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.

I took my 1st in-person Rope 101 class w Dan in 8/19. Since then I have taken 3 more on line courses. Although the in-person instruction was a great way to meet like minded people and connect w others it did not offer the luxury of having a recorded class to re-watch and thoroughly learn the material presented for each class.

Dan also makes himself available every day to answer questions and review our recorded ties we submit. I have found this to be especially helpful to my beginning rope top who knew zero about tying other than his shoes. As a result of being able to review the class material, he is now on his way to learning how to tie some basic ties and we have had alot more fun during our play time. I would recommend taking an on line rope class w Dan if you want to learn how to tie safely or if you are a bottom and want to learn what to look for in a potential rope top..It’s all covered in the 101 class! 😊👍

I am so lucky to have started my rope journey with Dan and Renee at ATU. It really is the best place to learn about rope. They are passionate about what they teach, and truly care about the safety of all of their students. The ATU community is supportive and I have made so many friends along my journey, and have had SO much fun in their classes! I recommend ATU to all my friends that are interested in rope. You will not regret it.

The course was well put together, you could tell alot of time went into planning the curriculum. Getting interaction with the instructor and other students via zoom created a comforting sense of community as you go through the lessons. as a bottom i learned so much more than i expected to during the course. Like anatomy, rope history, and even getting the hang of some ties myself! The course taught important fundamentals for participating in rope safely and gave important tools in order to advance in your rope journey. It gave direction and the opportunity to have important conversations and make deeper connections with your partner.