The Red Dirt Report
Rachel and her boyfriend went in June 2015 to see the of the movie 50 Shades of Grey, and after discussing the ideas of role-playing, the couple decided to explore the fetish fantasized on the big screen.
This would prove to be the worst night of Rachel’s young life. Later that night, Rachel was rushed to the emergency room because of suffocation and severe rope burns applied to her wrists, ankles and neck. She would make a full recovery, but her friend Will Brown from Yukon wouldn’t.
The near-tragedy led Brown to learn the proper way of tying people up and is now spreading the word about Shibari, a martial art of restraining captives that has found new life in the world of bondage play.
He doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt in the pursuit of passion and now helps educate other Oklahomans on the ancient Japanese art of Shibari.
BDSM BOOM
In the heat of a lusty June in 2011, a British author published her first erotica book meant for a trilogy. An over-glorified fan-fiction of Twilight with more sex packed from each end of the book, the book had women flocking to the bookstores to explore the more explicit nature of their own bedrooms.
E.L. James brought the sexual fetish of BDSM – short for Bondage, Dominance, Submission, and Masochism- to the forefront of modern culture.
In the book, the male character of Christian Grey would play out sexual fantasies with his fictional counterpart, Anastasia Steele. Upon reading these books, the ideas of role-playing with dominance and bondage on the brain would come to life in the walls of many bedrooms across the world.
After finding out that Rachel’s boyfriend had used some coarse rope that he found at the back of his truck in the middle of the country, Brown vowed that this would never happen again to another couple. With that vow in mind, Brown began to teach himself about the art of Shibari.
“The origin of Shibari comes from Hojo-Jutsu, the martial art of restraining captives,” the article reads. “In Japan from 1400 to 1700, while the local police and Samurai used Hojo-Jutsu as a form of imprisonment and torture, the honor of these ancient Samurai warriors required them to treat their prisoners well…showing the honor and status of their captured prisoner.”
According to the website, in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s, a new form of erotic Hojo-Jutsu evolved, called Kinbaku, the art of erotic bondage. Today, particularly in the west, the art of erotic bondage is typically called Shibari, which is an art of erotic spirituality, not a martial art.
“The aesthetic arrangement of ropes and knots on the model’s body in Shibari rigging emphasizes characteristics like sensuality, vulnerability, and also strength,” the article reads.
“The positioning of knots in appropriate places stimulates pressure points on the body, very similar to acupuncture techniques and Shiatsu, a form of Japanese massage. Some believe a Shibari experience also stimulates Ki energy flow and transfer.
Brown said when he decided to educate himself and others, he was asked if he would charge people for his services
“No, this is simply to educate people and make sure that nobody got hurt,” he said. “It’s a free service and I’m not going to charge anyone for it. I do accept tips but I’m not out here trying to make money off of this.”
Brown saw the trend beginning to form in the public conscious and decided to become more educated in the lifestyle.
“This was pretty much self-taught,” Brown said. “Between guides on tying knots and theater, a lot of the rigging I do is stagecraft.”
Having a background in theater, he knew how to work with different styles of knots and ropes. Specifically, he knew which ones would induce the most pleasure without inflicting lasting pain.
Eventually, Brown found himself buying upwards to 50 yards of rope at a time and experimenting on himself to see what would work and what would end up failing or constricting.
“A lot of this stuff that I know now is through self-experimentation,” Brown said. “There’s nobody, as far as I know anywhere near here, that teaches a class on how to tie a person up without hurting them.” …