Customer: Male 42 Years, Owner of an Aiora Monochrome Luna
Additional Information: Chronic pain; Chronic insomnia
I bought the Aiora chair hoping it could give me the benefits I used to get from a 90-minute sensory deprivation float tank — and it has become my replacement. I have chronic pain and insomnia, so for me this is not just some nice feature. I live in a grey zone of around four hours of fragmented sleep a day, and the chair gives me something that feels as close to sleep as I get most days. If I get a solid 20 minutes for my session with no interruptions, I might as well have just woken up from sleeping. After a full session, my brain feels the way it does after a night of dreaming — tingly, sparkly, I don’t know what exactly — but it is restorative in a way I have only previously felt after floatation.The sensations are very similar to when I would get out of a 90-minute float session in a sensory deprivation tank, but in some ways the chair is actually better than a float tank. Once the sweet spot is found, and my breathing syncs with the maximum forward and backward revolutions, I feel like the body starts a cleansing wave cycle in the brain, similar to when you are in REM.
As soon as I find the correct sweet spot, where my maximum and minimum tidal volumes do not result in a tipping point, within 30 seconds the feeling of whatever it is in the brain starts. And instead of needing 90 minutes in a float tank, now it is 20 minutes in my office with the lights on, dogs being fools, my daughter doing stuff, and chaos reigning. Because Aiora has become my replacement for float tanks, and because I use it so regularly, I estimate I will get my return on investment within around three months of use — well worth it for my case.The state of Aiora is almost exactly the same as my meditative state, but it is much faster and easier to lose myself in the chair. Before this, sitting or walking Zen meditation was my only option, because anything but lying down is worse — not that lying down is a picnic, but there are degrees of pain. Once I find the chair’s sweet spot and I begin to feel the synchronised movement with my breath, within 20–30 seconds something changes in my body. I fall into a deep meditative state very quickly.That matters because chronic pain pushes you to experiment with a desperate unbias.
My body has to deal with spinal damage, fusion and titanium, and pressure on my joints can make most positions worse. Aiora helps me find a position where my body can let go. It relieves pressure in a way that makes the journey easier, and mentally it helps me regain control when pain, stress and lack of sleep compound too much.Meditation has been one of the few ways I have found to remain stable and grounded despite the constraints of my daily existence. Aiora helps me reach that state more quickly, so instead of fighting pain and exhaustion, my body and mind can settle. I use the chair every day, and each session brings me back to the present with a noticeable effect. It particularly helps me regain control when the pain and stress of life compounds too much.
