Rope Podcast

fox and Mya don’t tie TKs, and rarely tie a box tie because of their risk profile - but they understand a lot of listeners do. So when they saw educator fuoco had put out a book about box ties, they were excited to get her perspective. fuoco also shares more about her Zine ‘Cut the Leash’, the audience for that and the notion of kinky community - as well as their issue on ‘Witchiness and rope’. Might you be a contributor? Get in touch with fuoco on her website below. In the meantime, listen to this engaging discussion to hear about: • The origin of the fuoco’s new book, Put Me In A Box • Pros and cons of box tie • What she loves about box tie • How she manages the risks of a box tie as a rope bottom • Ways bottoms and tops can work together to adjust the box tie to different bodies • The concepts of a sustainability and stability and optimising both • What can rope bottoms do to have longevity in rope • Switching up patterns to avoid cumulative nerve damage • Optimising rope fun! • And plenty more <3 fuoco began her rope journey as a bottom in Phoenix ten years ago and shortly thereafter moved to London, where much of her early rope learning happened. Upon moving back to the US, she began presenting at cons and intensives around the country sharing her love of rope. As an educator, she's decidedly non-dogmatic in her approach to teaching. Her classes aim to help bottoms to better understand their bodies in movement, and to offer riggers the knowledge to adapt their tying to the unique needs of their partners. When she’s not doing rope, fuoco is a professional acrobat. Her dedicated study of the mechanics of the body make her especially interested in developing more comprehensive education for bottoms informed by these practices. She's also a leftist who believes that kink is inherently political. She strives to bring her politics, her values, and an accountability for those values into her teaching spaces.

fuoco began her rope journey as a bottom in Phoenix ten years ago and shortly thereafter moved to London, where much of her early rope learning happened. Upon moving back to the US, she began presenting at cons and intensives around the country sharing her love of rope. As an educator, she's decidedly non-dogmatic in her approach to teaching. Her classes aim to help bottoms to better understand their bodies in movement, and to offer riggers the knowledge to adapt their tying to the unique needs of their partners. When she’s not doing rope, fuoco is a professional acrobat. Her dedicated study of the mechanics of the body make her especially interested in developing more comprehensive education for bottoms informed by these practices. She's also a leftist who believes that kink is inherently political. She strives to bring her politics, her values, and an accountability for those values into her teaching spaces. Listen to this engaging discussion to hear about: • How she discovered rope bondage • Her early experiences in London and Berlin • Her contributions to the growth of bottoming education • How her circus arts do - and don’t - influence her rope • How the understanding of what a ‘valuable’ bottoming educator is has changed • The changes that have occurred for her in the kind of rope she enjoys • Active bottoming and how some of the ideas don’t really speak to the lived experience of most bottoms - and why • Challenges she personally has faced as part of the rope scene • The journey of being an unpartnered rope bottoming educator • What possible futures of rope bottoming could look like • How bottoming and rigging education classes might work together more harmoniously • And much more <3

In this episode fox shares some of his experience and knowledge around how rope tops and bottoms might optimize their physical strength for rope. The podcast hosts remind you they’re not medical doctors or trainers and you should get some professional input before starting. Aimed at novices (though those who are more experienced are welcome to listen and share their advice in the comments on Fetlife and Instagram) list now to hear them discuss these areas: • The kinds of movement you might want to improve your strength on as a rigger • Injuries in rope strength training might be able to prevent • What are dead lifts, lateral raises, upward rows, and what muscles do they work? • Where pain and discomfort figures in weight lifting • Different types of physical strength that bottoms might need • The possible cons of strength training for rope bondage • How you might strengthen your back and your core • Compound versus isolation movements • Reps and sets and how best to use them • Explanations of some technical terms like ‘progressive overload’ and ‘the staircase model’

‘Auntie’ Midori has a lot of scenes behind her (and in front of her!) and her depth of experience in play means she has huge resources to draw on for ideas. Her interest in rope developed alongside her experience in other kinks, and in this episode, fox and Mya explore some of her more unusual ideas on ‘how to play’. This is a great episode to help enhance your scenes, beginner or advanced, whatever your level. Listen to the discussion to hear about: • Intent in rope bondage, what it means, and making sure both (all) parties’ intents match • Food as a metaphor for scening • Why she doesn’t start negotiations by discussing the type of tie she wants • How intent can help you if you get stuck progressing your scene • The need to be flexible even when you’ve planned our your intent in advance • Rituals, what they are, from the simplest to the most complicated • Her personal rope rituals • Insights into her rope playlists • How you can draw on mindfulness to create deeper, more intense rope scenes • The kind of help she needs to get present to the right topping headspace • ‘Antagonistic’ versus ‘collaborative’ rope, what it is and how it connects to intent • How listeners can use the idea of verbs and nouns in their rope play • Doing rope bondage with your ass! • And so much more <3 Trailblazing educator, sexologist, artist, and irritant to banality, Midori founded Rope Dojo and ForteFemme: Women's Dominance Intensive. She penned the first English instruction book on Shibari, "Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage" in 2001, paving the way to the popularity of rope. Dan Savage calls her the "Super Nova of Kink," while others affectionately call her Auntie Midori for her cool, tell-it-like-it-is, funny, reality-based teaching.  Midori is the Co-Director of Curriculum for Kink Informed Certification, part of Sexual Health Alliance, training therapists and helping professional to provide safe, compassionate, and inclusive service to their clients. She is the recipient of the 2022 Humanitarian Award from the American Association of Sex Educators Therapists & Counselors (AASECT) and 2022 Effing Foundation Grant, along with having honored with a Sainthood by the Sisters of Perpetual indulgence. She is also the author of "Wild Side Sex," "Master Han's Daughter," and "Silk Threads.”  Learn, laugh, and enjoy her special online classes, events, and art at  www.patreon.com/PlanetMidori (this is where she is working on her next shibari book through this site!)

Midori literally ‘wrote the book’ on rope bondage, with the first English instruction manual on Shibari: ‘Seductive Art of Japanese Rope Bondage’. With her first hand perspectives on both American and Japanese rope culture, fox and Mya were able to discuss with her a depth of understanding of Japanese Rope culture that may be at odds with some of the myths out there. Listen to the discussion to hear about: • Midori’s slow burn entry into rope, and where she learned both the skills of making rope (3rd grade!) and tying (a lot later…) • How not to be a culture vampire in Japanese rope bondage • The sex ways of ordinary people and ensuring we don’t erase these • The extent to which rope bondage is actually practised in Japan • A new perspective on the Tengu tie • The themes in her erotic short story in ‘Silk Threads’ • The connection - or not - between Japanese rope and Japanese rope martial arts Trailblazing educator, sexologist, artist, and irritant to banality, Midori founded Rope Dojo and ForteFemme: Women's Dominance Intensive. She penned the first English instruction book on Shibari, "Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage" in 2001, paving the way to the popularity of rope. Dan Savage calls her the "Super Nova of Kink," while others affectionately call her Auntie Midori for her cool, tell-it-like-it-is, funny, reality-based teaching.  Midori is the Co-Director of Curriculum for Kink Informed Certification, part of Sexual Health Alliance, training therapists and helping professional to provide safe, compassionate, and inclusive service to their clients. She is the recipient of the 2022 Humanitarian Award from the American Association of Sex Educators Therapists & Counselors (AASECT) and 2022 Effing Foundation Grant, along with having honored with a Sainthood by the Sisters of Perpetual indulgence. She is also the author of "Wild Side Sex," "Master Han's Daughter," and "Silk Threads.”  Learn, laugh, and enjoy her special online classes, events, and art at  www.patreon.com/PlanetMidori (this is where she is working on her next shibari book through this site!)

In this episode the rope pair Mya and fox speculate on what rope might look like in the future, given some of the technological advances and futurist predications around. They throw ideas around and have a lot of fun with it! Listen now to hear them discuss what these topics might mean for the future of rope bondage: • Extended reality • Medicine • Datification • The Quantified Human • Software • Privacy • Work • Communication • Sustainability • Sex • Material science There’s no way to predict what the future will bring in terms of technological and social advances, but the podcast hosts explored a great variety in terms of the potential of rope to evolve.

The second part of the well-loved favourite episode of ‘rope memories’ from the podcast interviewees this year. Mya and fox love this episode and are excited to share these funny, poignant, explicit and delightful stories with you. Enjoy! The episode includes stories from: HuaHua Graydancer Ropunawa Lief+Icky

Time for one of our favourite episodes of the year - and one you love. Settle down and listen to four of our wonderful guests telling us about their most memorable rope scenes - what inspiration or ideas does it spark for you in your rope practice? The episode includes memories from: Addie Tifereth Marceline VQ Renee Robyn

In this episode, listener Your_Dapper_Dom asks fox and Mya a question about envy and imposter syndrome - something which the rope duo have interestingly differing views about, but both offer an intimate and vulnerable perspective on the topics. Listen now to hear them talk about: • Discussion of envy versus jealousy and how the same emotion word might be interpreted differently by different people • How fox and Mya do and don’t feel envious • The ways each of them try and manage feelings of envy when they arise • More practical techniques everyone can try • What imposter syndrome is • How it relates to rope • Perfectionsm, self-criticism and imposter syndrome links • Some ways to manage or handle feelings of imposter syndrome

Part 2 of our fabulous interview with Graydancer covers all things Ropecast, his incredibly long-running and early podcast all about rope bondage (can you believe it was one of the first 200 podcasts IN EXISTENCE! For perspective the Rope Podcast is now one of 2.4million out there!). Gray is a vivid and detailed storyteller and it’s fascinating to hear about such a core part of rope history. This episode explores: • The origin story of the Ropecast • Building connections in the rope world • Reflected knowledge and fame • Unexpected kindnesses and benefits his podcast was able to bring to rope people • Creating an oral history of the rope scene • ‘Have you seen these episodes?’ a plea from Gray • Dealing with backlash when you’re visible in the community • Some fascinating reflections on how the rope scene and our understanding of rope have changed over time • What he’s creating these days Graydancer got into rope bondage back at the turn of the millenium, when rope was 10 cents a foot. He started a podcast about bondage in 2005, and taught, performed, and organized events around rope until 2019, traveling throughout North America and Europe. In 2007 he organized the first of over 100 rope open-spaces (aka “GRUE”), and in 2016 with the help of friends put on the first “ROPECRAFT” event. He also worked to improve consent practices throughout the community. He is firmly bi-kinky as he loves polished leather just as much as tight rope. Currently he has retired from teaching and organizing kink, enjoying drawing pinups, lettering dirty words, and cigars, boots, and chocolate.