Everything went bear-shaped.

Yesterday afternoon a friend stuffed me into a large inflatable/wearable pool toy thing.  I have some thoughts.

 

The TLDR regarding to the pool toy aesthetic, it is not my jam. I get it. I understand it. It's not a thing that personally attracts me. It wasn't a thing I had to worry or think about too much and didn't detract from the fun, tho.

The overall experience is a bit more nuanced. This particular experience was about trying a new thing, not about finding a headspace in it.  I did, kinda, briefly. That was kinda cool.  I can see a path toward a head space that could work for me if I want to follow it there in the future.

Stuff that I dug:

• Sensory Deprivation - I had practically zero spacial awareness.  Couldn't see. Couldn't smell anything other pool-toy vinyl. My hearing was muffled. My movement was--at best--difficult. The awkwardness of it was blissfully disorienting.
• Comfort - Being zipped up a bear-shaped plastic bladder was surprisingly comfortable. When I wasn't worrying about falling over--only a small worry--the feeling of PVC compressing in from all sides was blissful. The more it was pumped up the more comfortable it became.  The warmth/heat inside of it was also very comforting. A relaxed state came quite easily.
• Restriction - More than the feel of clouds gently compressing in from all around, you also become pretty useless. You're pretty much stuck in there, wherever you're standing, until somebody takes you out. That was interesting.

Stuff I didn't dig:

• Concerted effort to keep the breathing tube in my mouth - There's some risk with this experience, fortunately I throughly trust the person I was playing with so I never felt that I was in any danger. That said, you've got keep conscious about biting down on the breathing tube to make sure it stays in your mouth.  It's not so bad when the thing is really well pumped up but a lower pressures, it could be a problem. I think that this would better with either a modified CPAP mask and anesthesia mask strapped around the victim's head, especially for longer-term sensory deprivation experiences.

There's bliss to be found in being bubbled up inside rolled into the corner for a few hours to just chill out and ponder the nature of existence. I've always been curious about inflatable sleep-sacks. now I know that's probably very much up my alley in terms of sense dep. The outward aesthetic, well...I don't know that it matters all that to me as the person inside of it so on that front, whatever works for somebody else is fine by me.