International workshop for rope bottoms - Second Edition

We are delighted to have created this second edition, thanks above all to those who believed in the first event!

The International Rope Bottoming Festival is a dedicated space for those who experience rope from the bottom.
Whether you're just beginning or have years of experience, this weekend is for anyone who wants to deepen their awareness, strengthen communication, explore personal expression, and care for their body in rope.

Throughout the weekend, we’ll work across multiple dimensions: physical, emotional, and relational. You’ll learn how to prepare your body for challenging ties, move with intention, recognize your boundaries, and express them clearly and confidently.

This is an invitation to embrace the depth of bottoming - not as something passive, but as a role rich with presence, responsibility, and creativity.
We'll discuss safety, risk management, and how to care for your joints and body before, during, and after sessions. There will also be time for self-expression and storytelling: how to bring your personality and imagination into your movement, and how to shape a narrative through your body in rope.

There will be space to listen, reflect, ask questions, and share experiences. This is a weekend to step fully into your role, discover new layers, and bring greater depth and authenticity to your rope practice - not just technically, but personally and relationally.

Riggers are welcome to join (the ticket is the same).

Tickets

The ticket includes the aperitif and both days. You can participate in only one of the two yoga days (the class is identical).
When you purchase your ticket, you can choose the day you want to participate in yoga with Debs.

Program

Friday
7.30 p.m.- 22.30 p.m. Bottom talk and appetizer (bring something to eat and drink to share)

Saturday

9.30-11 am yoga* with Debs (The practice is open to all levels - including those who have never practiced before).
11-13.30 class with Gala - The good bottom
13.30-14.30 break
14.30 -15.30 sharing table
15.30 -18 class with Saara Tsuru - Rituals
18-20 round table

Sunday
9.30-11 a.m. yoga* with Debs (The practice is open to all levels - including those who have never practiced before).
11-13.30 class Take care of our body with Claudio
13.30 -14.30 break
14.30 -17 Class with Saara Rei - When Shit Goes Wrong
17-19 round table

* Given the number of participants, yoga classes are divided into two days. You can only participate on one of the two days.

About the class

When Shit Goes Wrong - Saara Rei

Conflict is an inevitable part of human connection - even (and especially) in intimate, vulnerable spaces like rope and kink. Whether tensions arise during a scene, aftercare, or community dynamics, the ability to recognize, navigate, and de-escalate conflict is a critical skill for bottoms, tops, and everyone in between.
In this experiential workshop, Saara Rei draws on their background in mediation to offer accessible tools for recognizing and managing conflict before it becomes destructive. Together, we’ll explore our own core values, how they influence our perceptions of conflict, and how power dynamics, emotional states, and communication styles affect our ability to engage productively.
Through individual reflection, small group exercises, and interactive models, including Glasl’s stages of conflict, functional ego states, and Nonviolent Communication, we will gain greater insight into the internal and external dynamics of disagreement. You’ll also be introduced to the AID feedback model and active listening techniques, culminating in a mock mediation exercise that invites you to apply what you’ve learned.
This workshop is not about avoiding conflict; it’s about building capacity to face it with care, clarity, and consent.

The good bottom - Gala
After more than 5 years in the community, Gala has seen and experienced first-hand the
pressure that is placed upon us—and that we place on ourselves—to be “a good bottom.”
But what does being a good bottom really mean? In this workshop, we will examine the
messaging we have received about what a good bottom is supposed to be, as well as our
own interpretations of the term. We will also talk about insecurities, comparisons and
boundaries (and how to communicate them in a way that feels comfortable for us).

Rituals - Saara Tsuru
How to create the ritualistic session?
Preparations, equipment / tools, clearing the mind, the encounter (first touch)
Energy (dark, playful, erotic…), senses (smell, taste, touch), intuitive approach, body reactions, aftercare.

Take care of our body  - Claudio
This workshop explores how the body responds to rope from a scientific and practical perspective. Participants will learn how tissues such as muscles, fascia, ligaments, and nerves react to tension, how to recognize early signs of overload, and how to prevent injuries before they occur. Through anatomical insights and guided exercises, we will develop strategies that improve resilience, awareness, and long-term physical sustainability in rope play. It is designed for anyone who wants to approach shibari as a conscious, informed, and body-respectful practice.

Educators

Saara Rei is a multidisciplinary performance artist and Kinbaku educator with a lifelong foundation in music, dance, education, and public speaking. Since 2014, she has explored Japanese-inspired rope bondage as a medium for vulnerability, presence, and truth. Known for her surreal, emotionally charged performance style, Saara brings a deeply embodied understanding of rope from her years of experience as both a bottom and a rigger. She is a co-founder of Embodied in Rope, a comprehensive educational project for rope bottoms, and co-host of the podcast Model Behaviour.

Saara Tsuru (Shibaritsuru) is a Finnish shibari/kinbaku artist, performer, and teacher. She lives in the countryside with her family and co-runs Kakumei Kan, a kinbaku studio in the heart of Helsinki. Shibari is her main profession: she teaches workshops, offers private sessions, and performs regularly, taking part in events both in Finland and abroad.
As a rigger, she prioritizes emotional connection over technical complexity, creating a safe space where the model becomes a canvas for authentic expression. Her style is influenced by Naka Akira and the Naka-style lineage. She is a switch: she ties others the way she would like to be tied herself, often incorporating semenawa, ritual, and B*SM elements into her sessions. In her workshops, she teaches fundamentals, safe suspension techniques, and how to build intensity, also guiding models in expressing desires, setting boundaries, and surrendering.
As a model, she explores inner truth: what it means to fully give oneself to another, without acting or performing, and how a model can give back to the rigger beyond the expectations placed upon them.

Gala Kinshinawa is a rope switch from Barcelona with more than 5 years of experience. Although she has learned both as rigger and bottom from teachers in the international scene who are mainly focused on the dissemination of Semenawa, she continues to discover her own style, a mixture of darkness, strength, delicacy, eroticism, closeness, power and more primary instincts.
As bottom she prioritizes an active and conscious role in ropes although she doesn’t believe in the modification of the body to achieve more extreme positions (as that’s not the purpose of shibari for her). Body awareness and presence of mind are also a must for her, both to find comfort within discomfort and, at the same time, expand discomfort once comfort is found. She also believes that every bottom (and rigger) should find their own voice in ropes.
Gala is an international rope teacher and performer both as bottom and rigger and also as self-suspender. She co-runs Shizen Studio Barcelona and is also one half of the Fem Ropes Getaway team.

Deborah has been practicing Hatha Yoga since 2014, a discipline that for her has become much more than physical exercise — it’s a space to listen, accept, and grow. A certified teacher and AICS member for Hatha Yoga, postural gymnastics, and hypopressive exercises, she has explored various styles — including Ananda, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Acro, Yin, and Nidra — weaving their influences into her practice and teaching.
Deborah has taught in many different settings, convinced that yoga doesn’t need a perfect space, only presence. Her classes are open to everyone, because yoga isn’t about performance but about taking time to breathe, feel the body, welcome emotions, and soften the mind.

Claudio Morandini is a Physiotherapist, sexology consultant, and university lecturer. Specialized in pelvic floor rehabilitation and the physiotherapeutic treatment of issues related to the practice of shibari. I provide clinical care, sexological consulting, and scientific outreach. I am involved in academic and professional training with an inclusive, evidence-based approach that is mindful of the complex relationships between body, pleasure, and function.

HOST: Marta Tenshiko, with 17 years in classical dance and theater, brings deep sensitivity to the body and nonverbal language in her kinbaku practice. She began bondage in 2011, founded Kiri Nawa Kai in 2016, and opened Yugen Studio in 2020. Since 2023, she also works as a sex educator, integrating body awareness, communication, and relationships.
Active as both bottom and rigger, Marta values attention, presence, and exploration. She teaches mainly in Europe and, in recent years, has led workshops in South America, the USA, and Australia, sharing a vision of kinbaku as an intense, conscious, and deeply human practice.