Lots of fun, slightly queasy-making pics in Reuters today about a professional piercer and body suspension expert from Bosnia Herzegovina named Dino Helvida, who hangs people from hooks. Demonstrating on a flame-haired girl named Kaitlin, he first pierces the skin with needles, puts through metallic hooks, then attaches them to a thin rope to lift the suspendee off the ground. It’s all carefully done, he insists, and completely safe.

“You can do one hook or you can do 100. You have different hooks for different positions and different hooks for different body parts,” said Helvida.

Devotees say the practice gives them a huge sense of well-being, and, Rueters notes, the girl Kaitlin did not complain of discomfort once.

“It’s very hard to explain (what it feels like),” Helvida said.  “For me, it’s releasing all the negative and bringing all the positive in.”

“[Of course] it is painful. Piercing is painful, it’s just like regular piercing. Every time it’s a new piercing [but] the wound heals really fast, it can heal in two weeks. I had hooks in my forehead and nobody can tell I had them.”

I’m not somebody who’s shocked easily, but I’ve seen a few suspension shows and they always shock me. Sometimes there’s blood dripping from the piercings, and puddling below. Sometimes the person bounces up and down, pulling at the flesh like it’s rubber. Sometimes they swing back and forth like they’re in a hammock. And always they have a weird, serene, slightly lobotomized look of bliss on their face.

I can only watch for so long before I feel a bit green around the gills.

So, I will NOT be partaking in this activity any time soon, but hey: Adults doing what they want with their bodies, I have no problem with that. Go ahead.

Look at more pics below.