to be a signal to change something.

I hope I have helped clarify at least my stance on the matter, though I know all of you have your own beliefs…which is as it should be. I’m no guru, have no desire to even peripherally “touch” upon that kind of status…I’m just trying to work my way through life like every one else out there…and on the way give another perspective about how things may be. How I’ve seen things work in my life. Take what makes sense to you and ignore the rest, it doesn’t matter to me in that sense…yet matters to me a lot in the sense that we’re all Humans, all in this together, all trying to do our level best in our own ways as we make our way through life. I learn from others and I want to help others learn from my over 40 years of quite considered thought and down-right analysis.

We all benefit from learning from each other.

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