Recently, I have been getting more involved in suspensions, and I find that the superman suspension is my favorite. That is why at the Fourth of July Weekend BBQ hosted by A Rite of Passage; I chose to do another superman suspension. So far, I have gotten more out of this suspension, than any of my previous ones.
At A Glance Author iam.brotherdroogie Contact iam.brotherdroogie@bme.anon IAM brotherdroogie When A month ago Artist A Rite of Passage Studio Emry's BBQ Location Pittsfield, MA I just got back from a week's vacation driving around New England and visiting various friends, and I show up to the BBQ at Em's house with little sleep and hundreds of miles under my belt in the past 24 hours. My first impression was, why did I come Saturday morning, everyone else got here yesterday and have been camping out in his backyard getting into to mischief. Better late than never, I thought. I bump into a bunch of people I have met at the Providence Suscon, not remembering their names, and remembering only a few iam names, I reintroduce myself and quickly find myself banished by Em to the "vegan section" of his backyard where boca burgers thrive and we become the butt of all his jokes.
After lunch the suspensions start, and Em knowing I am a veteran of suspensions now, asks me when I want to go up (I was scheduled for 5 but its 12 noon and I am the only superman of the day) I tell him 2ish is good, and I fill up my stomach on boca burgers and hummus. At 1:45 he grabs me and says let us hook you now.
I was not at all nervous this time for being hooked or suspending. I did an awesome hour and a half superman at the suscon and it was not painful, (compared to my suicide suspension there) I striped down to my skivvies and laid down on the table awaiting my hooks. My usual piercers iam.cere, iam.darkncrazy, and iam.zidneyfiendish were there to stab me. They asked me if I mind having a trainee do his first stab/insert hooks on me, and I was like why not. He's got to learn some how... Everything went very smoothly, and the pain from the piercings was considerably less than the last time, 1) I was used it by now, and 2) pain is just in your mind, I had zero fear or anything. In fact, the only piercings that would even "hurt" were the ones done by the trainee, and that was more of the inserting the hooks, than the making holes in my back. The entire time I was doing deep breathes and did not shake or feel pain like the two previous suspensions I have done. This is the most important thing for a newbie to remember, take deep breaths, control your breathing, focus on your breathing, and everything will go better than expected.
Now that had ten eight gauge hooks in me (two in the upper back, two in the middle back, two in the lower back, one in each thigh, and one in each calf) I was ready to be rigged. I swigged some water, and put on some motivating music (Destroy, one of the best crust bands of all time, think Spazz...). They moved a table over, had me lay down on my stomach again, and rigged me up.
At fist I was lifted slowly just off the table and felt minimal pain. At this point, I would not even call it pain, but rather tension. My skin was being stretched, and m body was getting used to having 178 pounds distributed between ten hooks. If you think about it, its barely 18 pounds per hook, that's nothing at all for those who are scared of hooks ripping out. Immediately I wanted to go higher, months earlier I told Em I wanted to be as high off the ground as possible, that is why they rigged me in his driveway, so I could be twelve feet off the ground.
I was raised up to about six feet and everyone was having fun pushing me around like the Viking ship ride at the carnival, or spinning me in circles, hoping to get me motion sick (which just wouldn't happen no matter how fast they spun me.) After a while, I was getting a little bored and asked to go all the way up to the top. I was raised six more feet up and became the "welcome sign" to the BBQ where everyone who showed up late had to pass under my half naked body.
Once I was up at the top, I decided to meditate, I thought a lot about my current living situation, the job I have and hate, relationships, friends, family, everything. I have to say, doing an outdoor suspension is so much better than an indoor one. First off, there is daylight, secondly fresh air, and last but not least, the attention and comments by neighbors, police officers, etc.
At about the two hour mark, I started to feel at complete piece and felt like taking a nap, I would of have (iam.badur told me he likes to nap during his one point suicides) however, I had to go to the bathroom, and I was getting a little hungry, so I decided to come down. I was lowered onto the table, and the usual feeling of a few lead vests from the dentists' office thrown on me was felt as my body touched the table. Due to being up for so long, my body was exhausted and laid on the table for almost half an hour before I went over to get dehooked/aired out.
Taking the hooks out is an easy process, its like changing jewelry, a piece of cake. Some people think the airing out process is painful; A Rite of Passage says it is "the best and worst back rub you will ever get." I always enjoy this part, being massaged by two or more people at once it is great, just lay there and enjoy it. Afterwards I got dressed and enjoyed the rest of the BBQ before driving home to catch my brother in law's birthday party later that night (which was about 200 miles away.)
All in all, this was my best suspension yet, I felt the least amount of pain, I was up in the air the longest, and spiritually, I found peace, which is hard for me (I am always wound up and stressed out.) As I have said in previous experiences, I highly recommend the superman suspension for people who have never suspended before, yes getting pierced in the calf sounds scary and painful, but it is the least painful of the spots to get a hook (I find the lower back by the kidneys the worst.)