The
Alternative Presenter

“If you capture the mind, the body will follow.”  That seems like a simple concept, but the mind, when considered within the context of BDSM play, is a complex topic of discussion.

So, where to start? Remember when you were a child, and you would hear those familiar tones of the local ice cream vendor approaching in his truck?  How did you feel when you heard that?  Were you happy because you knew you would be getting a treat shortly?  Excited?  Were you disappointed because you had no money?

One simple sound affected, and probably altered your mood, at least temporarily.  Now, fast forward to the first time you were blindfolded, what sounds did you hear?  Was there a clanking of chains? Perhaps a knife being drawn from its sheath?  Was your mind racing, trying to discern what was happening that you could not see?  Again, your mood is altered in some way.

The human brain is the most complex machine in existence. We process thousands of bits of information continuously, much of it without active thought.  When we discuss how the mind becomes involved and affects us during a scene, it becomes even more interesting.

Humans are endowed with powerful self-preservation instincts, and in play, we use those instincts to our advantage in many ways.  Have you ever noticed, what happens to your body when you are upset, scared, feel threatened, or anxious? The body releases three chemicals into the bloodstream in response.  This chemical cocktail is ounce for ounce as powerful as heroine and is the reason that some people describe play as being addicting, and also, part of the reason some people experience the “sub drop” phenomenon afterwards:  The body wants another “fix” of the drugs.

The Body’s Chemical Factory:
Adrenaline

When we perceive a threat, or potential danger, our body goes into fight or flight mode, and the brain triggers the release of this wonderful drug called adrenaline. Adrenaline is a natural stimulant made in the adrenal gland of the kidney.

Its biological name is epinephrine, from the Greek nephros for kidney. Adrenaline is carried in the bloodstream and affects the autonomous nervous system, which controls functions such as the heart rate, dilation of the pupils, and secretion of sweat and saliva. Adrenaline is the body's activator, and is released in response to anxiety, exercise, or fear. Adrenaline is secreted by the adrenal medulla in response to low blood glucose, exercise and stress and causes a breakdown of glycogen to glucose in the liver, causes vasodilation of the small arteries within muscle and increases cardiac output. 

In short, it increases the heart rate and respirations, increasing the oxygen to the body and carrying the body’s naturally produced drugs to the tissues quicker.  Everything speeds up.

Adrenaline Pumps You Up

Endorphins
Do you ever wonder why you feel better after a long run, a roll in the hay or a good laugh? It's not just because you've relieved exercise guilt, had a wham-bam orgasm or heard an absolute knee-slapper. That elated feeling, which can last up to 12 hours for some people, has a scientific explanation. It comes from a release of endorphins.

"Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced in the brain that reduce pain," says Alan Hirsch, MD, neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. "They have also been known to induce euphoria." Drugs such as morphine, heroine and cocaine are classic endorphin-releasing entities, according to Dr. Hirsch. But luckily for us, there are less addictive ways of experiencing such sweet rhapsody.

Some say eating hot peppers is an addiction. The rush you get after holding one on your tongue is likely due to your body's protective response. "Chewing a hot pepper can release endorphins centrally and on the tongue," says Dr. Hirsch. Why? To reduce pain, of course. This same process translates over to scening, whether it is impact play, sensation play, or anything that is causing stimulation to the body’s nerve endings.
When a cane, flogger, whip, crop, paddle, hand or other instrument strikes the skin, the nerves transmit that impact to the brain, and the body instantly starts manufacturing its happy elixir to counteract the painful stimuli. 

Endorphins are the “feel good” transmitters

Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter similar to adrenaline. Connected to the thought process, it affects a person’s movement, emotional response, and the capacity to feel pleasure and pain.
Most importantly, dopamine is central to the reward system. Dopamine is commonly associated with the pleasure system of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person proactively to perform certain activities. Dopamine is released by naturally rewarding experiences such as food, sex, use of certain drugs and neutral stimuli that become associated with them.
Ever notice, when you are playing and the recipient of the stimulation is starting to get that glassy-eyed, happy gaze on their face, and they have difficulty responding to you in coherent language?  They may be having difficulty keeping their head up or standing against the cross.

Here is the reason:
Excessive Dopamine levels can cause:

• A loss of the ability to think rationally
• Memory impairments
• A lack of controlled muscle movements

Dopamine is the “pain blocker” and another “feel good” chemical in our bodies.

Now that we understand a little better how the body’s chemical factory impacts us during play, let’s discuss some ways that we can use that knowledge to our advantage.  Assuming the common goal during your scene is to have the submissive/bottom/slave, etc., slip into that wonderful place we call sub space, we can use the power of the mind, coupled with different types of physical stimulation to put the chemical factory into full production

When playing, whether it’s impact play, sensation play, or some other type of physical stimulation of the body, we can use the mental aspect also, to help our partner to better process the sensations they are experiencing.  There are many ways to do this, and I will cover a few here, but the list is certainly not all inclusive.

One method is to talk to your partner, and help them to visualize a relaxing, quiet place, perhaps a deserted beach, where they are all alone.  Help them to put themselves in that place.  What do they hear, feel, smell?  Can they hear the waves washing ashore?  Is there a soft warm breeze?  Is the sun out and warming their skin?  Can they see the gulls flying about?   You get the idea.  Then, tell them to breathe slowly in and out, deep cleansing breaths, and to relax all their muscles and let their body sink into the cross, bench, table, or wherever they may be supported at the time.

As you continue to play with them, watch for signs from their body that they are feeling pain from what you are doing to them.  They may raise their head, wiggle their fingers, lurch forward, or simply groan.  Again, reinforce their quiet place with them, remind them to breathe and relax.  Give them a moment to process their pain.  I like to use a fox fur softly across the skin where I have just given them pain, and also on a place I have not touched.  

Why do I want to touch an unrelated place on the body that I know does not hurt at the time?
Why would I caress their hands if I just welted their tush with a cane?  The reason is simple.  The brain can only focus on one thing at a time.  By touching their hand or another area of the body with a soft fur or a gentle caress, the mind is distracted from the pain.  The other reason I want to do that is because it will stimulate more of the endorphins flowing in their bloodstream.  

By causing the pain, I stimulated the dopamine and the adrenaline, and now, the soft touch is adding the endorphins to the mixture.  

Now imagine what would happen if I were to stop everything and stand perfectly still behind them.  No movement, no sound.  Now their mind is wondering where I am, what is coming next, and when it is coming.  Again, by making them think about their situation, I am stimulating more of the adrenaline, because now the mind is again in fight or flight mode.  

The chemical production process is a circular event, the more you stimulate one, the more the others are affected.  Since this class is focused on the mental aspects of what we do, let’s move from the physical stimulation to the mental now.

Mental Play
Most people have heard the term “Mind Fuck”.  There are varying definitions for each person.  For the sake of today’s class, we will say a mind fuck is primarily based on the idea that we are going to convince our partner that they are experiencing something that they may or may not in fact be actually experiencing.  But, in the mind, it is all the same.

 If we believe something is true, it becomes true for us at that moment.  Consider the placebo effect. During blind clinical trials of some medications, some patients are given pills that have no medication in them. They are inert. But, they are told, it is the same medication as the other participants.  Invariably, some of the placebo patients will report feeling better.  Why? Because they believe they have taken a strong medication that will remedy their ills.  Medicine can be the ultimate mind fuck. 

Mind fucks can be very simple, or quite elaborate.  One of my favorite things to do is to lay out a large variety of heinous looking instruments and toys for my partner to plainly see before playing. These may include very dangerous looking knives, needles, speculum, and other items that may make them nervous.  They have no idea whether I intend to use all the items or not, but they do know they are available to me.

This is setting the stage.  The mind fuck is under way already.  Perhaps they have voiced that they are nervous about knife play, cutting or needle play. They are not hard limits, but they are things that make them uncomfortable.  Cool!!!  Good for me.  During the course of a scene, I may stick to some fairly routing things such as warming them up with a nice flogging to relax them and put them in a good head space. 

At some point I will pick up a couple of the knives and making certain to run the blades over each other, so my partner can clearly hear something metallic and scary sounding.  I will put one of the knives down and take the other and run over their skin lying on its side, in the direction away from the blade’s edge, so there is no chance of cutting the person.

After a few minutes of this, I will take a toothpick in my hand, and pull their skin taut, then tell them not to move, that this instrument is razor sharp. I do not want any accidents I will tell them. Since they know I have two large menacing knives there and I clearly have them in my hands since they just felt them, they are nervous, or depending on the person, excited.  What is happening to their body now?  The chemical factory is in production, their pulse increases, their breathing changes, and I have their attention as I drag the razor sharp tip of my my knife (toothpick) across their skin.

The placebo effect is in full effect.  In their mind, they just know their skin will be sliced open any moment, when in actuality there is zero chance of that happening.  You can toy with this method as long as you like, poke their sensitive parts with the tip of the toothpick, they think it is cold steel.  You may casually mention that you do have antiseptic and bandages just in case there is an accidental cutting.

By now, you get the idea.  My partner was never in danger, but in their mind, all sorts of possibilities were playing out.  What effect is this having on them?  Lots of things are going on suddenly.  Because they were nervous, the adrenaline is flowing, (fight or flight), because their nerves were being stimulated, even though not in a terribly painful way, the dopamine kicked in, and the endorphins. 

I have just created a situation where my partner is relaxed, feeling good, excited and has a slight head rush going on, because of the chemical factory.  Where do I go from here?  Typically, I will switch to another form of stimulation that is slightly more intense and continue on from there.