Episodes
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Having lived in a number of condos and had a number of rope spaces, the podcast hosts have a lot of empathy for this question! The episode looks at what hard points are used for, what that means in terms of which hard points might work or not, and how those hard points do - or don’t - work in terms of a suspended ceiling (and why).
In this episode, hear more about:
• What actually is a suspended ceiling
• Why you can’t use it for your hardpoint
• Why we might want hard points for our rope
• What the hosts *don’t* recommend (but is done a lot)
• Some examples of free-standing frames and their pros and cons
• Fox’s bespoke chain system attached to the condo walls
• Lots of safety and risk discussion, and the need for rope bottoms to educate themselves in this area
• And more!
PS - Mya can’t remember who asked this Listener Question, so if it was you, let us know! She apologises profusely! -
Last year, Fox and Mya learned the gorgeous Marquise harnesses from the one of the creators, @HwG-Paris. Fox was thrilled to learn a ‘French’ tie and the hosts of the podcast have experimented with it a number of times since. Fox has also had great positive feedback from some of the other rope bottoms who he’s tied it on, so this episode shares the harness more widely with listeners!
In this episode, hear about:
• What these decorative harnesses (chest and butt) look like
• A rough idea of how the ties work
• Pros/cons of learning a tie online 1:1 versus in-person
• Safety pros, cons and cautions of the ties
• What the harnesses feel like to wear
• The importance of discussing your bottom’s gender identity or preferences in relation to how they want this to be tied on them
• Examples of how using this in photoshoots and scenes
• When you might/might not want to wear clothes under these harnesses
• How the tie works with s3xy times
• And more! -
Missing episodes?
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This is a new type of episode for the Rope Podcast, where Fox and Mya discuss how you might combine rope with other forms of play!
Here they start with a classic pairing, ‘impact play’, which is very common for kinksters to integrate into rope scenes.
In this episode they talk about using everything from pevertables to body parts to items made-for-play, as well as:
• Why people like this kind of play
• What kinds of toys you might use
• The benefits of combining rope and impact
• The psychological consequences of being tied for impact play
• Aesthetics of this kind of scene
• Safety concerns and suggestions
• Practicalities of how you might combine these two types of play
• Toys we especially like to combine with rope and why
• Creating impact toys FROM rope!
• Important things to know when bottoming for impact in rope
• How rope influences the marks made during impact
• Some examples from Fox and Mya’s own play
• Ideas for positions you might use
• And more! -
As well as writing the extremely influential “Shibari You Can Use: Japanese Rope Bondage and Erotic Macramé”, Lee Harrington has taught over 1100 classes. Fox and Mya asked him about his experiences as a rope educator, focusing particularly on on classes that explore tying non-cisgender men and women. In this interview, hear them discuss:
• How he got into education - reluctantly!
• Education and tips on being a better rope educator
• His best and worst education moments
• How he avoids rope educator burn out
• Modelling vulnerability as a teacher
• How he keeps his (extensive!) class list fresh for him and his students
• Using rope to emphasise (and deemphasise) different parts of the body
• How the rope community can do better for transgender people
• What makes a good genderqueer tie
• Ideas on how to use rope to masculinise and feminise
• And more! -
You wouldn’t believe the number of times our guests and listeners share that their introduction to Shibari was the book “Shibari You Can Use: Japanese Rope Bondage and Erotic Macramé”. We are thus thrilled to share the first of two episodes with the author, another OG of US rope, Lee Harrington. Lee Harrington (he/they) is a spiritual and erotic authenticity educator, gender explorer, eclectic artist, and award-winning author and editor on erotic and sacred experience. As a rigger, self-binder, and rope bottom he has been teaching ropework and other topics since 2001 across 50 states and 6 other countries.
In this super interview with him Fox and Mya discuss:
• His jam-packed rope journey
• Types of rope fibers he uses (and why)
• Pros and cons of established partners versus new partners in rope
• The challenges of working in the adult film industry
• The impact of surgery, including top surgery, on how you get tied
• Useful language to ensure we’re inclusive when tying
• Tips on navigating the rope community when you’re new
• How the rope community has evolved over time
• Thoughts on ‘one-true-wayism’ in rope
• How Lee integrates rope with all the many other gifts and interests he brings to the world
• And more! -
This episode was recorded in July 2024.
The second part of our interview with the lovely Kink Name Pending and Petite Pretzel focuses on tying male bodies, as well as bodies with ‘out-y’ bits (which are sometimes the same, sometimes not!). The two rope switches share wise advice (and they, and the podcast, note that some of this will apply to tying genders of all types), including:
• Risks you might not have thought of
• P3nis predicaments
• Handling size differences
• Body hair
• And plenty more.
NB: The alternative title for this episode would be ‘How to wrestle an octopus’ (IYKYK)
Pen (KinkNamePending) is a UK-based rope switch who loves the connections that shibari inspires and the wide range of experiences with vulnerability and trust it has brought him. Outside of rope, he is keenly interested in anatomy and physiology and has studied these topics extensively; he brings his perspective and understanding of the human body into rope. He has performed in the UK and abroad.
Petite Pretzel is a rope switch from New York City. She has been teaching shibari since 2019 at Anatomie Studio, London, as well as teaching and performing elsewhere in the UK and internationally. Her commercial rigging includes music video credits (Charli XCX, Christine + the Queens), art gallery installation (Elizabeth Xi Bauer gallery), fashion photography and full-length film. She lives in Bethnal Green with her cat, who loves ropes just as much as she does.
Tune in to Episode 191 to hear part 1 of the episode. -
This episode was recorded in July 2024
Two guests for the price of one! After enjoying very much a performance by rope switches Petite Pretzel and Kink Name Pending in Thailand last year, we invited them on the podcast to talk about their perspectives on rope.
In this first part of the interview, hear about how they enjoy inverting some of the normal rope tropes, their love of predicaments, and the positive side of being set up to fail as a rope bottom!
Petite Pretzel is a rope switch from New York City. She has been teaching shibari since 2019 at Anatomie Studio, London, as well as teaching and performing elsewhere in the UK and internationally. Her commercial rigging includes music video credits (Charli XCX, Christine + the Queens), art gallery installation (Elizabeth Xi Bauer gallery), fashion photography and full-length film. She lives in Bethnal Green with her cat, who loves ropes just as much as she does.
Pen (KinkNamePending) is a UK-based rope switch who loves the connections that shibari inspires and the wide range of experiences with vulnerability and trust it has brought him. Outside of rope, he is keenly interested in anatomy and physiology and has studied these topics extensively; he brings his perspective and understanding of the human body into rope. He has performed in the UK and abroad. -
Happy New Year dear listeners!
Our second end of year episode where we pull together favorite rope experiences from our guests across the year.
We find it super inspiring for our own play, and hope your imagination (and maybe more!) is also stimulated.
The episode includes scenes from
• Gorgone
• Knotty Devil
• vahavta
• Anna Noctuelle
• FoxofBangkok
Click to listen now! -
Woo hoo! It’s one of our most popular episodes of the year - where our amazing guests from throughout 2024 share the details of one of their favourite rope scenes.
In this episode, you can hear about one of the favourite rope bondage scenes of these rope susperstars:
• Anna Bones
• Knothead
• Voudou Ropes
• Ceci Ferox
• and Mya!
As well as providing a diversity of fascinating insights into others’ play, the episode can inspire you to new types of rope and creativity. -
Mya shares her new erotica shorts book- which may or may not be inspired by some of her earlier adventures with Fox.
In the episode Fox asks her what the book is about and why she chose to write BDSM erotica. They also discuss some of the constraints on writing this kind of work.
Mya then reads a short excerpt from one of the stories in the collection.
Finally listen to Fox announce the next book he’s working on! -
Stuck for a Christmas, Hanukah or Thanksgiving gift idea? The Rope Podcast has you covered!
Listen to the episode to hear Fox and Mya talk through 50 - yes, 50! - different present ideas for all occasions that you can buy your play partner, lover, polycule member, friend, or local rope studio. They cover the range from a few dollars to a thousand so plenty of range for a variety of budgets. They own many items themselves and share stories of how they use them, and make suggestions for how you should choose the item that will suit your giftee.
They discuss where you might get some of these products, and also introduce their new rope merch in case you want to share with someone a Rope Podcast gift!
Finally they discuss why you might want a rope-related gift, and the sorts of reasons items that telegraph your interests might be useful. -
Fox and Mya, the hosts of the podcast, met doing rope, and so when it came to planning their wedding, it seemed a no-brainer to include it. In this episode, they discuss their recent rope wedding, choices they made, and the creative compromise they made to enable them to tie their harnesses before the ceremony whilst also keeping the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony!
Listen to hear them discuss:
• What it means to have a rope wedding
• Why they chose the venue
• How they catered to vanilla and kinky friends
• What the ceremony looked like
• Content they wrote for their vows
• How they incorporated rope into their clothing
• Balancing tradition and kink
• Deciding what kind of rope to include in the ceremony
• Considerations for tying over a wedding dress
• Honeymoon rope
Would you/have you included rope in a wedding? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below! -
Vahavta has created some amazing resources, in particular, the Risk Evaluation Database, which curates possible risks for various BDSM activities (like rope bondage!) we might engage in - from the common (bruising) to the ones you’re unlikely to think of (retina detachment), even the very rare ones.
In this second part of Fox and Mya’s interview with her, they discuss:
• Why she put together the Risk Evaluation Database (RED)
• What is a risk profile and why might you need one for rope bondage
• How to use RED to create your own risk profile
• Tips for kinkies with chronic health issues
• What skills can chronic health issues bring
• How she processed the impact of her health condition on her choices
• The impact of fitness on rope bondage
• How we can make the conversation about fitness and rope bottoming more useful
• Tips for rope bottoms on pain processing
• And more!
Vahavta writes, teaches, and speaks on CNC, emotional S/m, kink + chronic illness/disability, pain processing, and negotiation and communication on the edge.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the topic in the comments <3 -
Vahavta writes, teaches, and speaks on CNC, emotional S/m, kink + chronic illness/disability, pain processing, and negotiation and communication on the edge.
She is also a creator of some wonderful resources, such as the Risk Evaluation Database, and the ‘Kink Beyond Limits’ power exchange workbooks.
We wanted to talk to her about all these, along with her choice to give up being a rope bottom, as this is a story that often happens, but is rarely talked about.
Listen to this episode to hear about:
• Her rope journey
• Her health background and why she gave up rope
• Reasons for the rope scene skewing young
• EDS and why it might be more common in the rope scene
• How being flexible in rope might not always be a good thing
• Why many people with hyper-mobile EDS are drawn to rope
• How rope bottoms can build longevity in rope
• Balancing strength and flexibility
• How the Beighton Score might help you know if you might have EDS
• Why active bottoming is critical for those with EDS
• How she views her time in rope bondage with the benefit of hindsight
• And more!
Feel free to share your thoughts on the topic in the comments <3 -
In part 2 of this listener question episode, Mya and Fox discuss the challenge of making rope sustainable. Whether you want to have s3xy times in rope, are taking photos, or just want to stay up longer, the podcast hosts have plenty of ideas on how both tops and bottoms can help rope be more sustainable.
Hear them talk about:
• Change over time
• Acceptance of what our body needs
• Vulnerable parts of the body in rope for most people
• The importance of discussing how to communicate what is and isn’t sustainable up front
• Why how you communicate about sustainability is so critical
• How some active bottoming can help
• Ideas on how you can increase sustainability
• Why self-care outside rope is critical to staying up longer, more comfortably
• The importance of labbing
• How distraction can play its part
• Individuality in pain and sustainability
• And more!
As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments! -
A listener recently wrote in to ask us to discuss sustainability in rope bondage. As “Sustainable” is literally one of Fox’s rope values, we were more than happy to explore this topic.
In the episode they discuss:
• When might you want more sustainability in rope
• Things that haven’t worked for them
• Ties that might be more sustainable
• A great question to ask to build sustainability
• What makes Mya tap out, and how they manage this
• Factors to play with to make your rope more sustainable
• And more!
As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments!
Next up in the podcast stream will be part 2 of this great episode, make sure you follow us so you don’t miss it :) -
Earlier this year, Mya ran a rope bottoming workshop for the local community. We’ve had many requests from listeners to share more about rope bottoming education, so in this episode, Fox and Mya discuss the event.
Listen to hear them explore:
• Why Mya decided to run the workshop
• Topics the workshop covered
• Why we need more rope bottoming education
• What was important to Mya in the session
• Fox’s rope as a demo rope top
• The format of the workshop
• Sharing tips between bottoms
• How Mya prepared
• How the workshop went
• Forming a rope bottoming peer discussion group
• And more!
As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments! -
In this second part of our interview with the very accomplished rope switch Gorgone, Fox and May delve into many of her learnings from her teaching practice.
Listen to this episode to hear them discuss:
• What is ‘conscious rope’, and how can we do it?
• Questions to ask ourselves in rope
• Ego and rope
• Kink as theatre
• How our expectations impact our rope
• Bringing authenticity to rope partnerships
• The most important question in rope
• Common rope intentions
• How styles of rope partnerships bring different dynamics and pitfalls
• Using rescue horses as a practical metaphor for rope bondage
• The origins of Shibari Study
• Why Shibari Study has so much variety
• What she’s currently doing with Shibari Study
• How they are improving the usability of Shibari Study
• And much more!
As always, if you want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments! -
Gorgone (Marika Leila Roux) is one of the OGs of the European rope scene, a French rope switch who co-founded Shibari Study. Fox and Mya were excited to discuss rope bondage with her, and in this episode, discuss her journey. Highly self-aware, they share how they threw themselves into rope, up to where they are today - a very different place.
Gogone discovered rope 13 years ago, and dove into the underground world of traditional Japanese rope bondage. They have been a professional Shibari model and rigger since then, performing world wide. They bring this experience, along with their personal practice of yoga and conscious movement, to their approach to teaching.
Listen to this episode to hear them discuss:
• Her first experience of rope and its powerful impact on her
• How she upended her life for rope
• Turning a passion into a job
• Can bottoms make money in rope?
• What she gets from shibari now
• The last time she was tied (and why it might be her last time)
• Her journey through bottoming, topping and self-tying
• The incredible environment in which she learned
• Why her teaching of rope is bottom-centric
• The downside of intense D/s rope partnerships
• Her advice for new bottoms, and how they can learn from her mistakes
• How she became the first foreign bottom photographed by Norio Sugiura and what it was like to work with him (and Naka!)
• And much more!
As always, if you want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments! -
Fox and Mya have been experimenting with performing with rope, and in this episode, share their experiences.
Listen to this episode to hear them discuss:
• How they decided their theme and approach
• Translating the theme into narrative
• How rope can be used in a performance
• Developing characters
• Costumes, props, music
• Preparing and rehearsing
• Giving the performance
• Getting feedback
• And more!
As always, if you know more or want to add to the conversation, share your thoughts in the comments! - Show more
