A Few Gestalta Related Notes



This blog has moved house...

You can now read it all over at http://gestalta.co.uk/blog

^_^

Saturday 25 July 2015

August Shibari Workshops…


Hello there,
I’m going to be teaching in London quite a bit this August, so if anyone’s interested in tuition – now’s the time!

Strappado & Self Suspension workshops

Firstly, I’m teaching 2 workshops organised for by Anatomie Studios on 8th and 9th August; my strappado workshop, which I’ve been teaching quite a bit in the last year, and a new self suspension workshop, which I’ll be teaching for the first time!
The tickets have only been on sale a couple of days, but they’re already almost sold out!  So hurry if you want to come… the links are below:
Strappado class on 8th August: http://ift.tt/1GOJFQl
Self suspension class on 9th August: http://ift.tt/1D1JMNx
There is also an option to buy one ticket covering both events!

Beginners

I’ve also had a lot of requests about teaching beginners classes – and as a result I’ve decided to organise a small group workshop myself.

I will be running this as an all day workshop in London on Sunday 16th August, for the absolute bargain price of only £50!

The course plan that I use during my beginners workshops is below; if anyone has any questions, or would like to buy a ticket… just let me know on gestalta22@gmail.com!

Part 1.

This workshop is aimed at people who have no experience of shibari and aims to give a comprehensive overview of the basics, whilst also explaining the reasons and principles behind the things I’m teaching.  I aim to give you an introduction to some of the most fundamental knots and frictions used in shibari, and also to help you begin thinking about the importance of ‘flow’ when tying as I believe that working on this right from the beginning of your bondage journey will help you to progress later on.

I will explain some of the most common safety concerns within bondage, and how to communicate about this effectively with your partner.

For those that are interested, I’ll talk a little about the origins of shibari in Japan, and it’s development through to it’s present day form – and will explain a bit about the differences between types of rope and which to choose.

The ties in this course and ‘beginners 2′ are chosen both because it’s important to learn these ties in themselves, but also because they’re great tools for explaining the principles of bondage, rather than just learning to copy and follow a useless pattern.

The ties we’ll focus on are:
– single column tie: I cover three variations of this tie within the workshop, in order to help explain the principle, however we will only be focusing on tying one of them.
– ‘quick release’ tie
– double column tie
– creating ‘ladders’

Part 2.

I continue to work on the idea of ‘flow’ when tying and in addition I will explain how to choose a good tension to tie with.

– Brief refresh of the ties from ‘Beginners 1′: single / double column, quick release, ladders.
– Hojo wraps.
– Simplified Gote, or ‘box tie’.
– I will also demonstrate different ways of putting together elements covered during the parts of the beginners course to create other useful ties, such as the shinju (another form of munenawa), tying the hands behind the head or to the legs, the futomomo (leg tie) etc.
– time permitting: basic introduction to hip harnesses.

via Gestalta http://ift.tt/1GOJFQq

Tuesday 14 July 2015

A new home for Schwelle 7…


For those of you that aren’t aware of it, Schwelle 7 is a community venue based in Berlin that hosts a mix of creative workshops, social events, and performances – it’s been one of the major centres in Europe for experimenting with a mix of arts, dance, eroticism, human interaction and… well, really anything else you can think of.

Schwelle is a place that I’ve enjoyed visiting many times over the last few years… it’s a fantastic space for personal growth; it’s supportive, challenging, educational and inspiring all in one go.  It’s a place where you can meet the whole world in one room, hosting a truly international community of visitors on a regular basis, whilst still managing to maintain a strong community of local people.

Anyone whose spent any time there will testify to the fact that it’s existence is invaluable… and magical!

Unfortunately it’s loosing it’s current space at the end of this year, and as a result is seeking funds to buy a new venue via an online crowd funding page, linked below, along with a video message from the founder of Schwelle 7.

Even if you’ve never been there before, if you believe that the last thing the world needs is to loose another truly unique art and community space, I would ask you to take a look – and if you are able to donate, do so (there are wonderful rewards for donations offered by members of Schwelle’s fantastic community)… and even if you’re not able to then please share this!

Thank you for reading!!

Link to the crowdfunding page: http://ift.tt/1DdjSkD

via Gestalta http://ift.tt/1CCZE8P