BOTTOMING FOR SEMENAWA

a 2-day workshop by Natasha NawaTaNeko and Saara Rei

“In his thinking, seme is never just pain or pain for pain’s sake. It is suffering and endurance for a purpose and as much a mental state as a physical one. The question we need ask as a top is not just “what is she feeling?” but also “In what state is her mind when she feels it?”

- Yukimura, Kinbaku Today

There are many workshops where the discussion and exercises focus on how the rigger can practice semenawa. This is a workshop where the discussion and exercises focus on how the bottom can practice semenawa. We will combine somatic bodywork practices with practical, hands-on tying exercises, where the rigger and the bottom will work together to reach a "semenawa state of mind." While every exercise will focus on the experience of the bottom, with the aid of the rigger, there will still be a lot to learn for the rigger as well, as kinbaku is a practice of relating to and understanding each other - when one half grows, the whole will grow... and in that sense, it is impossible to truly separate the learnings of each role from one another. What we attempt to do here in this workshop is to simply shift the focus to the bottom’s practice.

Semenawa can be seen and experienced in many ways, as the meaning of the word "seme" is multifacited and contextual. Semenawa is generally associated with torturous, challenging rope bondage. In this workshop, we will focus on both physical and emotional techniques that can be particularly useful when practicing semenawa, as well as in meeting challenges in our everyday lives! We will combine somatic bodywork practices and theory with tying exercies in order to build a base of understanding within what we are doing: rope bondage. The first day will focus more on practical techiniques and limits, and the second day will focus more on power dynamics and emotional work.

Who is this workshop for?

It is important that models who are interested in attending this workshop come with a rigger that they have tied with before and are interested in working with this person in the future. This workshop is an investment in each other and an opportunity to deepen your understanding of how you tie together. It is important that both the rigger and the model have experience in doing suspensions together. Experience in semenawa, or tying styles that are associated to semenawa (such as Naka-ryu or Kanna-ryu, for example), are not necessary for either party. You are welcome to attend, even if you have never heard of the word “semenawa” before.

About the Developers of this workshop:

Saara Rei is a workshop facilitator and performance artist with a background in music, dance, education, and public speaking. Saara's work generally centers around the exploration of suffering, both physical and emotional. Through their kink practice, Saara has come to understand that suffering comes from the comparison of what has been or could be to the present moment. And with that, Saara enjoys teaching about how to use suffering as a path to presence and enjoyment in life.

Natasha NawaTaNeko is a Russian born, Berlin based experienced rope bottom and author of the recent book “Somatics for Rope Bottoms”. In Kinbaku, she is looking for true emotions and authenticity and sees rope bondage as deeply intimate and erotic practice that has also a profound transformational potential. Natasha keeps exploring her own resistance and surrender in ropes of her partner Alexander NawaRonin ever since 2011.

While Natasha loves to teach on the subject of rope bottoming, she is not a huge fan of public speaking and the format of workshop facilitation - thus, she has agreed along with Saara that she will pursue other mediums of spreading such knowledge (such as her book and her blog) while Saara carries on their work via workshop facilitation.

This edition of this workshop will be assisted by experienced rope model Fittglitter.

Fittglitter is a performer, workshop facilitator and organizer with a background in psychology with a flair for questioning the concept or authorities and educational systems. They value the aspect of subjective teaching, based on your own exploration and kink practice but in the way of it inviting others to come to their own conclusions regarding their practice rather than concluding one thing being better or more right than another.

Firtglitters general approach in workshops centers around emotional and physical awareness, modulus of thinking about risks, desires, agency, community, social constructs and exploration.
Their experience in learning ropes from both the top and bottom perspective have brought a complex and creative way of understanding and holding space for emotions and aspects of the amazing complexity of desires and difficult emotions.