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the tube

Jonathan told you to come try the tube. Good. Here’s what you’d be saying yes to.

A soft hyperbaric chamber, run at 1.5 ATA: the pressure your body feels about sixteen feet down in a pool, roughly 7 psi above the room. There are two, one you sit up in and one you lie down in, in a quiet loft that looks out over the horses. You breathe oxygen through a mask while the pressure lets your blood plasma carry roughly ten times more of it. That’s the whole trick. Your body does the rest. The longer version is on what to expect.

Plan on an hour to an hour and a half. About ten minutes coming up to pressure, the long quiet middle, about ten minutes coming back down. Bring a book or headphones, or nap; people do all three. On the way out you pass the horses.

Mostly like lying down. The one real sensation is in your ears as the pressure changes, the same fullness you get when a plane descends, and it clears the same way: swallow, yawn, or gently pinch and blow. We bring it up slowly and talk you through it. You can see and hear us the whole time, and if anything feels off, we bring you back down.

A few things rule it out: a collapsed lung, recent eye surgery that left a gas bubble, and certain chemotherapy drugs. A cold or sinus infection means wait until it clears, because congested ears won’t equalize. Seizure disorders, lung disease, pregnancy, and implanted devices each call for a conversation first. The full list, in plain English, is on the safety page. Read it before you come; it’s short.

• Clothes you can rest in. Comfortable beats cute.
• A light meal in you. Not starving, not stuffed.
• Nothing flammable on your skin or hair. Skip heavy oils and alcohol-based products that day; it’s a standard chamber rule.
• A book, headphones, glasses if you want them. Or nothing.
• A heads-up about stairs. The room is up a flight inside the house, and the walk in is gravel and grass. If that’s hard, say so and we’ll work it out.

The address comes from Jonathan; it isn’t published anywhere.