Attending the getting started course was a great experience it gave me the seriousness of safety and also the excitement to want to get started. Dan is a very good teacher who takes his work seriously while still maintaining a safe and fun learning environment. I attended the lab directly after and while nervous to look bad quickly was given very good direction and encouragement by the T.A.’s and Dan. By the end of the Lab I had learned 3 ties and was confident and excited for more. Not to mention the amazing intimate experience with my bottom that left me in a euphoria the rest of the day.

The most important class you can take will be the intro to rope course everybody takes when starting with ATUSD. It is the most comprehensive and direct course not just on how to safely start playing with rope but how to engage in the kink world, how to express and articulate your boundaries, and consent. I honestly believe just the consent section should be taught at every school, college etc.

This next section includes a story and how the ATUSD clases and experiences helped me.

I really appreciate how at the play parties at ATUSD they were sober events and the music wasn’t too loud. It has been burned into me that kink and play should only be done in a sober environment with sober participants and that was extremely helpful.

This past summer I checked out a swing club with a dungeon on the east coast and because I went and took classes at ATUSD, I felt much more comfortable with my boundaries and pushing back against people who tried to convince me to cross them. It was a drinking event, and I was not sober so when a few people asked if I wanted to engage in impact play I declined because of the rules I learned at ATUSD. I felt more confident expressing my boundaries because of the lessons and experiences I had at ATUSD. Honestly the swing club scene isn’t for me, consent rules were not nearly as strictly followed as they are at BDSM only spaces. If I didn’t have my experiences at ATUSD, I would not have been able to articulate and hold steady to my boundaries. I probably would’ve been like “yeah I’m up for anything” just to seem not difficult and go way past my boundaries and comfort level just to fit in. If you made it to the end of this long review I hope it helped and that you enjoy your rope kink and bdsm journey!

As someone new to the community and rope bondage this class was very informative. Safety being a priority not only in ties but choosing your rigger and vetting each other. highly recommend to ropesters new and experienced.

I have been to many different rope groups and educational events over the last 8 years. The ATU team is the best of the best. They work hard to create a safe and fun learning environment for all skill levels. I highly recommend getting involved whether you have a partner or not!

Videos were easy to watch and understand the material of the class was very good

Love Dan as a teacher! This class has been so much more than some tutorials on how to tie. Dan really goes over in details about how to creat connection and communication. The homework materials are outstanding! I felt so much more connected to my partner than I ever have before and I’ve been tying with them for a few years. I developed more of a voice in this course. There was several times I needed that little extra guidance and Dan always came through. This class is a must. Beyond any expectations I had and well worth the price.

I never considered myself to be an artist, but when I touch my partners skin and weave rope around her body using the techniques used from these classes, it can only be described as, well…art. Beautiful, sensual, intimate art. She lends me her power so that I can take control over her body & mind. Then, when we have both reached our desired intent, I can return them to her once again, unharmed and only the temporary rope marks left on her body that she wears like a badge of honor that shows her the artful expressions that my hands portray. I love my new skill, and so does she.

Having online classes was great!

One of my only complaints about the in-person classes was that depending where you were in the room it was hard to always see what was being shown. This was of course not a problem with the online classes and the added bonus of being able to pause, rewind, and watch videos over really expedited the learning process and helped immensely. Having homework and access at all times to the content also kept us accountable to practicing regularly and the off week between classes was a guaranteed time to do it if the rest of the week and weekend was busy.

The obvious draw back is the lack of meeting in person – it’s really nice to have teacher or TA attention while trying to learn new ties who can correct any issues right away. And of course better human connection. However the set up of the online course is spectacular and does a pretty good job of easing those draw backs. Dan gives great feedback on submissions and would cover any common mistakes noticed across submissions in the following week’s class with examples,discuss corrections, etc. We still had group interaction via the zoom classes though and early assignments had us partner with others in the group so we still got to interact and get to know other students. The platform is also very user friendly – it was easy to move through, track your progress, and see what you still need to complete.

Sue and I were in the infancy of our rope/BDSM journey when the COVID19 pandemic began.

We were members of All Tied Up San Diego and had completed the introduction and safety classes where we learned the dangers of rope and how to mitigate those dangers through education and practice. We thought our journey had been put on hold. We were cautiously optimistic when ATUSD began offering online classes for vetting partners, negotiation of boundaries, and consent. These three pillars of BDSM were absolutely necessary to understand and embrace as participation in Rope/BDSM without them exposed everyone involved to significant permanent risk that would end the journey and could have lasting impact beyond Rope. We felt we had hit a dead-end.

Thanks to Dan and ATUSD we were able to safely continue our journey. ATUSD created a path forward through online classes. We attended the 101 and 201 classes. Dan evolved his knowledge and delivery method from in-person hands-on instruction to a hybrid approach using live Zoom lectures and feedback sessions with video instruction and offline practice. He developed a platform that allowed critique and feedback and kept himself available for coaching through the digital platforms like Slack The results were amazing.

We completed the two courses and our journey. We enjoyed the experience and learned what we needed to know.

Looking back it’s easy to see how we learned the skills and techniques while building confidence in our ability and respect for what we didn’t know.

The small group activities helped introduce us to some of the wonderful and surprising people in BDSM. Sharing progress and our mistakes with the class members expanded our understanding and confidence allowing us to enjoy our progress.

The highlight of the two courses was creating a scene using everything we learned to enact a fantasy situation. It was fantastic and relationship altering to complete the assignment by planning, documenting, and performing the scene. It boosted our confidence and opened the door to a whole new way to stay sexually connected after more than 50 years of marriage.

Yes, we’re “old” but you wouldn’t know it by watching our scene.

So far it’s been a wonderful journey with no end in sight. We look forward to continuing our education and journey through the classes offered by Dan and ATUSD. If you attend a class you may run into us. We’ll be the old couple with smiles on our faces playing with rope.

This was an excellent course building on the foundations set in the 101 and introductory classes. Not only were the “hard” skills of rope taught and reviewed but also the ever important “soft” skills involving partner communication and headspace. We had a lot of fun and personal and partner growth throughout this course. In the absence of in person instruction during the pandemic this course afforded us the luxury of participating in the rope community, getting personal and group feedback on our ties, and continuing along our rope journey.