Join the
Somatic Rope Lab
A 5-week cohort to create rope scenes that go deeper.
Fridays, 7-10pm. Jan 8 - Feb 5, 2027
Alchemy House, Oakland | limited to 24 participants
Program Overview
You know how to tie. But how do you make your rope scenes feel different?
You want to go deeper, but sometimes you get caught in your head. You want to feel more, but you're not sure how to get there. You want to surrender without disappearing, lead without having to know everything, and create the kind of connection that stays with you long after the ropes come off.
This is the class for you. Welcome to the somatic rope lab, a five-week experiential cohort for rope practitioners who want to deepen their connection to their bodies, their partners, and the possibilities of rope.
This class welcomes both solo practitioners and partnered pairs. The content will speak to both top and bottom roles.
Together, we'll explore how to use rope not just to create shapes or sensations, but to cultivate presence, emotional depth, authentic expression, and intimacy with others. Through embodied practices, technical skill-building, partnered exercises, and group experimentation, you'll develop new ways to listen, communicate, and respond in a rope scene.
IS THIS FOR YOU?
The Somatic Rope Lab is designed for beginner to intermediate rope practitioners who want to deepen their rope practice, develop new skills in embodiment and intimacy, and find a dedicated community to learn and experiment with in authentic connection.
For Tops
You want to:
Build confidence and feel more fluid in your tying.
Feel less pressure to perform or know exactly what to do.
Stay present with your partner instead of getting stuck in your head trying to remember the next tie.
Develop more comfort with responding to your partner in the moment.
Improve your attunement and learn to read your partner's body and experience.
Explore more playful, creative, and dynamic power exchange while feeling comfortable and confident navigating it.
For Bottoms
You want to:
Explore the emotional, sensual, and somatic dimensions of rope beyond technical tying.
Better understand your body, nervous system, and the differences between sensation, discomfort, pain, and emotional intensity.
Develop the confidence to ask for what you want, change your mind, and communicate your limits.
Feel like an active participant in shaping a scene, rather than a passive recipient of someone else's tying.
Experience rope scenes that feel more raw, connected, and true to your desires.
THE FIVE-WEEK JOURNEY
The cohort is built around weekly 3-hour in-person sessions. Each week, we'll explore a different dimension of the rope experience. Each module builds on the previous one, developing our individual and collective capacity for safety, connection, and play.
1. ROPE AS A TOOL FOR CONNECTION
Learn the foundational knots, ties, and superpowers of rope as a tool for connection. We'll explore how rope can create sensation and containment, how breath and pacing shape the experience, and how to use rope intentionally to cultivate connection. We'll also review safety, negotiation, and the practical tools you need to build your rope practice.
2. ALL ABOUT THE BODY
Your body contains your life force energy, and it is the vehicle through which you experience life. In this class, we'll explore the what and why of embodiment, introduce concepts around the mind-body connection, and practice noticing the sensations, patterns, and positions of our own bodies.
We'll also explore proximity, positioning, body shapes, and rope mechanics as ways of relating to another body. How does the way we position ourselves affect what we feel? What becomes possible when we pay closer attention to our own bodies and the bodies we're with?
3. FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS
One of the superpowers of rope bondage is its ability to facilitate or provoke emotional experiences through embodiment. One way to work with this is by understanding the nervous system, attuning to the state of the person being tied, and learning how to support presence and regulation.
We'll explore how body sensations can communicate emotional experiences, practice mapping our own and our partner's states, and experiment with different approaches to modulating the nervous system experience through rope. How can we recognize what's happening in ourselves and others, and respond with greater awareness and care?
4. PLAYING WITH POWER
Polarity is one of the fundamental principles of life. Like yin and yang, rope offers a direct experience of giving and receiving, leading and following, dominance and submission. This class will explore how both ends of the spectrum can be powerful states to embody, and how our relationship to power shapes the experiences we create.
We'll center our exploration on negotiation, boundaries, and limits, deepening our understanding of responsibility and care. Through the Wheel of Consent and embodied practices, we'll explore different modes of dominance and submission, and what it means to inhabit these roles with intention, agency, and awareness.
5. EMBODYING INTIMACY
What does it look like to be more truthful in your rope play?
In this class, we'll explore how we can meet one another with more honest vulnerability: speaking and going after our raw desires, witnessing and holding another's emotions, and risking the possibility of rejection or disappointment. What happens when we allow ourselves to be seen more fully, rather than performing what we think we're supposed to be?
Combining everything we’ve learned so far, we’ll culminate in structured time to play out rope scenes that meet our deeper desires. We’ll practice attunement, embodiment, and nonverbal communication to create more authentic connection in rope. We'll express ourselves, listen to one another, and practice taking relational risks within the bounds of our boundaries and capacity.
EMBODIED, PARTICIPATORY, AND RELATIONAL GROUP WORK
The Somatic Rope Lab is an interactive, participatory learning environment. We'll have dedicated time for individual reflection, partnered exercises, and group experimentation.
Throughout the five weeks, you'll be invited to switch roles, practice with different people, and explore new and existing dynamics. If you arrive with an established partner, there will be opportunities to work with other participants as part of the learning experience as well as moments to deepen with the partner you came with.
You are encouraged to bring a partner to class, whether a friend, study partner, or more. Solo applications are also welcome, but we will be accepting solo applicants on a rolling basis based on role balance (top/bottom/switch) to ensure there is a healthy balance of partners in the room to work with. We'll do our best to create a group with a balanced range of interests and compatible practice partners.
All exercises will be held within the boundaries of the class container, with clear intentions and respect for individual consent and limits. You remain responsible for communicating your boundaries, choosing your level of participation, and repairing relationships when needed.
PROGRAM DETAILS
5 weekly sessions
Fridays, 7–10 PM
January 8 – February 5, 2027
Alchemy House, Oakland
1 mile from Lake Merritt
Capacity: 24 participants
PRE-REQUISITES
MATERIALS
We recommend having a starter kit of at least three ropes per person. Jute rope is recommended and is the material we'll primarily be working with for this material.
Don't have your own rope yet? Loaner rope will be available, so you can still participate while building your own kit. You can also purchase fresh jute in class.
ATTENDANCE
Because each week builds on the previous one, participants are expected to attend all five sessions.
If you need to miss one session, you'll receive a complimentary ticket to the next Bound to Rise event so you can continue practicing and connecting with the rope community.
INVESTMENT
The cost for this program is not only the rope and embodiment education—it includes the curation of a group field and the setting of a container with dedicated people to grow with over time.
Individual registration — $300
Solo applicants are accepted on a rolling basis based on role balance (top/bottom/switch) to ensure there is a healthy balance of partners in the room to work with. We'll do our best to create a group with a balanced range of interests and compatible practice partners.
Couples registration — $550
The couple rate covers two people registering together.
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