It may be a bissextile year, and even if it’s not, let’s take a final day at the end of the process to do a retrospective of the time that has passed, and how we want to approach the future.

If you have reached this point, you’ve tied a lot. The spark of your passion has grown into a bright fire. What rope play means to you now may be different from when you started. New loves are born, new skills are acquired, new boundaries become known, this is the beauty of learning, practicing and exploring. The discoveries you made are precious.

From there, there are many ways in which you can share your passion for the craft. Take this final day to try one, or many:

  • Teaching – either with a single friend or a group, show someone else something you have practiced and mastered, or something of your own creation.
  • Tutorial – Create text, pictures or videos to show the world your favourite trick.
  • Photography – Either by yourself, or partnered with a photographer, capture the essence of your rope work and share it with the world.
  • Performance – Create a story with rope, and make a show of it, on a stage, or filmed to share with an audience of your choosing.
  • Life drawing – Volunteer to tie and be captured by people drawing in life drawing groups.
  • Get involved in the community – There are many ways to be involved in the community and share your passion, ask around and experiment.

Making a display of our creation forces us to get even better. One needs a deep understanding of something to be able to explain it with words. Looking at pictures or videos or our ties allows us to see things we may not notice during the process of tying. This is the very purpose of this challenge.

As we open ourselves to share our passion for rope, always remember that we are forever students of our craft. The more we open up, the more we need to constantly challenge ourselves to do better. Like a friend once told me “You are too old to teach when you are too old to learn” (naughtysocks)

What’s next?

A full year of challenge is complete, and many questions arise. What have you mastered? What do you want to learn next? What do you want to create now?

Look back at the different activities, which one do you want to explore again? What would you do differently? Don’t be afraid to go back to where it started, there is something amazingly powerful in looking at the basics from a more knowledgeable perspective.

Doing a retrospective of your adventures so far will bring the answers and questions you may need to continue your journey. Take the time to look at your desires and fears. How your risk profile and boundaries have been shaped by different experiences. What is different from when you started? What style defines your craft now?

The rope365 program doesn’t stop here for sure, there are many concepts we haven’t got the chance to tap into yet. Looking into the possibilities of using a hardpoint for even more body positions, more playful techniques or exploring higher risk profile activities could be what will come next. The strong foundations built in this first year is essential before venturing into a more difficult and dangerous path.

You may decide to be content with the tool you have so far, or thrilled to continue your journey with more complex techniques. The possibilities of rope are infinite, this is just a start.

Inspirations and Resources

 

Let’s continue with Resources

 

Or return to Winter for more options.

Credit: Banner M: FaustineB M/R: Ebi McKnotty P: AlexK7