Before we start to explain about individual techniques and bondages, let’s take a moment to discuss a few basic physical techniques and aspects that may be very handy when you enter into Shibari. Other articles in this series will cover such techniques as safety, complementary play forms, meditation and mental aspects and such. Here we will concentrate – again – on some of the basics.

Relaxation Techniques

To the recipient two things are very important: physical flexibility and control and the ability to relax, even under physical and emotional stress. To know about basic breath control techniques is a must, since this will automatically lead to concentration and with that relaxation. There are two simple techniques you should get acquainted with (and train) and that you can use either by itself or in combination.

Breathing

Correct breathing is at the root of almost all relaxation and concentration techniques and also provides a solid basis for – for example – meditation. This is no different when it comes to Shibari. The rhythm of your breathing largely determines the rhythm of your entire body. If your breathing is deep, controlled and regular, you will feel relaxed, in control and self assured, even under stress. Strange as it may seem, your breathing rhythm partially influences other things, such as the rate of your heartbeat, metabolism, blood pressure and adrenaline production.

Controlled and regular breathing is not the same as shallow breathing (which is what many people do). People who have taken a few yoga classes, scuba divers, mountain climbers and sports people – and even those who have taken one or more Lamaze classes – all have learned the importance of breathing and how it will improve your ability to cope with stress, improve your physical condition and your ability to be concentrated and – to some extent – your success.

Meditation is an important factor in Shibari, especially to the recipient. The effect of the bondages and the Shiatsu will more or less automatically (over time) create a form of meditation by themselves. The recipient can stimulate this – and dramatically enhance the intensity of her own emotions and fun – by stimulating this process. Meditation revolves around concentration and the concentration catalyst can be anything. Concentrating on your breathing will not only help you to stimulate the mediation process, it will also – and dramatically – improve your physical, mental and sexual abilities. That is why we will use breathing as the basis for relaxation, concentration and meditation.

Breath control

Teach yourself to breath firmly and deeply. Inhale slowly through your nose. Fill up the upper part of the lungs first until there is no more space left and then fill up the lower part. When you feel that your lungs are completely filled, hold your breath for a few seconds and then exhale – slowly and through your mouth – in reverse order.

This is a very basic yoga-technique that you can easily teach yourself by practicing it every night in bed just before you go to sleep (you will probably sleep a lot more relaxed if you do). You have got to practice this every day until you feel you can rely on it in a stressful situation. It helps if you close your eyes and try to imagine you are in a very tranquil environment (on a mountain, on a beach or any place else with a lot of space, quietness and fresh air, whichever one appeals to you).
The ideal pattern – but it may take a while for you to get there – is to do the above process twice a minute: ten seconds inhale, hold for five seconds, ten seconds exhale, hold for five seconds, etcetera. In the beginning, especially if you are a smoker, this may be difficult to maintain for more than a few minutes and it may feel like you are out of breath. Don’t give up. If you are only able to do this for a few minutes in the beginning, that is good enough. Over time, and actually quite rapidly, you will notice you can maintain the rhythm longer and longer.

What happens it the following: Used air – what you exhale – first of all holds a lot of unused oxygen, but next to that a lot of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and a few other gasses. The latter is what you want to get rid of. Basically what shallow breathing does is that you partially suffocate yourself, because waste-gasses remain in your lungs, taking up the space for the oxygen you need. Deep and slow breathing allows for two things: first of all dumping waste products in your lungs and subsequently dumping them by exhaling.

This is what the pauses are for. Leaving you lungs empty for a few seconds after exhaling allows for the blood to dump more waste products in your lungs that you can subsequently expel from your body. Keeping the fresh air in your lungs allows for better and more oxygen intake. Slow and controlled inhaling and exhaling – and fully emptying and filling your lungs – dramatically improves the quality of the entire process, hence will improve your physical fitness and as a result your mental stability. You will find that over time you will not only learn to use your lungs better and their capacity for oxygen intake will improve. In other words, good breathing technique is a win-win situation.

Muscle relaxation

You can do this easily by teaching yourself to contract and relax the muscles in your body in a regular, repetitive pattern (whichever you like). This also improves your concentration abilities dramatically.

In physical terms cramp is the result of lack of nutrients and oxygen in your muscles. An individual muscle (or a group) may have to work hard for a while – as a result of the bondages themselves or as a result of perception (if you feel restrained your mind may play all sorts of games with your body, making the perception a lot bigger than the actual situation is which will result in your brain sending the wrong signals to your muscles). If it gets insufficient resources (or “thinks” it does) it will cramp up. Flexing muscles or muscle groups – prior to cramp – will bring about a more natural rhythm and will neutralize the effect of wrong brain signals. Efficient breathing technique and adequate food intake (we will get to that in a minute) will provide sufficient resources for your muscles, hence will have a very positive influence on cramp and muscle stress and thus will dramatically improve your fun.

The above article is a reprint from our information/educational site Kink Culture.
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