EVENTS – ARCHIVE
BEATE ABSALON: FAKE THERAPY & POLITICAL THERAPY
Beata Absalon introduces this practice of open-source problem-solving, devised by artist Valentina Desideri. The roles of therapist and patient are interchangeable. No solution or cure is intended. The sessions are for those who do not need or want to be “fixed.” By playing with the therapeutic setup, we will rethink the concept of (self-)care. Instead of hastily labeling problems as such, we will first observe them with curiosity, without judgment, and with goodwill—as potential to unfold unexpected thoughts and images through touch and conversation.
SAYING NO
Saying "no" isn't always easy—but it's necessary. Whether at work or in personal relationships, those who have learned to say "yes" out of (misplaced) politeness will eventually end up hurting themselves and others. Overwhelm, bitterness, and poor performance follow, or people resort to false solutions like excuses and “ghosting,” which damage self-esteem and relationships even more in the long run. In this workshop, we’ll explore our discomfort with saying no in a non-judgmental, curious atmosphere. We’ll discover where our healthy boundaries lie and learn to assert them confidently…
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S – with a Beginner's Introduction
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
ON FLOGGING & OTHER IMPACT PLAY
This workshop offers an introduction to flogging and other forms of impact play, in which we explore not only techniques and safety considerations but also the physical and emotional processes experienced by both the giver and the receiver, as well as the relationship between pain and pleasure. We sharpen our awareness of the dynamic connections that flogging and impact play create between body and mind and among the participants. Body awareness and spatial perception, movement and rhythm, impulse and resonance, breathing and presence—we examine the play from diverse perspectives, thereby creating the opportunity to shape a flogging session into a dance-like or meditative ritual that goes beyond mere striking.
A WAX MEDITATION
Calm and vibration, silence and sound, coolness and heat… We discover the art of working with candle wax as a meditative experience, both in giving and in receiving. We begin by attuning our bodies and minds, heightening our awareness, and opening ourselves up to the experience. Finally, we create a ritual together, taking plenty of time for this intense experience—with plenty of calm and plenty of wax!
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SIHL13 – with a Newbie Intro
sihl13 is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who’d like to tie up others, exchange ideas, or simply watch and gain some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares much in common with dance, yoga, and meditation; it has a performative and touching aesthetic…
SHIBARI BASICS – FLOORWORK
This workshop focuses on the fundamentals of Japanese-style rope bondage. In addition to basic and improvisational techniques, classic patterns, and various safety considerations, we will also explore body awareness and posture, as well as interaction and communication between partners. In doing so, we discover how the binder and the bound can shape their encounter in diverse ways—through a trusting interplay of power and submission, empathetic communication and mutual devotion, and deep connection and intensity. Shibari, or Kinbaku, as Japanese rope bondage is also known…
SHIBARI BASICS – INTRODUCTORY DAY
Rope Bondage for Beginners. On this day, we’ll provide an easy and playful introduction for beginners, as well as a refresher for those who have already taken a beginner’s course and want to brush up on their skills. The focus will be on the basics of Japanese-style rope bondage.
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
HAPTOLOGY - EXPLORATIONS OF TOUCH, INTENTION & INNER ATTITUDE
Can you feel me? Can you sense me? – The tactile and haptic sensibility of our bodies keeps us in a tangible connection with our surroundings—and with ourselves—throughout our lives and without interruption. Touch is essential, vital, and fundamental to who we are and what we are, and to how we encounter the world and other beings within it. Yet as central as it is to our identity and our coexistence with other people, in our everyday consciousness it usually appears more as a necessity—to achieve a goal, fulfill a formality, or bring about a result.
(AN)OTHER ORGY – FOR WOMEN, NONBINARY, TRANS, INTER, AND AGENDER PEOPLE
An orgy! So shrouded in legend, yet so simply beautiful—or perhaps downright crude. In any case, countless hazy notions of what an orgy might be swirl through our cultural unconscious. It’s no wonder it’s on so many people’s bucket list, but making it a reality isn’t all that easy. Wait no longer! Our three-day…
QUEER BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – Bondage Without Ropes – Featuring a Newbie Intro
Rope Bunnies, have you ever found yourself without a rope when you really wanted to be tied up? Riggers, has a Bunny ever been so defiant that you just couldn’t tie them up with rope, no matter how hard you tried? Have you ever been on the bus, at Migros, or somewhere in public and wanted to tie someone up somehow? Join us for the first 20 minutes after the jam starts to explore “tying without rope.” We’ll experiment with using our bodies to move and immobilize our partner, to give nonverbal signals, to control, restrict, and create sweet, precarious “bindings.” After this introduction, tying up with or without rope is welcome 😉
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LOVER***: II – CONTEXTS
The exact same thing can be fun and exciting one moment, and annoying and irritating the next. That’s why following great sex tips won’t help if the lights are too bright, the background noise is too loud, or if your partner is still stressed from work. That’s why it’s worth paying more attention to creating a cozy atmosphere—one in which your bodies feel safe and comfortable.
HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LOVER***: I – DETAILS
The devil is in the details. We can book as many tantra courses as we want, read as many sex tips as we want, and work out our bodies as much as we want, but in the end, lovemaking can still fall flat if we miss out on the tiny, simple pleasures. Focusing on grand spectacles—like perfect bondage skills or guaranteed squirting—can sometimes actually distract from intimacy and serve as a way to hide behind.
WINTA JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S – with a Newbie Intro
Rope Bondage is for everyone! However, this has not necessarily been the case with our usual Bondage Jam, because often things are quite conventional and heteronormative - and that does not fit for everyone.Therefore, there is now the WINTA BONDAGE JAM!WINTA stands for "Woman, Inter, Nonbinary, Trans, Agender" and this special Jam is primarily about creating a space where people who identify as WINTA can simply be among themselves. So basically it's very simple: people who don't see themselves as WINTA , please stay away from the event.
TANTRA – WITH A PINCH OF SALT – RETREAT IN SPAIN
What we call “tantric massage” in the modern West deserves to be dusted off and decluttered so it can shine with fresh brilliance. Because we want those luxuriously long, deep, sensually oily, warm caresses and the orgasmic sensations throughout the entire body—without the simplistic talk of male and female “energies.” We want to bathe in radically tender joy, to be touched with full presence in a held space…
BONDAGE JAM ZURICH – SHIBARI AT SERRAT(U)S
serrat(u)s bodywork is opening its doors to the Shibari community. Anyone who feels like tying up with others, exchanging ideas, or simply watching and gaining some initial experience is warmly invited! The Japanese art of bondage is a fascinating physical practice that offers a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Shibari shares many similarities with dance, yoga, and meditation, and possesses a performative and touching aesthetic…
SAARA REI: MOVEMENT, SOUND & ROPE
If we think of Japanese-inspired rope bondage as a way to interact and move with another person—a way of dancing with them—then we can also consider how sound can influence the way we tie and are tied. How does music affect a session? How does it influence our movements and emotional state? And how do the sounds we make affect the reactions of the person we are tying with? Our movements and emotional state can be deeply influenced by sound. I am sure many have experienced music that makes them feel, dance, and act in certain ways depending on the rhythm, tempo, lyrics, tone, and pitch. As well, sound and music can…
SAARA REI: ROPE BOTTOMING – DEVELOPING A PRACTICE
Being in bondage can be an incredibly intense experience. The range of sensations and emotions that can be felt is limitless and often constantly shifting throughout the experience of being tied. Processing, managing, and allowing these sensations and emotions requires a continuous, real-time assessment of what we are feeling, and whether or not we can accept the situation we are in. We need to be able to relinquish control while simultaneously maintaining absolute awareness so that we can react appropriately and responsibly. Achieving this level of balance is no easy task, and it is precisely what we hope to develop through practice during this…
SAARA REI: HUMILIATION & SHAME PLAY
The Latin root of “humiliation” is “humus,” which translates as “earth” or “dirt.” Humiliation is the public failure of one’s claims to status. In private, such feelings amount not to humiliation but to painful self-realizations, such as embarrassment. Humiliation is not necessarily shameful. For instance, one could argue that Jesus was crucified and this humiliated him, but that he did not feel shame (or so I was told; I was not there). Shame, on the other hand, is a sort of subset of humiliation; it is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the awareness…

