October 24, 1984

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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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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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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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