Suspension Risks

Tuesday July 1st, 2008 @ 11:04 PM

Filed under: Suspension

I am considering doing my first suspension and was just wondering what the main risks are? I read that the hooks can rip your skin thus causing stitches to be needed. How common is this? Any other info would also be helpful.

Risks Include: 1) Totally becoming one with the universe 2) Being able to break down many mental blocks 3) Becoming one with not just yourself but many others who are doing the exact same.

If done correctly these should be the only risks, other than potential blacking out/fainting, which happens every now and then for some people.

But as I said if the hooks are placed properly, and if the rigging has been done properly,etc the risk of tearing,etc is very slim to none for most suspensions. There are of course certain suspensions that can result in the tissue tearing but usually most “first timers” aren’t really into those “intense” ones right off the bat…Although some first timers are and if tearing is a potential risk the suspension crew should inform you of this and have suture kits ready just incase.

The MAIN risk is the Post-Suspension-Depression that many individuals obtain after they suspend. This often occurs a couple days after and can potentially last as short as a couple days or as long as a couple weeks. It’s a result of being on such a huge “high” from pushing your body to limits it’s never been before,etc and then suddenly that joy-joy feeling you experienced fades away. So your mental state experiences the ultimate highs followed by a serious low and then you middle out.

I will say this happens to SOME people and doesn’t always happen to others. The only way you will know if you’re someone who gets S.A.D, is to suspend and go through it. But that’s why most crews SHOULD BE there for you, even after the suspension….Simply to talk about things, should you need to.

It’s not until you get into the more performance suspension work (rockin out with your proverbial cock out type suspension work) where although they’re still down for talking, everyone still understands the S.A.D situation, where most first timers will never have experienced that sort of feeling before and will need to talk it out.

To this day I am still immensely glad that the suspension crews I’ve worked with over the years, always mentioned this to me and ended with: “If you need anything, even a week from now, to talk or anything…Just drop me a line ok?”

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 2 Comments

I’m Ready for my first time.

Monday June 30th, 2008 @ 11:14 AM

Filed under: Suspension

I have finally decided to go through with a suspension, but i am not really sure on where i could go to do something like that where i live. One of my best friends owns a tattoo parlor, but he, nor the people who work there, do anything like that. I thought i would come to the best source to get more information.

I am 20, and i am getting married in september, i would like to try this before my 21st b-day next year. I live in Southern Ohio, and I really want to find the best of the best, and go about this in the most professional manner.

Any suggestions?

The Suspension Crew you are looking for is iHUNG…They are pretty much the ideal suspension group based out of the Ohio area. Not only do they know their stuff when it comes to suspensions, but they are just an amazing group of people.

So get in contact with iHUNG and you’ll be obtaining the “best of the best”…

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 1 Comment

Suspension groups

Wednesday June 25th, 2008 @ 8:15 AM

Filed under: Suspension

Hello,

I’ve been looking around for a suspension group in or around Pittsburgh PA. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also are there certain styles of suspensions you think people should just not attempt for there first time?

Thanks alot

Laura

You can potentially try here:BME’s list/gallery of Suspension Groups

You might be able to locate a group close to you via BME or other searches elsewhere. Or what you might be up for doing, as many of us did this a lot back in the day, is visiting one of the suspension crews that perhaps host bigger events? iHung (I think iHUNG tends to cover the Ohio, PA,etc area often), Rites Of Passage,etc.

There’s many groups all over North America, they spring up like wildfire, so with enough searching through BMEZine, I think you’ll be able to locate either a group near you or one that’s putting on an event that you could perhaps travel to. Just make sure the group you choose is a fully experienced suspension group as sadly many people have this mentality that “if you can pierce, you can throw a hook and suspend somebody” which is completely far away from the reality of it.

As for certain styles of suspensions that I think people should just not attempt for their first time, I personally don’t believe that at all.

Many people might suggest attempting to do a “simple” pull first so you can get used to it. Then others might suggest “Suicide” or “Super(wo)man” or a “Coma”,etc. The reality is each of these is unique all by itself and only the individual can decide what he or she truly wants.

Whatever suspension method you attempt, you just need to know that whatever you do, its going to be intense. Expect joy, Expect fear. Expect EVERYTHING all at once, or don’t have any expectations and go in a blank/clean slate The only thing you need to keep in your head is that it’s going to be a roller coaster of a ride from before you get suspended, to well after you are no longer suspending and its even been a couple days/weeks after.

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments

Ritual cutting

Tuesday April 29th, 2008 @ 1:48 PM

Filed under: Other

Hi there,

I’m well out of the cutting woods (pun intended?) but now, four years on, I become more and more upset and self conscious about the scars it left on a daily basis. I rarely take off my hoodie or cardigan, even during a hot Australian summer. I can’t fucking stand to even look at them.

I used to worship the ritual cutting section of BME - the sort of things I would see on there would set a benchmark… it was almost a competition in my head. My older brother ended up blocking the whole site (no idea how he did it!) because he was scared to death. He gave a shit. It made quite a bit of difference, but I think I was just more angry that he was barring me from being in a virtual place that I felt comfortable.

Looking at some of the photos on there, it makes me really worried about the younger visitors to the site… or even anyone who has a history of doing it. It may trigger them to fuck themselves as it did me. I was looking at the photos earlier… and it did affect me, it brought up both happy and fucking horrible memories.

I know the whole speel “no one is to blame but yourself”… but do you guys ever feel somewhat guilty or accountable for providing a medium for this shit? Don’t you think that somewhere on these pages you should have some information on where to go to talk to people, to figure out some coping mechanisms?

Who knows how many of the people who have uploaded photos of their gashes have since died.

You may shrug this off or get defensive. I hope you don’t.

In other news, I get lost for hours in the tattoo section. Love it.

Thanks.

First of all, let me preface my reply by pointing that I am a body piercer, and have absolutely no formal training or qualifications to speak on the subject of SI, and while I have friends who are recovered (and recovering) from SI, I have no personal experience on the subject. If I phrase anything incorrectly, please forgive me and be assured that it’s just my own ignorance on the subject, and that absolutely no offense is intended.

You might be surprised to learn that there are people here who agree with you, myself included - I absolutely see a difference between ritual cutting/intentional scarification and rather a lot of the images submitted that are plainly self-injury. Now, I’m not saying that images of cutting shouldn’t be on BME (which is all about documenting all aspects of body modification), but I do think that a lot of people who self-injure view those galleries as possible inspiration and that SI is not in any way a mentally healthy place to be in and help should certainly be offered to those people. That being said, the internet is a big place and I think that people who go looking for images will find them somewhere, and that it’s not BME’s responsibilty to remove any images to protect people from finding them. I do very firmly believe that it is BME’s responsibility to put images likely to trigger SI behind click-throughs on Modblog, but that request has well and truly fallen on deaf ears (and all of those links are triggers to the max, by the way), much as any sexually explicit images are put behind clickthroughs on Modblog - however, that opinion is not shared by Shannon and not only does he refuse to consider the repeated requests to do so, he has, I feel, taunted the people making those requests by joking about the posts being triggers in their titles. I think it’s sad that anyone finds it funny or a laughing matter - as you know, it is a symptom of a dangerous illness, and shouldn’t be perceived as a healthy way to deal with issues (most people who self-injure will say that it’s not terribly effective at helping them to feel better, any feelings of satisfaction are short-lived at best and often become quite habitual and compulsive).

I do hope that anyone reading this who does self-injure will realise that they need help and reach out for it - to a family member, a friend, a loved one, someone who can help you and support you while you get the professional help that you need to understand and overcome SI. You CAN stop and wellness is within your grasp. There are lots of great websites full of information that can help you (Here’s just one of the good ones I found, and here’s another with lots of ways to resist the urge to cut, and this is a thread on an Australian forum with lots of links to get you started), a simple Google search will get you headed in the right direction. Good luck!

(And if anyone wants to go berko at me for replying to something off-topic on AskBME, well, I suppose all I can say is I have a history of taking these sorts of queries seriously and replying to them to try and help people - 1, 2 - and if your issue is that I am obviously disagreeing with Shannon, well, the opinions and values expressed by me on AskBME are my own, obviously, and do not necessarily represent those of BMEZINE.COM LLC, PsyberCity Inc., and/or Shannon Larratt. I was selected by Shannon to join the QOD staff, I should hope he’d respect my opinion even if it disagrees with his own. )

Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | 42 Comments

Suspension

Tuesday April 22nd, 2008 @ 12:50 AM

Filed under: Suspension

Are there any reputable suspension artists in northwest ohio?

thanks

Jacob

I don’t know if it’s northwest, but I am pretty sure they are in Ohio, check out ihung.org

Sean

Posted by Sean Philips | Permalink | 1 Comment

Contacting IWasCured

Saturday March 15th, 2008 @ 2:40 PM

Filed under: Suspension

Hiya,

For years, I’ve been extremely interested in suspension; specifically the four point suicide suspension and have been since trying to hunt down a group around my area that could assist me through my first one.

I live in Cambridge, Ontario and a few days ago, I discovered IWasCured on the encyclopedia. The problem is, I can’t really find any way to contact the group and for some reason, IWasCured.com leads me to their gallery on here.

It would be amazing if someone could give me some information about the group and how I could contact them. I turn 18 in June and have really been looking towards doing a suspension sometime thereafter.

Thank you SO much.

You can contact Mike from IWasCured in Toronto at FaithInModernSteel.com or at poisonmsmith@hotmail.com

He will gladly speak to you in regards to setting up your potential future suspension experience(s) with IWC in Toronto.

Posted by Russ Foxx | Permalink | 3 Comments

trouble

Wednesday February 13th, 2008 @ 4:58 AM

Filed under: Suspension

hello (again)

i have acne on my back is that a problem for a 4 point back suspension??

Acne spots should be quite superficial compared to the damage caused by the piercings. However, it is possible to experience some minor acne-related discomfort beyond the piercings if your acne is severe. This may affect the piercing procedure, but less likely the suspension itself.

Once heavy tension is applied to the piercings it is likely that the acne will barely (if at all) be noticeable to you. Having the ability and strength to let go and fully suspend comes largely from your mental state, which should overpower superficial acne wounds.

Posted by Russ Foxx | Permalink | Comments

Suspension Laws in New York.

Sunday February 10th, 2008 @ 10:23 PM

Filed under: Suspension

Hey guys I am traveling to New york soon and was wondering what the laws where out that way. If anyone can hit me up on iam or AIM that would be fantastic. Iam:DigitalPenguin AIM:digital0penguin thank you guys.

I am not an expert on New York law. However, after a bit of online research and a phone call to Brian Decker from Rites of Passage suspension group and Pure Body Arts in Brooklyn, I have found no laws on the books pertaining to suspension. In fact, I can find very few laws regulating body piercing. Please check the APP site for more info on New York piercing legislation.

Posted by Allen Falkner | Permalink | Comments

how deep?

Tuesday January 15th, 2008 @ 6:14 PM

Filed under: Play Piercing

hey =]

my question: how deep can you play pierce?

i’ve done it on my foot, hand, between my knuckles and on my finger where the skin is really stretchy, but can you do it on places (like the arm) where it goes through flesh, not just skin?

thankx

You can pretty much play pierce as deep as you like, it probably wont kill you. Performers such as Zamora the torture king routinely shove skewers through muscle tissue. In the Phillipines religious devotees crucify themselves through the hands. So to answer your question know your anatomy and know your physical limitations. Those are the only two things that determine how deep and where you can safely play pierce.

Posted by Sean Philips | Permalink | Comments