ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS I: INTRODUCTION

One of my earliest encounters with the power of an altered state of consciousness was when I heard about the incredible skills and capacities of fakirs. Larbig (1982) described a case of a fakir who was able to pierce his body with swords and daggers after about two hours of intense meditation. He not only reported a complete absence of pain, but also did not bleed as he pierced his face, chest, and abdomen. Meditation - and the mind - had a remarkable physical effect on the body - namely it stopped the natural process of pain and bleeding. Now add the neurotransmitters that repeated impact (pain) naturally triggers, and imagine the capacities that a impact-triggered deep altered state of consciousness has on the body.

Charles Tart, a foundational figure in the psychology of consciousness, defined altered states as

“a qualitative alteration in the overall pattern of mental functioning […] that is radically different from the ordinary” 

(1972).

What makes a state "altered" is not simply that it's unusual, but that it reorganizes how sensory input, memory, identity, emotion, and self-awareness are processed and experienced. This can include shifts in time perception (e.g. difficulty tracking how much time has passed), distorted bodily awareness (the body's boundaries may feel expanded or blurred), enhanced suggestibility (the Top’s words and gestures gain heightened significance), and changes in the sense of agency (surrender or reduced control). These characteristics are often comparable to a drug-induced high, but notably, altered states reached through impact play lack many of the pharmacological side effects—offering similar mental shifts without the same physiological toll and longer-lasting beneficial effects on well-being, sleep quality and emotional health.