From holes to health

Former piercing legend now concentrates
on holistic, natural healing

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Pierre Black

Age: 37

Occupation: “Health and lifestyle consultant.”

Bio: This staid Milton Park stud first arrived in Montreal from Ontario’s deep south as an inspired 18-year-old looking for excitement in the big city. Always interested in natural medicine and keen on pursuing it as a profession, Pierre found himself “distracted” from his original goal after a friend sent him an instructional piercing video “going, ‘Look at this, isn’t this bizarre,’” and began piercing both himself and other people like nobody’s business, eventually opening up Montreal’s first piercing/body modification studio, Black Sun. After 16 years of “this big, wonderful, fun, lucrative distraction,” garnering himself a reputation akin to legendary status in global body modification circles, in 2006 Pierre realized “it was finally time for me to move on and do what I was supposed to be doing” and closed down his famous studio. Now back in Montreal after extended stays in both Cuba and Japan, the latter where he resided at a Zen retreat, meditating to the extreme while studying natural medicine via correspondence courses, today Pierre offers the wisdom he’s acquired with respect to natural health and lifestyle issues to a select number of clients/students via pierreblack.com.

Something Pierre’s done that you probably haven’t: Subjected himself to intense pain rituals.

And the point of that is…? “An intense pain ritual can be whatever you want it to be. Pain rituals induce an altered state through endorphins and other chemicals that are released when one is in pain. For me, the purpose was to know my own limits. You do your ritual and move through your fear and personal limitations, transforming your body in order to mark that event.”

One reason why you might want to consider piercing your ol’ labonza: “Because most erotic piercings flat-out enhance sensation.”

How the hell does that happen? “Because you’re opening up nerve sensations that have never been directly accessed before, creating a new channel of nerves, nervous tissue, and then you have a hard object, the jewelry, moving around against these nerves. Any piercing on the head of the penis will give you new sensation. And actually, this piercing isn’t as painful as on other parts of the body. That’s one reason why the Prince Albert is so popular, because it probably only registers a two or three on the pain scale.”

What Pierre’s doing these days: Although he still occasionally takes on motivated piercing apprentices, “if they really bug me enough about it,” Pierre is now focused on offering his considerable knowledge of herbalism, traditional Chinese and holistic medicine to the public. “My services are very broad, ranging from helping people with physical ailments to lifestyle counselling—teaching people things like how to breath, relax and integrate meditation as well as simple things like healthy snacking into their lives.”

His approach: “Natural medicine is often limited by its own brand of conservatism and elitism. I’ve a special interest in working with those who may have felt excluded by the broader culture of natural health and wellness. This includes the kink community, body mod community and queer/LGBT communities.”

Childhood ambition: To become Jesus Christ.

Last book read: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.

Musical preferences: “Cheesy commercial Latin pop.”

Words of wisdom: “Half the modern drugs could well be thrown out the window, except that the birds might eat them.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net