Special notes on inversion
Inversion (where the head goes below the heart) requires special consideration. There is actually quite a bit of literature specific to this topic—on the use of “inversion tables” to treat back pain and on the safety of various inverted yoga poses. A few things happen when you’re inverted—for one, the weight of your abdomen (including organs and fatty tissue) presses up against your diaphragm, making it harder to breathe. Your intrathorasic pressure (pressure inside your chest) is increased. especially if you strain or hold your breath while inverted, which us perverts are known to do. Your intracranial pressure (pressure inside your head) is also increased when you invert. Blood pressure is increased.
Common contraindications listed for inversion in the literature include high blood pressure, glaucoma or other eye problems, pregnancy, cardiovascular disease, diabetes (degree of diabetic control is the key here; some diabetic people can invert and some probably should not), and ear or sinus infections. As a side note, most articles on yoga inversion I researched also listed menstruation as a contraindication for inversion. The only reason I could find for this had to do with beliefs about chakra energy flow rather than anything I would consider a medical contraindication.
Risk compensation
After all this discussion of risks and ways to practice safer self-suspension, I'd be remiss to not mention the concept of risk compensation. This idea has been around for centuries, and is sometimes also referred to as the “Peltzman effect” after an economist who studied automotive safety. “The concept is that humans have an inborn tolerance for risk—meaning that as safety features are added to vehicles and roads, drivers feel less vulnerable and tend to take more chances. The feeling of greater security tempts us to be more reckless.” –Smithsonian Magazine
I have experience with this phenomenon myself. Before giving myself nerve damage in a hip harness, I was quite cocky, feeling myself to be impervious to any hip-harness related maladies. I was taking more and more risks and paying less attention. When the injury happened, I was using a single-wrap hip harness (all of about 20 feet of rope) in an extremely dynamic way, in repeated, intense sessions over the course of a few weeks. You chip away at your margin for error, bit by bit, and eventually that margin disappears and shit goes sideways. I'm grateful that the price I paid for this lesson was only a mild, temporary injury. As the proverb goes: “Experience is the best teacher… but the tuition is high.”
Remember that all these safety measures are only as effective as your ability to continue executing your basic self-suspension skills. Be aware that as you take steps to increase safety, you're also prone to be more willing to take risks, and that may counteract safety benefits. Don't fall in the trap of thinking you have infallible safety measures in place (and therefore can certainly attempt that tricky new transition without a spotter around) or are invincible—even though we all feel that way sometimes!
Learning self-suspension
“One big challenge is simply in learning. Not a lot of classes are out there for self-tying or suspension, and a lot of suspension stuff relies way too heavily on TK, which I obviously cannot tie on myself.”—Azura Rose
“I've always had a love of rope, and for a long time had very few prospects for tying on others. Getting into rappelling in my early twenties became an factor in learning self-suspension; discovering the fun of inverting myself and swinging wildly while on rope... that type of movement is not necessary to sport rappelling, so probably an early clue. ;)”—Anacharsis
“I had a friend that taught me the basics of rope, and oversaw my first two self suspensions. After that, it was a lot of self teaching, experimenting, and finding out what works for me and my body.”—Pepper Pots
“I started as a rope bunny and got frustrated when my partner at the time would struggle with learning ties, but they would come naturally to me since I have worked with rope for over 20 years (I am in the Navy!). I started to self tie for practice since I wanted to learn myself and then I found videos of people self-suspending online which led me to start self-suspending. I have since sought out experienced people who self suspend in order to get tuition. It's huge fun and I enjoy the mental challenge!”—Angel666Sub
Self-suspension has a relatively high bar for entry, combining the requirements of bottoming (body awareness, tolerance, etc.) with the requirements of topping (technical knowledge, possessing the physical supplies, etc.). It demands an extremely high degree of knowledge about your own body, as well as your physical and mental limits.
Self-suspension is still not very widely or publicly practiced, so learning how to do it is often the first challenge people face. When I started experimenting with self-suspension, I didn’t know a single person in my area I could look to as a mentor, and there were zero classes offered… and I live in San Francisco, arguably the kink capital of the US (if not the world)! I'd only seen a small handful of people self-suspend, none of whom lived anywhere near me. I couldn't even find videos on the topic. I ended up taking what I knew from years of experience with partnered bondage and applying it to self-bondage. This is reasonable but hardly optimal, as it doesn’t translate 100%. That experience was part of the inspiration for starting this site! These days there are also many more events and classes that feature self-suspension education. This web site is always intended to supplement in-person instruction and mentoring, not replace it!
When I was starting with self-suspension, I asked riggers who were experienced with partnered suspension to spot me, and specifically would ask for them to check my upline tie-offs, harnesses, etc. Although there weren't any self-suspenders available I could learn from, of course many of the principals and safety concepts from partnered suspension are applicable to self-suspension, and these experienced riggers were extremely helpful to me as I began my self-suspension journey!
Many folks who do self-suspension struggle with imposter syndrome (“a feeling of phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.”)—this makes it extra challenging to find someone willing to teach these skills. I still struggle with this when I teach suspension in general, and self-suspension particularly.
Self-tying is a very creative form of bondage. There is a lot to be said for the combined wisdom of the community; however there is also much to be said for being creative and coming up with what works for you. Use established suspension safety wisdom and skills to mitigate risks and practice in a safer manner (and never self-suspend alone), but remember that particular ties are not the “twue” way. They were created by people… and you can also create your own ties! Self-bondage is an amazing opportunity to workshop and experiment with new and innovative ideas.