Every January, February, and March, I spend time redefining myself—figuring out where to go next and what’s coming. Three things are shaping this process.

First, my new showreel for 2026 is shifting more toward rituals and power dynamics, which means I’ll be moving a little away from rope work. Interestingly, I have plenty of Surrender workshops lined up for the first half of the year. It seems the planning hasn’t fully caught up with my reality yet.

I’m also diversifying the bondage elements of the Shame workshop to ensure it’s not exclusively about “complicated” Japanese bondage. You’ll be able to experiment with cling film, duct tape, and zip ties—though I’ll still demonstrate the traditional rope methods if you’d like to study it with me. You can check out the new showreel in the video gallery on my website: http://www.andyburu.se/videos. It’s the most ambitious project I’ve worked on yet.

For 2026, my new workshop topic will be Obedience. It will explore relational power dynamics in depth—specifically, what it feels like to belong to someone and how we can carry that responsibility for another. The first trial is set for the autumn in Estonia.

On top of that, I’m writing a new book. While Rituals and Paradoxes was a reflection of my mind, this one is a love story that flips power dynamics on their head. The working title is either Kumano Love Story or My Heart Has Always Been a Tender One—the latter may end up as the subtitle.

That’s it for this January update from a small house overlooking a garden an hour outside Tokyo.