Hermione asked about subspace in her comment on the paddle post. My "off the top of my head" response was that I really don't talk much about subspace. It gets "done" a lot other places, but since I don't always, or even often, get there, it isn't a huge topic of discussion for me. Master, though, thought differently. He was quite sure that I'd written about it at some length and could just look up and point out all the various bits I'd done on the subject. And, when I went to look, it turns out that He was right (of course). There's way more in my archives about subspace than I would have imagined:
Passages
Waking Up
Goodness
Variations on a Theme
Night into Day
Given all of that "babbling," I'm not sure what else I might say.
I know that "subspace" for me is not the same everytime. Sometimes it is quiet, meditative, floaty. Other times, when I find myself "out there," the sensation is much more "growly," and primitive feeling -- I roar and snarl and slobber.
I also know that I lost my path into subspace when I went through the hysterectomy and found myself in a mental/emotional space that was angry and grief-stricken. I really believed that I might never, ever find that place again, and I am thrilled to be finding my way there more frequently these days.
I don't know that making it to subspace is about the intensity of the session. It is much more about feeling safe, feeling capable, feeling at ease and sure with Him. Then, if He lets it happen, the drop into that other level of awareness is very simple.
swan
Hypothetically it is posited that "subspace" is a state of endorphin intoxication. I don't doubt that it is that on occasion....perhaps frequent occasion. On the other hand for swan, like last Sunday, she frequently approaches subspace as a form of meditation or auto-hypnosis, that is, I suspect, enhanced and deepened by the pain she expereinces and the resulting endorphin secretion. At any rate it is a lovely experience (I can speak to it as a former switch) that tansmigrates pain into something new that is unlike anything you've imagined if you've never had it.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Tom
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.
swan and Tom - thank you for this post and the comment of explanation. I've started to read the linked posts and it will take some time to process the information.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that I may not reach that special state of mind, because our play is neither intense nor prolonged. I can, however, appreciate what it's about, and can think of a time when I may have begun to approach it. It does sound beautiful.
Thank you again.
Hugs,
Hermione