 Hi, my name is Richard Bonk, and I happen to run into an interesting fellow out here, and a special guest, Dr. John Lilly, and he wanted to apologize to the doctors about any problems that he may have caused, and he also wanted to say he was pretty impressed with the showing here, and he wanted to encourage people who were thinking about starting float centers to go ahead and do that, and he said the people at Float On were pretty cool guys, and for the people who are here and haven't floated, he said, what are you doing here? Go float. So anyhow, I wanted, and he says hi to Glenn and Lee too, by the way, and I also wanted to thank Glenn and Lee for their constant support over the years, and the float on people, and also Terry Berks, who I'm here with, who has supported me, and many hundreds of floaters in a Minneapolis, Minnesota area, so thanks for that. So I forgot the first part on the slide, but it's floating for Luciddy, introducing the alternate waking states induction method are awesome, and I heard that word a lot this conference, so it seems appropriate. So what is awesome? And it's basically a simple mechanistic mechanism to induce alternate waking states with a regularity that can be examined in controlled situations and in your own home or in flotation tank facilities. So what are, I guess I should backtrack and say well what are alternate waking states? And I want to differentiate between alternate waking states and altered states. Dr. Sudfeld talked about the movie Altered States, and you kind of hear that jar again amongst floaters that at least I have, and I've been floating for about 30 years. And from my perspective, I think it's important to distinguish because the states that we experience in a flotation tank and otherwise are really normal states. It's just that in a flotation tank they may be accentuated or expanded upon. So I think it's really, it's really a part of our natural daily existence. So some examples of alternate waking states for the purpose of this are, and some people earlier were talking about this, lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences near death, equivalent experiences, states of absorption, states of expansion, and other kinds of meditative states. And I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that out-of-body experiences are out-of-body experiences, but they seem to be, they have a phenomenon that's similar across the board and people who experience that sort of things. So a brief history of the alternate waking state induction method are awesome. I worked about 30 years ago, a little more than 30 years ago at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, which at that time was kind of known as a sensory deprivation capital. There was a cartoon in our lab, and I worked for John Turner and Tom Fine, and there was a cartoon, something to the effect that said, they were talking about flotation, sensory deprivation, and said it's just like being in Toledo, Ohio. And living in Toledo, Ohio, I can attest to that. And the acronym, the awesome acronym came from a discussion with John Turner, because I was kind of serendipitously playing around and developing this this technique, and I was calling it the alternate waking state induction technique, and he said, well, why not call it awesome? And I thought, yeah, you know, people will remember that. So that's kind of how that started. I had a long-term interest in meditation and consciousness studies ever since I was a young adulthood. So when I was, when I had the opportunity to experience a tank myself, when we were running medical students through or research subjects, I thought, wow, this is a perfect environment for meditation, because it takes away a lot of the things that you struggle with in meditation, namely sensory excitation. And I started to have spontaneous alternate waking states in a tank, like what seemed to be described as out-of-body experiences. And so I was interested in that, and I thought, well, is there a way that I could induce that kind of state with some regularity so I could see what's going on and maybe introduce it to other people and we could, and we could see what would come out of that. At about the same time, I was reading this book and maybe some of you have heard of Dr. Stephen Labarge, and he's done a lot of research on lucid dreams. And he has this technique called the monomic induction of lucid dreams, which is more of like a mental kind of reminding yourself that, well, if I go back to sleep, I'm gonna wake up in my dreams. And so I was experimenting with that, and I had some limited success. But I also had access to a flotation tank when we upgraded at the Medical College of Ohio. I was able to take that, the original Samadhi tank. It looked like the black Samadhi tank in we and Glenn's presentation. And I had that in my apartment. So what I did was I thought, well, instead of going back to sleep and trying to induce these lucid dreams, why don't I get up and shower and go into the tank? And so I did that. And immediately it was, it worked. It was like it was automatic. And so I was thinking, well, maybe this is the wet induction of lucid dream or wild. So I guess I'm an acronym addict. So the similarities and differences, like the mild technique, the awesome takes advantages of normal sleep waking cycles and facilitates lucidity in states of consciousness that are normally semi or unconscious. And unlike mild, it appears that the monomic methods and other specific mindsets or beliefs are not necessary to fill to facilitate these alternate waking states. Rather, if certain mechanistic variables are met, the awesome experience will occur with high regularity, which is what we were looking for. So this is basically the technique in a nutshell. So you want to assure for a normal night's sleep. So you get a sense of what, you know, your hours are gently awakened in the last third of your sleep cycle. So that's that that's when the REM period is going to be a lot longer. So then you spend a few minutes in normal waking state, ensure that you have a balanced mindset, calm yet alert. And I found out a warm shower usually works. And for people who don't have access to tank and tanks in their home, and I know I float on and some other places are open all night, or you come in the morning, it seems that it's okay if you have, even if you're traveling to the to the tank, as long as you kind of keep a relaxed state. So you don't want to be drink, you don't want to be highly caffeinated, you don't want to be very excited, you want to get stressed out in traffic. But if you can maintain that relaxed state, and then you go into the tank and you just kind of let go. And then if you re enter the sleep cycle, it seems like you have about 80% chance of waking up, quote unquote, waking up in an alternate waking state. And this seemed to be true for myself as well as other people at the Medical College that I introduced this technique to. A couple helpful tips if you want to try this on your own. So again, it's cultivating this state of, and what I was calling calm mental resolve. So this would help if you arises which it typically does for many of us, and also when distractions occur. It can be helpful to begin by establishing an intention. I guess this is sort of a monomic tech technique, but it's okay to kind of have like, Well, you know, I want to maintain this calm mental resolve. If something happens, I'm going to stay calm and relaxed. But importantly, it's it's best not to have an agenda. And like we in Glen were saying, I mean, generally said, you know, don't encourage the the programming. And so it's, it's important to just have an open mind. Getting too excited will abort the experience. Like sometimes when you when you when you find yourself entering into these different spaces, you get all excited and that will stop it. And I notice if a gentle if the gentle focus is lost, awareness will fade and unconsciousness will occur, you'll start cycling back into your regular regular sleep. So the way I like to think of it is kind of like you have a couple dials like on the old fashion radios or TVs, you want to gently turn down the excitation dial and then you want to gently turn up the awareness dial. So some phenomena that I've found in and other people have found when entering the alternate waking states is a body paralysis, which is common when you're entering the sleep cycle. And then a sensation of waking from sleep. There is often a sense of increasing vibratory energy, like, it's almost like your body. I use the word vibratory because it does seem like like something is happening where there is where it's it's expanding its vibratory state. There is often the sense of expanded auditory or odd sounds occur. And that kind of would would let me know that that that I'm about to enter this state. And when is was first happening spontaneously at this point? Well, it felt like like like there is a sense of expanded energy and what's going to happen? You know, I think it's kind of like a knee jerk response to like the your your body, mind is afraid of injury or death or whatever it is. And so there's kind of a knee jerk response. So fear is a big element there. So when you when you experience that fear, and it's very palpable, you won't. That's one that remembering that intention to remain a calm or calm mental resolve is important. And once you've gone beyond that fear, you're not too excited where you've aborted the experience where you were you've awoken, you didn't cycle back into the sleep state or sleep state. Then you're at that point where it's kind of like the way I like to look at as a portal of the spectral consciousness. And by spectral consciousness, it's kind of like you're at a space where you can go many directions, but it's seen basically two directions. One is in the direction of of lucid dreaming. Or the other is in a direction of more like the how the out of body experiences are described. The difference is being that if you cycle into the lucid dream states, then it's it's more like a dream world. Like if you were to look at a clock, the clock may change into tomato or whatever it is. But if you go to the out of body side of that spectrum, if you look at the clock, the clock stays a stable clock. When you're actively in these this alternate waking state, you still have the continued body paralysis. But you all but you have access to your full cognitive ability. So you have the sense of self if you want that. And you can think, you know, you have emotions. There's a sense of a second body and I don't know how else to describe this, but a second body with equivalent physical sensations. Typically, there's a heightened sensuality. So that that's very interesting, but it also can be a barrier. Because as you imagine something in that state, you can actually you can actually create in a very real fashion. So fantasies can. It's like it's like imagining your process and visualization, but turning up that dial. So visualization is a lot of you have known probably have tried. It can be very effective. But in this state, you know, it really cranks it up. So it becomes very equivalent to normal waking reality. And often you have this felt ability to move through space, like if it if you're going towards the out of body side of this spectrum. And the dream imagery and the dream stories start to occur if you go towards the lucid dream. Sometimes you have this felt ability, which is very interesting to move through perceived objects or surfaces. Like in normal waking consciousness, if I'm touching this podium, you know, I have a very I have a sense that this is very solid. And in this particular alternate waking state, I can touch the this perceived podium. But I can also put my finger through it. And you have the sense that's equivalent to like touching the surface but of the finger going through it, which is a very peculiar sense. And if you go through the tank wall, it has a an interesting sensory experience. If you go through dry wall or glass or whatever, and this all may be happening, of course, internally, but it's still it's very interesting because it seems to be equivalent to normal waking consciousness. And you have the the felt ability to levitate or fly, which is, of course, would be a very interesting experience for many people. Peculiar phenomena that I've noticed, and I've also read in some of the literature people experimenting with lucid dreams, there seems to be an attraction to electromagnetic sources. Like, for example, I've had many experiences where I felt like I was out flying around and there were these high tension lines out over and I get stuck on these high tension lines. And I don't know why. And then, you know, and I thought, well, maybe that's maybe I'm moving into a lucid dream state. And this is peculiar to my dream making symbology. But then I read in reports of other lucid dreamers who had the same kind of experience. I don't know what that's about, but it does seem, you know, a peculiar phenomena there. Also, you seem to have access to multiple levels of consciousness that are defined and constrained by conceptual frameworks. And what I meant when I as an example of that is as I had a number of experiences where we get stuck on these high tension lines. And then I thought, well, maybe this is part of my conceptual framework. And almost as soon as I realized that it was it was like an aspect of this body, whatever it was that was attracted and stuck on these high tension lines would just fall away. And it was and so there seems to be different layers of mind that are cons that are defined and constrained by your concepts. I don't I don't know. But it is a peculiar thing that there are certain peculiar phenomena that seem to be that seem to confine and define that we can move beyond. So anyhow, interesting stuff, I thought. And also that that you know that I can reproduce this kind of phenomenon at about 80% regularity and other people seem to be able to as well. So some of the potentials I see in this is that it offers access to discreet and ephemeral states of consciousness. And again, I don't think they're altered states. It states that we go through at least twice a day, you know, or when we're going to sleep and we're waking up. And the tank seems to especially using the awesome technique or method in the tank seems to well, that blends the conscious and the unconscious. It's it stabilizes and sustains or this is what it seems like the the hypnagogic state. So rather than you going through it just in a matter of a few seconds, you know, you hang out there. So it seems like there's a potential for mind mapping. Offers potential to and this is another interesting thing, you know, what I noticed in fantasy explorations that offers potential access to autonomic nervous system and related physiological processes. I can at state it's again, it's like cranking up the dial on visualization. So it's not just imagining that but you can actually you can actually see physiological processes or experience those changing. So seems like it has potential for psi research and application potential to complement and enhance meditative disciplines and that's a particular interest of mine at this point. And also it seems like because it is a mechanistic thing, it doesn't require that you believe and out of body experiences or what have you. If you fulfill certain mechanistic variables that these kind of experiences will happen with a high regularity. So two invitations I wanted to put out there is to number one try awesome on your own if you'd like if you have access to tanks where you can interrupt the sleep cycle and get into the tank. And I'd be very interested in what you experience if you do decide to try that. Number two is to join the alternate waking states investigation matrix. Another awesome. And actually this came from Lee. Her suggestion because I thought well if we had a group of people who were doing this what would we call it. And and this is what came to my mind. So this is what I'm proposing. The what why where and when and how. So it would be a transdisciplinary committee of the U.S. Float Tank Association that's that FDA is that what it's called. To investigate and apply findings and share information about alternate waking states. And to explore and apply why is to explore and apply alternate waking states and its potentials and who committed floaters willing to dedicate time to their individual explorations and to share in the group matrix. And where anywhere there is access to float tanks and or supportive technologies that I'm thinking that wouldn't necessarily have to be wet float tanks. So obviously we could communicate using the current media and also meet in person. And when if people are interested we can begin to organize now and have regular conference calls and or online meetings and we had suggested making or offering this is a committee a subcommittee underneath the FDA. And if you're interested talk to me at the conference or there's my email there. And a couple details about that. If we were a group. A committee under FDA that would allow us for possible grant funding. And having a group of explorers may assist in expanding and refining the process. And having a group of explorers may assist in identifying common phenomena. Because if I what I've noticed and what I wanted to move away from is it seems like when people are involved in and working with the tank or other kinds of techniques often there is a powerful insight that occurs to us. Which is very valid. However I think that are that our mind often will spin off whole conceptual systems and worlds and belief systems are in religions are are all spin offs of maybe one or two powerful insights. And so what I'm proposing is that we would have a group to kind of like a peer review group where we would kind of act as a support for one another. And we could offer that kind of criticism or critiques. And if we had a group that we could develop a common language of alternate waking states. A group could encourage and this is this is the point I was talking about a group could encourage and recognize valid insights but also prevent individual members from generating problematic conceptual systems. So spinning out. And group members could utilize individual skills to assume committee roles and address organizational needs and there'd be potentials for mentoring partnering and community and potentials for research studies and publications. Potentials for partnering with complementary organizations. And I guess you know I'm I'm seeing this too is well. I guess this slide goes more into it. You know there's astronauts and I'm at one point when when I 30 years ago we were looking at doing some research some inner research and we were calling ourselves psycho knots well that probably doesn't sound so good. But awesome not might be kind of cool. So do you have what it takes to be an awesome not. And that would be of course this is me thinking about it. So this may be a limited and maybe biased perspective but committed to exploring consciousness and it doesn't mean only that the flotation utilizing the flotation tank. Open minded and curious yet skeptical and discriminating ability to cultivate the objective observer in a data collector and importantly to defer to the scientific method but also open to meditative and contemplative processes because in the traditional meditative and contemplative traditions there's a couple thousand years of history of people doing this kind of work and so why reinvent the wheel why not you know marry these two processes up the using the flotation tank and the meditative contemplative traditions. And willing to work with a peer group and willing to educate the public willing to support the group with your individual skills and resources and creativity is an is important to me and I would like to see it as part of this group and I guess the bottom line here you know is courage because when you're exploring these aspects of yourself in my experience and the people that I've worked with I mean you are sometimes confronting aspects of yourself that are not necessarily very comfortable and sometimes you can evoke this physiological biological psychological fear response because you're you're moving into realms that you're that typically we're not looking at in our in our in our daily in our daily lives. So here's a couple links and contacts I do have a website but it's mostly related to the art that I'm working on and there's an example there. But the top link is is kind of hidden in my website and it's a full paper that actually I presented at the last iris is the iris conference in San Francisco. But anyhow there's a link to the full paper and information on lucid dreams and if anybody has any questions or would like to talk to me later about that I would be very happy and and tomorrow Lee and Glenn are going to talk about the FTA and so if anybody is interested in forming a committee FTA section tomorrow.