Intro to Shibari - rope retreat

Are you interested in learning more about Shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage? Perhaps you've seen some photos, videos, or even live performances and it's caught your eye, or maybe you're looking for a new hobby that has some interesting practical applications...

Come and join our introductory workshop and give it a go!

This is a one-day workshop taking place on alongside The Rope Immersion at our gorgeous rope day retreat. Participants for both events will be together for core parts of the day, but will break away for workshops that are aimed at different experience levels - this event being for beginners, and The Rope Immersion for people with knowledge of the basics. We will all get to enjoy a day of rope in a beautiful location, and plenty of opportunities to practice your new skills and mingle with fellow rope fans.

This beginner-level workshop will address the most pressing questions, such as:

• Why do people like being tied up?!
• How do we bind our partners or ourselves in a risk-aware way?
• How do we tie knots that don’t fall apart?

Once we’ve established safety and core skills, we’ll start building on them by tying in a more free-flowing way, and looking at how we can approach Shibari in different ways depending on the reasons why we are tying.

Our aim is to create ties that feel good from inside and outside of the bondage.

What to expect:

We will include a mixture of learning through discussion, theory, demonstrations, and hands-on practice.

This workshop is designed for beginners and people relatively new to rope. You're equally welcome if you've never explored rope bondage before, OR if you've dabbled a bit and want to bring together what you've been learning in a more structured way.

You don't need a partner to attend. Some of the workshop activities are more easily done in pairs, but a significant portion of the exercises can be done solo through self-tying. It is also possible to partner up with another participant if you'd like, and we will give you some tools to support conversations around negotiating consent. If you already have a friend or practice partner who you know is coming, you are also welcome to stick together and practice with each other throughout.

We are welcoming of all genders, sexualities, and relationship orientations.

Our schedule for the day - at a glance:

10.30 - 10.45 Arrivals - give yourself time to orient and settle in before we begin.

11.00 Introductions and some lighthearted ways to connect

11.30 Workshop part 1 (90 minutes)

1.00 Lunch break and Rope Jam - free time to wind down, tie or take photos, or maybe watch a performance from the team

2.30 Workshop part 2 (90 minutes)

4.00 Break and Q&A with the team

4.45 Workshop part 3 (90 minutes)

6.15 Wrap up

6.30 Event finishes

** The running order and timings are all subject to change if we need to make adjustments **

The venue:

We will be returning to the same gorgeous venue that we have used for our previous two Rope Immersions. It is a jaw-droppingly beautiful private venue on the edge of the Peak District National Park. We will have exclusive use of the venue, except for the owners who will be on site throughout the day.

There are 3 acres of private woodland to enjoy, including a natural stream. You are welcome to explore the outdoor space but at our own risk - it may be wet and muddy - it is the UK, after all!

About the team:

Lex (any pronouns), your host for the day, is the embodiment-focused sex and kink educator behind Pleasure Rebels and The Kinky Classroom. They guide individuals and groups in explorations around topics such as consent, sexuality, pleasure, intimacy, identity, relating, and power. Professionally trained as a Certified Sexological Bodyworker, Embodied Facilitator, and Certified Dominatrix (among other things), a big focus of their work is around how kink - done ethically - can be used as a route to empowerment and us becoming whole, integrated humans.

Christian Red (he/him) is a rope/takedown teacher based in Nottingham who has been teaching since 2012. His focus as an educator is giving people tools and ideas to express themselves by breaking complex topics into simple ideas. Christian Red's involvement in the kink community has lasted 22 years so far. In recent years, he has taught at Prague Shibari, Athens Rope, Anatomie Studios, Rope On!, Rope Office Hours, String Fling, UKREX, and Oxford Peer Rope. Christian is a regular guest teacher for Pleasure Rebels workshops.

EntwinedStar (she/her) loves meeting diverse, sadistic, and creative minds and that's part of the attraction of rope for her! She has been active on the UK rope scene for around eight years, teaching in Nottingham and learning from incredible riggers and models from across Europe. Rope brings out EntwinedStar's exhibitionist side, and engages her sexuality, masochism, and enjoyment of degradation. She adores the energy that she takes from rope and how that leads her to challenge myself.

Tied For Thirst (he/him) is a professional rope bondage, nude art and kink photographer, with an adaptive style focused on enhancing emotional and sensual scenes with unique composition and dramatic lighting. After developing an obsession with rope, as both a rigger and a model, he turned his decade of photographic experience to documenting the beauty of shibari & kink and the connections found in power and vulnerability.

Fennel (she/they), a.k.a The Fenwitch, is a qualified life coach (empowerment, relationships, attachment styles), workshop & event facilitator, speaker, writer, Mindfulness trainer (MBSR), and practicing witch. They have been working with personal development, health & wellbeing, mental health, spirituality, and Emotional Intelligence for 30 years (in the corporate world, conscious communities, and in personal/private practice). They lead (with a lot of help from gorgeous souls) the sex positivity community Vermilion, that encourages awareness of, and co-education in, autonomy, authentic relating, consent & boundaries, neo/tantra, various therapeutic modalities, inclusivity, diversity, and conscious kink & BDSM.