October 24, 1984

SECTION

FASHION
FOOD

TANK OF RELAXATION

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NEWS photo Chris Cameron
EASING, the stress of modern tiving, the Bodhi Pree Chai in Vancouver offers hour long tank sessions for people wishing to
escape from itall) The tank, filled with four inches of heated, warm water, Epsom salty and darkness. provides an environ.

ment devoid of stimulus for the body and mind tu relax Above. owner Bodhi Drope pets ready Co close the tank’ s door, while
News editor Mark Hamilton settles in for an hour of relaxation

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. enlightenment in dark

THERE’S THIS little place, three steps down
from street level on West First in Vancouver,
where they take your clothes and shut you in a

dark, water-filled box for an hour.

By MARK HAMILTO

They say it’s good for you
and they charge $20.

When it’s over, you
shower off the oily Epsom
salt and water solution, write
your feelings in the ‘‘Care to
Share’’ book and, if so mov-
ed, buy the green and pink
T-shirt that reads: ‘I got
tanked at the Bodhi Tree.”’

For five months the Bodhi
Tree Clinic — named for the
tree under which Buddha
found enlightenment — and

owner Bodhi Drope have
been selling the hour-long
tank sessions along with

massages, tank therapy and
a list of other services that
start from $20 and go up.

Operating primarily
through word-of-mouth
advertising, the clinic has
reached the point where its
weekend tank time is fully
booked. Between’ explana-
tions of what happens tn the
tank and theories about
why, the businessman in
Drope admits that things are
picking up.

But before the interview
and Drope’s comments there
is the tank itself

It is four and a halt feet
high at the top end and
slants down by half of that
over its enght-foot-length A

thick cedar door set into the
angled front iw three feet
square

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Sun -Thuis

986-3010... 986-2475

WOODEN PLATE.
KE STAURANTI

2988 Mountain tiwy.. Nov

You step into four inches
of heated water and then set-
tle into it, om your back.
Bouyed by the Epsom salts,
you float. The door is closed
and you're left alone in
warm darkness.

There is an initial period
of discomfort but you reach
the point where that disap-
pears, where you are wrap-
ped in warmth, unaware of
what is water and what air,
and of how much time has
passed. You see nothing,
hear little and the only sen-
sation of touch comes when
you move in the water and
the warmth is replaced by a
coolness that quickly disap-
pears. .

‘‘Many researchers claim
that 70 to 80 per cent of our
stress 1s due to the fact that
we try to stay vertical and
we're competing with gravity
which is constantly trying to
pull us back down,’ says
Drope. ‘‘When you get into
the tank, you're fully sup-
ported and all need for the
muscle system to work 1s ob-
viated.

‘The muscle system goes
into a deep state of relaxa-
tion and all that = energy
comes back to you. And
because you're in a society
that 1s constantly bombar
ding you with sensory input,
a jot of the feeling of ex

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