Sub-spacing

[parallaxfx]

I have seen a number of discussions on BDSM lists regarding "sub-spacing", where the submissive focusses on the sensations during a play session and eventually loses touch with her surroundings and floats off to her own special place. (Forgive the awkward description, but I have not experienced the phenomenon from the submissive's point of view) It is difficult for anyone who has not experienced it to appreciate how a person undergoing what to most would be a very painful experience, namely a whipping, is able to focus on the sensation and allow it to carry her into an altered state of consciousness that appears so completely satisfying that she seeks it out time and again. Since the process involves an external stimulus that focusses the attention of the person and eventually reaches a, for want of a better term, "loss of self", I am wondering how this would be explained in relation to an hypnotic trance.

[n00b]

I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but a number of times in a trance, I end up in a day dream state where I don't see myself in my normal surroundings. It all depends on what the 'tist wants me to see.

[Agriff]

I suppose thats the place that people go naturally when they're being put through extreme torture in a non-sexual scenario, such as an interregation.

[parallaxfx]

I think the two scenarios are somewhat different. One is the infliction of pain on an unwilling participant. The other is the acceptance of pain by one who mixes pain and pleasure together in a consentual scene. The pain, while it may be enjoyed for its own reward and at times be an end in itself, is usually the gateway to achieving that sub-space experience.

[EMGsKink]

When I was more sub than dom, I had several doms tell me that I rode the pain that was being inflicted.

I always thought of the experience as sort of an out-of-body experience.

Basically what is happening in a biological sense is that the brain is releasing endorphins that help you "handle" the pain. When the pain is properly applied, you keep building up the endorphins until you are "high" from them. If you have a good dom, you can end up being high for quite a while. It's a great experience but there are very few doms who are experienced enough to understand the phenom or to guide the sub into the space.

But if you find one who can and enjoys giving you the trip, it's worth the pain.

[Calimore]

Interesting thread.

Bump

[davelowe1977]

Interesting thread.

Bump

Agreed - an interesting insight into something I have no experience of.

[slutinmyhead]

It'd be interesting to compare ekgs of people in subspace with those of others under hypnosis and see how similar they are.

[plum]

My understanding is that through hypnosis a 'tist can induce an endorphin rush in the subject, so even at a chemical level the the phenomena might be very similar.