And so it begins…

Most of the time it’s better to do something constructive, immediately, rather than wait for the perfect opportunity. When you struggle with executive function, just getting started is literal torture.

So, something productive. We now have a website! It’s going to look weird for awhile while I get the hang of tying myself to the desk again. Sitting still is hard. Has me thinking about how practicing bondage and restraint almost necessarily leads to greater self control.

Over the next few weeks I’ll hopefully be starting another project and expanding a growing network of fellow community educators and event facilitators. Currently we’re offering beginner workshops twice monthly for up to six tying pairs. You can find me teaching short beginner rope lessons monthly at Steam. And soon we’ll be developing a new connective rope series with a somatic practitioner.

We have all the safety gear and rope for our beginner series so don’t worry about bringing anything. Our classes are “switch by default”. Everyone ties and everyone gets tied. Bottoms should always know a little rope, it’s always fun call out a poorly dressed single column and fluster your partner. Good times! Tops should understand what their flavor of rope feels like on the body.

We expect our students to arrive sober and ready to learn. We will always start with intros, warmup exercises, and safety briefing. Remember, rope is “edge play”. That means it is high risk activity. When it comes to rope, it’s never a matter of if, it’s only one of when, and then degree of harm. Safety, safety, safety.

Beginner Rope 1 is 3 hours, lots of anatomy and psychology, it’s not a slog though! Then we get you tying some fun stuff quickly. You’ll leave with a solid foundation. This class focuses on one-rope play and fundamentals for complete newcomers. Everything can be self-tied, so if you don’t have a partner don’t worry!

Beginner Rope 2 is another 3 hour session. We’ll cover safety again. No surprises here. Then you’ll learn patterns for hips and chest with lots of variations for you to improvise and adapt for different bodies or preferences. Most things can be self tied depending on your mobility. A tying partner is recommended and there will be a mannequin to practice if requested.

Rope for Connection is the capstone course for our beginner series. This is a personal favorite of mine. We’ll provide lots of drills and games for practice and a few short performances for inspiration. This class is best alongside a tying partner. The class is completely accessible to self tying students. You will not learn any specific rope patterns in this class. We’ll instead focus on improvisational techniques using rope handling and flow.

Classes coming soon: Intermediate courses
Fashion Shibari – Aesthetic ties for party wear and photo shoots
Furniture Ties – How to make a table into a tableau
Single Column Showcase – Expand your knot vocabulary
Frictions and Flow – More frictions and inline cuffs