“The brain was screaming that we were in danger.” Personal experience of practicing nailing

Public Relations Manager at MoyOffice software developer company

Earlier this year, I resolved to say yes to exciting new opportunities as often as possible. So when the studio where I do yoga put up an ad for a new nailing class, I took it as an invitation. And easily said: “Yes.”

Why nailing?

I had heard many times before about the benefits of nailbiting and the effect it has on people. I have read that a person standing on nails experiences very vivid emotions, his attitude to his own body changes.

I’m into neurophysiology, the science of the brain. By the time I saw the announcement of the new class, I had already read The Body Remembers Everything ve The Biology of Good and Evil, and at the time I was reading The Brain Tells. The books tell the story of how our brains function, how we perceive reality and process it.

Yoga, meditation and other practices aimed at feeling one’s own body, conscious focus on it and its individual parts, and breath control are often mentioned.

It all sounds like some kind of spiritualistic practices or something a bit occult, but I have been practicing yoga for almost ten years and am also interested in science – I have come to the conclusion that a great deal of both yoga and the nail-biting I will talk about is supported by research about the brain and neurophysiology. For example, breathing practices do promote calming. All in all, nailbiting fit very seamlessly into my picture of the world.

I came to the class with the desire to find out how my body would react to an obvious stress for it and whether I would be able to consciously, with an effort of thought, dull this pain and help myself to feel it less acutely.

But in general everyone’s goals are different: when we discussed them with the teacher during the preparation for the nailing, it turned out that someone wanted new feelings and sensations, someone wanted to prove to himself that he could do it, and someone came for therapeutic purposes, hoping that after the practice he would feel better.

Preparation for practice

My first practice in a nailing class was a group practice and took place in the same yoga studio I usually go to. The class itself went for 3-4 hours, we finished at 10pm.

Conditionally it can be divided into three blocks: preparation, actually standing on the nails, getting off the board and relaxation. During the first block our teacher told about the history of the idea of standing on nails, walking on broken glass or hot coals. He also talked to each student – there were about six girls in our group: some of them had already tried standing on nails, but most of them, like me, came for the first time. The specialist found out what each person’s goal was and why they decided to try this practice in the first place.

Afterward, he talked about contraindications. These included varicose veins, cardiovascular disease and pregnancy.

The teacher also explained in detail what sensations we will experience in the first minutes when we stand on the nails. The range of reactions is very wide: someone can be thrown into a cold, someone’s legs shake, and someone is completely frozen. And all of this is normal, except for the dizziness.

If you feel that you start to lose consciousness, it is necessary to signal it somehow – raise your hand, say. In this case, you will be helped off the nails. This is a very important moment. A beginner should not go down by himself under any circumstances, you always need help.

All the time of the talk we were sitting, calm music was playing, the lights were dimmed. Before the second part we got up, walked around, stretched our legs and body, warmed up. We were given planks. Nails were hammered into them with a spacing of 1 centimeter. This is the optimal distance for beginners. The smaller it is, the easier it is to stand.

Beginners in this studio are given boards on which it is impossible to hurt yourself, for example, to pierce your leg. To demonstrate this, the instructor jumped on a board with nails – and nothing happened to him. But, of course, such a trick can only be done by people with a lot of experience in standing on nails. The main thing that he emphasized more than once is that it is absolutely safe.

Feelings from standing on nails

We stood on the board with the help of the instructor: he gently took each person under the elbows, the person put first one foot, then immediately the second. For the first few seconds, the specialist was always close by. After that, he would release his hands and the person would stand on his own.

There was a very anxious woman in line in front of me. She admitted it herself when I met her. It was extremely difficult for her to stand on the nails. The teacher noticed this and stayed with her for a few minutes, which is quite a long time, because others he supported for 20-30 seconds and then let her go. That woman had a hard time starting the practice, she kept repeating that she couldn’t do it, she was worried that she was holding the others back. But in the end she coped with her emotions.

Then it was my turn. And it was really a completely new sensation. Painful, unusual. After I stood on the nails, I started breathing really hard and loud. It helped me, in general, breathing always reduces stress and painful sensations. So I did it loudly, not embarrassed by the rest of the group, although if I made such noises in normal life, it wouldn’t look very normal.

I was sweating almost immediately, and my tank top was instantly wet. I even ended up taking it off, leaving me in my top. After living through the first flare of sharp pain, I started looking for a comfortable position to experience as little discomfort in my feet as possible.

Concentrating on my breathing saved the day. Then I leaned forward a little – this helped to distribute my weight more properly over the entire foot. I also remembered the teacher’s words that I was in no danger, that I would not puncture my foot. That kind of information is very reassuring.

What was happening to me in those moments? My brain was screaming that we are in danger and dying, we are in pain and we need to do something to stop feeling it. So the body was broadcasting its physical sensations to me.

At the same time, I consciously tried to regain control of my behavior. I reminded myself that I came here on my own, no one forced me. Other people are standing there, and nothing is happening to them. There is really no danger.

Breathing and working with fear suppression brought results very quickly – and the pain decreased. Or rather, I began to feel it less. At some point I was able to stand calmly, I began to move my arms, to breathe more slowly. The sharp sensations disappeared, there was no tension in my body.

At the same time the very fact of pressing on the feet did not go anywhere, I felt warmth. The pressure on the points on my feet was accelerating the blood. The whole body was toned. At that moment I felt every part of my body well, it was very interesting to follow the sensations in my legs, abdomen, chest. For example, I found that my chest was very stiff.

Coming out of the practice and relaxing

At some point I realized: yes, I am standing on nails, I can’t get away from it, but I am doing it calmly, freely. After a while, the other band members and I began to talk, some more vividly, some less actively.

Everyone had their own emotions, everyone was living the practice in a different way. We asked, how long have we been standing? It felt like 15 minutes, but it turned out that the last person who stood on the nails had been practicing for 40 minutes by that time. The instructor said it was time to get down and started helping.

It turned out to be not so easy. You have to be prepared for it.

There was a lot of pain right after I got off the nail. It turned out to be impossible to put my foot on the floor: there is a pulsation in the foot, because there was a long pressure on the points, and then we remove it, the blood returns there, the vessels expand. You can’t stand at all. We immediately lay down, the teacher prepared pillows for us.

I lay down and felt my legs throbbing. It lasted a few minutes, it was unpleasant. Then the sensations gradually stopped, we breathed a little more, got up, put our pillows back and thanked the teacher. The class was over.

I’ll tell you right away that I took two more classes afterward, two weeks apart. I was interested in how my feelings of practice would change and develop over time.

Afterwards, it helped that I already knew my body’s reactions, understood how it would physically feel, and was prepared. My brain knew that nothing would happen to us. The pain was there every time, sharp and searing like the first time. But I was able to calm down faster and reduce its intensity.

What I learned from this experience

In the end, I achieved my original goal – to understand how my body would react to such stress and to see if I could dull the pain with my mind.

Three sessions were enough for me. I didn’t want to repeat the experience. But not because I didn’t like it or didn’t feel good, just that no new goals have appeared yet. If I want to stand on nails again, I will definitely go.

Has my physical condition changed since nailing? Have I become healthier? To be honest, I don’t see any noticeable improvements. But I didn’t have a goal to get healthier.

Another thing is that nails and all such bodily practices help to better adjust the connection between one’s physical shell and consciousness. Self-perception improves, it becomes easier to experience some emotions. I think the class helped me to get to know my body better, to get to know myself better.

I was also thinking about childbirth, there can be a lot of benefits for women in labor. I have never given birth, but I have heard a lot about the pain of childbirth and that it is easier to experience it if you do not clench and resist, but rather relax and give in to it. I think that the practice of nailing helped me to practice a little bit, to try to live through the feeling of sharp strong pain.

I recommend everyone to stand on nails at least once. But I think you have to come to it on your own, so that it’s not a challenge: I’ll prove to myself that I can! – but out of love for yourself. Someone, of course, wants to test themselves in this way, but I am closer to the option with the desire to get to know my body and become a better person.

Doctor’s opinion

rehabilitologist, doctor of physical therapy, surgeon

This practice came to us from India, where it is called “Sadhu” and translates as “holy man”. Standing on nails is a form of acupuncture, a form of alternative medicine where thin needles are inserted under the skin, and in the last few years nails have become quite fashionable in Russia.

It is important to remember the contraindications to standing on nails. These include pregnancy, cancer, fever, epilepsy, hypertension, heart problems and open wounds on the feet. Also, harm to health can be caused by a poorly made board.

It should be noted that traditional medicine has not yet found evidence of the effectiveness of this technique.