Subspace... ?

A recent email group discussion has sparked my interest in the topic of subspace.

It's been a rather vague concept, in my experience, and seems to be quite different for each person who feels they have journeyed thither.

I've never been, that I know of, but all the same, I don't need to feel it to believe it. : ) People write about it being that point where one can begin to take the pain and turn it into pleasure, or that threshold which, once crossed, leads to foggy oblivion. Most of the time, it seems, subspace is said to be reached through an intense, constant, rhythmic endurance of pain or other sensory stimulation... This makes sense to me, physically and mentally. I don't think, however, that it would be a physical journey for me, where I ever to undertake it.

Although I've never experienced it, something about it's description leaves me sure that it would require a mental intensity for me, rather than physical (or perhaps, as well as physical...). This may just be due to the fact that I don't think I could or would want to undergo the purely physical agony that it would take to get there... but somehow, I don't think it's just that...

The mental aspect to spanking or D/s play has always been paramount to me. And I say 'always' with the understanding that I'm still very new and thus my 'always' is not nearly as vast as many of yours will be... :)

I do know that if I'm kneeling on a bed taking stripes from some deplorable instrument, it is infinitely harder for me to handle if the experience is not intertwined with some mental aspect -- it can be as simple as words that he might say to me -- something as small as being called 'naughty,' or hearing 'I hope I'm getting through to you'... something as easy as having to count each one... Some kind of understanding that I am somehow under mental submission to my partner's dominance -- in more ways than just receiving physical pain.

This makes me believe that if I were ever to attempt to reach 'subspace,' it would have to be through the mental intensity of a scene, rather than only the physical. I don't know exactly what would or would not work, however... perhaps delving very deeply into a character (like a student or a niece... I've never role-played, either! :D), or perhaps it would require a certain level of emotional attachment as well...

What are others' thoughts on this? Does anyone else need more mental rather than physical stimulation? Or do most people find it easier the other way around? What works best for you? And for those normally on the other end, what kinds of things, how do you feel about your play partner reaching subspace? How do they get there? : )