His experiments centered on the reaction of the human being to sensory deprivation. What he found was amazing. Instead of the brain going into a sleep state, he found that the mind in fact becomes more active and increases its imaginative and problem solving abilities. After the discoveries made by Lilly and others, flotation tanks were installed in clinics in a number of U.S. cities. They also became popular in many European cities.
Flotation therapy is essentially a process of placing the body into a state of total relaxation.
This usually occurs in a specially constructed bath. The water has salts and minerals dissolved into the bath to enable the body to float. There are close similarities between this form of therapy and eastern techniques of meditation. Floatation therapy is really based on a single important principle. While we are active in the ordinary world, we experience stress and conflict that is incorporated into our daily routines and habitual patterns of activity.