Ecstatic Communion: BDSM and Spirituality

Intense sensations, pain and confinement have been used by people across many times and cultures as pathways to spiritual experiences. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes by happenstance, our scenes contain elements of the mystical or moments of deep intimacy or personal revelation. Bondage and pain can free us from our ordinary perceptions of our bodies and lead us into something entirely different. Some people have an out of body experience, are overwhelmed with a sense of wonder, or feel at one with all living beings. In our time together, we’ll look at parallels between some traditional understandings of mysticism and our lived experiences of BDSM. We’ll consider ways to nurture that connection and make it more likely (but never guaranteed) that we can access spaces of insight or mystical experience. People of all beliefs—or no belief—are entirely welcome.