Well we had a great time in Charlottesville. We didn’t get to see too much of the town but that’s par for the course when we make these very short trips to teach and return home.
In this intensive I added some things that I haven’t been teaching before, my method TK, reverse prayer shibari and my version of the chest loading TK. I’d created the chest loading variant some years ago before going to Bound in Boston to teach and only showed it to one person while we were there (guess who).
It was a little bit of a nervous moment for me, I’ve been working through various versions of my TK for several years refining it to make it do what I wanted aesthetically as well as structurally. It’s been a big step for me to let it out in public officially. I’m really glad that people have received it so well.
The next thing to be officially taught for the first time was my chest loading TK. I guess that some purists will have comments about this but I think it is something worth teaching. It’s not something that’s come up a lot but now that I’ve shown my solution to this problem which is quite different to the others so far seen it seems I should probably have been teaching it for a few years now. It got called a game changer from bottoms feeling the difference in it and I’m a bit mad at myself for not having taught it for the last few years. Feel free to ask for it in intensives from now on.
The final new thing is my method reverse prayer shibari. Prior to deciding that I was going to teach this tie I’d only taught it to one person (Hajime Kinoko). This one was really a tough decision as it’s a very tough tie for the top and the bottom and can only be used with bottoms possessing the necessary flexibility in the shoulders and arms to achieve the position. Tying it is also a test for the rigger as precision and tension control are vital in its execution. I am therefore only teaching it to couples who can achieve it together so they can both see, feel and understand what lies behind the tie and how it behaves.
The shibari intensive went great overall and I want to say thanks to everyone for making it such a good atmosphere of rope learning. We really had a great time with all the tops and bottoms and as usual it was great to mix top and bottom education from myself and Clover in the weekend.
Special thanks to the organiser who’s kindness and hospitality made our stay in Charlottesville so pleasant.
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