Oh-Kee-Pah is a
dance/
ritual of the
Mandan Indian people. In it the men
suspend themselved from a tree by a pair hooks placed in their chest. This ritual has been brought into the public light by the movie
A Man Called Horse as well as by
Fakir Musafar, father of the "
Modern Primitives", who performed an Oh-Kee-Pah suspension in the 70's, which can be seen in the film
Dances Sacred and Profane.
From what I've been told, originally in an Oh-Kee-Pah
suspension the hooks were placed through the pectoral muscles and the person
suspending would be left to
hang until he
tore free, which could occur hours or days into the suspension. Nowadays the piercings only pass through the
flesh and fatty tissue of the body, and the person performing the
flesh hook suspension will not be left to hang nearly as long. The pain of a suspension begins as very intense, moreso in an oh-kee-pah because only 2
hooks are used, as opposed to 4+ in other forms of suspension. After the first few minutes the
pain drains from the body and a state of
euphora is reached, where no pain is felt, and a feeling of
floating is attained.
Probably later this summer I'm going to perform an Oh-Kee-Pah suspension. From what I've been told by people who have done it, they've reacted with
laughter, crying,
screaming, temporary
deafness and
blindness, visions, white light flashes, and many other ways. It seems to be the most intense form of suspension, and I look forward to the day that I can do it.