Dana and Cherish, two seasoned practitioners from the Portland area, made their way to the Ontario Suspension Convention this year — not just to support others, but to step into the experience themselves. Like many who spend their time behind the scenes facilitating powerful moments for others, this was a rare chance to set down their roles, take off the gloves, and feel the weight and release of hooks in their own skin. OSC offered them something practitioners don’t often get: space and support to reconnect with the personal, emotional, and transformative core that brought them to this work in the first place.

With the first month since our relaunch under our belt I must apologize for not getting this specific post together sooner. Please join me in thanking and congratulating Cherish on being the first BME Girl to grace the front page of BME.

I’ve been fascinated by suspension since I was a teenager, but was never really able to connect with the right people to be able to experience it until 2020, when I met Dana. He invited me to help out and hang out (ha) during a little backyard suspension gathering and I fell in love with everything about it. When he moved out here a while later and we started working together, he kind of absorbed me into his team that has since been renamed Cryptid Creek Suspensions. Now we facilitate suspensions pretty well year round, weather pending, so I’ve had the chance to learn a lot over the past few years. 

OSC was my first actual Suscon, by far the largest suspension event I’ve attended to date and I’m so deeply happy I was able to go! I was so excited at the end of each day that I was just buzzing, ready to get back the next morning and do it all again. It felt like finally coming home, but for the first time and I wanted as much of that feeling as I could soak up.

I had not really met Alex before the day of my cube suspension, but I followed him on instagram for years and was moved by how he can turn people into living works of art so I knew I wanted to do something different. The three of us, Alex and Dana and I went to lunch that day and made a loose plan to make it look like I was floating or falling in water and that was that. It was such a beautiful experience all around. It was my first suspension in a cube as well as the most hooks I’ve taken at once. I also couldn’t really move so this particular suspension required me to surrender to the experience in a way I hadn’t before. Once the table was fully lowered and everything was double checked, Alex and Dana sat in front of me and talked with me for a little bit, just being the kind and supportive and lovely people they are. It was one of my favorites of the many sweet moments I got to share throughout the weekend.

OSC was life changing for me, sincerely. I think of all of the beautiful things I witnessed or had the honor of being part of often and I look forward to going back when I have the opportunity.

–Cherish