The rubberist psychedelic technology

(v2.0)
The fascination for wearing full- body suits of latex rubber is still misunderstood by many people as just some banal kind of sexual fashion kink. Although it is sold as fetishism, in reality there is much more behind this, because basically it is nothing else than a powerful psychedelic technology. A small subgroup in the "rubberist" scene even employs special kinds of rubber equipment - optimized on creating altered states of mind (without the use of drugs and their bad consequences!). Publically almost nothing is yet known about this. To clear up about this fascinating technology, I therefore give here a brief introduction into its principles and physiological effects.

a brief history of rubberism...

The first documented full body rubber suit was worn by the inventor Charles Goodyear, who discovered in 1839 the process of vulcanization and though created the basis of the industrial production of rubber goods from latex. He had made a man's suit of his favourite material and proudly wore it even in the blazing summer sun - officially to demonstrate that his new material did not melt, but it may well be that it gave him sensory comfort, since his life was a misery. Despite he was a workaholic genius, he was an altruistic Christian believer, and to let the mankind benefit from his great invention was apparently much more important for him than making money. Because others exploited him, he was always broke and even had to sell that suit later in a successles attempt to pay his debts. He died in poverty in prison.

Since then latex based rubber was regularly used for utilitarian purpose to make e.g. waterproof garments like raincoats, swim suits, aprons or medical accessories, inflatable child toys and many other things, until they mostly got replaced by plastics in 1960th. In context of rubberism most people think first of fancy fashion clothing made of rubber. Initially rubber was considered a high tech miracle material, so in 1920th many Hollywood starlets wore rubber dresses as a fashion statement, similar like nowadays people wear clothing with built-in decorative electronic gadgets (like flashing LEDs or perhaps even LCD or OLED monitors) on stage shows, movies or tekkno parties as a symbol of modernity. Early rubber fashion was typically designed like regular streetwear; it was loose fitting and rarely had a shiny surface. Although some people found it sensual or erotic, it remained underground for a long time and the market was small. In 1980th, latex fashion also found its way into the dress codes of punk and gothic scene to stress their alternative lifestyle, and makers of SF and fantasy movies adapted the look of shiny rubber clothing for the costumes of superheroes. Due to impractical use and delicate care, fashion clothing of rubber never went into mainstream. But fashion use shall not be the topic here.

The first mass produced latex suits for (in the wider sense) personal sensuality were created as a home sauna replacement for medical and fitness purpose. There was nothing in any way objectionable with them - they were what we would now call a wellness product, marketed to sweat oneself healthy and slim. Although someone wrote they were invented in 1950th, they seem to be much older. E.g. I read on the IAR that in the New York Times from 22. September of 1918 there was an advertisement "TO REDUCE YOUR FLESH in any part desired - made of rubber by Dr. Walter's", claiming that these suits have been used for 15 years, i.e. sauna suits exist already since at least 1903. In the same paper was an ad for a one piece rubber suit called "EVER-WARM SAFTY-SUIT". I also have a TV docu on video that contains a scene of a man under a shower in such a suit, which was apparently filmed in 1920th or 30th; this clip was commented to be one of the earliest film documents of "rubber fetishism". In 1956 the naturist and rubber enthusiast John Kemp* wrote the book "Rubber Psychosomatic Clothing", in which he claimed that the body needs "the challenge of varying textiles". Lamenting those who add perforations to rubber garments, he suggested "a daily two to five hours in rubber makes a gentle but persistent effect".

* I don't know if this John Kemp has to do with the equal named inventor of the modern bicycle. I found the info on the Rubberworld exhibition site, where they mentioned his book found in the British Library.

Latex suits were also used for various kinds of therapy, because users soon noticed that wearing these suits gave them comfort and made them feel positively energized in many ways. So people e.g. tried out to use them as sleepwear to gain vitality, and this way the emerging rubber fetish scene tested what else could be done with these suits and demanded the manufacturers to build other variants corresponding with their needs. These people also started to keep and demand the replica of rubber goods those were considered obsolete and about to disappear by the progress of technical materials. E.g. early frogman dive and surf suits were made (e.g. by Skooba Totes) from pure unlined rubber foil, but due to inferior heat insulation, poor tear resistance and tendency to decompose they soon got replaced by foamed neoprene suits in 1960th. So utilitarian objects like raincoats, swim suits, diaper pants, bed sheets, aprons, enema bags, water cushions and almost even hot water bottles of rubber disappeared from everyday life and found their way into what became the rubberist scene.

inflatable latex suits and more...

Also inflatable latex suits followed this road. I first thought they were invented by modern rubberists, but I learned that they had predecessors those were used before as trance suits for self- realization, forms of alternative psychotherapy and sensory comfort, so their special properties were certainly discovered quite early. It is not documented who created the first dual layer inflatable latex suits. But the first inflatable rubber suits for medical purpose was already built in 1903 by the American surgeon George Crile. This multi- chamber construction with individual rubber bags around limbs and trunk could be inflated with a bicycle pump to control the blood pressure and prevent blood loss during surgery. Its concept later set the basis for pilot pressure suits and space suits. Although trance suits derived from the sauna suits, they were always underground and not a mainstream product, so it is hard to find info about them, but reports date back at least to 1950th and 70th. They were handcrafted only in small quantities and sold under many different names, so I use the word "trance suit" here as a generic term and not in the meaning of a specific brand name. (An old man told me that some early models were glued together from 2 sauna suits; these were less stretchy than nowadays latex suits and behaved more like thin hot water bottle rubber, i.e. they turned pale rather than transparent when stretched and got easily damaged when stretched too far. Possibly the initial idea was simply to increase the transpiration effect of sauna suits by an additional heat insulating air layer, which then turned out as something completely different, which unexpected fascinating physiological effects demanded new applications.) But much like by the prude establishment of 1950th the latex fetishists were considered "perverts" for their sexual deviation, the same way trance suit users lived with the threat of becoming accused to be "occultists" or "do witchcraft" for spiritual deviation. And wearing such suits as a remedy for any kinds of (real or claimed) mental illness (called "feeblemindedness" at that time) had a stigma of its own, and of course there was certainly the risk of getting confused with those sexual fetishists. This all prevented users from revealing their personal place of power to the public; seeking felicitousness and ecstatic experiences by meditation, hypnosis or lucid dreaming outside the established churches was just not socially accepted - at least not by mystical self- indulgence into the energies of such a strange psychedelic device. So there was not much advertising for trance suits; they sold mainly through word-of-mouth recommendation.

In 1960th a general liberation of society occurred, that made it possible to speak open about things like alternative forms of sex and spirituality. Also the first purpose- made erotic latex garments appeared in this decade. But despite there was a growing number of people becoming interested in psychedelic mind trips, it did not make the popularity of trance suits skyrocket. I think this was mainly because all kinds of psychoactive drugs became available at that time, those were hyped and celebrated as the modern and easy chemical way to change mental states on demand for psychotheapeutical and recreational use. So an oldfashioned piece of physical therapy equipment like a trance suit looked pretty outdated against these strong working new drugs, those risks were still mostly unknown. So trance suits were almost forgotten. I have no info what happened to them (it's only hearsay), but in 1970th people became more aware of the harm done by drugs, so drug- free alternatives became increasingly popular. Many kinds of meditation courses and psychedelic devices became available, and also trance suits had a small revival. Apparently they were also offered on travelling sales promotion shows for esoteric products. In 1980th even suits with integrated mind machine came out, those inflatable hood included LEDs and headphones. In the begin of 1990th however, the New-Age movement decayed due to the astrological end of the "Age of Aquarius", thus the market for costly esoteric products virtually collapsed just upon the time when the World Wide Web arose, and with it came the "new economy" hype with its new era of materialism.

On the new medium internet the rapid spread of commercial sex sites fused the whole sensual latex topic by force with BDSM (bondage/ domination/ sado- masochism), which deterring brutal language and look scared off most of the remaining trance suit users. Before that, the appearance of what we today sum up as "the rubber fetishist scene" had been very heterogeneous and included many innocent forms of sensual self- exploration those neither had contact nor knowledge nor interest into hardcore sex groups. Generally rubber items those are now associated with the scene were not consistently marketed together for a predefined purpose of "sexual fetishism", but many small companies simply offered their own few niche products (those they often had manufactured from the day on when they still were standard utilitarian goods) through mail order to any persons those wanted them. So people with sensual or sexual interest in latex had to swap lists of mail order addresses to buy their equipment; only few of them had access to the rather seldom, printed fetish clothing magazines as a finished role model or instruction source. Thus although since about 1970th the public image of the domina existed in such magazines, it was irrelevant to most customers. The arise of the internet changed this situation dramatically - for many people not in a positive sense. On the one hand it has made it easy as never before to find and buy all kinds of latex clothing and trance equipment; on the other hand it choked and gagged a large potion of the previous latex community.

Normally the internet has the reputation of being a great help for free speech of small groups and subcultures. But here it miserably failed; unlike with most other things, it did not further free communication at all, but the massive presence of BDSM deterred and suppressed the utterance of all other kinds of latex enthusiasts. Such BDSM people often try to tell you that rubberist equipment was always sold and bought solely for the purpose of making the hardest imaginable sex with it, and that only establishment's prudery had formerly prevented people from calling it by name. But this simply is not true. There is and always was a much wider range of applications for it, those go far beyond sexuality. People enjoy spending time in a latex suit basically for very similar reasons why people enjoy the warmth and sensual impressions of lying on a beach or meadow in the sun or relaxing in a sauna or spa. It is a joyful experience to touch and smell and feel it on the skin, but not necessarily sexual. While in the age before the internet it had been hard to find information about sexual use of latex suits, we now live in the paradox situation that it became almost impossible to search for info about other sensual aspects of latex without getting harassed by hardcore sex and SM people. Even texts about therapeutic use are difficult to find, because as soon you ask a search engine about rubber suits in context of medicine or therapy, you get bombarded with deterring links to the so-called "medical scene" of BDSM instead of serious medical info. And customers those want to buy a new trance suit for meditation or therapy are now urged to order them from those sexual fetish companies, because nobody else makes them anymore. (But I don't know how many of the former trance suit makers changed into this modern business.) I hope that this brief abstract of history helps to understand the current situation better.

rubberism today...

Nowadays many small and tiny companies build costly latex suits and other special equipment for the rubberist scene; most of these things are handcrafted, often custom made and usually tremendously expensive. They make e.g. a device known as an inflatable "bodybag"; into this kind of sleepsack a person can crawl, and after the bag gets inflated, it gently squeezes the body together from all sides with equal pressure in a way that the person inside can't move anything (like a wrapped mummy); the sensation is like a full body hug - only the head or face remains outside for breathing. To restrict their breathing by a certain amount, such people often additionally wear gasmasks or other, specially designed latex breathe masks/ face hoods. (Mr.Blowup collected these things and had a huge website about his equipment. Unfortunately his site disappeared; apparently he moved to Spain and left the internet. But on YouTube you can nowadays find many videos about such things.) There are also bodybag variants those don't restrict motion that much and thus can be used without a helper. Also a large inflatable rubber ball exists, that can be crawled in the same way; once the zip is closed, the person inside is completely surrounded by the softness of the inner latex membrane - only connected to the outside through a breathe mask with a hose like an embryo in the womb.

There are still many prejudices against the rubberist scene; common herd people easily demonize things like this as "pervert" and think these bizarre looking objects would be intended as a possibly very cruel kind of sado- maso/ bondage sex stuff - perhaps even to torture people by suffocation. Although such fatal abuses may exist (I have no guess how many) and the equipment is currently marketed as a variant of sexual fetishism, the genuine main motivation for wearing such unusual looking things is something completely different. It may perhaps sound unbelievable for unknowing people, but when such enclosures are applied properly, the person inside realizes not cruelty, but much rather a powerful feeling of harmony, and many people enjoy the experience of using this kind of equipment also in non- sexual contexts. Also the cliché that total enclosure latex and heavy rubber suits are only worn by "tough guys" is nonsense. Particularly overly sensitive people often buy such things to calm down and find peace to their mind. It is a tool of sensory comfort to entrust themselves to the warmth, strength and caressing touch of latex on their skin to gain fortitude for life. But due to the bad public image of this latex scene (see "About this site") most of these people don't talk about their source of beatitude, therefore these things are publically still nearly unknown. So the only thing pervert here is the generalization with that all users of it are put under the charge of wanting hardcore sex.

Also the latex companies of the internet age are often not aware that many of their products are bought for trance or therapy; they just keep advertising their stuff with sexual domina clichés without asking how their products are really used, and most of the non-sex/ non-SM customers just order their equipment silently without ever daring to tell about their use and needs, due to they feel so embarrassed by the appearance of these shops. Descriptions with words like "kinky", "pervy" and all kinds of very cynically used torture terms in them are very deterring and gross off customers. E.g. the slogan of a latex clothing company was "primitive fashion for primitive people" - it may be meant ironically, but to customers those intend to buy a trance suit as a tool for spiritual development this is clearly the least thing they want.

This site is a piece of pioneer work - it is the first site that cares about detailedly explaining the psychedelic aspects of  latex equipment.

To clear up what's going on, let us now take a closer look at the effects that inflatable suits and bodybags produce. One main effect of such equipment is that it shields the person inside more or less entirely from all external impressions, and by sweating it causes a warm and humid feeling.

When we ignore prejudiced mockers against such "full body condoms" but stay in a common psychological view, then it can be doubtlessly argued with regarding many of these things as tools for creating sensorial conditions to remind people back into a quasi- embryonic mental state of security. Therapies basing on such principles are said to have many positive, harmonizing effects, and already many books have been written about this topic (though I won't discuss this more detailedly here). Transpersonal psychology found out that the psychological trauma of a hard and painful birth seems to be even one of the major factors those determine whether a person will later tend to abuse brutality for solving conflicts; by consciously processing the trauma of their own hard birth later, such men can be freed from these dangerous tendencies again. A technology that enables human beings to re-realize the conditions of embryonic states and their own (possibly hard) birth is therefore in no way anything bad or "pervert", but in the opposite a very valuable contribution to the development of the human race.

But as soon I saw such equipment on Mr.Blowup's site, by my knowledge in psychedelics I immediately recognized some other very important aspects of this technology; I know too well about the effects of shamanic sweat rituals and the principles of breathe control (which mainly balances the ratio between oxygen and CO2) for creating altered states of mind, though the general working principles of such inflatable suits and face hoods with their breathe restricting effects are something very obvious and familiar for me. Also the same very particular vibration intensification effects like in the resonator technology (see here) are present with this equipment.
 

In the yoga are breathing and the flow and perpetual motion of air even a central mystical metaphor for how the man participates in the cosmos and how our mind/ soul forms an integral part of the all- comprehensive cosmic consciousness (called Brahman there) which contains all of the universe. Though it is in no way something primitive or pervert to be fascinated by such things, but it's just the deep mystical need to feel the unity of the man with the great spirit of the universe we are part of.

I didn't try those "bodybag" things yet (beside a test setup of PE garbage bags those were too leaky), but from my own research and what I read on Mr. Blowup's site, I would definitely not classify them in a category of sexual, but of clearly psychedelic equipment - much similar like the Samadhi tank (aka isolation tank, floatation tank, sensory deprivation tank) used for meditation. Such a tank is a dark, closed, air- conditioned box filled with salt water of body temperature, in which a person can float completely decoupled and insulated against any disturbing signals from outside for a long time to make it possible to easily reach a deep meditation state (links see here).

Also the working principle of trance suits was formerly often explained with sensory deprivation. However the degree of isolation by these suits is limited; they do not completely eliminate sensory inputs but only modify them in a holistic way. So the sensation of touch is partly transformed into vibrations those reach other body areas though the skin's nervous system; other parts are transformed into gentle sound waves perceived by the ears - all this helps to synchronize different brain areas with each other to enter altered states of mind. The gentle squeeze and caressing touch of the warm and supple inner latex membrane creates a sensation of security; it is like a full body hug that can be very soothing and comforting.

Embedded in a therapeutic context they constitute a tool of tender body work to overcome blockades and reach deeper layers of the mind. Such suits are therefore also used in therapies e.g. against autism, body dysmorphic disorder and psychological traumas. Darius' inflatable therapy suit FAQ gives a nice general overview about this topic and also about the technical basics of trance suits and various other suits those can be inflated. Even a computer controlled variant of the inflatable bodybag was patented in 2006 for autism therapy (US patent 20060277680:  Vibratable, sound-emitting, and inflatable sleeping bag for providing deep pressure), which concept has many similarities with the 1980th mind machine suits (those were not self- inflating). Also simple neoprene surf shorties are successfully used as a squeeze suit (hapticsuit) to heal body dysmorphic disorder and though stop bulimia.

The feeling of wearing an inflatable latex suit is wonderful and worth poems, however the vulnerable material of my homemade one is thin and thus does not build up much pressure. As a plastic shamen it was also a mystical exercise for me to build a trance suit by myself. It may be that I will add do-it-yourself instructions for it if I find time. But the care for the material is complex and time consuming to prevent disintegration, thus I currently meditate mostly in inflated surf drysuits, because their neoprene reacts way less sensitive to sweat residues. Anybody who is interested in technical details about building things from latex foils or how to care for latex equipment should also urgently take a look at the site of RubberHans - he made one of the best latex DIY and info sites I know yet.

(I own a quite large collection of other very special equipment for (in the widest sense) mind expansion purposes; I spend much of my life here in a laboratory full of strange technical devices and machines - many of them capable to create altered states of mind in various ways. But most of my equipment was built and developed by myself , and though much of it is barely working, has technical problems, tends to fall apart :)or is just not really useful yet due to certain central components still need to be developed ... )

latex inflatables and vibrations...

Inflatable structures of latex rubber have the special capability to intensify and modify the perception of bodily vibrations (like e.g. pulse and heartbeat). Applied in a meditative state this has similar effects like biofeedback and helps to synchronize brain waves. Like with music therapy, the meditating person or a helper (e.g. therapist) can also perform resonaKampaña by tenderly drumming or rubbing with fingers on the latex membrane to produce additional meditative sounds and vibrations. (I explained this in the chapter about resonators.)

Due to certain physiological effects, psychedelic devices based on these principles may possibly even lead to a technological breakthrough in the research on methods for what we yogi call enlightenment. Enlightenment is a brain activation process that enables to sovereignous holistical understanding and makes people creative and wise. To find effective methods to make this available for everyone is a greater challenge than the travel to the moon, because success will result in a dramatical boost in the development of the human race. (In later chapters I will discuss this more detailedly.)

latex and bioenergetics...

Latex is a material with very unique energetic properties. It is not just full of static electricity, but also exchanges energies with the universe during every tiny stretch and release. Thus psychedelic equipment of latex can be well compared in its energizing effects with the "orgone accumulator" of Dr. Wilhelm Reich's "Bioenergetics" technology. It is therefore recommended to stay inside such devices only so long it feels pleasant, because otherwise an energetic overcharge of the nervous system may result.

Generally latex has outstanding mystical capabilities. E.g. it can conduct consciousness, similar like metals conduct electricity. (More about metaphysical and energetic aspects of latex can be found here and here.)

Note: Although my descriptions and yoga exercises may have similarities to Dr. Wilhelm Reich's Bioenergetics, I have nothing to do with him or his orgone theory; especially my underlying worldview is in many ways completely different from his doctrine.

latex hoods and masks...

Some rubberists wear latex hoods those surround the entire head. These hoods squeeze more or less on the face by the tension of the material, and they often also include breathe control functions. There are inflatable latex hoods those strongly isolate the head of the wearer against external signals when inflated; especially the ears are shielded against disturbing noises in this state, and some variants also have no eye holes. So also latex trance people often employ such hoods for meditation. Depending on how tightly the hood gets inflated, the force with that it squeezes on the face can be adjusted.

But do to the bad public image of the rubberist scene, people easily imagine that these very strange looking inflatable latex hoods would be designed to be an intrinsically painful sado- maso thing, or that wearers would even use latex hoods mainly to hide their face for doing evil or perhaps criminal things. Initially I had no clue what they really were for. So to solve this mystery, I performed a little self test. Because I first had no access to such hoods, to verify the effect I instead tried to pull a thin medical latex glove over my head (leaving mouth and nose free for breathing), which is stretched into the upper 2nd range in this state and though by its high strain assumingly squeezes at the face at least as strong or even stronger than those latex hoods do. Although I found the intensity a bit too high to be pleasant, against my expectation I astonished discovered that this squeeze was nothing considerably painful (at least not more than the sensation of bodily strain of some average advanced yoga postures). I had no problem to spend an hour relaxing in this state, and the only slightly painful thing was that especially the rim of the glove was pressing much on my nose (like poorly fitting glasses) and also my ears got squeezed a bit uncomfortably.

The situation of the experiment can certainly be mostly compared with a non- inflatable hood; by the thin glove noises were slightly shielded (ca. reduced to half loudness?) and one can mainly see only bright and dark through its membrane. (By pressing my ear against an inflated resonator (made from the same glove sort), I could verify how this shields noises.) The feeling inside is warm (not hot) and a little sweaty, and by the vibrating latex membrane over the ears one can clearly hear ones own heartbeat. (I also inflated the glove by my nose a few times, which feels interesting on the face.) Generally the feeling is rather pleasant, secure and gentle than something painful. Due to the strong squeeze, my skin's nervous system was locally slightly maladjusted afterward, which disappeared soon (after < 1h). As a result I could well imagine to find it indeed pleasant to wear a less squeezing real latex hood over my head.

A cheap (but not perfectly fitting) latex hood can be made from a latex swimcap by cutting a round breathing hole into its left or right edge (avoid any jags to prevent tearing); the hood is a little unpleasantly tight at the chin but works well. To reduce squeeze, the swimcap can be pre- stretched by first building a resonator from it and performing elastAyama before making a hood from it. Never use silicone swimcaps; they are likely very toxic! (see here) I also tested to pull a pair of long latex household rubber gloves over my feet. Unlike my expectation, the material rather increases than decreases the bodily awareness there, and the sensation is interesting and pleasant; only when they get pulled very tight it becomes unpleasant and the awareness decreases.

I later bought a real inflatable latex hood (a red one of dipped latex with eye & nose holes), however its nose holes are too tiny to breathe well in all situations. It also squeezes on the nose, and by the lack of a back zip it was hard to don and doff, so I shortened the neck end and stretched it by multiple overinflations up to a low 3rd range. The droning sound of it is nice when worn in largely inflated state (but the strain hurts latex and is bad for it). Although it works for meditation, IMO it is a poor design; the presence of a back zip or velcro is crucial for comfortable use (stretching it in sweaty state over the head also harms latex a lot), and breathe holes must be large enough for safety. Classic trance suit hoods had different constructions those could be taken off easily.

breathe control...

Rubberist people often wear gasmasks or special types of latex masks or hoods for breathe control purposes. As a yogi I learned to apply the breathe exercises of pranayama to voluntary control my breathe very precisely, so I don't feel any personal need to wear face masks or similar things designed to interfere with my breathing. I can control it safelier and more precisely without them. But for people those enjoy them it is crucial to regard the following advices to avoid life- threatening hazards.
 
Warning: Breathe control is no toy - use it wisely!
Breathe control is a key element in many forms of drugfree psychedelics, but restricting breathe too much by force can get extremely dangerous. Only the oxygen vs. CO2 ratio may be varied a little, but in no case the oxygen supply must get interrupted entirely and also the CO2 level must not be risen way too high. The neurons (nerve cells) of the brain contain a self- repair system that continuously needs to repair all the damages those continuously happen to their few atoms thin membranes by the neuron's own strong electric force field and the entropy. This repair mechanism perpetually needs a certain amount of oxygen, water and nutrition to do its job. In a state of suffocation or total exhaustion this system fails, which dooms the brain neurons to get destroyed within few (ca. 4) minutes (the higher the body temperature, the faster!). The releasing neuro- transmitters of the destroyed neurons then causes a chain reaction that destroys even much more neurons by overloading them.

Our body inhales oxygen and transforms it into CO2 for gaining energy. When breathe is slowed down, more CO2 accumulates in the body. The CO2 needs to be exhaled, because with way too much CO2 this process wouldn't work anymore. Therefore the body uses CO2 as a neurotransmitter with the code of signal damping. Though a rising CO2 level is a command for the nervous system to turn down the energy consumption of the body by inducing relaxation and for the brain to reduce the brain wave frequency, which makes altered states of mind accessible.

The more the body gets relaxed, the less oxygen it needs, though in a state of relaxation the tempo of breathing can be even more reduced. Reducing the breath speed/ restricting the oxygen supply instead by force without enough previous relaxation is dangerous. Proper breathe control can be a blessing for mind and body, but breathe control that causes headache, unpleasant dizziness or nausea is is performed wrongly and leads to brain damage.

Unlike a yogi's breathe frequency in pranayama, gasmasks and similar gadgets are too stupid to notice how relaxed the body already is, though their air throughput must be sufficient for an unrelaxed person. Intentionally reducing the air throughput of a breathe masks by technical manipulations below this limit is dangerous and should never be attempted.

A breathe control gadget must never be misconstructed or abused in a way that it can block the breathe or oxygen supply completely and need a manual operation to enable the oxygen supply in time again before brain damage occurs. Because as soon the user of such a gadget waits too long with manually re- enabling his own oxygen supply, he will faint, and as soon he got unconscious, he will not be capable anymore to free his oxygen supply at all, and though within few more minutes he will die.

(To sado- maso people those may come in mind to play with suffocation for some kind of torment games or intend to combine extremely breath restricting or fault prone breathe control gadgets with anything bondage- like I therefore can only speak out a serious warning not to attempt this.)

Also never use caffeine (coffee, tea , cola etc.) or similarly up- pepping substances in combination with forced breathe control. Caffeine hinders the brain from reacting on CO2 with turning down its energy and oxygen need in the desired way; though under this condition restricting the oxygen supply by force instead easily leads to brain damage.

For people those love the feeling of wearing gasmasks etc. I can only seriously recommend to learn also the pranayama of the yoga - it's a great feeling and permits a much higher degree of control over the state of mind.

intensity and exhaustion...

Attention: Keep the intensities low!
In any forms of psychedelics one thing is crucial: the dynamic range of the nervous system is limited. A general rule is therefore that attempts to simply continuously increase the sheer intensity of any (also sexual) kinds of stimulation cause maladjustments of it and lead to harmful and very unpleasant consequences. (Yes, I have personal experience with this.) 

A decreasing sensitivity of any area of the nervous system caused by a maladjustment can not be compensated by simply increasing the intensity further. Doing so only results in signal distortion and other unpleasant side effects leading to even more maladjustments, though the only correct measure after sensitivity decay is not to increase, but to decrease the input intensity to that area, or better to temporary stop it at all to enable the nervous system to regenerate and readjust itself again; everything else causes sufferance.

Therefore, unlike done in certain sado- maso circles, the only way of staying on a path of lasting happiness is to keep all intensities rather low - never rape your body.

Important in this context is especially not to do things those lead to a state of entire bodily exhaustion., because this maladjusts and easily damages the nervous system and is harmful for the entire body. It is crucial to understand that bodily health is the necessary basis for lasting happiness. Healthiness and happiness belong together - damaging the own body will sooner or later result in serious sufferance. (Yes, I have done extreme things by myself and know what I talk about.)

sweating and heat...

With psychedelic methods those intensify sweating it is crucial to drink enough water (but never alcohol) and to supply the body with enough energy (e.g. by eating dextrose bars) and during extremely long and extensive sweating also with electrolytes to prevent the damage of brain and nervous system.

Increasing the body temperature is a common classical element of drugfree psychedelics (e.g. well known from shamanic sweat rituals and fast trance dances). The main effect of this principle is based on the extreme temperature dependency of the signal conduction speed within the nervous system. Though a higher body temperature changes the relative signal travel speeds among various brain areas (neurons in warmer areas transmit signals faster), which influences the data processing in many complex ways. An other effect is that the brain attempts to reduce its energy consumption to prevent overheating, which makes it turn down the brain wave frequencies (similarly like the effect of a high CO2 level).

Important for the application is that psychedelic methods those already rise the body temperature by other means must not be carelessly applied in a too hot environment to prevent the body from overheating. It must always be regarded that by no circumstances the brain temperature must rise higher than 42°C, because otherwise the brain will be immediately destroyed. The body can not cool itself when sweat can not evaporate. Thus sauna suit wearers die like flies of heart attack every summer when they attempt to do strenuous sports (e.g. jogging) in their suits to force weight loss. Therefore psychedelic latex suits and similar body enclosing devices should not be applied for longer in a too hot environment. (More health tips for the use of latex equipment can be found here.)

Please regard: These tips were not intended to deter any people from using psychedelic latex equipment, but in the opposite to keep you all healthy and therefore enable you to realize many more joyful and interesting experiences with this fascinating form of psychedelic technology.

When applied correctly, drugfree psychedelic methods can be a valuable tool for self- realization, the gain of creativity, psychological therapies and spiritual development. A psychedelic technology based on latex rubber is particularly interesting, because latex has many very particular qualities those in this combination don't exist in any other material.

vacuum racks...

Someone explained me by e-mail that also a strange latex device that even I had considered rather a banal and likely painful instrument for domina bondage rituals can be in fact a great tool for meditation...

The device is called vacuum rack (also known as vac rack or vacuum bed) and consists of a bag of thin, typically clear latex foil with an airtight zip at its top rim. The bag is stretched over a rectangular, flat frame inside to keep its outer shape rectangular. By an external vacuum pump (e.g. vacuum cleaner) a human being within the bag can be shrink- wrapped between the bag's upper and lower latex foil (like in a vacuum sealed food package), which at full vacuum strength immobilizes the person almost completely; breathing stays possible through a hose (often connected to a latex mask). Due to the immobilizing nature of the construction and the relatively high risk of suffocation in the case of failure, the device can only be operated safely with the help of a 2nd person.

This is in excerpt of what the person writes:

I stumbled on your site through latexpajamas.com.
I have to say that I was rather intrigued by the information myself. I am a celibate 23 year old male. I am celibate because I am gay and it conflicts with my religious beliefs so I have found other ways to keep myself sane so to speak. First off, I am aware that you are not interested in latex sexually and this is not the purpose of this e-mail. I recently purchased a latex vacuum bed. Granted my use of it was meant to be purely sensual but I discovered something very interesting in my experiences with it. The harmony and/ or relaxation is extremely satisfying. It's probably the most relaxed I've ever been. But my purpose is to basically recommend deflatables as well as inflatables. The pressure is not uncomfortable and probably induces the same womb- like feelings you were speaking of. If you are interested in seeing these devices, I will be glad to point you in that direction. I very much enjoyed your site. I wasn't aware of these possibilities with meditation. I thought I just enjoyed it too much...
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My experience with the vacuum bed has been mostly pleasurable. Numbness hasn't been a problem but I usually do not stay in it for more than an hour at a time. You do need someone to help you with it as it has to be zipped up and the vacuum turned on. But the danger of suffocation is not that much of a worry. My friend who helps me zips it shut, turns on the vacuum, and leaves the room. The tube that runs to your mouth is rather large so it is not likely to be blocked. The only pain I have felt from it has been my jaw getting a little sore due to the pressure around my mouth, but it is not bad at all. The membrane thickness of mine is a medium grade and the vacuum I have is very powerful, something like 2.5 hp. I have a few lines in various place on my body when I exit it, but they usually go away after an hour or so. I have sustained no bruises from it at all.
I find that the technology of vacuum racks looks rather risky, and by physical reasons I can't imagine well that it has good decoupling properties (although free areas of its membrane certainly can interact with bodily vibrations), therefore I personally find the concept of inflatable psychedelic equipment more promising. The concept of vac racks was obviously based on the vacuum bag lamination machines used to build things like boat hulls. Also some similarities to the medical vacuum mattress for transport immobilization of bone fracture patients exist. For more details (and pictures) about vacuum racks take a look at the site Caught-In-The-Act. (The site operator has admitted that he also likes my work.) A special 3 dimensional variant of the device was released as the SlickCo Cube.
 

things those need to be said...

When applied correctly, meditation with latex can create a wonderful feeling of harmony. The fascination for sensual experiences with latex is something that does not deserve to be treated as pervert. I hope this page will help to open people's eyes that there is much more than just some kind of sexual stupidity behind. On this planet currently only hardcore sex people seem to dare to out themselves as latex enthusiasts, though I hope that my site can encourage more of the many non- confessing rubberists of this planet those yet are deterred by that scene to come out and admit their fascination for the mystical material. The desire to sleep sometimes in a latex pyjama to realize its energies is nothing evil. Let there be a completely different culture of latex friends - a society far away from sado- maso clichés and all the grubby internet pornography stuff - instead interested in meditation, self- realization and spiritual development (like it used to be). Latex can do much more than most people expect.
 

Let's stay on the air...
  

Aerial
...a sincerely confessed plastic-shamen

 
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