Psst, more Thaipusam pictures for you guys! I was told that a group of scientists are now studying this phenomenon, for possible future mind-body applications in anaesthesia, wound healing and antibiotics (these folks shown below feel no pain, do not bleed, and after the ceremony, have no scars and require no medical treatment to prevent infection).
(Oh the real trick here is that the spirit in them closes all the wounds, before exiting their bodies, at the end of the ceremony. Not sure whether the spirit will want to do that for the sake of clinical trials in a university lab)
Notice the vertical skewers (they go straight through the tongue).
Those little green balls are limes. A metal hook is pierced through each lime, and then hooked onto the man's chest and tummy. If you've got 30 limes, you'll need 30 hooks.
Don't try this at home, folks! Do the simpler and more practical stuff first. Like, if you have a headache, just manifest it away. If you've got some lifelong, chronic skin condition that doctors say is incurable, just intend it out of existence (I did - and I'm not the only guy on the forum who did this - the other guy was Bradshaw, we had discussed over PM). Etc etc.