2 hours of Nothingness !

I don't know if you have heard about sensory deprivation chambers or Isolation Tanks. It's an interesting concept where in all the sensory inputs to the brain are cut-off in an isolation tank. I tried it today and the experience is really worth sharing.
I came to know about isolation tanks through a friend of mine, Koshy . It sounded so exciting, I could not wait to give it a try. There are two isolation tanks in LA, I chose the one in Venice, Float Labs. On calling, I found that the waiting line for the sessions is 3 weeks long (These guys are making a killing !). Well, finally after a long wait, the day arrived.

The way it works is you are put into a highly saline water tank (800 lbs of epsom salt) so that you float. The isolation tank is pitch dark and is usually noise proof, so sensory inputs to your eyes and ears are cut-off. Then as you float, any touch sensations are gone. Effectively, your mind for the first-time is free of your senses/body.

Entering into the tank, I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive after reading about some out of body experiences of a few people. I settled into the tank, floating in the saline water, trying to pick the most relaxed position. The first 10-15 minutes, I was enjoying my floating experience which was very much a sensory one. However, after 15 minutes, I started drifting into a dream like state, I couldn't feel my body, but thoughts kept coming in. I continued in this dream like state for sometime before coming back to senses and realizing that I was in an isolation tank. This cycle of loosing bodily sense and returning back must have occurred around four times during those two hours in the tank. Somehow, I lost my sense of time. Really, I don't know how quickly those two hours passed.

When I came out, it felt so good. The colors were brighter, sounds conspicuous and smells, stronger. All the body aches were gone. I was feeling so relaxed as if woke up after 10 hours of deep sleep. After this experience, I believe Isolation Tanks are one of the best tools to fight stress and stay relaxed. I didn't had any out of the body experiences, no talking with dolphins crap.
After reading this, if you find yourself even  remotely interested, I recommend this link:

Happy Floating !!

Go Bruins!! Its LA next..

A warm hello to all my readers and apologies for a long absence from this space. I really wish I could have been more frequent over here.

Lets start with an update first. A thread which started with a casual suggestion by a friend to look outside India for MBA is finally approaching its logical end. Yes, with all the excitement that I can possibly muster in words, I am happy to announce that I shall be joining UCLA Anderson this fall as an MBA candidate. Although, the admission decision arrived a lot earlier, but weighing on between different options took some time.

Be it the GMAT, the essays or the admissions interview, the MBA admissions process can be daunting and possibly intimidating experience. Therefore, It was a great relief to have taken it to a happy conclusion. Now that I know the pain of the process and how perilous it can be for starters, I would be happy to provide help to the aspiring MBAs out there reading this post. I am just an email away :).

With less than two months remaining into the start of classes, I also realize that I need to prepare myself for this transition from a working professional to a student. Besides the absence of monthly pay-slips, it also mandates me to study. During undergrad, this was something which occupied my priority list briefly during the semester exams. However, with this 150K course, I wonder whether I can afford to give it a miss. Assignments,quizzes and surveys have already started accumulating in my inbox and I believe this is only going to increase in coming days.

On a different note , I have been in Melbourne for last four months and the winter here has been a pleasant break from the heat that is baking northern India. What it also means is that I am not taking the Mother of all Vacations which I had planned to take before starting my MBA.
Without making this post longer, I would end it now with a promise to write more often than has been the case. Looking forward to be in the Hollywood city soon!!

Yoga Vashistha on Sexual Attraction..

Yoga Vashistha is certainly an extremely powerful philosophy. It challenges some of the apparent flaws in modern Hinduism. I had its Hindi version which I read while in college. Recently, a friend of mine, read out a few very powerful lines from this great book. Sharing it for you.

Rama continued:
In his youth, man is a slave of sexual attraction.
In the body which is no more than the aggregate of flesh, blood, bone, hair and skin, he perceives beauty and charm.
Even if this 'beauty' is permanent, there is some justification to the imagination; but, alas, it does not last very long.
On the contrary, very soon the very flesh that contributed to the attractiveness, the charm and the beauty of the beloved is transformed first into the shrivelled ugliness of old age,and later consumed by fire, or by worms, or by vultures.
Yet, while it lasts this sexual attraction consumes the heart and the wisdom of the man.
By this is the creation maintained; when this attraction ceases, this samsara (birth-death cycle) also ceases.
When the child is dissatisfied with its childhood, youth takes over;
when youth is plagued by dissatisfaction and frustration, old age overpowers it - how cruel is life.
Even as wind tosses a dew-drop from a leaf, old age destroys the body.
Even as a drop of poison when it enters the system soon pervades it, senility soon pervades the entire body and breaks it down, and makes it the laughing stock of other people.
Though the old man is unable to satisfy his desires physically, the desires themselves flourish and grow.
He begins to ask himself, "Who am I? What should I do?" etc., when it is too late for him to change his life's course, alter his life-style, or make his life more meaningful.