Each suspension I have done so far has had a goal. The first suspension I did, my goal was simply to get off the ground. The second suspension I did, my goal was to pull myself off the ground. The suspension I will be writing about now, my third, was to accomplish two point chest.
At A Glance Author ammre Contact ammre@bme.anon IAM ammre When A month ago Artist Steve (IAM: stainless) and Allen Falkner Studio ROP SusCon '05 Location Providence, RI I had heard that a vertical chest suspension was the hardest form of suspension. So naturally, I wanted to try it. I had gone to the RI SusCon with no actual intent of suspending, but one can only live vicariously through other for so long until they want the (first hand) experience again. After the first day the thought popped into my mind, "I should do it here". I toiled over this thought all night, until the next morning when Lauren put my name down on a card and said, "Ok, you're set". The rest of the morning I spent worrying as I watched other people go up. You see, the hooks for my suicide suspension had to be some of the most painful hooks I have ever taken. Since then, that has the part I have always been the most afraid of. Emrys came and assured me that I was going to be fine. Allen Falkner would be running my suspension since he has the most experience, but before me, another girl was doing a chest suspension that he was supervising. I sat and watched her go up. I noticed the stiff, tight pose she had and how she was trembling. I saw just how tough it really was. Her chest tore a little. At that point the idea of the hooks left my mind, only to be replaced by the idea of tearing. I weighed about 265 at the time and I was doing two hooks in the chest. Previously my knees had torn a bit too. What was I thinking? She eventually came down, and while I had new things to worry about, seeing her suspend gave me a little rush and strength. I knew I could do this, she just did it and she was fine, so I can do it too!
Then they called for me. It all happened so fast; it was amazing. Previously, the process of placing and hooks all seemed to take forever. After I laid down, technicare applied, and a ton of pinches later, the hooks were lined up and I tried to focus on Steve's awesome colorful implants above my head. A breath in and a breath out and they were done. Two 5g sea demons later, and it was not even close to being one of the most painful things I have felt.
We then proceeded into the small room next to the piercing area. I had them put in a CD I picked out, Nelly Furtado. My friends were there supporting me, Liz, Cindy, and Alissa, and I was feeling good at the moment. Cere came through the room and commented to me, "Wow you're doing a two point chest?" which reminded me how tough this was so, to get my mind off things, I started dancing around a little bit to my music. "Hey man, don't look so scared, you know you're only stressing me out" was the first line on the whole CD and I just started singing along while they set up the rigging. I felt so much of my anxiety flow out of me from that. Then they quick-linked me up to the 550 chord and I had to stop moving for a second. They increased the tension, and to me, it felt even. Then I started to go up. At first, it panicked me. I was not used to the quick-links being involved in my rigging, and let's just say that they drastically reduce the time in which it takes to connect you. I had not realized I was actually about to leave the ground so I called out for hands. When going up, I like to hold onto something, be it hands or a rope. Once I had a hold of hands I calmed down greatly and was able to think about my feet. I was still trying to hold onto the ground. My toes flexing to keep contact, so I lifted one of my legs. Just let go... just let go... and then I lifted my second leg. I was off. I let go of Allen's hands, found my arms a comfortable spot to rest across my stomach and I focused on breathing. After about a minute, something about being so still was bothering me and I asked to touch down again. I came down to the balls of my feet and I was given a juice box.
Often when I have talked to first timers, I tell them, "Leaving ground the first time will freak you out, you'll want to come down. But take a rest then go back up, you'll find it much more comfortable and you'll be able to relax more." Multiple people have told me that that has helped them and they enjoyed it. It was time for me to take my own advice, but how would I make this feel better? I asked to be lowered a bit more, until I came down to flat foot, but did not loose my tension. I then started dancing around again. More like a waltz then what I was doing before, but the movement made me feel so much better. Then I got the idea of just spinning off. So, I let my feet be a pivot point and I just swung myself around and picked my feet up again. They were smart at this point and lifted me up again so I spun around for another two minutes or so. Then I had to come down yet again because I was getting dizzy and my neck was hurting. As I came down again Allen ran back into the room with his camera saying, "wait, wait, I want to get pictures". I could not help feel at least a little flattered. I was thinking of going up one more time and that solidified the deal. I had them change the song to "Like a bird" by Nelly Furtado (oh so cheesy, I love it!) and I stretched my neck around a little bit. Then I danced my way back up into the air. Unfortunately, the cramping in my neck was getting the best of me and I was scared it would not go away, so I came down after only a minute and a half. I decided at that point that I had had enough. I was giggly and absolutely happy. They detached me from the rigging and took me back to the piercing room to bleed me out. They were impressed, no tearing at all, and no air. They bandaged me up and I was good to go.
Unfortunately, due to confusion my hooks wound up getting thrown out and I will admit, I totally went and cried like a little bitch for a good 15 minutes about that. Then I bled through 2 sets of bandages, which Kenny kindly put on me. I was insanely sore for the first few days and then semi-sore for the next week and a half. While I was up I had tunnel vision about my surroundings. From pictures and seeing people before and after, I know more people were there, but when I look back, while I was up, it seemed like it was just me, Allen, Even, and Cere in the room. I want to thank everyone who made that experience come true and run so smoothly. Thank you all. It was amazing.