I think the prevailing idea, when it comes to sessioning, is a short-term conscious dropping of all resistance, brought on by pain. Like “Yes, yes, please, I give up, I’ll do anything!” Which seems to me sorta tongue-in-cheek, like “Oh no, please don’t make me do what I want you to make me do! Okay, fine, I’ll do it!” Having not experienced that type of session, I’ll guess it’s a tricky thing to negotiate, maintaining safety yet realism.

In my relatively recent review of Mistress Tissa, I mentioned falling into a completely unexpected state of trance. That was a form of “broken” that I’d never even contemplated. It was amazing because it was spontaneous, yet the effect and experience was very safe. Ironically, I didn’t *fully* appreciate it until well after I “came to”. I guess when you’re truly in a state of altered reality, you don’t know it at the time. Kinda like a cult member or a drunk person who doesn’t realize they’re drunk.

Speaking of cults and brainwashing, I could also imagine an unscrupulous domme slowly progressing a sub into a long-term submissive relationship, that has him doing things, financial and otherwise, that he never intended. Narcissists, IRL, are known for taking people down a rabbit hole. That’s, of course, a whole different type of “breaking”, that I don’t think most people intend when they use the word.

Come to think of it, I was arguably “broken” from pain one time. I was sessioning with a wrestling/martial arts domme, and she poured it on so hard that I panicked and forgot my safeword. It all happened so fast. At one point, while I was stammering “wait, no”, trying to remember, she hit me so hard that I snapped out of subspace, and thought “HOLY FUCK. WHAT AM I DOING!? This maniac is gonna KILL ME. And I’m gonna die because I was horny and stupid!” and I started laughing hysterically. When she saw me laughing, she actually paused, cocked her head, commented “oh, you’re really fucked-up”. I remember, between gasping and laughing, thinking whether I could make it past her to the door (in my underwear!!??) but then she took the decision out of my hands by dropping me with a punch to the solar plexus. Then she beat me until I stopped yelping and then stopped moving. I was abjectly terrified of that woman. I’d call that broken.