Suspension is "the act of suspending one's body from hooks that have been put through body piercing's" according to Wikipedia, but what does it mean to those who take part? We speak to Mark from Metal Guru, a piercer by trade, a suspensionist for pleasure... What is suspension and how do you do it?We use pull rigs (to start), they're used for mini suspensions which aren't necessarily suspending! They're used for a couple of people hooking up and linking together, what you normally find is two people hooking into their shoulders, and hooking up to each other, using each other's body weight, instead of suspending in the air. You use two hooks per person for this. You get a similar sensation but you're in control - obviously when you're up, you're up. But when you're hooked to somebody you trust, you can get used to the sensation. The pulls are made of nylon roping, I use nylon because it's a little bit stronger than other ropes, and fibrous ropes can be a nightmare around open wounds. I bind these to stop that from happening. After that you move onto a rig, which is four hooks. And from there you go into the air.  | | The pull rigs used for mutual suspension |
We're trying to get it to work from the ceiling in here, and we'll be getting a scaffolding rig made so we can take 12 or 13 people. I'm trying for 13 because that's my lucky number, so I can be the 13th person each time. How was your first experience?I've always wanted to know what it was like, when I was in Canada a few years ago I had a chance to suspend with a suspension team that were out there. Before that I knew nothing about it, apart from what I'd seen in films, and reading up in National Geographic. It was the ritual idea that originally interested me then once I'd learnt more about it, and the spiritual side of it, because of my own spiritual beliefs, I decided it was something that went alongside my interests and I thought it would probably be good for me. It blew me away. All I remember is a white tunnel and echoes of everything... and nothing else. I don't remember anything else apart from the sensation in my head and the sounds. It was like drinking 60 pints of beers in one pint. Getting drunk that hard and that fast. Is it big in England?When I came back to England I tried to find people who would be interested. I found some people, and we've been trying to get together ever since. We didn't have as many people interested as I thought we would, but now we've got space for a rig, and the facilities, we've have a waiting list! I encourage people to buy their own hooks and get them re-sterilised each time, then it becomes personal to them. Why would people do it?| "Some people use it as a right of passage, moving from a child into an adult..." | |
There's lots of reasons for people to try it, spiritual, ritual, and some people have reasons that I've never come across before - there's no right or wrong reason to do this. It's not easy. Not everyone could do it. Everyone can try it, but not everyone can actually pull it off. Some people use it as a right of passage, moving from a child into an adult, and that's cool because that's the original reason why tribes suspended. What are your reasons?I needed to know what it felt like, and when I found out what it felt like I wanted to see how far I could take it. As yet I've not found a point that stops me, so I'm pushing it a bit further and a bit longer. I'm not scared of the outcome, I'm more excited about the experience and what I can learn from it. Some people say - 'that's not something I want learn in my life' - so many people spend time gaining monetary value on every single thing around them, and we've ended up in a world where more people are greedy, and more people don't care about human life. More people die everyday because of someone else's selfishness and it's about time people did look at themselves, and if this is a start of people looking at themselves, then I'm going be the man to stand on a soapbox and start it. Listen to Mark's interview by clicking the links at the top right of this page, or use the weblinks to find out more about suspending.Suspension should only be practiced with trained professionals, and within a group you trust. Do not attempt to try suspension at home on your own. | 
